Would you please remain standing now for the reading of the word. Normally, we will project the word onto the screen, but today, if you have your Bible or your phone, this is a good opportunity to turn to it. This summer, we are going through the Psalms. We have three more Psalms, including today, Psalm 10, then Psalm 11, and then Psalm 12 the next two weeks before we go back to Paul's letter to the Romans. Again, Psalm 10 this morning. Please listen to the reading of God's word. Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance, the wicked hotly pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. For the wicked boast of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high. Out of his sight, as for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, I shall not be moved. Throughout all generations, I shall not meet adversity. His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages. In hiding places, he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless. He lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket. He lurks that he may seize the poor. He seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. The helpless are crushed. sink down, and fall by his might. He says in his heart, God has forgotten. He has said in his face, he will never see it. Arise, O Lord. O God, lift up your hand. Forget not the afflicted. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, you will not call to account? But you do see, for you know mischief and vexation. that you may take into your hands to you the helpless commits himself. You have been the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer. Call his wickedness to account till you find none. The Lord is king forever and ever. The nations perish from his hand. Oh Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted. You will strengthen their heart. You will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. Well, in the Roman Empire of the late 3rd and early 4th centuries, the Christians were under severe persecution. The Emperor Diocletian was determined to make Rome great again, pledging to revive the glory of ancient Rome through a strategy that included, on the one hand, restoring and revamping her cult to the pagan gods of the Greek pantheon, and on the other hand, unleashing one of the most brutal waves of persecution against Christians ever known. Homes where Christians worshipped were destroyed. Their scriptures, which they cherished so much and were so expensive, it was so difficult to get, were burned. And countless believers were imprisoned, tortured, and martyred, perishing by the heat of the flame, by the claw of the beast, or by the edge of the sword. It was a time of deep darkness and despair for those who held firm to their faith. To be sure, many must have questioned the apparent success of the wicked as they fell victim to the unhinged rage and merciless abuse of powerful men. Some must have wondered how long they would have to endure such suffering. They must have been deeply perplexed as to why God was silent in the face of such evil. Now, you may recall from last week's sermon that some Bibles combine Psalm 9 and 10 into one psalm. And one of the reasons for this is that Psalm 10 does not have a title. As I said last week, there are good reasons not to combine, not to merge these two into one psalm. But the fact that Psalm 10 does not have its own title and is therefore not tied to any particular time or to any particular person does make it easier for us to appreciate The fact that the psalmist asks in Psalm 10 a timeless question. He asks, where is God when there is injustice? That is the question that many Christians are asking today, as Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world. It is the question that Christians under Diocletian's great persecution must have asked themselves as they saw their loved ones being burnt to death, or torn to pieces by beasts, or decapitated by Roman soldiers. It is the question that the psalmist's gut-wrenching lament in verse 1 asks when he cries out, Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Yet as we move through the psalm, we see the speaker shift from denouncing man's wickedness to confidently asserting God's character and commitment to justice. So as we consider Psalm 10 this morning, at a time when the tide of the culture is threatening the Christian church, and when some of you are navigating especially turbulent waters, Let us be encouraged that our God is a God of justice, whose character never changes, and whose promises never fail, and who sees, hears, and acts in His perfect timing. In fact, the main point that Psalm 10 has for you this morning is that God's character ensures His justice. God's character ensures His justice. And we're going to look at Psalm 10 this morning under three headings. First of all, the character of the wicked. Secondly, the cry of the Christian. And finally, the character of God. The character of the wicked, the cry of the Christian, and the character of God. Our first header, then, is the character of the wicked, which is the focus of the first 11 verses in Psalm 10. In these verses, the psalmist provides a clear, even if revolting, MRI of the wicked man's heart. The image this psalm provides is doubly helpful, because on the one hand, it enables us to identify the toxic agents attacking the health of God's kingdom, which can help us protect ourselves, protect our families, and protect the Church from such toxins, regardless of what titles they may bear. And on the other hand, this psalm enables us to compare our own behavior to this MRI of the heart, that we might quickly