the book of Psalms and we're turning to Psalm 11 tonight. We're in between Sunday night series, we finished Ezra recently, I'm still praying and thinking over which series to do next. At this stage I'm leaning towards a study on the first Corinthians but be in prayer for me that the Lord will settle my heart on that over the coming days. But in the meantime we're taking this opportunity to cover some more of the Psalms And the wonderful thing about the Psalms is that they are standalone units. We're dealing with the Songbook of Israel and we've entitled the series in Psalms, Heaven's Hymnbook, Singing Through the Psalms. It's significant, isn't it, that the largest book in the Bible is a songbook? tells us something about the heart of God in reference to genuine praise and God wants us to be a praising people and he wants us to praise him with substance and with truth and with doctrine and with all the wonderful themes we find in in the Psalms, but they make great devotional thoughts and wonderful encouragements to us. So much comfort can be drawn out of the Psalms. How many of you have found the Psalms a comfort in your life? No doubt you have, and wonderful themes. And what I love about the Psalms, or one thing I love about the Psalms, is how they deal with the struggles of our hearts. and the psalmist pours out his heart to the Lord so often, dealing with various things and how we can find comfort and encouragement there. Well, we're in Psalm 11 and it's a short psalm but it's full of truth and seven verses. We're going to read it through, why don't you read it with me, on the count of two. One, two. In the Lord put I my trust. How say you to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? For lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men. The Lord tryeth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. And we're dealing tonight with the theme, the triumph of faith over fear. triumph of faith over fear. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness to us tonight and for this opportunity to again be in your house. Lord, we commit this time of preaching into your hands. Lord, how we need your special touch upon the speaker and the hearer tonight that we might leave this place knowing that we have heard from you and that we have met with you. So Lord, we pray for direction, we pray for guidance, we pray for blessing upon this time in your word. We pray that you would teach us that the Spirit of God would be the primary teacher tonight, that He would be present here to take the Word of God and to apply it to our hearts and to our lives and we'll thank you for all that you will do in Jesus' name, Amen. We do have a worksheet there if you'd like to follow along and fill out the outline and if you don't have one you could raise your hand, our ushers can bring you one. There's one hand over here, have we got any left there? Okay, anyone else need a sheet? You don't have to use it if you prefer to take your own notes, okay. All right, so Psalm 11, the triumph of faith over fear, and you'll notice a little preface at the top of the psalm there, it says, to the chief musician, a psalm of David. So David is the author of this psalm, we're in no doubt about that, and he addresses the psalm to the chief musician the man who was like the choir director, you could say, of the Old Testament and this song no doubt was sung by the saints of old there in Jerusalem. Now the Bible does not tell us when this psalm was written in David's life, we don't have that detail and the different suggestions have been made, perhaps it was when his life was threatened by King Saul, Others suggest perhaps it was when his life was under threat from his son Absalom. Whatever the case may be, the Word of God does not reveal that to us but we know that David was going through some struggles here with the attacks of the enemy. Now, as we've studied these first 11 Psalms, I've noticed that many of them have to do with the enemy and dealing with the enemy and the attacks of the enemy and Psalm 11 is certainly a psalm that is rich instruction for the believer who is being assailed by the arrows of the enemy and we do have an enemy, do we not? who seeks our destruction. And so what we see in the psalm is a description of the attack of the enemy and yet there is a great theme of triumph. David was able, with God's help, to triumph over his fears. so the psalm divides really into two sections. In verse 1 to 3 we have David describing the testing that he was enduring from the enemy. So verse 1 to 3 David describes the testing that he was under and then in verse 4 to 7 David then affirms his faith and trust in God and you see that sequence at times in the psalms where there is a description of the problem and of the danger, the threat and and then the psalmist ends on a great note of victory, affirming his faith and trust in God. And so we're going to follow those two divisions and just have two headings for our expository study tonight and with some points underneath each of those. So in verse 1 to 3 we have what I would call, the test of David's faith. Number one, if you're taking notes there, the test of David's faith and here David describes the assaults of the enemy against his faith in God. In the Lord put I my trust, how say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? for lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?' And so David was faced with several assaults here from the enemy. Let's look at those one by one. Firstly, the doubts of the enemy. The first attack against David described here that tested his faith was the doubts of the enemy. How the devil loves to use doubts as one of his weapons against us. Mark that down in the Christian life, that the devil will try and cause you to doubt, cause you to doubt God, to