I would invite you to open up your Bibles to Psalm chapter five. We are gonna be continuing our study of summer through the Psalms. We are halfway through this intermittent study. We're gonna take only 10 weeks to study 10 Psalms, and then we will return to this study, Lord willing, next summer. And so we'll be in Psalm chapter five. If you don't have a Bible, we have Bibles available at the back table that you could grab hard copies for yourself. And if there are any kids in the audience, if you would like a activity sheet, those are available at the back table for coloring and for notes. And so Psalm chapter five. Before we open and read this text, let me just have each of you ponder in your own hearts and minds this question. How comfortable are you in social settings talking to people, particularly groups of people? I recognize that for some of us that may be easier than others. It may come as no surprise to you that as being someone who is upfront and talking in front of large groups of people that I tend to be okay in these scenarios. But even someone like myself, who speaks in front of groups for a living, can find a level of awkwardness when I find myself in a social setting, particularly with people that I do not know, and my own ability to talk with them. And so I think many of us are similar in that regard. No more has this been apparent than in recent years as I have gone to parties and social gatherings, particularly for my kids, right? Kids at birthday parties, in which as parents sometimes you stay. And a lot of times these parties consist of parents that I do not know. These are friends from school and people that I maybe know only on a surface level or very casually. And I find it very hard to have conversations in these situations that you kind of just have to jump in there. You don't know what to say and things can be a bit awkward. But the saving grace sometimes is maybe in these settings there is one parent that you do know. And so what do you do in those situations when there's 20 people in a room and there's one person you do know? Well, you go and you talk to the person you know because there's a level of familiarity, of comfort, of ease in having a conversation. And so the principle here is that the more we know somebody, the easier it is to talk to them, right? When you're meeting somebody for the first time or when you don't know a group of people, conversation is difficult. But when you're with someone you do know, or even more so a trusted friend that you know really well, conversation is rather easy. I would say the same also applies with regards to our prayer life. If you are someone who doesn't know God, who he is and his character well, you may find yourself at times having difficulty talking to him in prayer. But the more you know about God, the more you know what he is like, his character, the easier you will find it is to spend time in prayer. And so as we open up to Psalm chapter five this morning, one thing that I want us to come away with knowing is that David knew God and his character. And he prayed according to his knowledge of God and according to what he knew about God. And so one of the things that I want us to take away, in fact, the main thing I want us to take away from this psalm this morning is seeing how we can pray in light of God's character. Pray, excuse me, in light of knowing who God is, because that's exactly what David does. We have five points this morning broken up into roughly three to two verses, but we see that David is praying with this understanding of who God is. Firstly, that God is king of kings. Secondly, that God is holy. God is love, God is just, and God is our refuge. And so those will be our points that we'll work through slowly this morning. But before we do that, let us read now the scriptures together. And so if you would, please stand for the reading of God's word, if you are willing and able. And at the conclusion of our reading, if we could respond to God's word together with our call and response. And so this morning, we are reading Psalm chapter five, Our prescript says that this psalm is to the choir master for the flutes, a psalm of David. Hear now verse one. Give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God. For to you do I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness. Evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. Make your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth. Their innermost self is destruction. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels because of the abundance of their transgression. Cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you rejoice. Let them ever sing for joy and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord. You cover him with favor as with a shield. This is the word of the Lord this morning. Let us say together, may God apply its truth to our lives. Thank you. You may be seated. And so we see in this Psalm, David's deep knowledge of God and he prays in accordance with that knowledge of who God is. And so I want to work our way rather quickly, given that there are five points here in this message, but work our way through these characteristics that David seems to hold so closely. The first we see in verses one through three, that David prays in light of knowing that God is the King of Kings, an important title. Let me read these verses once again. David cries out, give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God. For to you do I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. David petitions God as his king and his God. This is no small thing to notice. David himself was indeed a king. He was the king of Israel, a mighty nation at the time, and would be Israel's, in many ways, most loved and mighty king throughout its history. And yet this man, who was a king, looked to God as his king. And notice