identify areas of concern and change our behavior after the Spirit enables us to faithfully exercise the Christian muscle of repentance. So what are the findings of Psalm 10's MRI of the wicked man's heart? First, notice that according to the first 11 verses of Psalm 10, one of the characteristics of the wicked man is that he is conceited. This is revealed in verse 2, where we read that the wicked man is arrogant. In verse 4, we learn that an arrogant heart stiffens the knees. As the psalmist writes, in the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek God. All his thoughts are, there is no God. The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, comments, The wicked man thought much, but he had no thoughts for God. Amid heaps of chaff there was not a grain of wheat. The only place where God is not is in the thoughts of the wicked. This is a damning accusation, for where the God of heaven is not, the Lord of hell is reigning and raging. And if God be not in our thoughts, our thoughts will bring us to perdition. Indeed, perdition is the destiny of the wicked man's conceit. He desists from seeking after God, appeasing his conscience by preaching to himself, there's no God. Now, this does not mean that the wicked man does not believe in God. You may recall from our study of Paul's letter to the Romans, that in Romans 1, verses 18 and 19, the apostle Paul teaches that every human being knows that God exists because God reveals himself in the things that he has made. According to Paul, the only reason why there are self-proclaimed atheists is that men and women, because of our fallen, sinful nature, are predisposed to deny God. And therefore, we work very hard to suppress the truth, to suppress our knowledge of God. We know that there is a God, but we lie to ourselves, repeating the words of the wicked man of Psalm 10. We say, there is no God. There is no God. Yet we know better. And the wicked man described in Psalm 10 also knows better, as can be demonstrated from his own words in verse 11, where he says in his heart, God has forgotten. He has hidden his face. He will never see it. You see, the wicked man is not actually an atheist, since there are no true atheists. But in his conceit, he elevates himself and he belittles God, convincing himself that he will get away with his sins, because he has successfully concealed his actions from God, so that he is entirely outside of God's mind. He tells himself, God has forgotten. The conceit of the wicked man is such that we read in verse 3 that he boasts of the desires of his soul, and that he even curses and renounces God. The wicked man may not do it in public, certainly not if it doesn't suit his own ambitions, but when he lowers his guard, you may hear him boasting in his selfish desires. And such is his contempt for God, that through his actions, through the way that he lives, through the way that he treats others, through the way that he prioritizes certain things over other things, he curses God and renounces his way. The wicked man is so secure in his conceit that in verse 5 we read that he sticks out his chest and he puffs at his foes. In verse 6, we see the fruit of the wicked man's conceit. He says in his heart, I shall not be moved. Throughout all generations, I shall not meet adversity. The wicked man may not be a true atheist, but he is a functional atheist, living as if God does not exist, or at least as if he knows better than God. that he is more clever than God, mocking and abusing God's people without any fear of God's justice ever falling upon him? Is your heart suffering from this kind of deadly conceit? Are you sinning with impunity, trusting that you will prosper in your sin, foolishly relying on your ability to hide your evil acts from God? The second characteristic of the wicked man revealed in the first 11 verses of Psalm 10 is that he is cruel. In verse 2, we learn that the wicked man hotly pursues the poor, ensnaring them in maliciously devised schemes that he has come up with. In verses 8 through 10, we learn that the schemes of this cruel man target the innocent, the helpless, and the poor. Because you see, since he is a bully, his attacks are not frontal. He relies on asymmetry, attacking only the weak and using covert means. He sets his trap and sits in ambush, drawing unsuspecting victims into his net. He acts like his father, the devil, who prowls like a lion seeking someone to devour. In other words, Psalm 10 describes an angry person who bullies the weak, devoting much of his time and energy to devise schemes that will bring the downfall of others, delighting as he uses his influence to crush his helpless and unsuspecting victims. Do you know people like this? Do you feel like you're under the thumb of such an adversary? Or instead of a particular person, is the godlessness of the world oppressing your spirit as you witness society's increased animosity and contempt even against Christianity and against Christians? Or worse yet, are you the one displaying cruelty against others? Do you spend more time thinking about how to get revenge on those who have hurt you, perhaps even wishing them ill, than you do praying for them to repent so that they might be blessed by God's grace, even as you have been? As a Christian, you must not allow this, because if you do, your longing for justice against a wicked person might make you fall in the trap of an even greater and more cruel adversary, Satan himself. Satan wants you to repay evil for evil, because revenge is a pill that, when swallowed, poisons the heart. Let us, therefore, begin by first comparing our own behavior to this MRI of the heart, to make