As I mentioned, our text will be Psalm 5, but we also want to look at that as well in conjunction with Lord's Day 4. So if you find your Creeds and Confessions book, which is underneath the seat in front of you, and turn to page 16, you will see question and answer 9, 10, and 11. We've been going through this, where the first question and answer gives us a hope and a comfort that we confess Then secondly, we see how the entire catechism is organized, looking first of all at how we are guilty before God and that our sin and misery is great. And we are currently in that section, towards the end of that section, and we are going to look at Lord's Day four. We'll read question and answer nine, 10, and 11. But doesn't God do man an injustice by requiring his law what man is unable to do? So just to pause there a second, there is the questions before that. We're talking about how our hearts are inclined towards all evil and we are inclined to do evil, and we will not be able to do this without the renewing work of God. And so the natural question arises out of that, is God unjust by requiring man to do what he is now unable to do? The answer is, no, God created man with the ability to keep the law. Man, however, tempted by the devil, in reckless disobedience, robbed himself and his descendants of these gifts. Question and answer 10. Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go on unpunished? Certainly not. He is terribly angry about the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. As just judge, he punishes them now and in eternity. He has declared, cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law. But isn't God also merciful? God is certainly merciful, but he is also just. His justice demands that sin committed against his supreme majesty be punished with the supreme penalty, eternal punishment of body and soul. Now if you would look with me to Psalm 5. Psalm 5. A psalm titled for the choir director for flute accompaniment, A Psalm of David. Those of us who know the life and story of David, we recognize that enemies were never far from David. And so this is a psalm of lament, a psalm asking for justice against those enemies that are persecuting the king that God has set over Israel, his chosen people, and as David being the chosen king. Hear now God's word. Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you will hear my voice. In the morning, I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch. For you are not God who takes pleasure in wickedness. No evil dwells with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. But as for me, by your abundant, loving kindness, I will enter your house. At Your holy temple, I will bow in reverence for You. O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes. Make Your way straight before me." There is nothing reliable in what they say. Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. Hold them guilty, O God. By their own devices let them fall in the multitude of their transgressions. Thrust them out, for they are rebellious against You. But let all who take refuge in You be glad. Let them ever sing for joy. And may you shelter them, that those who love your name may exalt in you. For it is you who blesses the righteous man, O Lord. You surround him with favor as with a shield. So far our reading in God's holy word. Beloved brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, J.I. Packer, in his book, Knowing God, starts off one of his chapters saying this. Do you believe in divine judgment? By which I mean, do you believe in a God who acts as our judge? Many, it seems, do not. Speak to them of God as a father, a friend, a helper, one who loves us despite our weakness and folly and sin. Their faces light up. But speak to them of God as judge. And they frown, and they shake their heads. Their minds recoil from such an idea. They find it repellent and unworthy. Now many of you, like me, have been raised in the Reformed faith. And so I think we probably quickly will answer yes to those questions. Yes, I believe in divine judgment. Yes, I believe that God is a judge who judges the wickedness of this world. However, as I studied the confessions and the scriptures this week, I was impacted more and more by the thought that J.I. Packer was presenting. I might not frown at God as judge. I might not shake my head at the thought of him judging us. But I am probably tempted to emphasize his love and mercy over his justice. I might forcibly acknowledge His justice because I know that it's true. I've seen it in Scripture. But I would stress His love. I might love His love, but tolerate the other attributes of justice and punishment that He brings against wickedness. However, Christians cannot just love certain attributes of God and tolerate others. But we must love God's justice. We must love God's mercy as well. We love God not just, we love God, we love all of God and not just certain attributes of Him. We need to even love his hatred against sin. We need to desire that the full penalty of sin be paid by God's wrath. We need to grieve over those transgressions against God's law. And we need to look forward to that day of judgment where God would separate the righteous from the wicked. In Psalm 5, David looks to this God of love and of justice. He seeks the justice of God. David knows that God's just judgments are perfect. And evil cannot stand in the presence of God. And it causes him to love Him all the more and to trust Him because he knows this perfect God who loves and acts and justice and righteousness because of who he is as that perfect judge. And so David cries out against his enemies. For how can God let sin continue to hurt those he loves? How can God let that which is so diametrically opposed to himself not receive what it deserves. It's just reward. And so David cries out to God, imploring his righteous judgment against his enemies. And so our theme this evening is God's people desire the just judgment of our King. Once again, God's people desire the just judgment of our king. We see it as a good and even loving act of God who protects his people from the wickedness of this world. And so David, first of all, gives us a picture of our king. He paints a portrait of who God is and his attributes. Secondly, he prays to God for justice and he waits expectantly for that. And finally, we will look at that punishing of evil. So the picture of our King, the prayer for justice and punishing evil. Notice