what he does, he makes a plea before the king. He says, give ear to my words, Lord, consider my groanings, pay attention to the sound of my cry. We may not be familiar with what it was like to be a king, but this is something that David maybe saw in his own life, that as his people suffered, or as his people went through hard times, they would cry out to the king for help, being the mighty one, the powerful one, the one who had the authority to render judgment in solving disputes of all kinds. In many ways, this is the role of a king for his people, to listen to their people. And so David, having men reach out to him and do this, now turns to God as his king. If you are unfamiliar with this as a role from the king, I would remind you of maybe the most famous example in scripture where we see people go to the king in times of need, that they would hear their cry and that they would bring a solution, particularly through their judgment or through their wisdom or providence. The most famous story we probably have in the Bible is when two women go before David's son, King Solomon. This is when Solomon was shown to be the wise king that he was. Two women who were arguing over whether or not this baby belonged to one or the other. Clearly, one woman's baby had died in the night. And one had not, and they were both claiming this child to be their own. If you're familiar with the story, you know that Solomon, in his wisdom, said cut the baby in half and give one to each, knowing that the true mother would say, no, save my baby, let her have it. But this was commonplace, that people would come before the king, make their pleas, make their cries, and the king would deliver justice or judgment over them. David would have been very familiar with this, and this is exactly what David does to God as his king. You know, and good kings would indeed hear the cry of their people and act. They would invite people into their courts to make these pleas that they would provide and lead for their people in this way. Bad kings would ignore their people, would not act on their best interests, but on their own interests. But even good kings are not able to hear every cry. David, we know was a, was a, person after God's own heart, and I think in many ways, through much of his life, though he had severe failings, probably modeled what it was to be a very good king. But even David, one man, could not hear every cry of every person in his kingdom, nor did he have the power to deliver each one of them from their troubles, as mighty as he was. But that is not the case with God. God hears every cry of his people. And he offers deliverance to every single one of his people, acting on their best interest. And this is a good picture for us in prayer. It is us going before the king in his courts and laying down our needs before him. And he is a good king and a good God who hears our cries. Sadly, as I've met with many people who maybe wouldn't call themselves Christians, or at least don't bother to spend much time in prayer. They've had this attitude. That God has, in many ways, the same limitations as David might have had as an earthly king. That he has more important things to deal with than my own problems. That surely he's more concerned with other things, that my plight is not of great concern to him. Why would I trouble him with these trifle matters? Instead, I will keep them to myself and find a solution on my own. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what prayer is and who God is. That he's the king of kings, that he could hear every cry of his people, and that we as his people, his adopted sons and daughters, are invited to make those requests before him in prayer. I think these words of God is too busy are actually words of arrogance, that I don't need God's help after all. Well, these words are spoken because they do not know God as their king, as the good king that he truly is. And I would say to you this morning, if you are a Christian who is trusted in Christ, then you have Christ as your king, who is living and ascended and reigning from heaven. And he is listening, his ear is to your cry. And notice what David says towards the end of verse three, he says, or in verse three, he says, oh Lord, in the morning, you hear my voice. In the morning, I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. David, in his time of distress, spends his first part of his day crying out to the Lord in prayer and believing that He will not only hear him, but then he sits and watches and waits for God to act. He says, in the morning, I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. His prayer is part of his worship and it's part of his expectation to see God move and work in his life and he excitedly runs to God first thing in the morning. This is the same invitation that you and I have with regards to the Lord that we can beseech the king to hear our cries and that we should run to him first thing in the morning, that whatever faces you in the day, that you lay those worries, those concerns, those struggles before this great God and watch Him work His hand in your life. Pray to God knowing that He is listening. Do it as part of your worship and watch and see what He does as the good and gracious King that He is. And so first, in verses one through three, we see that David knows God as king of kings. But as we move on, verses four through six, David seems to be honing in on the idea that God is a holy God. Let me now read verses four through six for you once again. He says, for you are not a God who delights in wickedness. Evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all evil doers. You destroy those who speak lies. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. This reflection on God's holiness, particularly with regards to his hatred of sin, may not make it into your prayers very often. But I would say, as the Psalms instruct us on how to pray, these are elements in which you and I ought to go before the Lord and pray about. Even more so, we know that this Psalm from the prescript wasn't just a prayer, but a prayer set to music. This is what the people of God would sing about as well as a prayer. We often understand God's holiness best by reflecting on man's sinfulness, our lack of holiness. That's what we see David doing here. God is far more holy and pure than we are, especially as we reflect upon our sinfulness. And so what are the sins that David reflects on in these short verses that characterize the wicked, those who would seek to do him harm? Let us look at them in turn, but let us also look at them in such a way and reflect on, quite honestly, maybe our own guilt of some of these things in our natural flesh. David prays and talks about people who delight in wickedness. These are the people that are rising up against David as God's anointed king. These are those who live according to the flesh. But if we're honest, this delighting in wickedness has been and may even still be in our hearts today, that there's something in us that enjoys seeing bad befall upon others. This is why we gossip about salacious things. There's something in us that delights in wickedness because of our sinful flesh. David also mentions the boastful, those who are prideful and arrogant. All of us are guilty of these things as well, if not at the very least in our speech and how we talk about ourselves, building ourselves up. that there are evildoers as well, and we ourselves commit all kinds of wrongs throughout the day. We may not think of ourselves as evils, but we often, in our sin, are workers of evil. There are liars, those who are untruthful. There are the bloodthirsty, those who thirst for vengeance at times in an inappropriate way. And the deceitful men known for being untruthful, whether it's outright lies or simply misrepresenting things in more of a white lie sort of fashion. that yes, it's right to reflect upon how these sins are pervasive in this world, but we ought to humbly admit that these sins are also pervasive in our life as well. We need to take seriously the holiness of God in our prayers. Holiness means that God is completely separate and set apart. It has as its ideas God's purity, that he is perfect. And what holiness demands is that God hates sin. That is what is most apparent to me as I reflect upon these verses, that God hates these things. He hates that there is wickedness in the world, a boastfulness, evildoers, liars, bloodthirsty, and deceit. And ultimately, he cannot tolerate these things because of his purity, because of his holiness. This verse says that sinners will not dwell with him because of these things. Evil may not dwell with you according to the latter half of verse four. And then he also says in verse six, he will destroy those who speak lies. God's holiness demands that his wrath be upon sin. And ignoring this problem will not serve us well. Just like ignoring problems never serves us well. We don't like to talk about these things. We like holiness to feel good, not to lead us to conviction of sin, but that would be ignoring our problems. And anytime you ignore your problems, all that happens is those problems get bigger and bigger and bigger. I don't know if any of you have fallen behind on your bills or maybe even credit card payments before. It can be stressful to think about them and we may be tempted to just put it out of sight and out of mind and not think about it, ignore it, but that solves nothing. In fact, it only ends up in increasing our problem as that interest grows or that debt gets worse. Even more so, some of us may not like going to the doctor. but we may notice something in our own body that is just not right. that seems to be off. But because I don't like to think about it, I'm just going to avoid it. Whether I'm afraid of doctors or needles or whatever kind of diagnosis may come, not going does not serve to help us in any way. In fact, it only gives opportunity for whatever is plaguing us to get worse. The same is true with regards to being confronted with uncomfortable things such as God's holiness and his wrath towards sin. Sin and the threat of hell and eternal punishment are even more uncomfortable to talk about than debt or medical diagnosis, but they must be dealt with even more so because the ramifications are far more long lasting and reaching. And so I would encourage you that even through your prayers and through your worship of God, do not shy away from acknowledging God as holy and yourself as sinful. Confess your need. This is why we do what we do in our service, why we confess our sins before the Lord. We're acknowledging his holiness and are depending on his goodness and graciousness towards us. or to trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and be saved. If you have not done that, do that today, this morning, as you are confronted with a perfect and holy God. But I would say, don't shy away from this, even as you interact with others. Boldly tell others of God's holiness, his purity, and yes, even his wrath towards sinful man. This serves as a warning to them that they would turn and believe and be saved. If the topic is too uncomfortable for us now, think how uncomfortable it will be for them later when they stand before the Lord. I'm sure they'd much rather hear about God's holiness from you than they would from God as they are judged before his mighty throne. Nobody wants a polite cancer doctor who doesn't want to offend them by keeping a diagnosis from them. No, we want the honest truth that we may be healed and be saved. And so David reflects on the truthfulness of God's holiness in those verses. Now let us turn to verses seven through eight and see the quick shift from God's holiness to his love. Verses