Well, we're turning to Psalm 9 and we'll commence our reading there at the verse 1. Notice the title of this psalm. It says to the chief musician, upon Muthliban, a psalm of David. Verse 1 says, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee. I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most high. When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause. Thou saddest in the throne judging right. Thou hast rebuked the heathen. Thou hast destroyed the wicked. Thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to our perpetual end. and thou hast destroyed cities, their memorial is perished with them. But the Lord shall endure forever. He hath prepared his throne for judgment, and he shall judge the world in righteousness. He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord, has not forsaken them that seek thee. Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion. Declare among the people his doings. When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them. He forgetteth not the cry of the humble. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. Consider my trouble, which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death. that I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in thy salvation. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made, and the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands, hyggean selah. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten, the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail, let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah. Amen and we trust the Lord will bless the reading of this particular psalm for his name's sake this evening. In coming to Psalm 9 The title indicates that this psalm, as were many of our previous psalms, they were penned by David. The title also contains the term muthlaban, which like some other terms that we have considered, has caused some discussion amongst commentators and scholars. There are three opinions here that I have put down. And there is discussion whether or not these are the reasons or the meaning behind this particular term. Some make it to refer to the death of Goliath or Nabal or Absalom. Some would say that it is a tone of musical instrument. This would be the favourite opinion of Matthew Henry. Spurgeon refers to a man called Ben in 1 Chronicles 15 verse 18 who was one of the Levitical singers and implies a connection between him and this particular psalm. However Spurgeon does say in regard to the last two points there, points B and C, that if either of these conjectures should be correct the title of Muthlaban has no teaching for us except it is meant to show us how careful David was that in the worship of God all things should be done according to due order. Certainly when we come to worship the Lord it should not be something that has been put together, something that I suppose when you Open a bag of sweets or a bag, perhaps, of jelly beans or jelly babies. I assume that you have sweets like that here in Australia, like we do in the United Kingdom. It's all a mixture. There's different colours. When you come to Liquorice Allsorts, there's different shapes, different sizes, different flavours, different colours. Everything is all mixed together. When we come to the worship of God, While we have different backgrounds, while we have different personalities, our actual order of worship ought not to be mixed together, ought not to be all over the place, but there ought to be an order found in it. In this psalm we see David praising God for his marvellous works and he has a confidence that the wicked will be defeated by the Lord. Certainly we can pray for God's help and blessing but we must never forget to praise his name with thankfulness upon the answering of our prayers. And David here is praising the Lord for his marvellous works, all that he has done in the past, all that he has perhaps done personally for his servant. It was William Plumer, the American preacher of the 1800s who said, an occasional God I thank thee is no fit return for a perpetual stream of rich benefits. And what he means by that is that we very often can thank the Lord, it's occasional, It's maybe a one-off, but when we consider all that the Lord does for us, His benefits, His blessings to us, His people, are perpetual. They're continuous. There is no end in sight. And the Lord blesses us. probably many a time without us even knowing it, without us even recognising it. And therefore we ought to be in continuous praise of the Lord. We ought to be perpetually thankful to the Lord for all that he has done for us. Notice the key theme in this psalm. David praises the Lord for judging the wicked and preserving the righteous. The general outline is there as follows, verses 1-6, we have David praising God for pleading his cause. Verses 7-12, David's declaration of faith for future days. Verses 13-14, David prays for his deliverance. And the last number of verses there, verses 15-20, David prays regarding the justice of the Lord. Notice in regard to the psalm of David, there are a number of thoughts. His specific praise of God. His specific praise of God. We have considered David's praise of God before, but the psalm here focuses upon the enemies of the psalmist. Yet with a strong resolution, David