All right, the youth can be dismissed for Sunday school. The rest of us go ahead and grab your Bible and turn to the book of Psalms, Psalm chapter 10. And as you're turning there, by the way, if you don't have a Bible, there should be one somewhere within reach. Definitely look around and grab one and open to kind of the middle-ish of your Bible to the book of Psalms, Psalm chapter 10. 10. And as you're turning there, just a welcome to you all. Good to see you all. Thank you for gathering with us this morning for worship, especially if you're newer. Once again, great to have you with us. As we open the word of God, really, we continue and ascend in our time of worship through the hearing and the study of God's word. We worship God during this time, not ourselves, which is why we look to his word. to study, Psalm chapter 10. Well, we've sort of, we've been in a verse-by-verse study in the book of Romans, and we stopped for a little bit, wanted to look at just some various passages to help guide us and guide our thinking through these interesting times. Over the last month or so, we looked at Luke chapter 10, prioritizing the word of God, and the God of the Word, time with him, much time sitting at his feet to calibrate our thoughts with truth. We also looked at the parable of the prodigal son to remember that the gospel is of foremost importance. That just as the father in the parable of the prodigal forgave an outrageously wicked son, so does God for all who put faith in him. And the ground is flat at the cross. And we also looked at Colossians 3, 12 to 17, the necessity to be a gospel witness as a church, a church that is united, that is humble, compassionate towards one another, forgiving one another. And this morning I wanted to pull over again and look at Psalm chapter 10. The title of our study this morning is Break the Arm of the Wicked. It was April 14th, 1865. Y'all historians know the date. Mr. Booth, John Wilkes, and his posse had plotted to kidnap President Lincoln. He had three, maybe more people, history says, to kidnap Lincoln. to murder him and also murder Secretary of State William Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson, to take out all three of them, trifecta. You know the story, what happened at Ford's Theater there in Washington, D.C. Lincoln was shot in the head and died. Johnson was never shot. Seward was and survived. four conspirators, Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt. They were taken out. Of course, Booth was shot, the one who assassinated Lincoln. But on July 7th, 1865, the four conspirators were rounded up. They each played different roles in the assassination. Again, not just Lincoln was the plan, but Johnson and William Seward. Powell was assigned and heralded to kill Seward. George Atzerodt was to kill Johnson. Booth, of course, to kill Lincoln. Much of the plan, this conspiracy, was organized at a boarding house owned by Mary Surratt, one of the four conspiracists. It was discovered that she had supplied Booth with all kinds of needed items for his escape, for the whole ordeal. Of course, only Booth succeeded. And the days rounded up, and the days following, excuse me, they were rounded up. The trials and convictions were very quick. And there was great debate over should we hang this woman, Mary Surratt, one of the four, the only woman. There were some pleas for mercy upon her, but they were rejected and all four of them were hung. Executed July 7th, 1865. History sometimes repeats itself or attempts to repeat itself. In 1912, old Teddy Roosevelt was shot, 38 caliber, and thanks to God for his speech and his papers that were rolled up, he survived. And he later was famously quoted saying, I didn't give a rip for being shot. It's something that every man should expect to happen to him in his life. 1981, the most recent attempt, President Reagan, he survived as well. And then, of course, yesterday in Butler, Pennsylvania, a guy armed with a rifle climbed up on a roof and shot at former President Donald Trump as he spoke to a large crowd. Trump had just turned his head to the right, causing the bullet to hit his ear instead of enter his skull. Tragically, the assassination attempt left one in the audience dead and two others critically injured, at least those are the reports at this time. It's a reminder, among other things, that evil exists. We as Christians utterly reject the idea, for example, of heresies like the Christian science religion, which is neither Christian nor science, which says that evil is some sort of an illusion. Evil exists. We know it does, not only because of conscience, but because of this book. This book is the standard, what defines what is right and wrong, good and evil, righteous and unrighteous. We must absolutely resist the very dangerous idea of postmodernism and post-postmodernism, that these things are relative or culturally defined. and thereby resisting any temptation to be desensitized from these things. This is the great temptation and phenomena that's happening in our day. There is a God. There is one God, of course, the true God revealed in the 66 books of scripture. And he has particular characteristics. He is holy, which means he is set apart, 1 Samuel 2, 2. There is no one holy like the Lord. Deuteronomy 32.4, the rock, his work is perfect for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. He is not a God of our own making, a God of our thoughts. At the inauguration of President Obama, as one clergy prayed to the God of our own understanding, Quote-unquote. That's a pagan myth. There's no such thing as a God of our own understanding. There's only the God who is, whether we acknowledge or exist, it matters not. He is. Matter of fact, that's the name he gave himself in Exodus chapter three, Yahweh. It's a derivative of the idea of he is or I am. So we understand evil not as a social construct, but in relation to who God is and what his word says. His word is the standard. Anything that deviates from it is not love and it is not good. It is not loving to affirm things that God does not affirm. 