seven and eight, David says, but I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. Make your way straight before me. First thing that I want you to notice, is right in verse eight, he says, but I, through your abundant, steadfast love, will enter your house. In many ways, this is an admission and a confession from David that he is entering God's house. He is coming before God's presence, not because he's not wicked, not because he's not boastful, not because he's not any of the things that he said in those prior verses, but he is coming before the Lord in his house because of God's steadfast love, because of who God is, not because of who David is. It is God's character that he puts his trust in, not his own. And it's specifically this idea of God's steadfast love. This is one word in the Hebrew text, a Hebrew word called chesed. One in which many people have said is difficult to translate. Steadfast love is a good translation, many would agree, but it isn't able to capture all of the meaning that the original Hebrew audience would have heard in this term. This term has said is a unique love that God possesses and bestows upon his people. His steadfast love, or some have even argued that it could be translated his covenant faithfulness love. That God is faithful, he is steadfast, he is unmoving, his love does not change or waver, but it remains unconditional. or at least unconditional upon the person, its conditions have more to do about God himself and not about the recipients. This is God's steadfast love, his unique love, his covenant faithfulness love, his unconditional love. It's not tied to the merit of the recipient, but instead is tied to the character of the one giving it. This means that God will never turn away from those on whom he has graciously bestowed this kind of love. And David knows that he has received this love from the Lord, that his steadfast love has been placed upon him and will not be taken away from him because it was given to him in a covenant, a promise of salvation. And so what does this knowledge of God, who is the God of love, we would learn later in the New Testament, 1 John 4, that God is love, what does this knowledge of his character produce in David? Well, when all we have is the knowledge of God's holiness and our sinfulness, it is natural for man to flee from God. But when you know that this holy God who hates sin has bestowed his steadfast love upon you, you do not flee from him, but as these verses talk about, you are welcome to enter into his presence, to enter into his house. That's exactly what David says he does through prayer, that he will enter into the house of the Lord. Remember that we were just told that the boastful could not stand before God, but David can because God's steadfast love, his grace, his mercy has been bestowed upon him. This love will lead us to worship God in his holy temple, in his presence. It will lead us to walk according to righteousness as these verses speak of. And it will lead us on the narrow path, the path of salvation. That this steadfast love is indeed our guide. And this path is the path of salvation that I believe Jesus talked about in his sermon on the mount, recorded for us in Matthew 7, 13 through 14. Jesus says to his hearers, enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many, for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Those who find it are those whom God has bestowed his steadfast love upon, his hesed love. This is why David cries out, lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. Make your way straight before me. God leads us on this narrow path of salvation through his love. As I reflected upon this, the closest example that I could think of to help us better understand this kind of love is the love that a parent ought to have for their parent. I say ought because there are wicked and evil parents who do not love their children as they ought to. But we can at least understand that this is the type of love that a parent ought to have for their child, that as a parent, you love their children before they did anything or can do anything to deserve it. that even as they're in their womb, your love is bestowed upon those children. That you love them even when they act in a way that does not deserve your love to be upon them. But it's natural as being made in God's image to bestow that has said steadfast, unchanging type of love upon children. Ultimately, this love that a parent ought to have for their children is not to be based on their children, not on their character, not on their marriage, but is based on the character of the parent themselves. That they love because you are the dad, or you are the father. Not because they've earned it, but because this is who I am, and I am created, I am made in such a way to love this child. It's unconditional love. And when done appropriately and blessed by the grace of God, the love that a parent shows towards a child will be reciprocated with their love for their parent. This is the closest that I can come to in picturing this type of love that God expresses towards us. But in an even greater way, God does this more so than a mother or father can do even for their child. That God loves us according to his eternal plan of redemption. That his love has been set upon you before you were even made. That he chose you and loved you before you ever deserved it. That you were an enemy of God. That you were reconciled to him by Christ through faith and because of his sacrifice. And this love, it is not based on your character, your merit, your works, it's based on who God is. And this love that he expresses towards us in salvation leads us to love him in return that he first loved us. So now we are able to love him. and we're able to receive this and God enacts this through Jesus Christ and our faith in him. I want to read a few verses from 1 John 4 that speak of God as love in this same fashion. Yes, different language, it's Greek, but the same concept is here as God's steadfast, covenant, faithfulness, unconditional love. 1 John 4 10. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Jesus didn't come because we were already so loving and warm towards him. He came and died so that he can demonstrate his love for us so that we would then be led to love him through faith and through the work of God's Spirit on our hearts. 1 John 4, 19, we love because he first loved us. Nobody loves God first. We love God because he first loved us. And to pray these things, to be thinking about these things, about God's steadfast love, his faithfulness, his chesed type of love should move us to humility and thankfulness in our prayers as we think about this great God who is love. Humility and thankfulness is key as we remember these things in our prayers. Let us now move to verses nine and 10. In these verses, I see David reflecting on God's justice, that God is just, right? We seem to be bouncing back and forth between these competing attributes of God, but we cannot divide God as you would cut a pizza or a pie. God is all these things all the time. And so God is holy, but God is love. God is also just. Hear what David says in his prayer in this way. For there is no truth in their mouth. Their innermost self is destruction. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels. Because of the abundance of their transgression, cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. David returns to talk about the wicked and asks God in his prayer to bring judgment upon them. This is something that we're gonna see happen often as we study the book of Psalms, that there are sections in Psalms in which we have classified them as imprecatory Psalms. Psalms in which the person, whether it be David or a different author, prays that God would bring his judgment upon the wicked. And the imagery can be rather stark and striking. Many have a hard time with these Psalms. But I would say it's in the same way that they have a hard time with the doctrine of hell. That when we think about a good God, in order for him to be good, he must punish evil. And what does that look like according to scripture? Well, it means that God will pour out his wrath upon sinners. We know this to be ultimately true with regards to the ultimate end of hell and damnation. But I want you to think a moment about what may lead David to pray a prayer like this. We've talked about the life of David in the past and how he suffered wrongly persecution from others. that he had his life pursued by King Saul, that he lived on the run in caves under threat at all times, that that happened not just with Saul, but with his own son, Absalom, as he led a revolt against David. But one of the things, if you're to read the narrative of David, yes, we see in the Psalms that he is praying that God would judge these wicked people in rather graphic fashion, but we see David never take judgment into his own hand. Having had opportunity to kill Saul more than once by his own hand, David never seized that opportunity, but entrusted judgment to the ultimate judge, God himself. Similarly, David never called for the execution of his son Absalom, although he would be killed by one of his soldiers. David never took judgment into his own hand, but in his prayer, he asked God to judge the wicked. I believe this serves as a good model for us as we live in a wicked world full of wicked people, that it is natural for us to call upon God, bring justice to this earth, punish evildoers, but to never put us in the place of judge and executioner. We see Paul talk about this, that God is the one to deal with sin and that we are to live in faith and in peace with others. Paul talks about this same attitude in Romans 12, verses 19 through 21. He says, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And so we can pray this way. We can ask God to bring forth harsh judgment for the wickedness that we see in this world, but we are not the ones responsible for bringing that judgment upon others. That all accounts will be settled before the Lord ultimately. And it is not wrong to long for those things. In fact, it is most right for God to be the judge and the one to punish sin. Because even when you are sinned against, you are not the primary one offended. Though someone may seek your life, though they may lie to you, though they may persecute you, or whatever they may do, their sin ultimately is not a sin against you, but against our holy God. This was David's attitude as he committed some of the worst sin that we could really think of. The exploitation of Bathsheba, the conspiracy to kill her husband, the lying to his people and ultimately being found out in David and his prayer of confession, prayer of repentance in Psalm 51 in light of these things, what does he say? Against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, Psalm 51, four. David doesn't say he sinned against Bathsheba. He doesn't say he sinned against Bathsheba's husband. No, he says to the Lord, against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. That all sin ultimately is a sin against God first and foremost. This is why God is the one who is most appropriately to bring judgment, vengeance, or justice. But friends, it is not wrong to long for these things. The more evil we encounter, the more we should long for God's justice to rule over the earth. It is not wrong to honestly pray that God would judge the wicked. Examples would be such terrible things as child abusers, murderers, liars, cheaters. These things ought to bother us. And we can bring those to the Lord and say, God, work righteousness in this world. Bring these people to justice. Judge them according to your purity. And we are right to be deeply troubled when we see justice go