cause you to doubt God's goodness. And so the psalm opens there with David saying, in the Lord put on my trust, how say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? So here we have a taunt from the enemy tempting David to forsake faith in God and to run away, to flee from the scene of battle, as it were, into a mountain. That's the picture. The picture is of a bird flying away to safety in the mountain and whoever was saying this to David, we don't know, but it was the taunt of the enemy there saying to David's soul, you need to flee, you need to run, you are no match for the enemy. And we are often confronted with the same dilemma, it's the faith or flight decision. Will I exercise faith in God or will I flee? Now, I want you to consider the aim of these doubts. Where are these doubts aimed towards? Well, they are aimed there to the soul. How say you to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain. And so, I think the aim of this doubt was to do a couple of things. Number one, discourage the soul. How say ye to my soul? And how we need to remember that, that the darts of the devil are so often aimed at our hearts to cause us to doubt and to lose our trust in God. See that? How say you to my soul? So often the fight and the battle is there in the heart, isn't it? That's the battleground where the darts of doubt can come in and disrupt us. So the aim of these doubts was to discourage the soul and also to divert the saint. To divert David off of the path of God's will, flee as a bird, they were saying, to your mountain. And so, when we begin to doubt, we can often then begin to fear, which can lead us to a hasty and foolish course of action. Fear is a big weapon the devil uses in our life, isn't it? To try and cause us to run off from the scene of battle, to try and cause us to leave the path of God's will. there is a time in the Christian life to flee, the Lord Jesus Christ was taken by his father Joseph, remember how Joseph was instructed by God to flee into Egypt and to take Mary and his wife and the Lord Jesus into Egypt to escape Herod, David fled from Saul and so there are times in the Christian life when the believer may need to flee danger and there are people the world right now that have to flee persecution. So sometimes there is a place for that but the key thing is that you need to determine where the instruction is coming from. If the Lord is telling you to flee and it's clear from the Lord then you can do that but if the devil is telling you to flee and it's the whispers of doubt from the devil then you need to stay and you need to stand. Think of the illustration of Nehemiah in chapter 6 and how Shemaiah, a man by the name of Shemaiah who was hired by Sambala and Tobiah, tried to get Nehemiah to panic and meet him in the temple. and that was the whole purpose there, they're going to slay you, quick, let's meet in the temple and Nehemiah was not a priest, therefore he was not authorized to enter the temple proper and the ploy of the enemy there was to get Nehemiah to act on an emotional impulse rather than be obedient to the Lord. So be careful about the doubts of the devil and how they can be used to move you off of the path of God's will and you get panicked. and you get fear-stricken instead of putting faith in God. what's the answer to the doubts? If you're taking notes there, the answer to the doubts. And I love how David opens the psalm with these words, in the Lord put I my trust. So he's dealing with this doubt in the form of a question and he's putting a challenge there to whoever's saying this to him, saying how can you say this to my soul, how can you bring this doubt into my life when I have put my trust in the Lord. That's a good way, isn't it? To deal with the doubts that come from the enemy, to put our trust in the Lord and to boldly declare that. Psalm 27, 1 to 3, wonderful words here, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear, though war should rise against me. In this will I be confident. So David faced the doubts of the enemy. Number two, he also faced the darts of the enemy, verse two. The doubts of the enemy, verse one, and now the darts of the enemy, verse two. Look at the picture here, for lo, the wicked bend their bow, okay, they make ready their arrow upon the string that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. David goes on to explain here, the character of the enemy but now under the figure of an archer ready to shoot with his arrows. Let's consider here, number one, the enemy's tactics. What are the enemy's tactics that he uses? Well, I think there's at least two tactics I can see here, he uses surprise. Surprise! The wicked is pictured here as having their bow bent, the arrow ready on the string to fire at a moment's notice at the righteous and it's a very vivid picture of how the enemy is always prepared to strike, always ready to to attack the string readied on the bow. Now for David there was probably a physical dimension to this, he was a man of war and his life was under constant threat and literally people looking for opportunities to take his life but we can see how it applies in our lives with the devil and his darts and the way the world works in our lives as well, seeking to bring us down. devil also uses, the enemy also uses subtlety. Notice how the enemy seeks to fire these darts privily and this is something that came out in the previous study as well, how the enemy seeks to work in a secret and clandestine manner. In fact, the word privily here comes from the Hebrew word, darkness. fact the word is translated as darkness seven times in the Old Testament and once as obscurity and so it just paints the picture there of someone wanting to shoot in the darkness when you can't see, taking that opportunity to target you privily that's certainly