1 Corinthians 13, love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth. God gave commands for the world. We must have no other gods. And remember his commands are like telling your kid, don't drink antifreeze. Don't do things that will poison your life. Don't go too close to that 10,000 foot cliff. That's what his commands are. For the blessing and the safekeeping of his creation. If you want different commands, then you're gonna have to become God and make your own universe, which of course is impossible. So here we find ourselves, no other gods. We must not make an idol out of anything, whether ourselves, our looks, our reputation, our money, our comfort, being liked and relevant, a great idol of the day, especially for the church. The Lord's name must not be carried along with us in an unworthy or a vain manner. Keeping the Sabbath, which of course in the New Testament is fulfilled in the Lord. We keep it on the Lord's day. Honoring our father and mother. This is a day where it's acceptable for parents to be dishonored and disobeyed. We see how that works out in society, don't we? We must not murder. Must not murder. We must not commit adultery. We must not steal, we must not lie, and we must not covet, which is to say we must give thanks to God. And Jesus comes and clarifies to a conservative culture who are lost, religious but dead, in Matthew chapter five, verse 21 to 48, it's not just externally with our hands that we're to keep these commands, but internally with our hearts and our minds and our attitudes. Summing it all up in Matthew 5, verse 48, in other words, you have to be as perfect as God. This is the standard. We've all fallen short, we understand that. A Christian is not someone who is inherently superior, but who is sinful and has merely received forgiveness by the grace of God. We've all fallen short, we've violated it. However, we live in a nation. And this needs to be remembered at times. We live in a nation in which violating these is occurring at an exponential rate, celebrating violations, finding new ways to violate God's commands, angry, calling it hate speech if you point out violations, and even making laws to protect violations of God's word. This is disgusting. Yesterday was an attempt to break God's sixth commandment. Murder a former president, a sinner like the rest of us who needs the grace of God, a bystander murdered in the process. But it's a reminder that our nation is a murderous nation. This is a murderous nation. And you're delusional if you ignore that or suppress that. Again, Christians are no better than anyone who seems to have received forgiveness. We must point these things out. It's loving to. For example, on July 4th weekend, 109 people were shot and 19 murdered in Chicago over that one weekend. And something like 65 million babies murdered through abortion since 1973. 65 million. That's something like the population in the entire state of California, in New York, and maybe a little change. 65 million. And there is full forgiveness for this sin through faith in Christ. His blood washes it and all sin clean. But a little thought experiment with me, if you would for a minute. If you kill some non-image bearer, something not made in the image of God, for example, a grizzly bear, which our greater Yellowstone ecosystem is infested with. $25,000 fine plus confiscating your car, your weapons, your gear, or maybe an eagle. I'm not advocating for these things, I'm just stating the laws to show the evil of our land. $10,000 if you kill an eagle or more. Or one of the 1,000 birds on the quote, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, end quote. On one of the 1,000, you can be fined up to $15,000. But you can take the life of an unborn baby. No one cares. Imagine if you took a bald eagle egg and in front of a watching crowd in Yellowstone, stomped on that egg and smashed it on the ground. Or if you euthanized a grizzly cub, what kind of an outcry would there be? You'd have death threats continually. mobs, protests, pitchforks and torches, crying for your blood. But the life of an unborn human, nothing. This is an evil nation to the core. God has given the wonderful gift of marriage between one man and one woman, the context alone for union and sexual intimacy. But in the meantime, in our nation, there's a multi-billion dollar pornography industry in our nation where, according to the statistics from the National Center of Sexual Exploitation on Pornography, the statistics are incredible. Quote, 93% of boys and 62% of girls have viewed pornography during adolescence. Adolescents, that's before they're 13, 93% of boys and two thirds of girls. 64% of people, again, about two thirds, ages 13 to 24 admitted in the survey, maybe some didn't admit, admitted ages 13 to 24 to seek out pornography weekly or more often. One site reports that, quote, in 2016, that's a long time ago, people watched, quote, 4.6 billion hours of pornography on its site, end quote. That's one site, 4.6 billion hours. How could that time have been redeemed in useful and holy and good endeavors? Children are taught in school that despite God's clear design that is good, a child can have two moms, two dads, a child can born a boy can pretend to be a girl, a girl can pretend to be a boy. Where does that come from? There's no God, we're our own God. We can do what we want, no big deal. Drag Story Time, where perverted, disgusting men, given over, dressed as sexually suggested, exaggerated women, attempting to normalize perversion by reading books to the most vulnerable, formative people of society, children. And there is a 501c3 called Drag Story Hour, DSH, a non-profit in the United States, with about 30 chapters nationwide, that celebrates this perversion. You can