first of all that David addresses his prayer to his God and his king as he paints that picture of God as our king. Now David is calling on God as the supreme ruler to execute justice. In our day and age, we have a justice department. We have a judge who makes a ruling on a case before him. However, in the ancient days and in the way that Israel was set up, the office of judge was rolled up into that office of king. The king was the one who would execute justice and protect those in his kingdom against evil. He was the one who would judge cases. Yes, He had helpers, but He was the supreme authority, He was the last line in which people would come and ask that He would rule for them. He would look at the case and see who was guilty, who had broken God's laws. The king's primary role was to protect God's people and execute the laws of justice in which God had set over them. He even had to write out his own copy of the law. to go into the temple and find that law and copy it word for word so that he might know righteousness and justice the way God had set it forward. And he was to meditate upon it daily so that he would know justice and righteousness and be able to rule, to be prepared to make a just ruling. But David turns to his king, He turns to God as his king. He recognizes him as the ultimate supreme authority over all his creation. He is the one who made this law. He is the one who ultimately judges right and wrong. And he is the one who executes punishment upon those who break the law. He is the supreme and righteous ruler. And not only does he set out what is right and judge what is right, but he also sees the truth of the matter. Those who have done wrong cannot escape what He sees. The truth of the matter. And so Genesis 18, 20-21 says, And the Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to me. And if not, I will know. God will know when His laws have been broken. He is able to judge perfectly and see when wickedness has been done. There is no oopsie with God. He makes no mistakes. God sees not what is merely on the outside either. He sees what dwells in the heart of men. And even that, deserves its just punishment and reward. The truth will not escape his judgment. And David continues to paint the picture of God's character as righteous and perfect as he goes on in verse four. He says, you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness. No evil dwells with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceits. Notice the words here, God takes no pleasure in wickedness. He does not find anything funny or amusing about sin as we sometimes do, nor is he a giddy as he administers this justice, finding joy in it. He surely finds satisfaction. but he does not find joy. As you might see in children who find joy in their brother and sister getting punished. God does not become joyful in his wrath against those who wrong him. And David goes on to say that no evil dwells with our God. Other translations say that evil is not welcome with God. or that evil cannot be a house guest of God. Evil cannot stand in the presence of God because of his perfect and righteous judgment. He is just in all his ways and lies cannot be in the presence of truth as God is a God full of truth. David goes on to say that those who are prideful cannot stand in God's gaze. Those who are arrogant, who feel themselves to be worthy, cannot stand in front of God's gaze. He destroys those who speaks lies. He hates and detests sin, deceit, bloodshed, This is a full-orbed description of God's wrath. It is His displeasure with injustice and a righteous hatred against sin and those who remain in sin. Now, we cannot imagine God as our current modern-day judges, as we can see from this picture, can we? For when we enter a courtroom, we expect a judge to be emotionally divested. He's not one who is emotionally involved in whether this person is guilty or not. But God is not emotionally divested in his judgment. For he utterly hates sin. His anger burns against him. But the opposite extreme can also be a wrong view of God as well. For His anger is not like the anger of a parent who has just finally had it up to here with you. God in His righteous anger is not self-indulgent, it's not cruel. In fact, it's even administered out of His love. out of protection for his people, out of protection for his creation. For he recognizes the horror and cursedness of sin, how it destroys everything good, and so it cannot stand. So brothers and sisters, meet the God of the Bible. Do you ignore this attribute? Is this picture of God as judge distasteful in your mouth? If you do not know God as a righteous and perfect judge against sin, then you don't know the God of the Bible. And He is not only here in the Psalms or in the Old Testament, but He is also in the New as well. We are not to only equate God the Father as judge either. Because Jesus Himself is that Son of Man in Matthew 25 who judges the sheep and the goats, who separates them out, bringing those that are righteous into eternal life and those who deserve death and who are wicked into eternal punishment. Also in Revelation, Jesus is the one who holds the keys of death and Hades, that is hell. And he is the one who writes to the seven churches and says, repent in belief or I will come to judge you. And so David calls upon this God. He looks to God's justice and he cries out as those enemies are persecuting him, bringing about evil in his midst. And David tells of his desire to follow God's ways. He loves God's righteous judgments and God's righteous ways. He sees them as a blessing in the way of righteousness. And he loves God for this. He loves what God has revealed and judged to be right. And so he wants to walk in those ways. David has a desire to serve God. But he contrasts that with the ways of the wicked in verse nine. He describes his adversaries in this way. Listen how the old NIV puts it, for I feel it puts it much better. Not a word from their mouth can be trusted. Their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongue they speak deceit. The picture here that David is giving is that every organ of speech, from their heart, to their throat, to their tongue, to their mouth, everything speaks lies and deceit, and it's aimed to destroy that which is good. It's aimed to work against God, it says. For they are rebellious against you, it says in verse 10. David calls on God as king and judge. He lays out the character and heart of