sure that we are not the ones displaying cruelty towards others, and thereby acting as children of darkness instead of acting as children of light. The third characteristic of the wicked man revealed in the first 11 verses of Psalm 10 is that he is covetous. In verse 3, we read that the wicked man is greedy for gain. This is an especially dangerous characteristic because in our materialistic society, covetousness can be difficult to detect. Covetousness for money, otherwise known as greed, easily camouflages as diligent work. Covetousness for power, or ambition easily camouflages as bold leadership. Covetousness for fame or narcissism easily camouflages as natural charisma. But what ultimately gives covetousness away, what enables this MRI to detect it, is that a covetous person always thinks more highly of himself than he does of others. And therefore, he thinks he is entitled to whatever someone else may have, which is why he is always greedy for gain, even at the expense of others. Covetousness is such a wretched sin that God etched it in stone, being the last of the Ten Commandments, as if by giving it to us last, it would be first in our minds always. Jesus said that all of God's law is contained in these two commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. But the sin of covetousness demands that you hate God and neighbor. It first causes you to despise God's providence, being discontent with the good gifts that God has given you. And then it causes you to despise your neighbor, being envious of the good gifts that God has given him or her. To be sure, it is an especially heavy burden to endure the oppressive weight of a covetous person who will not think twice before hurting you or hurting others for the sake of his own personal gain. but it is even a more grievous sin when our own hearts are infected by this toxic poison. The fourth characteristic of the wicked man that is revealed in the first 11 verses of Psalm 10 is that he is cunning. In other words, he is skillful in his deceit and evasion. We see in verse 7 where we read of the wicked man that his mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. In John 8, 44, Jesus calls Satan the father of lies, asserting that there is no truth in him. The wicked man of Psalm 10, therefore, acts just like his demonic father, since his mouth spews deceit, curses, oppression, mischief, and iniquity. It is so easy to minimize the damage that our words can cause. The old adage states that sticks and stones may hurt my bones, but words will never hurt me. The saying is intended to teach children resilience against verbal insults. However, the truth is that even children know how much damage words can cause. God created the universe by speaking it into existence. But human beings often use speech not to build up, but to destroy, to tear down. Lies and slander can cause irreparable damage to a person's reputation, severing relationships, inflicting emotional damage, and even causing financial loss as credibility is undermined by false accusations. In a fallen world that hates Christ and hates his church, if you're a faithful Christian, at some point you can expect to be slandered on account of your faith. Wicked people will despise your genuine faith in God because they will not understand it. And because they don't understand it, they will hate you for it. You must be prepared to endure such trial. But also, as a follower of Christ, you must be especially careful to guard your own tongue. Be mindful of your language. Do not lie. Do not slander. Do not curse. Use speech to edify others, to build up the church, to glorify God. Psalm 10's MRI of the wicked heart reveals a heart that is conceited, cruel, covetous, and cunning, all of which are characteristics of the prince of darkness. May our heart's MRI reveal the characteristics that befit the children of the light. So having looked at the character of the wicked, let us consider our second header, the cry of the Christian. In verses 12 to 15, we see that despite the significant persecution the psalmist and his fellow brothers and sisters are enduring, he does not despair, but raises his cry up to God, saying, Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up your hand. Forget not the afflicted. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, You will not call to account? But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands. To you the helpless commits himself. You have been the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer. Call his wickedness to account till you find none. The prayer of the psalmist has three parts, each of one contradicting one of the three assertions that the wicked man makes in verse 11. First, even though the wicked man said in verse 11 that God has forgotten, the psalmist here calls God to forget not be afflicted, but rather to arise and to lift up his hand. He asked in verse 13 why the wicked should renounce God and believe that God will not call them to account. When I was a kid, one of my uncles owned a lion for a brief period of time before he donated it to the zoo. He kept the lion in a large cage in one of his ranches, and I remember that one day, I accompanied my dad to go feed this lion at the ranch, and we brought one of our dogs, a beautiful, strong, and very brave boxer. When we got to the ranch, our dog was going crazy because he could smell the lion. As soon as the truck stopped, the dog jumped out of the truck and ran straight towards the lion, who was lying down in his cage with his back to us. As our dog was running toward him and barking loudly, the lion suddenly arose and turned toward us. And the very moment