start your own chapter if you want in your own town. And in the meantime, while this happens, you can't talk about God in schools or Christ or scripture in the library unless you're degrading them. And people walk around like this is normal, this is okay. This is evil, majorly evil. I pray that we would have a conscience and a sensitivity and a moral compass to it and not just say, oh, shucks. And we have a presidential administration who celebrates it, celebrates these things. It's a slap in the face to God, the God who puts air in our lungs, food on the table, rain and crops. Speaking of the presidential administration, we currently have the great degradation of this position of political leadership. That is to be a position of strength and dignity and righteousness and excellence and setting the example for the rest to follow. That's what leadership is to be, especially leadership of an entire country. But in the meantime, it's so degraded that we can have a guy with a massive cognitive decline and probably dementia or senility, and yet the administration says all is well. This man should be given care in a nursing home and properly loved that way. That's what we'd be loving. and yet he's propped up as if nothing's wrong and you're not supposed to notice. You're supposed to think everything's fine and be hypnotized by the evil in front of your eyes. The person who has control over the nuclear codes, trillions of dollars of deficit, billions and hundreds of billions of your money, tax dollars, foreign policy, trying to negotiate with other evil nations, this is a degradation. of what leadership should be, should be God-fearing individuals with dignity, a heart for righteousness, courage, who stand uncompromisingly for what God defines as right or wrong, punishing evil as God defines rewarding good. And on top of that, in the church, we have churches that wanna be like the world, that hopscotch the Bible. Now, we thank God that Christ is on the throne. and He causes all things to work together for good. We throw anchor in that, you know that, if you've been with us, we've studied that in Romans 8, that God is sovereign. He'll bring it all to a very good end, we know that. We know the rest of the story, the end of the story. We praise God, our hope is not in this world, but in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the grave and will absolutely return. But at the same time, we must not, as a people, be like the proverbial, the proverbial frog in the pot where the water is slowly heated up at a rate that the frog doesn't notice much. He thinks, this is normal. This is normal. Until eventually he's boiling. We must not be like that. We have got to stay on the uncompromising standard. We must not be like the guy who he's in an inner tube and he's only about a quarter mile offshore. But instead of looking at shore, he's looking at another guy who's a mile offshore. He says, well, at least I'm not as far out as that guy. And he keeps looking at him. hour after hour, and instead of being a quarter mile offshore, lo and behold, he looks back several hours later and he's 10 miles offshore, but was falsely comforted because at least he was behind the other guy who was a mile out in front of him. This is what can happen if we do not stay anchored on the authority and the sufficiency of the Word of God. Don't be like the frog. Psalm 97 10 says, hate evil you who love the Lord. It's a command. So part of loving the Lord means hating evil as God defines it. And he's not unclear about it in this book. We understand that, we also understand that true worship, true knowledge of God being saved means hating the evil inside of us, in our own thoughts, in our own lives, because we all have it. Unless we're God, we all need forgiveness. But it also means hating the evil outside of us, which is what Psalm 97 is commanding us to do. If we do not have a category of loathing evil around us in our worship of God, then our worship is off. It is off. It is imbalanced. It is an error. It is man-centered and not giving God the full honor that he deserves. Our heart must align with God's in matters of good, evil, righteousness, and righteousness. The true worship of God, which is what it means to be saved, cannot be neutral towards evil as God defines evil. not as culture or the lukewarm, watered-down, secret-friendly church defines it, as the Bible defines it. The people who know God must have a great sensitivity towards evil. In fear and trembling, we mustn't forget what God did to the world in Genesis chapter 7. I mean, just say a lot on that for a minute. Eight people out of who knows how many millions and billions A deluge. And Roland's gonna take you up in a few weeks and show you evidence for it in Yellowstone. And we mustn't forget what God did a few chapters later in Genesis 19 to Sodom and Gomorrah. It was so bad that that city archaeologists think now is buried underneath the Dead Sea. A perversion of homosexuality, God rains fire on it. Our loving and forgiving God. And we mustn't forget what Jesus will do when he returns in Revelation chapter 6 to 19. There's lots of blood talked about in there and it's not Jesus's. And of course what he'll do at the great white throne judgment one day, Revelation chapter 20 verse 11 to 15. So beloved, we must love the Jesus. The church today must love the Jesus who in Matthew 11 says, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I'll give you rest for I'm gentle and humble in heart. And yet we must also love the Jesus who a few chapters later is in the temple throwing tables, picking up chairs and throwing them in hot anger, picking up the money that the money changers had made and launching it and scattering it. We must love that Jesus because that is the true Jesus, not the Jesus of our own making. Which Jesus do you love? The Psalms, among other things, instruct us on what true worship of God is to look