the reality of the devil, isn't it? He comes as a serpent, with stealth to strike. Then we notice, not just the enemy's tactics, but the enemy's target. Who is the target of the enemy there that they may privilege shoot at? Who? The upright in heart. You say, who is the target for the devil's darts? You. upright in heart, those who know God, those who follow God, those who are walking with God. You see that? The enemy's arrows are pointed at the upright in heart, Satan wants to destroy you. If you're saved and you're living a sanctified and separated life, you are on the devil's hit list. I say that again? If you are saved and seeking to live a sanctified and separated life, mark it down, Satan has his arrow pointed at your life. You are a target for the devil and that makes sense, doesn't it? The devil's not going to aim his darts at those who are on his team, he's not even going to probably aim his darts too much at believers that are compromised and not walking with God but Satan wants to target believers who are seeking to walk God. And by the way, the same applies to churches, the devil's not worried about churches that are preaching damnable heresies but he is concerned to try and damage and to destroy churches that are seeking to uphold the truth. And so David speaks about this, this is all part of what David is being tested by, the doubts of the enemy, the darts of the enemy, number three, the destructiveness of the enemy. Look at verse 3, the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?' This is a very powerful verse. And so the figure changes now from that of an archer to that of a building. And David knew that the enemy would try and aim attack at the foundations of his faith. If you can destroy the foundation of a building, the building will crumble very quickly, won't it? what concerns me today is believers are not building their lives on the right foundation and they're allowing the devil to smash the foundation out from under their feet and it's wreaking havoc in their lives. Mark it down, the devil will aim his attacks against the foundations of our faith. Now consider at least two vital foundations that we must have in place in our Christian lives which the devil will attack. Number one, the foundation of the Savior, the Living Word. other foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 11 so that's a foundation notice it says foundations plural so we need more than one foundation in our lives these are scriptural foundations and the very the foundation that you must have in place in your life and it's the foundation that the devil will also attack is the foundation of the Savior himself You say, how can I have Christ as the foundation of my life? You need to be born again. You need to trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Without Christ in your life, your life has no foundation. You have no true stability there, but Christ is a sure foundation and He is the cornerstone, praise God for that, and when you get saved, you have that foundation laid down in your life. No wonder Satan relentlessly, down through history and to this day, has attacked the foundation of the person of Christ. False doctrines, false Christs, are all the work of the enemy to attack the foundation of our faith. There's a second foundation we need though in our lives and that's the foundation of the scriptures, the written word. Could I just encourage you tonight, build your life upon the Word of God. Build your life upon the word of God. Remember what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7, 24 to 27, in that parable of the two men with their two houses, one founded upon a rock and one upon the sand. Jesus said, therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. so you will notice there that it's not just the hearer of God's Word who's founded upon the rock but the one who both hears and applies the Word of God, who is whoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them. Let me ask you this question, why would you build your life on the shifting sands of the world's philosophies when you can build your life on the infallible, indestructible, unshakable, unmovable, unchangeable rock of God's truth? Why would you build your life on the shifting sands of this world and this world's philosophies? If you do that, your life is going to move around, your life is going to be destroyed. Why would you try and build your life on that kind of foundation when you can build your life on the unmovable rock of God's truth? And this burdens my heart, I tell you, because I see many Christians today doing the exact opposite of this, instead of building their lives on the infallible truth of God's Word, they're building their lives, or seeking to build their lives, on the empty philosophies of this world and with great destructive effect. So build your personal life on the foundation of God's truth. build your marriage on the foundation of God's truth. Do you know why so many marriages today are falling, are failing? Do you know why so many marriages are breaking? Because couples are not building lives on the truth of this book. It's alarming, I'm talking about people even from my peer group or people I've known for many years and you hear of their marriages going bust, you say what's going wrong? I'll tell you what's going wrong, they're building their marriages on Instagram and Facebook and all these other stupid things out there instead of building their marriages and their homes on the Word of God. The world has nothing to offer you. The world has nothing that you need for your family and for your marriage. The only way you're going to have any sort of marriage or home that lasts in these days is a marriage and a home that's built upon the indestructible book of God. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. world has no advice worth heeding on matters such as the roles for husband and wife and the raising of children. Turn off the world's foolishness and get your guidance from this book here.' So we shouldn't be surprised of the destructiveness of the devil, how the devil has sought to destroy to attack the Word of God from the beginning of time. What are the first recorded words of Satan in the Bible? Yea, hath God said. All the way back there in the beginning, the attack upon the Word of God started from the devil there, against the Word of God, because he knows if he can destroy your faith in the foundation of the Word of God, you're going to be a very weak Christian. Isn't it interesting how much the first book of the Bible has come under attack? That's part of our heart's desire in doing this series in Genesis on Sunday mornings, is to just reaffirm our faith in the first book of the Bible. What a masterstroke of the devil to have many Christians out there today, and some of them know the Lord, but many, many Christians out there today who have no confidence in the first chapters of Genesis, and they don't realize that the foundation for their whole Christian life and their understanding of the rest of the Word of God has been dangerously undermined. Sadly, much of the professing church has allowed Satan to just blow away the foundation from under their feet through things such as, liberalism with its denial of the supernatural, rationalism with its elevation of science, falsely so-called, over the authority of the Genesis account of creation, Textual criticism with a sceptical, rationalistic and unbelieving approach to the inspiration and preservation of the Holy Scriptures. Perversions of the Scriptures through modern translations based on a minority of corrupt Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that leave you with a butchered Bible with multiple deletions of words, phrases and even whole verses. Satan's attack against the Word of God is very real. So we have the test there of David's faith. But notice number two, our second major heading there, the triumph of David's faith, verse four to seven. David turns his focus upon the Lord. He's described the activity of the enemy, but now David turns his focus to God. The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. So here we see David encouraging his heart in several truths about his God and this would give him both perspective power to deal with the enemy's attacks and it'll help us too. So David was encouraged by, let's note these truths here, number one, where God reigns. Where God reigns. You see how David commences this section by focusing attention on God's high and lofty position. That's always good to do, isn't it? You're getting discouraged, under the attacks of the enemy, just lift your eyes and just remember where God is, where God reigns. And if we have such an almighty God in our lives, then we do not need to fear the enemy. So David focuses here on God's lofty position. Number one, if you're taking notes there, the presence of God in his temple, the Lord is in his holy temple, this is a reference to the heavenly temple, it's described there as holy, meaning it's set apart and unique, distinct and totally pure compared to any earthly temple and our God is there in the heavenlies, in the heavens, in power and in victory. You know, as a born-again believer, blood-washed believer, you have access to that heavenly temple. Through prayer, into that very place by the blood of Jesus Christ, Hebrews 4.16, Hebrews 10.19, we are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace. So you're under attack tonight, you're under test in your faith. Remember, God is in his holy temple and you can meet him there in the place of prayer and find power to overcome fear. The presence of God in his temple. Number two, the position of God on his throne, the Lord's throne is in heaven. God is on the throne. Why should we flee opposition when our God is the sovereign ruler of the universe? God's throne is in heaven, unmovable, the all-powerful God. I love the language there of Isaiah 6, 1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. That's our God. so we can encourage our hearts, as David did, in that wonderful truth. Yes, the enemy is real, yes the enemy attacks, but we can be encouraged and our faith can triumph when we think about where God reigns. Number two, we can also be instructed and helped by the truth of what God hates. What God hates The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven. These verses describe God's wrath against sin, God's judgment. His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked in him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Do you know our God has holy hatred against sin? I just don't believe in a God that would hate. God hates sin. He's a holy God who has a holy hatred, a holy and pure hatred against evil and God will judge those who will not repent. That is very clear in these verses. So, let's just consider three truths about the wrath of God revealed here in these verses. Number one, we could note the omniscience of God's wrath. God's wrath is according to his omniscience. You say, what does omniscience mean? Omni-science, all-knowing. God is all-knowing and God's judgment that he will bring upon the wicked will be according to perfect knowledge and here the psalmist describes the seeing eyes of God and what I would call the searching eyes of God. He says his eyes behold. And so the picture is very clear here, that nothing escapes the eyes of Almighty God in heaven. He knows all things. Hebrews 4.13, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened under the eyes of him with whom we have to do. The seeing eyes of God. And so God's judgment, his wrath, will be according