praises the Lord. He is praising Jehovah, we see that in verse 1. Oh Lord, Lord is in capital letters, therefore it is Jehovah in view and he's praising Jehovah, the name of God that shows forth his perfections. The Lord ought to be the only object of our praise. Certainly, we can praise things in this world. We can rejoice in things in this world. We can rejoice and praise our family members. We can praise those connected with us. But even the blessing that a person is in our lives, even the blessing that some particular thing is in our lives, comes to us from the Lord. And therefore is something for which we ought to praise God our families. Or something which we ought to praise God for. He has given families to us. He has blessed us in that regard. And therefore that is something that we can praise Him for. We can praise our families. We can rejoice in family members. But at the centre of it. Those people, those things come from the God of heaven. But notice some things regarding David's prayer or David's praise here. Notice firstly that he praises God with his whole heart. We see this in verse 1. He says, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. And David here is making a melody in his heart. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 5. And we will see something here regarding our praise of the Lord. Ephesians 5 and the verse 19 says here, speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing. and making melody in your heart to the Lord. When we praise the Lord, we must truly and completely praise Him with our whole heart. And Paul here is saying to the church at Ephesus, when they come before the Lord, there's psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, there's singing, there's making melody in your heart to the Lord. The heart is involved in praising the Lord. We should never praise God with half-heartedness, yet so often this can be the very state of our hearts in worship. We perhaps don't want to be there, we don't want to praise the Lord. We want the time in worship to come to an end. We are directed when it comes to praising the Lord to make melody in our hearts to praise him with our whole heart. And certainly the Greek words here that the Greek word translated Psalms is Psalmos and the Greek word that is translated melody has a connection as well. with the term Samos and the scholars would say that those two particular terms imply not only singing but instruments in the praise of God and we can praise the Lord With our instruments we can praise the Lord with our singing. Of course, certainly, and from our perspective when we come to worship the Lord, we have that simple piano accompaniment. that helps our singing, that aids our singing, and when it comes to myself, I'm certainly very thankful for it, because you wouldn't want to rely on me to start the singing of any hymn, because it wouldn't start overly well, and if you're relying on me to lead the singing, just myself, well... whether we would sing to the best of our ability, relying on me, is questionable. But certainly when we think of instruments and music here, making melody in our hearts to the Lord, we're not thinking of bringing all sorts of instruments in. We're not thinking of bringing in the rock band or the drums or the instruments that the world will play centre stage in their worship, but those things that are simple, those things that can help in worship, those instruments that do not take away from the words that are sung. If we had, and I am getting sidetracked here, but if we had some sort of loud music to sing along to, well that would be what we would hear, that would be what we would be focused upon. It would take away, it would drown out the words that are sung. In the past, I've been to meetings and the music has been loud. And, well, the words, I hadn't a clue what was being sung, although it was up on the screen. And this is going back to my teenage years. And I was in a couple of meetings to that record. I was never happy in them. I was never happy with the style of music and praise. But it was all about the music, it was all about the instruments, it was all about the noise and the words that ought to be important. And when we come to the Psalms, the words are important. The words mean something. They're set aside, they're taken away, the focus is upon the beat or the music. But when we praise the Lord, we ought to praise him with our whole heart, even as we've seen there by being sidetracked We ought to praise him in such a way that what we're saying is clear and plain and can be understood. That the music doesn't take over and what we're saying is set to the side. It should be there plainly for others to hear, for us to understand what we are singing unto the Lord. But notice here that David recounts God's marvellous works. He recounts God's marvellous works. In verse 1 we see that. I will show forth all thy marvellous works. And from verse 3 down to the verse 6 we see that as well as some of those works are specifically mentioned. But there are two particular thoughts that I want to draw to your attention regarding this particular point. Firstly, we ought to show forth the marvellous works of God. David here said, I will show forth all thy marvellous works. It was Spurgeon who said there is true