like. It's a worship manual in that sense. And as such, we notice there's not merely a couple of Psalms, right? This guides us. The Psalms guide us. By the way, they guide us on our emotions as well. They tell us how to be emotional. Just they tell us how to think, how to praise, how to lament. These aren't to be capricious or up to ourselves. They're to be guided by the Psalter, the Psalms. And there aren't a couple of Psalms that say, well, yes, there's evil, no big deal, just as long as it's not affecting you, just kind of be Pollyanna and that's okay. The Psalms say nothing like that. There are many Psalms which teach God's people that part of worship of the true God involves a hatred of evil. There are like a dozen imprecatory Psalms. That's a huge chunk of the Psalms. Psalms that pronounce curses. They're there because they're meant to guide us in worship. God's people would sing these, still do, are to. Psalm 10 is related to those. A Psalm that recognizes and loathes evil as God defines it. and it guides us through. How are we to process that? We need the word of God, not Fox News or CNN or any other news to best guide us. We need God to guide us. In addition to national evil, maybe some of us, as we look at the psalm, some of us are experiencing maybe personal evil, some injustice, maybe persecution for your faith, feeling alone, suffering, because of your faith, whatever it might be, Psalm 10 is a great gift from God to guide us in the midst of evil. Turn there if you have not yet with us and follow along as I read. I'll read from the Legacy Standard Translation, Psalm chapter 10. Why do you stand afar off, O Yahweh? Remember Yahweh translates, it's the Hebrew word that translates, capital L-O-R-D, the name God gave himself. I am, eternal one. Why do you hide yourself in times of distress? In his lofty pride, the wicked hotly pursues the afflicted. Let them be caught in the thoughts which they have devised. For the wicked boasts of his soul's desire, and the greedy man curses and spurns Yahweh. The wicked in the haughtiness of his countenance does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there's no God. Verse five, his ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high out of his sight. As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. He says in his heart, I'll not be shaken. From generation to generation, I will not be an adversity. His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. He sits in the places of the villages where one lies in wait. In the hiding places he kills the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. He lies in wait in a hiding place as a lion in his lair. He lies in wait to catch the afflicted. He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. He crouches, he bows down, and the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. He says in his heart, God is forgotten. He has hidden his face, he'll never see it. Verse 12. Arise, O Yahweh, O God, lift up your hand. Do not forget the afflicted. Why has the wicked spurned God? He has said in his heart, you will not require it. You have seen it, for you have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to you. You have been the helper of the orphan. Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer. Seek out his wickedness until you find none. Yahweh is king forever and ever. Nations have perished from his hand. Oh, Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will strengthen their heart. You will cause your ear to give heed, to give justice to the orphan and the oppressed so that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror. This is the reading of the word of God. Father in heaven, we pray that you would bless the preaching of your word. We need your Holy Spirit, that only that which is true to the text and helpful for up-building would be said. And we need your Holy Spirit to have ears to hear. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. So the Psalms, they are the ancient hymnal. All of these would be sung, even like Psalm 137, which is way more imprecatory than this. but they inform us how to respond to the contours of life in a thorn and thistle world. God gave us Psalm 10 through the pen of King David in Israel around 1000 BC in a time where he was surrounded by much wickedness. Thankfully, he was a king that stood for righteousness, being imperfect himself. But with David, by the inspiration of the Spirit, we're guided. And so here is God's people, we're guided and shepherded. If you were to say, what's the goal of this? We are guided and shepherded. on how to worship God in the midst of great evil. We are guided and shepherded in how to worship God in the midst of great evil. To be saved is to be a worshiper. There's no such thing as, well, I'm saved, but I'm not a worshiper. You're not saved. You're not going to heaven yet if you're not a worshiper, and you can become one by bowing the knee to Jesus Christ. Life as a believer is a worshiper. How do we do that in such circumstances? We'll see three things, and I'll repeat these. We'll see the pain of God's people, the prayer of God's people, and the praise of God's people. The pain, the prayer and the praise. Number one, notice would be number one, the pain of God's people found in verses one through 11. Notice the pain of God's people. The pain of God's people. Verse one through 11 tells us among other things that we can and must continue to worship God in the midst of pain. Not just personal pain, but here the context is pain because of so much evil around us. In fact, there is a sense, according to this Psalm, in which righteous pain and sorrow is worship. It is worship, it's pleasing to God. You see this in Ezekiel chapter nine as well. David begins where many of us have been, wondering, look at verse one, perplexed, a perplexing pain. Verse one, why do you stand afar off, O Yahweh, O Lord? Why do you hide yourself