that the lion turned around, our dog froze in his tracks and ducked his head. The mere sight of the lion's face was enough to make our dog reconsider his life choices. In verse 12, the psalmist calls God to arise and lift his hand, that the wicked might reconsider his life choices. And the psalmist calls God to action by contradicting the lies of the wicked, the lie that God had forgotten. Second, the wicked man said in verse 11 that God will never see, but the psalmist in verse 14 confesses to God, you do see. He asserts that God notes every sin of the wicked and that he brings justice by his hand for he is the helper of the fatherless. The wicked man may sin with boldness, but in the end, he will not sin with impunity. Therefore, the helpless can commit himself to God because God will repay. Third, the wicked man said in verse 11 that God has hidden his face. But in verse 15, the psalmist implores God to call the wicked to account, breaking the arm of the wicked and evildoer. Thus, the prayer of the psalmist is a complete contradiction of the narrative inside the wicked man's head. God has not forgotten. He is not blind. He will repay. The wicked man may raise his fist in defiance against God and against his people, but in the end, his arm will be broken and God's arm will be lifted up high. This is helpful for us, because the psalmist writes this psalm while undergoing tribulation. He cries out in verse 1, remember, why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? That cry describes the circumstances in which the psalm is written. With the faithful under the thumb of the wicked, and the psalmist wondering where God is. It is as if the lives of the wicked that God is blind and absent and uncaring are beginning to take hold in the heart of the psalmist, causing his heart to skip a beat and to falter. But in the psalmist prayer, he contradicts the lives of the wicked, thereby resetting his heart's rhythm and restoring it to health. Therefore, beloved Christian, like the psalmist, whenever your heart falters, contradict the lies of the wicked one and remind God and yourself the truth. And no, this is not simply a therapeutic exercise to help you feel better. It is a prayer strategy that is anchored in the truth because the psalmist's faith and confidence are grounded in the character of God. This brings us to our final header, the character of God. We saw already in the psalmist's prayer that contrary to the lies of the wicked man, God is not forgetful, but knows the truth. That he is not blind, but sees all things. In other words, God is omniscient. He knows and sees everything. We also saw that God is not hidden, but is ever-present. In other words, God is omnipresent. He is everywhere, so that no one can hide from Him. And we also saw that God is not weak, but will arise and execute justice. In other words, God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. After confessing these mighty attributes of God, the psalmist is emboldened, and in verses 16 and 18 he declares, The Lord is king forever and ever, and the nations perish from his land. O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted, you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and to the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. The psalmist offers this bold declaration, not because it has come to pass, but because God has promised to defend his people and to bring the wicked to justice. A promise of this magnitude would make a liar out of every person, because though any person of goodwill would have the desire to carry out justice, no mere human being has the ability to execute that justice to the uttermost. We may ensure that justice is executed in our own small spheres, and in fact, we should ensure that justice is executed in our small spheres, because we have seen that God is a God of justice, and as his people, we ought to strive to be men and women of justice. But we do not know all things, so we will be ignorant to the plight of some. Nor can we see all things, so we will err in some of our judgments. Nor can we overcome all opposition, so our actions will be thwarted at times. But God shares none of these limitations. So He can make these big promises to bring all the wicked to justice and to vindicate all of His people. God's attributes ensure that he can keep these promises as well. And more importantly, God's character ensures that he will keep these promises. When Diocletian was persecuting Christians with vicious cruelty, his conceit made him believe that Through cunning, he could bring to Rome and to himself all the glory that his heart so desperately coveted. He thought that he was bullying defenseless Christians, when in reality he was provoking the everlasting God. In an unprecedented move in Roman history, Diocletian inexplicably abdicated the throne, one year after beginning the great persecution against Christians. Then, within a year of his abdication, the tetrarchy that he instituted to rule Rome began to collapse, and Constantine the Great was pronounced emperor in the West. Within five years, Diocletian would be dead, and Constantine would reunify Rome as her first Christian emperor, changing the course of civilization forever. Diocletian worked, but Christ won. Therefore, beloved Christian, when the flames of tribulation cause your heart to falter, and your faith begins to fail. Focus not on the strength of your adversary, but look instead to the mighty attributes and righteous character of your God. Indeed, let us heed the words of the author of Hebrews, who in chapter 12 says, Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead. Let us pray.