to perfect knowledge. You don't think God sees what's going on in our world? don't think God knows the wickedness that is out there? And you say, is God fair? Let me just say, when God judges the wicked and the unrepentant, his judgment will be 100% fair and 100% just. No one will be able to say, God, you didn't know about this, there was a detail you missed. No, God's judgment will be according to his omniscience, the seeing eyes of God. It's interesting that this phrase though, look at it there, says, his eyes behold his eyelids try the children of men. Now the word try means to examine, to investigate, that's a little bit of an interesting expression isn't it? His eyes behold and his eyelids try. So how can God's eyelids try or examine the children of men? Well it seems the picture And here God is using human terms to help us to understand his character, it's what we call an anthropomorphism and that just is simply a word made up of two Greek words, anthropos, human, and morphe, form, and it's basically where the biblical writer uses human attributes to describe God in order that we might be able to understand his character and his nature. So God is revealing himself in language, in human sounding language, so that we can understand his character. So it seems here that the eyelids has to do with a close examination and I don't know about you but sometimes if you pick something up and you hold it up very closely, sometimes you will squint a little bit to look at it, okay? You examine it very closely, okay? And so it seems that's the picture, that's the word picture that is being used here God's eyes behold, his eyelids try, means he focuses there very carefully and very closely at what he is doing and again just emphasizes how God knows all things and C.H. Spurgeon explains it well, he says, he, that is God, narrowly inspects their actions, words and thoughts. As men who intently and narrowly inspecting some very minute object almost close their eyelids to exclude every other object, so will the Lord look all men through and through. God sees each man as much as and as perfectly as if there were no other creature in the universe. He sees us always. He never removes his eye from us. He sees us entirely, reading the recesses of the soul as readily as the glancing of the eye. So, the omniscience of God's wrath. The objects of God's wrath, number two. Who are the objects of God's wrath? Well, we have a contrast here between the righteous and the wicked, verse 5. The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. So the righteous are objects of God's refining, whereas the ungodly are objects of God's wrath. So God tries the righteous, and the word try can also mean to test or to prove, so God refines His saints, He purifies His children, His saints, but the wicked, the unrepentant, are objects of His wrath. So when the word try is used here in reference to the righteous, it's used in the same sense as in Job 23.10, but he knoweth the way that I take when he hath tried me, same word, I shall come forth as gold. So it's a wonderful thing. As a believer, God sees our lives and he tests us, he proves us, he purifies us, he moulds us. That's the work of a loving Heavenly Father in our lives. But the ungodly come under the judgment of God and it's stated here in the strongest terms that him that loveth violence the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. It tells us that God is not indifferent to man's sin and rebellion. Now what is it that God hates here? Well, let's look at it. He hates the wicked. Now, you say, hang on a second, I thought God loves the sinner? Well, He does. We know that from other scriptures. John 3 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God loves the world. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You say, well, what does it mean here? Well, on a basic level, it certainly means that God hates wickedness. Okay, God hates wickedness. God loves the sinner, we could say, but hates the sin. it's more than that, it's really referring, I believe, to someone who is in a hardened or unrepentant state and because they're unrepentant they make themselves objects of God's wrath because God is holy, God is righteous, while He loves the sinner, if the sinner does not repent they will find themselves under the awesome judgment of God. Could I just tell you that tonight, that God loves you but He hates your sin and you have a choice, either you're going to repent and receive forgiveness from a loving God or you will have to face God as your judge. You say, well see, that's why I don't like Christianity because, you know, God is a God who hates sinners and God is a God who wants to send people to hell. That is absolutely not true. God loves the sinner, God wants to save you. In fact, Jesus said that hell was prepared for the devil his angels, hell was not made for man, it was made for the devil and his angels but you have a choice, God will not force you, you will either choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour or you will choose to go the devil's way and therefore God has no option but to send you to hell. And so you can either face God as your Saviour as a saviour or you can face Him as judge. And here, the psalmist is stating in very strong terms that God hates sin and those who will not repent find themselves under the holy hatred of God against sin and His judgment. So, the wicked. And then look at this next one, those who love violence. that loveth violence, his soul hateth.' That's a good verse for our day in the 21st century. Have you noticed that the lust for violence seems to be one of the prominent expressions of the depravity of man? Now, sinful mankind expresses the depraved nature in many areas but it seems to me, as you look at the Word of God and even just look