in times of distress? The thinking, feeling image bearer is honest here. Sometimes we wonder, it seems like God's passive. It may seem like he's asleep. It's normal to ask questions and to cry out to God. Those who care and have a mature, sensitive conscience that results in hatred for evil will find themselves crying out to God. The Psalms are passionate because they're showing us how to worship in passion, not in stoic, oh, I don't care. As long as I eat my kale and get my goofy workout in today, that's all I care about. No, we're passionate about God and his glory. That's a means to be saved. Where are you, God? Where are you? I'm in pain. Doubt, by the way, beloved, doubt is normal, isn't it? Especially in an evil world. It's normal. This is why it's essential to listen more closely to scripture than our feelings and then culture. We know from the word that God is not asleep, that the good shepherd is with us, that he will take care of everything. But it's normal to doubt and to question. This is the mature psalmist, the pain of worship. Look at verse two. One painful thing is how proud the evil are in their evil. Like bumping their chest. What are you gonna do about it? What are you gonna do? Bragging. and spurning. Notice that the boasting and their evil is spurning the Lord. Is this not the condition of our nation? What are you gonna do about it? We're gonna make laws. We'll call you a bigot. We'll call this hate speech. What are you gonna do about it? Bragging. It's one thing to commit evil in a corner, but it's another thing to brag about it and have a whole month called pride month. That's exactly what's been said in the Psalm right here. We're gonna bring this out and force you to join in applauding this, or you're a bigot. Verse four, the wicked and the haughtiness of his countenance does not seek him. All his thoughts are there's no God. Haughtiness, the word has the idea of tallness, putting someone up on some high perch, like the top of a mountain. Look at me above all you, stretching oneself out, stretching one's neck. Like a giraffe or a peacock spreading its feathers for everyone to see, look what I'm doing and nobody's going to stop me. They do not see God. They're like the fool of Psalm 53 who's an atheist, a pretend. Really, we understand from Romans 1, 18 to 23, there's no such thing as an atheist, only truth suppressors. It's a pretend game. Like you can change your gender. Like this guy has the faculties to be president. It's a pretend game where they wanna trick you. It's the result of atheism in part. May God save them. They don't seek God. And so with the delusion of no God, there's never gonna be a vacuum there, right? Well, God's not God, so I'm gonna act as if I'm God. No one's gonna tell me. The incredible idea that truth could be relative Of all the fairy tales, that's about as fairy and tailless as they get. They don't seek God. There's a delusion. I'll do whatever I want. This is the pain of evil, but there's more pain. Look at verse five. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high, out of his sight. For all his adversaries, he snorts at them. At times, it seems like the wicked benefit from being unsaved. It seems like they're better off. They get richer. They're healthy. They get more friends. Their life is easier. There can be the temptation at times to think maybe it'd be better to be unsaved and be going to hell. Maybe this life would be better if I was just going to hell. Asaph struggled with this in Psalm 73 as well. He said, God, I just, I look at these people sometimes and it's like, man, it's tempting. Seems like they don't have as many chains on them and restricted. I'd be better off. It's like in Pilgrim's Progress, second greatest book ever. And Christian, he's walking through the valley of humiliation, and Satan jumps out at him and says, look at you. But what, you're following God now? Paraphrasing. And Christian says, yeah, I am. He's a better master. He said, and Satan says, you've turned on me. And Christian says, yeah, he's a better master. And Satan says, you've already sinned against this master though. And he says, yeah, paraphrasing, but he's forgiving. And Satan says, I'll tell you what, I'll make a deal with you. Come back to me and I'll double your wages. Meaning I'll make your life in this world, he doesn't say that part, disclaimer, twice as better, twice as rich, twice as happier, twice as many friends. And this happens, we see people commit apostasy and their life seems to get better. This is Satan. He's the little G God of this world, the scriptures tell us. Beware, let us beware. Your judgments, oh God, your laws and commands, he says, they just cast them away. They're out of his sight, they ignore them. Verse six, he says in his heart, I'll not be shaken from generation to generation, I'll not be in adversity. Again, they just boast in this delusion Look at me. I don't have to waste my Sunday mornings. I don't have to waste, be all restricted. I can live how I want, do what I want. Verse seven, his mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. It's painful to listen to the speech of the wicked sometimes, isn't it? Just on and on and on, which is why it's so important to get and to listen to God's speech from his word. Verse eight, he sits in the places of the villages. Notice this tactic, where one lies in wait in the hiding places, he kills the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. So they target those who do right. They go after them. They hate the worship of God. They hate people who are public about faith, which that's what it means to be believer. There's no such thing as a believer that hides his faith. You need to be saved. They hate people and speak with vitriol against them who are public about their faith. Sometimes we ask ourselves, why do they just target those who worship God or even those who kind of have some Judeo-Christian