praise to the telling forth to others of our Heavenly Father's dealings with us. This is one of the themes upon which the godly should speak, often one to another. and it will not be casting pearls before swine if we make even the ungodly hear of the loving kindness of God to us. How true that is! We can tell others, other believers, of how God has dealt with us and it can thrill our hearts, it can encourage us. We can tell those outside of Christ what God has done for us. We can show forth his marvellous works. And that is something that they need to hear because they're outside of Christ. We ought to show forth, proclaim the marvellous works of God. But notice also, secondly, that the Hebrew word that is translated here is I will show, I will show forth. It's one Hebrew word. It can also refer to recounting or remembering. The works of God ought to be brought afresh to our minds so that we can praise his marvellous name and also declared to others. so that they will also praise the Lord. And we'll see that in a moment or two. We ought to remember, we ought to recount what God has done. It was John Gill who summed it up well when he refers to works of God such as the creation of all things out of nothing, the bringing them into the form and order in which they are by the word of God. I won't read that whole quotation. It is quite lengthy. I thought it was certainly beneficial I put it in but you can read that yourselves. He goes through the various works of God. He comes to the Savior. He comes to Salvation. He comes to Redemption and Regeneration. And he speaks of all those wondrous works of God, works that he has done, works that are marvellous, works that we ought to show forth and praise God for. Such works ought to compel us to praise our God and our Saviour. As we look upon the heavens, they declare the glory of God. Do they not compel us to praise Him? When we think upon our redemption, our regeneration, our salvation, when we think of what the Saviour has done for us, does that not compel us to praise Him, to rejoice in Him, to praise the name of our God for plucking us like a brand from the burning, saving our souls, stepping into our lives. We ought to consider what the Lord has done for us and the praise that ought to be given for all his marvellous works concerning ourselves. Notice here Job 5 verse 9 Job 5 verse 9 it says here speaking of the Lord which do with great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number and if we were this evening to say well we're going to Change my notes. We're going to write down all the things personal to ourselves that God has done. Those great things, those unsearchable things. We would need more than one double-sided piece of paper to write on, to record all that God has done for us. We can think of what God has done in our personal lives. We can think of what God has done In our church here, we can think of what God has done in our denomination, and there are things that are without number. The Lord has done great things, the Lord has done unsearchable things, marvellous things, without number. And if we were to truly testify of everything which God has done for us, things that we perhaps knew nothing about, They would certainly be marvellous things without number. Verses 3 to 6 show us the marvellous works of God in relation to the enemies of the psalmist. David has been maintained by the Lord, but if we consider verse 5 and verse 6, we see that the enemy will be utterly destroyed. There will be a perpetual end. It is a complete end. Even the memory of them is destroyed. There will be new return for them. And that is something that we always ought to remember. One of the works of God will be the destruction of the wicked. It has happened before. God judged the world in the days of Noah. The wicked. The wicked. perished, the righteous were safe and secure in the ark. The Lord Jesus Christ referred to that event. He spoke of the last days being like the days of Noah. And certainly the implication there was that the righteous would be safe, the wicked would perish. And that is something that is going to happen. Utterly and completely, the wicked will be destroyed. There will be no return for them. Also, in this psalm, this song of praise of David, he acknowledges the eternal and unchangeable nature of his God. The power of God is praised in this psalm. Verse 3 indicates that the enemy cannot stand against the power and presence of the Lord. But notice verse 7. But the Lord shall endure forever. The wicked will perish. We see that in the previous verses. But the Lord will endure. That word endure means to continue or to be established forever. There is no end to God. He is eternal. He does not change. And when we think of these aspects or these perfections of God, do we continually have them before us when we worship Him? When we come before the Lord and we praise Him, when we come before the Lord to worship Him, do we think upon His power? Do we think upon His eternity? Do we think about that great truth that our God is unchangeable? He's unchangeable in many ways. Certainly the Lord, and we can see in scripture even in Jonah, the Lord sent Jonah with a message of judgment, but the Lord was gracious to the people. We could certainly delve into the eternal decree of God. We