at history, it seems that when man really goes far from God, it seems immorality and violence are just two of the big, big ones. Remember the world of Noah's day was filled with what? Violence. When men persist in their depravity against God and go away from God, you find that they express that in violence. And it's not just those who are doers of violence here, do you notice that? But those who are lovers of violence. You know, it's really disturbing that we have a culture in the entertainment industry today that encourages lust for violence. lust for violence and it's just staggering and it's very disturbing actually, just how incredibly violent the movies and the TV shows and things that are out there are becoming. So you may not be a doer of violent acts and if you are, God hates that. You know, there are some people that love to perpetrate violence on others, God hates that. But it doesn't just cover those who engage in acts of violence, it covers those who love violence. Are you a lover of violence? Are you a lover of violent material? Let me give you a few examples here, violent movies and TV shows, horror movies, crime shows, superheroes such as Spider-Man, Batman, Doctor Strange. The violence displayed on screens today in the name of entertainment gets worse and worse each year as people get conditioned to ever-increasing depths of brutality and cruelty. It's the heart of man, it's wicked, but what are you as a Christian doing engaging in that? Violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Halo, World of Warcraft and the list goes on. You say, how do you know about those games? Well, I don't really know about them, I just hear them mentioned, or what I did as an experiment in preparation for this message, as I was thinking about that, about this, I just googled the lists of the world's most popular video games. And what you'll find is the various lists that come up, it might be based on sales, it might be based on user popularity. The various lists you find out there, like the top 10 kind of lists, Guess what? Most of the top ones are the video games that are incredibly evil, violent, and satanic. It's a huge problem and we've got young people in Christian homes and young people in fundamental churches even, that are sitting in front of those screens, blowing people's heads off, hacking people to pieces, engaging in the love of violence. This is the character of God, you love violence, God hates that. No, excuse me, I don't care what you say, this is the Word of God, you love violence, God hates that. violent books such as murder mysteries and thrillers that appeal to the depraved nature and encourage a fascination with the unholy. Now I think there's a place to study history, the world wars and that sort of thing but that's quite different to encouraging a lust for violence as entertainment. It's just a huge problem and my wife and I were at a doctor's appointment the other day with our little fellow, what's his name, I forget the names of all my children, Asher, yeah, we were at the doctor's and they had the TV going and I'm serious, it actually makes you feel really disturbed. I had to go and pray afterwards, this is daytime television, next thing some really evil music comes on, going through this dark hallway and there's some woman tied up and whimpering in the darkness and some guy with a hammer in his hand, it was just horrible and I'm just like, where's the controller to turn this thing off? And I thought, it's just a reminder of the kind of stuff people watch. That's daytime television, just evil! violence and sadistic material and it's just getting worse and worse and worse and God hates that, God hates violence. So we have the omniscience of God's wrath, the objects of God's wrath and then the outpouring of God's wrath. Verse 6, look at the outpouring of God's wrath, "...upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup." Make no mistake about it, if you refuse God's offer of salvation, God will judge. God will judge and it's pictured here as God's wrath being rained down upon the wicked. there are several descriptions of this. There's snares, this is interesting, a snare is a trap and the wicked may feel that they are in control, you may feel that you are free and beyond God's reach but the picture here is that God's judgment is inescapable. You may persist in your wickedness and your rebellion and you refuse to repent and refuse to trust in Jesus Christ and it's a fearful thing. You may feel that life is under your control but if you push on past God's grace and past God's mercy, God's hand of judgment will come upon you. That's the picture here. God's judgment cannot be escaped. He will rain snares down. Fire and brimstone. God's judgment is a fiery torment. Now the phrase, fire and brimstone, reminds us of the judgment of God on Sodom and Gomorrah but it's looking forward here, it says that God shall, upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup. So this looks beyond David's time to the ultimate divine judgment of the wicked at the end of the age. And we have to tell you on the basis of God's Word tonight that the fiery judgment of hell does await those who refuse to receive God's gift of salvation. Okay, I feel burdened to emphasize that tonight, I don't know who may need it, maybe there's someone listening online, I don't know. But let me just say that again, that if you refuse God's gift of salvation, you refuse the gift of salvation that God offers you, if you die in your sin, you will wake up in hell, you will step through the door of eternity into the fires of God's wrath. That is what the Bible teaches, it's not a fairy story, it's the truth of But could I again remind you that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You want to know how much God loves you? Look