values? Why do they target them? Why do they have so much hatred for people who just want to do good? Why would they get angry at those who want to promote sexual purity in the word of God and goodness and holiness? Why would that set them off? And you know the reason. because your life is a scourge on their conscience. They are image bearers with a conscience, and it's raging on their conscience, and they hate it. They hate it. Your life, which is just impervious, you're trying to live the Word of God and speak in the Word of God, it's just grinding like nails on a chalkboard on their conscience. And they want to silence it, and therefore you, hence the anger. They know they're doing evil and they know they're accountable to God. They hate it. Verse 9, he lies in wait in a hiding place as a lion in his lair. He lies in wait to catch the afflicted. He catches the afflicted when he draws them out into his net. He crouches, he bows down, and the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. Like a vicious lion, they target the innocent and the vulnerable. Again, this reminds us of the statistics of the pornography business that was mentioned. Sending massive temptation. Not just in a magazine you have to go get, but into the hands of like kids now and these devices. And as parents, side note, we, you, we have got to watch this and be very careful. The maturity and sanctification, if they're even saved, which many aren't, of adolescents and teenagers in no way can match the amount of temptation that is deluging that little device in their hand, in no way is. How are you, how are we shepherding that? They're targeting the innocent, billions of dollars, sex trafficking, even worse. Something that has been confirmed to exist in all 50 states and that profusely, all 50 states. Absolute tremendous evil. And you have lawmakers who recently and others reject, they veto attempts to make this a felony. They want to lower the penalty. Why might they want to do that? This is evil. That should be a crime that's punishable by death. Execution. You do not deserve to live any longer if you do that. You should be killed. Absolutely. And notice what they preach to themselves. Verse 11. He says in his heart, God's forgotten. He's hidden his face. He'll never see it. This is how they get acceleration in their evil. They might even, notice this guy, he even believes in God. He confesses, yo, there's a God. Well, at least our ruler confesses God. No, not at least, not at least, not at all at least. Because they do this, well, he's forgotten, he's forgiving, me and God are okay, you don't need to worry about that and all of this garbage. And so that just gives way, a God created in man's image for the acceleration of evil and the quieting and the destroying of a conscience, like hitting a fire alarm in your house, a smoke alarm, just break it. Church, you are called in a sense to be the conscience of culture. This is part of what it means to be salt and light in Matthew chapter five, verse 13 to 16. You are called to be the conscience of culture. Not in a self-righteous way, look at me, I'm better. We know we're no better than anyone. We're not better than anyone else. A true Christian hates their sin and is amazed that God would save somebody like them. But you are to speak and be the conscience of culture. Guided by this. This is the pain of God's people. Number two, the prayer of God's people. Number two, the prayer of God's people, found in verse 12 to 15. the prayer of God's people. So notice something fascinating here. I think this is very helpful. The worshiper of God, as he's experienced his pain, he doesn't put his head in the sand when it comes to evil. He knows we need to be active. We're not here to sit around and again, join Pollyanna. We need to do something. As painful as the evil around us is, God's people must not be passive or inactive. We mustn't cave into despair. Among other things, verse 12 and following shows us the worshiper of God goes to action, the least of which, and what he does here, which is very helpful and productive action, is prayer. Prayer. He centers his thoughts around God, lest we be overwhelmed by the evil around us. or just pushed into silence or passivity or anger. No, go to prayer. Go to prayer. Verse 12, look there. This is the prayer. Look at verse 12. Arise, O Lord. O God, lift up your hand. Do not forget the afflicted. This is more than a prayer for God to stand up and to notice. It's not what he's saying. The Hebrew word there for arise, it would remind the worshiper, ah, numbers, chapter 10. It's the same exact word used in Numbers 10, verse 35, when God's people are in the wilderness and Moses prays, Numbers 10, 35, it came about when the ark set out that Moses said, rise up, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before you. So this is a prayer of a battle cry. And remember, David is filled with the Holy Spirit here and guided by the Holy Spirit when he writes this. What does it look like to be guided and filled with the Holy Spirit? Psalm chapter 10 verse 12 and following. It's a prayer, a battle cry, take them down. Defeat them. Also a prayer to protect the afflicted or to care about the innocent. Lift up your hand, don't forget the afflicted, those coming under the arrogance. So it's a reminder that we're not to be passive, but also that the battle is ultimately the Lord's. The horse is prepared for the day of battle, Proverbs 21, 31, and its victory is from Yahweh. We do things, we're not passive, but we trust God for the results. And so we ask God to go to battle. Verse 13. Why has the wicked spurned God? He has said in his heart, you will not require it. So this is the psalmist recognizing among other things, the insanity of going against God. As Solomon said, there is no counsel, no wisdom against the Lord. Going against God is like taking a snowball, standing on top of the tram at the village, throwing it at the sun and saying, I'm gonna put the sun out and cool it down. It's utter futility and insanity. to spurn the creator of heavens and earth. Verse 14, you've seen it, for you have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into your hand. Though the wicked live as if God's asleep, he sees. And because of that, the unfortunate, or those who are experiencing this pain, commits himself to God. And God is compassionate, notice. The unfortunate commits himself to you. You're the helper of the orphan. What great hope. You come to God, he can be your helper. And verse 15, look at verse 15. Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer. Seek out his wickedness until you find none. The Hebrew word translated break there has the idea of crush or shatter. Shatter it like a 10 by 10 foot piece of glass that falls off a truck, and it's not just one little crack, it just shatters irreparably. That's the idea here. Dismantle these evil people like the shattering of a window. Irreparably dismantle them is the idea. And it's a command, it's do this, please God. break their abilities to do wickedness. And so, beloved, it is right to pray this. It's in the Bible, given to us by the Holy Spirit. It's right to pray this, not, well, Lord, maybe don't let them, you know, kind of play patty cake with them, Lord, shatter them, utterly crush them. Crush evil as you define it. This is something we should pray in view of the atrocities and the evils, that if they're not gonna repent and trust in Christ to be saved, which we pray for, that God would just shatter them, absolutely annihilate them. That is the godly, loving, Holy Spirit-filled thing to do. Notice further, he prays, seek out, seek them out until there is no more. This doesn't mean seek out and try to find it and just to look. But it's the idea of seek out as an exterminator is the idea. Seek it out as diligent, rigorous pest control. Like a pest control guy who comes to someone's house that's infested with rats and cockroaches. and seek them out. And if you tell that guy when he comes to your house to seek out rats and cockroaches, if you say to him, seek them out, it doesn't mean, well, see if there are any there. No, that means get rid of them until they cease to exist and there are no more. Until there are no more. This is the prayer of, this is a spirit-filled, godly, biblical, Jesus-loving prayer that is right in view of evil. Is this how you pray? It is inspired from God, and this is how we should pray if we're going to be godly and spirit-filled and spirit-led. This is the prayer of God's people. Number three. Number three, finally notice the praise of God's people. Number three, verse 16 to 18, notice the praise of God's people. And again, the psalmist's thoughts continue to center on God. And you'll notice, pay very close attention to this, you'll notice as the psalmist more and more focuses on God, turns from the pain to prayer and to the praise, he really gets traction into this praise. He's not ignoring, we never ignore, or are passive, or are just lackadaisical towards evil. And then he goes to praying, and notice that results in praise, because he's fixed on God. How instructive this is for us, beloved, isn't it? He begins with pain, gets his mind off feelings, goes to God, and that's when he gets lift off. Look at verse 16. The Lord, or Yahweh, is king forever and ever. What an anthem. I mean, he has just, he's gone from like base camp to the top of Everest at 29,000, gaining major altitude. God, not earthly kings and rulers are king. To be king means to be reigning, unrivaled. Unthreatened sovereignty is what it means. It means ultimately in charge and in control. It means having all supremacy. All power, God is King forever and ever. Eternal perspective, forever and ever. And as such, we're reminded what he says in the end of verse 16, nations have perished from his hand. Notice, why does he say God's King forever and ever, and then nations have perished? What's the connection there? This is the connection. In the midst of evil, that the spirit-filled person says, shatter it, He recognizes God is so sovereign that entire wicked nations have actually gone out of existence because of God. God has put them out of existence. At one time in history, every nation of the world was put under water and perished. And at other times in history, other nations, the Moabites, where are they? They're in history. Where are the Ammonites, who as a nation worshiped Chemosh? offering child sacrifice, they're gone as a nation. They don't exist anymore. The Phoenicians do not exist anymore. The Hittites, the Edomites, they do not exist anymore. So this is a warning, and as the psalmist takes comfort. Verse 17, oh Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will strengthen their heart. You will cause your ear to give heed. So notice this bold confidence that he has now from the pain and the prayer. He says three things that are very important. Number one, you hear the desire of the humble. God is a warrior who will shatter the wicked, but towards the humble who are bowed. who say, yes, God, this is what's right, even though it might not be comfortable with everything you say, they're humble, they're bowed. Humility is what most must characterize God's aching people. And notice it's humble to have pain and to pray these prayers in Psalm 10 amidst evil. God hears, it says, contrary to the wicked who claim he's gone. The second thing the psalmist says, you will strengthen. He's preaching truth to himself. Boy, if you struggle at times like me with wrong thoughts or anxiety or whatever, this is a model, this is the cure. You will strengthen, you will make strong. I'm not gonna listen to the wicked. The word means to fortify, to cause to be resolute. Those circumstances are difficult. And notice God, not us, does this. God is the one who makes us strong. God is our refuge and strength. And the third thing he says, he will incline. You will incline your ear. Notice the juxtaposition of the tenderness of God. It means he'll lower himself down like the shepherd would lower himself down to pick up the sheep, to hold him in his bosom. You'll incline, you'll lower yourself to me as I struggle. And anyone, even the wicked who would humble themselves. Psalm 73, 28, the nearness of my God is my good. And finally, verse 18, to give justice to the orphan and the oppressed so that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror. So on the one hand, first half of verse 18, recognizing the most vulnerable in society who are coming under the wicked schemes, God will ultimately vindicate them. He's not turning a blind eye. Every sin will be dealt with, either forever in hell or on the cross of Christ. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. And finally, the end of verse 18, notice this, so that man who is of the earth, why does he put that phrase, is of the earth, will no longer cause terror. It's emphasizing man's ultimate and radical weakness. That we're made of dirt. We're created. The puny man thinks he can go against God? And God who made the stars billions of light years away, and man comes out of the dirt and water and says, look at me. God says, man who is of the earth, those who cause terror will be dealt with. They're of the earth. It also emphasizes his sinfulness. He's of this world, he's not of God. And so this is an eschatological conclusion. His terror he will no longer cause. He's pointing us to eschatology, towards the end times, eternal perspective, look forward. There'll be a time when man who is of dirt will never again cause terror. And it will be striking how God deals with it. You read in Revelation how heaven sees what Christ is going to do when he returns, and there's silence, it says. They're just amazed at the awe and the terror that Jesus is going to cause on the wicked when he returns. So, beloved, this is the true and the only God. Do you worship him? Do you know this God? This is the true God. and the only God, the God who deserves worship in his redemption and in his wrath, and we are apologetic for neither. We do not silence either of them. Couple of quick things to conclude with. Number one, trust God to fix everything. Number one, trust God to fix everything. And again, trusting God does not mean doing nothing. There are lots of commands. We pray. We stand for truth. We read the book, so we're more conditioned by scripture than culture. We get equipped in our local churches and gather with God's people to be where God is, to be where the Holy Spirit is in fullness, where his blessing is. The body of believers, Christ's outpost, his bride, Jesus's greenhouse in a barren, wretched, burnt over land is the local imperfect local church, the New Testament local church. We speak, we care. Again, we trust God, vengeance is his. Second, second, so what? Turn to Christ. Turn to Jesus Christ. In light of this holiness and a God who hates evil like this, the only thing that makes sense is to turn to Him if you have not already. And as Revelation warns us to no longer be lukewarm, get off the fence. If we have some pet sin in our life that we're tolerating, God is so gracious and He says, come to me. Call on the name of the Lord and you'll be saved. Beloved, is there something in your life where if you were to ask the Lord, Lord, do I have something in my life that you really want gone? Gone from my life. How would the Lord answer that question in your life? Boy, he is so good and so forgiving and such a mighty fortress, we can come straight to him. He already knows it anyways. Why would we hold onto it? That's like drinking bleach and then eating broccoli at the same time. Well, I know I'm drinking a little bit of bleach, but at least I eat broccoli. It doesn't matter. You're killing yourself. Holding onto that sin is killing you. Or that thing that is an encumbrance from you running for Christ. Throw it upon the cross. Confess it to God. Trust in Him. Surrender your life to Him. And he'll give you a peace and a fullness you've never known and forgiveness and eternal life. And third, speak the word of God. Number three, speak beloved. Speak the word of God, number three. Trust God to fix everything. Give your life to Christ. Number three, speak, speak. God's people are not to be silent. The apostle Paul said, I believe therefore I speak. Are you speaking? Am I speaking? If we believe, we must speak. Jesus said, you're the salt of the earth. And you heard that excellent message that Harry preached a month or two ago on that. Preserving, restraining, giving taste and putrefaction and rot. What are you doing to season culture? What are you doing to give a little bit of taste and to slow down the rot of this culture? You are the salt of the earth. You're the light of the world. How are you giving light? A city on a hill cannot be hidden. No one puts a basket over a lamp. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. And so, beloved, let us have pain in our worship for it's holy and right, and let us pray in our worship and not be passive, and pray biblically in a Holy Spirit-led spiritual way as Psalm 10, and let us praise God that he's the King forever. Father in heaven, thank you for your word. Those of us who know Christ and have surrendered our life to him by his grace alone, Lord, we are no better than anyone or anything in culture. We're capable of any sin were it not for your grace. All of us. But those of us who know you, we praise you that you've saved us, that you love us, And may we pass on that love and that word and not be ashamed of a God of wrath or redemption, so as to be spirit-filled and biblical in loving you, Lord Jesus. Oh, we pray, save people in high and low places and every place in this nation. Use us as you wish. It's in the name of Jesus we pray, amen.