could consider the sovereignty of God. We won't do that. But the Lord is unchangeable. He can be trusted. The salvation offered to us in the gospel is unchangeable. Those in the times of the New Testament church Those who were saved then, those who were saved in the record of church history. were redeemed by the grace of God. They were redeemed because they trusted in the finished work of Christ, the same way in which we are saved today. God's plan of salvation is unchangeable. That is something that many in this world feel to grasp. Many who hold the office of a minister or a religious worker feel to grasp that God is unchangeable, that the plan of God regarding the redemption of man is a plan that is unchangeable. Christ alone saves, but many have took their eye off that. Many think that we will all be found in heaven. Many think that we do not need to rest on Christ alone for salvation. The gospel has changed, but yet it is unchangeable. It is unchangeable. He acknowledges the eternal and unchangeable nature of his God. Notice here, our final point in regard to this, that he encourages others to praise God. Verse 11. Sing praises to the Lord which dwelleth in Zion. Declare among the people his doings. It's a plea by the psalmist that encourages others to do the same thing in which he is engaged. To declare the marvellous works of God and to praise Him. And this is something that every believer ought to do. We ought to sing praises to the Lord. We ought to declare among the people His doings. David is doing this. And he is telling others to do the same. And this is something every believer ought to engage in. This is the mission of the Church of Christ. This is the mission of our Church. To praise God and to declare His marvellous works. for the edification of his people and to the salvation of souls. Notice secondly here his solemn declaration of faith in God. His solemn declaration of faith in God. Verses 7 to 12 make it clear that the faith that David had in God was a faith that looked beyond the present to the future as well. Today may be a day of blessing but tomorrow could be a day of trouble. And so our faith in God ought to be present not only in the day of blessing, not only today, but also tomorrow and in future days when trouble comes. Verse nine gives us a great comfort to our souls. It says, there the Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. The Hebrew word for refuge indicates altitude. a lofty cliff, an inaccessible place, a place of defense, a high tower or fort. And when the day of trouble comes, the Lord has a place of safety for us that is inaccessible to the enemy. inaccessible to the enemy. A place that is high up. A place that is secure. The Romans built a fortress at Masada on a mountain overlooking the Dead Sea. Why? Because it was secure. Because it was hard to access. Because when they looked around they could see any enemy approaching. It was a place that was secure. And the same thought applies here. The Lord is a refuge for us, indicating altitude, a lofty place, an inaccessible place, a place that man cannot enter, a place that is secure. When we have trouble, when we have sorrow, the Lord will be a refuge for us. We'll be in a place that is inaccessible to the enemy. Verse 10 drives home the truth, it says there, and they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. The Lord here is praised by David for not forsaking his people, that truth is driven home. The Lord's people are not cast off. The Lord's people are not left destitute. Many today, even in the Church of Christ, will follow a particular man. Many in this world, in the varying walks of life, will follow a particular man or a particular cause, a particular group of people. But sadly, The time sometimes happens whenever those people are cast off, whenever those people are forsaken, whenever those people are left destitute because the one in whom they put their trust is an all that they were made out to be. But when we come to the Lord, the Lord will not forsake his people. He will not forsake those that seek him. He will not cast us off. He will not leave us destitute. We can trust in him. We can have that assurance. that when we place our faith and trust in the Lord, we will not be forsaken. He will be a refuge for us. The hymn writer said, O for a faith that will not shrink, though pressed by many a foe, that will not tremble on the brink of poverty or woe. Notice here finally his supplications for deliverance and justice. His supplications for deliverance and justice, verses 13 to 20 consist of David's prayers for deliverance and God's justice upon the wicked. This being a psalm of 20 verses it is difficult to get a view of this psalm that is in depth and to some extent complete. But this is just a glance at this and certainly there's a group here of 7 verses, verses 13 to 20. There are a lot of things here that could be considered individually. But for our study, for the outline we're doing, for time's sake and space on paper, we're bringing these things together and we're going to say a number of thoughts about them. But verse 13 is a prayer which ought to strike chords with us. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. Has there not been a time within our life that we have prayed that very same prayer. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, a time that has troubled us, a time in which we have thought that all was lost. And we cry to the Lord, have mercy upon me, O Lord. David here considers that the Lord is the one who lifts him up from the gates of death. All looks hopeless, the end is in sight. But his God steps in, consider my trouble, which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death. David Psalms a fool of looking to pass mercies and blessings to encourage him in prayer for present and future situations. And David here again is emphasizing the Lord has helped in the past, the same God will help in the future. David's desire or David's object in desiring this deliverance is seen in verse 14. He wants delivered from this trouble. He wants lifted up. Why? That I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in thy salvation. David wanted to be delivered so he could praise the Lord because he could declare and rejoice in God's salvation. This is not a selfish reason for deliverance. It is a reason that glorifies God. A reason that glorifies God. We do pray to the Lord for deliverance. We pray for the Lord to help us, to deliver us from times of trouble. But may the primary reason be that in the Lord's deliverance of us, we can show forth and declare his wonders. We can praise and glorify him. Notice the simple word all in verse 14. All thy praise, it's found in verse one as well. All thy marvellous works. David wasn't going to forget anything. He was going to declare All. He was going to declare all. In regard to God's justice upon the wicked, we see verse 15 and 16. It says there, The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made, and the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executed. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgien. Selah. Notice that term Hyggean in verse 16 and the Sela that follows it. The psalmist here is saying, The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Meditate on this. That's what Hyggean means. Meditate on this. Pause the music. The instruments that are playing, pause the music. That's what Sela means. And this is something that those outside of Christ ought to consider. The wicked is snurred in the work of his own hands. Meditate upon this, think in this, pause the music. This is something important that needs to be considered. The wicked is snurred in the work of his own hands. If we turn back to Psalm 7 and the verses 15 to 16, we see here verse 15, he made a pit and digged it and has fallen into the ditch which he made. And there is a similar thought here in verse 15. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made. Many in this world will blame God for sending sinners to hell. But yet, it is their own actions that cause their fall. It is their own actions that cause the judgment of God to come down upon them. The heathen are sunk in, down in the pit that they made. They made the pit because of their sin and because of their rebellion. Verse 20 is a prayer that we ought to pray Many nations think themselves to be above God and His law, yet they ought to see themselves as mere men. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Again, an emphasis to think in these things, put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. And the word man here is enosh, which we considered in relation to psalm 8, implies the weakness, the frailty and the mortality of men. God is praised in this psalm for all his wonders, and it closes with a prayer that the nations would know themselves to be frail, to be weak, to be mortal. the sight of God. They would realise who they are and who God is. Matthew Henry said in singing this psalm, we must give to God the glory of his justice and pleading his people's cause against his or her or their enemies and encourage ourselves to wait for the year of the redeemed and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion, even the final destruction of all anti-Christian powers and factions to which many of the ancients apply this psalm. Notice here Christ in Psalm 9. When we praise the Lord, we are able to praise him because of the Lord Jesus Christ. We could not praise the Lord except for Christ and what he has done for us. When we praise the Lord it is because of Christ's salvation. Henry Law spoke of God's marvellous works as seen in the psalm. He said, from the cradle to the sore. Christ died for us. Christ lives for us. Christ will soon come again to receive us unto himself that where he is there we may be also. Let us praise with our whole hearts. Let us be glad and rejoice in him. The greatest work of God, the most marvellous work of God was the work of redemption, focused and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 6 refers to the final defeat of the enemy and the Savior will utterly and eternally defeat the great enemy of God, the devil. And we ought to be aware of Satan and his devices but we ought not to be afraid of him. We ought to be wary of him. We ought to be wary of his devices but not afraid because he is a foe of that is defeated. He is a foe that will face a perpetual end. He is a foe that cannot stand against Christ Jesus, for the Saviour has the victory. May the Lord bless these thoughts this evening to our hearts on this particular psalm. Amen.