at the cross where the Son of God bled and died for your sins, paying the penalty of your sins so that you could receive a free forgiveness. But if you reject God's forgiveness, if you reject God's grace and God's mercy, then you will pass away. When you pass away, you will step through the door of death into Eternal fire. And the fire of God's wrath is like no other fire, it's an undiluted fire. Revelation 14 10 the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture the phrase there without mixture means full strength that means the wrath of God will not be tempered with mercy and grace now is the time to receive God's mercy now is the time to receive God's grace but if you reject God's grace his the fire of his wrath will be without mercy it's an unbearable fire Matthew 13 41 and 42... it's an unquenchable fire... Mark 9 43 to 48... it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to halt into life than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hellfire where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." You notice that five times in that passage the Lord Jesus Christ emphasizes that hell is a fire that cannot be quenched. fire that never shall be quenched, the fire is not quenched, into the fire that never shall be quenched, the fire is not quenched, the fire is not quenched.' So I don't believe in hell, do you believe in what Jesus said? These are the words of Jesus Christ. Do you know the Lord Jesus preached more about hell than he did about heaven? You say, was that because he wanted us to go there? No, because he was warning sinners not to go to hell. And that is what Christ is warning you tonight. Don't go to hell. Don't go to eternal damnation. Don't reject my gift of salvation. But God is just and God is holy and if you die in your sin, you will be judged. You say, well I've had a good life and I'm just looking forward to a peaceful death and I'll enjoy the afterlife. You will not. If you die without Christ you are going to hell for eternity. That's the reality of what the Bible says. And so the time to receive Christ is now before it is too late. And so fire of God's wrath is undiluted, it's unbearable, it's unquenchable and it's unending, Matthew 25, 46, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. 2 Thessalonians 1, 8 and 9, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. God is a God of justice and God hates sin. You need to repent of your sin, turn to Christ and receive his gift of salvation. I gave a tract to a lady the other day about death and she was a religious woman and she made this comment as I was leaving the shop. She said, well you know, they say that death is the most natural thing in life and so you just have to, you know, not worry about it. And I walked away, I sort of was thinking about it, I thought, hang on, there's something wrong with that statement. Death is an intruder, death came by sin, death is not the most natural thing in the world, death is an intruder on God's perfect creation. And no, it's not just an airy, fairy, wonderful thing. If you die in Christ, it's a wonderful thing because death is not the end. Death is a doorway into eternity. Death is a doorway into either the presence of God in heaven or into the fires of hell. The Bible makes that very clear. There's no purgatory. There's no in between. You are either on your way tonight to eternity with God in heaven or eternity in hell. Are you sure of your salvation? Now, if you're saved, I'm not going to try and make you doubt, but if you were to die tonight, and I hope you don't, but if you were to die tonight, would you spend eternity with Christ in heaven or eternity in hell? Where are you going to spend eternity? You can't afford to mess around with this. God's judgment is also likened here, not only to snares, fire and brimstone, but also to an horrible tempest. Think of a storm, a fierce storm and the wind, how it comes and blows and sweeps things away. That's the picture here of the power of God's wrath. It's likened here to a fierce storm. Spurgeon says that some expositors think that in the term horrible tempest there is, in the Hebrew, an allusion to that burning, suffocating wind which blows across the Arabian deserts. One calls it a burning storm, and I thought this was good, another, wrath wind. It's an interesting picture, the wrath wind of Almighty God. What a picture, the burning winds of God's wrath against sin. Barnes writes, "...as a furious blast of wind sweeps away houses and trees, spreading wide desolations, so would the wicked be swept away by the manifestation of the wrath of God." He said, why are you preaching this tonight? Because I feel burdened that maybe there might be someone here. Maybe there's someone listening online, I don't know, but there's someone on their way to hell and God has you here tonight to hear this message so that you would realize that it's time for you to repent, it's time for you to trust in Christ because if you don't, God will rain his righteous judgment upon your life. In the next life you will face the fires of eternal hell. By the way, maybe I could just say this, you say, well I am saved, I know the Lord as my saviour and I know where I'm going. If you're a Christian tonight and you believe in hell, then you should be very concerned about souls. If you're a Christian and you believe that the sinner is going to spend eternity in the lake of fire, then you should be willing to do something about that and tell people the gospel and come on a Saturday and be a part of outreach. Why wouldn't you be a part of that? What would it hurt you to come out on a Saturday morning and to put the gospel tracts into letterboxes so that people might have at least a chance? I know that we can't force anybody to get saved but we at least need to give people