the people who hate God and His ways. They are bloodthirsty. They cause death. And so David wants justice to be done. He desires that sin be punished and the price paid. He calls for God to act on his behalf because he knows and loves the righteous judgments of God. So he calls out on God to judge his enemies saying, hold them guilty. Declare them guilty as they are because they are rebellious against God. Now we might be a bit surprised by this because we know the rest of the life of David. For David, even though he was king, even though he was a man after God's own heart, he himself was a man of deceit who tried to cover up his affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. even causing Uriah's death by having him go to the front line and his men pull back so that he would die, so that he could take Bathsheba upon himself. And he is a deceiver. He has lies in his life that have led to death. And even Psalm 134, he recognizes that God, if he were to bring his righteous judgment against him, he would be found guilty. It says in Psalm 143, verse two, enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. And in Romans three, Paul brings us to its full completion. He says that this same description is used of every person. There is no one righteous, not even one. Their words are deceitful, their hearts are wicked. They desire destruction and destroy with their mouths. And at this point, when we now come under God's judgment, we might begin to ask those questions in which the catechism asks. But isn't this unfair? If we can't do it, if the Bible has said that there is no way in which we can be righteous, that we can follow His just ways, then isn't it wrong for Him to place us under His judgment? Isn't it unfair that He requires something that we can't do? Isn't it asking a cow to fly? No, it is not, people of God. For a cow was not designed to fly. It was not created to do this. But we were created to do good, to follow His ways, to execute justice, to reign like He had asked us to reign, to give Him all glory and honor and love, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We were created to do this. Yet we, in Adam, recklessly, willfully, turned away from him, losing that ability. As we learned two weeks ago, without any reason at all, we followed our own way rather than what God had called us to do. So then the next question we might ask, well maybe he should be a little more slack. Maybe he should grade on a curve. I mean, honestly, my lying about homework doesn't really bring about death. My dislike for my brother is not that big of a deal. I mean, he chews with his mouth open. Who wouldn't like that? Who enjoys that? Honestly, just because I want something of my neighbors, that doesn't mean I should be punished, does it? Simply, the catechism's answer is yes. Yes. Even the small sins show that heart of disaster that we have. That heart that seeks to destroy and kill. They are after our father, the devil, not after God. And so they deserve God's just punishment because they lead to death and destruction. And they are an act of rebellion against God. And so God must not only declare them guilty, but he must punish their sin, which is our third point. First of all, David asks to let these evildoers fall into their own traps. On earth, even now, God allows some of those natural consequences of sin to occur. They are punishment against sin, even on this earth. Not its complete punishment, but punishment nonetheless. Deceivers are often finally caught in their own web of deception. Addicts end up, or addictions end up ruling over a person and enslaving them when they at first find such freedom and enlightenment and joy when they are first used. Here we see a small glimpse of the punishment of God against sin. We begin to recognize the punishment of sin and its destructive consequences. But David also asked that God would banish these evildoers. A common description of hell is banishment from the presence of God. In God's presence there are his love and his blessing and it is the place of life. but the unclean, the unrighteous, they are sent outside the camp. They are sent out of the temple, unable to come to God's presence. There was a valley outside of Jerusalem where refuse was burned, and it continually burned, and they called this place Gehenna, and it became that picture of hell that Jesus uses in Matthew 18. We all deserve this punishment. And it is good for God to punish sin. There is a need for righteousness. And if God were to let sin go unpunished, imagine the consequences to this world. We only see small glimpses of it now with the death and the destruction and the chaos that we see in our world. And so Psalm 5 desires that those who are evil be punished. But Psalm 5 also sees God's love. And so how do those two equate? For David says that I, by your love and kindness and your abundant loving kindness, will enter your house. At your holy temple, I will bow in reverence to you. That place where God dwells, how can David enter into the presence of God when he is so deserving of death, so deserving of eternal punishment? How can he enter into God's presence? It is because the temple is also the place where the substitute was sacrificed. This is the place where there was a vicarious sacrifice which pointed to the forgiveness of sins through another who paid that price. And that price was paid by Jesus. For God does not wink at sin. but he punishes sin. And it will be upon you or it will be upon Jesus Christ if you believe in him. It is a truly important concept to the Christian faith. Let me close once again with the words from Romans 3. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation, as a wrath-appeasing sacrifice in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, Because in forbearance of God, He passed over sins previously committed for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And it is in Jesus that we can be declared righteous and be in His presence. Let us pray. Gracious God and mighty Father, we thank you that you are judge. We thank you that you do not let sin go unpunished, nor do you let us continue in our sinful ways, but you justify us, renew us, and help us to walk in your ways of righteousness. So Lord, we ask that you would grow our faith. Help us to remember you as a perfect judge, to desire that sin would be punished and that we might find righteousness in you. These things we ask in Jesus' name alone, amen.