an opportunity to hear the truth so they can have a choice and our heart's desire and our prayer is that they might be saved. So how does this all relate back to David? Well, David is seeing things with perspective here. The enemy's attacking him but he says, the wicked have got a terrible destiny and I can see this situation clearly because of that. I can look to God and know that God is on the throne, that God is going to judge sin. And finally, David also speaks about truth of who God loves. So, where God reigns, what God hates, who God loves. Verse 7, for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. His countenance, referring to God's face, doth behold the upright. So, the psalmist here draws further comfort from the fact of God's love for the righteous and righteousness. number one there, notice it says that God loves righteousness. See that? The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. Why do you think God loves righteousness? Because He is the righteous Lord. That's the reason. The reason God loves righteousness is he himself is righteous, he is completely righteous, he is perfectly holy and therefore he loves righteousness and therefore he hates unrighteousness. Matthew 5, 6 says, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. We need to love righteousness And is it any wonder that God's Word says, be ye holy for I am holy? 1 Peter 1, 14 to 16. God loves righteousness, God hates wickedness and we should trust that God will, as He conforms us to His image, that God will help us to have the same attitude, that we would love what God loves and hate what God hates. By the way, how can you love what God hates as a Christian? How can you love the things that God hates? So God loves righteousness, God loves the righteous, verse 7. God loves the upright. So David could choose faith over fear, even in the face of the threats of the enemy, knowing that as one of God's children, he was under the watch care of Almighty God. The countenance refers to the face and speaks of the tender and loving care the Heavenly Father has for his children. As we walk uprightly, he blesses us abundantly, Psalm 84 and verse 11. So you see the contrast here, God hates The wicked and those that love violence, but God loves the righteous, He loves His children. They are the objects of His favour, not because of any goodness in them, but because they have received His offer of salvation and He has cleansed them. So, the triumph of faith over fear. Are you living in fear as a Christian? You can choose faith over fear because of who God is. Tonight, are you saved or lost? Are you under God's favour as one of his born-again, blood-washed children? Or are you unrepentant and therefore under his wrath? Come to Christ tonight, don't put it off. If you're not sure you're saved, make sure of that. Don't gamble your... listen, don't gamble your eternity on an unsure profession of faith. Don't gamble your eternity, there's so much at stake. If you are not 100% sure that Jesus Christ is your Saviour, that you have received His free offer of forgiveness, don't leave tonight without doing that. Get on your knees, call on the Lord and trust Him to save you. Let's all have our heads bowed and eyes closed. While every head is bowed and every eye is closed, Would there be anyone here tonight who would say, Pastor, I've heard tonight about God's righteousness, God's holiness, God's sure judgment. I've heard about the reality of hell, the reality of heaven. And if I'm honest, if I was to die tonight, I don't know 100% sure that I would go to heaven. But I'd like to make that sure tonight, I'd like to get that settled. Would there be anyone at all tonight who would just raise their hand? I'm not going to call you out, I'm not going to ask you to join the church, I'm not going to embarrass you but if there's someone here who's not a hundred percent sure that their sins have been forgiven, they're not a hundred percent sure that they're on their way to heaven, I'd like to give you an opportunity just to raise your hand so I can pray for you and then after the service we can take the Bible and show you how you can get that matter settled. How you can know for sure your sins are forgiven and you're on your way to heaven. Would there be anyone like that at all? Would you just raise your hand? Say, Pastor, please pray for me. I've heard the message tonight. If I was to die tonight, I'm not 100% sure that I would go to heaven, but I want to settle that matter. I need to settle that matter before it is too late. I need to trust Christ as my Saviour. I need to receive Him as my Saviour. Would there be anyone like that at all tonight? Would you just raise your hand? Maybe you're embarrassed to raise your hand. Maybe there's someone listening online. You can call on the Lord now and ask Him to save you. Romans 10 and 13 says, You can receive that now. You must believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. that he was buried that he rose again and then reaching out in faith receiving his gift now and you can do that in a simple prayer Lord be merciful to me a sinner Lord Jesus forgive me for my sin for my pride you can pray a simple prayer in your heart of faith I now receive your free gift of salvation I repent turn from my sin in my own way and I receive your free gift of Cleanse me in your precious blood. Come into my life and be my Lord and be my Saviour. Would you pray something like that in your heart and receive Christ if you have not yet done that? Lord, we thank you tonight again for your word. We pray, Father, that you would strengthen us as we go our separate ways. We pray again for any who may not yet know you as their Saviour. Please strive with their hearts and draw them to yourself. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.