averted in this world. But know that ultimately justice will be brought, and it will be brought by God, specifically through Jesus. Let me read John 5, 22. Jesus in speaking and teaching to his disciples in the crowd said, for the father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the son. How appropriate. the one who would save us from judgment through his life, death, and resurrection, has been given the place of judge. That yes, for those who are united to him in faith, they will receive mercy and forgiveness, but those who do not repent, who do not believe in Christ, will face Jesus as the judge and king of all the earth. And what a mighty, terrible day that will be for them apart from faith. And so what is our role in this? is to trust in Christ. Trust that he has already judged you according to what he has done for you, that you are declared righteous and innocent, and that all those who would work evil and wrong in the world who would not repent will be dealt with accordingly and rightly. And so let this also serve as a warning for any here in this room who have yet to trust Christ, that he will be judge over all the earth. That according to this prayer of David in these verses, that he will make them bear their guilts. And your guilt is far greater than you realize if you bear it alone. That they will be cast out. Jesus would speak of this place they're cast out to as the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus is the great judge. Let us trust in his great judgment. Let us now turn to this last part of this psalm as David prays these elements out of God's character. We end with, again, a place of comfort. We're kind of bouncing back and forth, warning, comfort, warning, comfort. We end in a place of comfort and the idea that God is our refuge. God is our salvation. David says in verses 11 through 12, But let all who take refuge in you rejoice. Let them ever sing for joy and spread your protection over them that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord. You cover him with favor as with a shield. As scary as God's judgment may be to think about, if you have trust and faith in Christ, you will be spared from it. New Testament has this repeated phrase for those who have faith in Christ, that they not only have faith in Christ, but they are in Christ. He is our refuge. He is our shield. We are in Him. We are shielded from the wrath of God. He's already absorbed it for us, so there is nothing to fear. He is our great place of refuge, and we can rejoice and sing and be joyful for the protection that He gives us. This is why I love this language of being in Christ in the New Testament. I think it speaks in line of this idea that God is our refuge, so there is nothing to fear. You see, where you are positioned makes all the difference when you think about any kind of threat. Let me illustrate this for you. If I'm in the ocean and I'm swimming in deep waters and I encounter a shark, You're darn right that I am gonna be very fearful of that threat against me. I will be swimming as fast as I can to get out of there. However, if I find myself in SeaWorld, in the shark tunnel, with that glass overhead and sharks literally within touching distance of me as I raise my hand up at the glass, I will have no fear because I know I am protected. Where you are positioned makes all the difference. The same thing could be said with regards to a lion. If I encounter a lion on the plains of Africa, I am going to be fearful because the threat is real. But if again, I'm at the zoo and I'm behind that six inch plexi foot glass, that lion can be scratching at that glass and I could be posing for a picture. I would not be in fear at all. This is true of threats such as sharks and lions. How much more true is it with regards to the wrath of God? where you're positioned makes all the difference. If I'm standing before God to bear consequence for my sin alone, then I will indeed tremble in fear because there is no place for me to take refuge. But if I am standing before God in Christ by faith, then I know I will be embraced as his son and have nothing to fear evermore. And so a question to conclude with, a few questions to conclude with, are where are you positioned with regards to God? Will you stand before him alone and have to bear the guilt by yourself? Or will you be in Christ? Will he be your shield and your refuge? Will you be trusting in his protection over you and sing of his goodness to others? This isn't just true with regards to the judgment before God, but also the threat before our enemies. Is there anything to fear? If we no longer have to fear God's wrath for our sins, no. Death has no more sting. It is simply an entrance into eternal bliss before our wonderful Father in heaven. And so in reflecting on this psalm, we see David pray out of all these truths back and forth that God is king of kings, that he is holy and pure and has a hatred for sin, but yet God is love and he bestows his steadfast love on his people that they may come before him. that God is just and will judge every wrongdoer according to their guilt before him. But with regards to our wrongdoing, we will find refuge in Christ. I hope you've been encouraged by each one of these things, challenged by these things, and I hope you take this into your week as you spend time before the Lord in prayer, particularly in the morning. that you would reflect upon God's character, maybe even these things, and pray out of these truths for your own life during this week. Let us now pray together. Oh God, you are indeed King of kings. There is no one more mighty than you. You are holy and set apart, and you are a God who is pure in every perfection, who abhors sin, hates it, and will punish it. But yet, Lord, you are a God of love, and you have bestowed your steadfast, chesed love upon us because of Christ Jesus, our Lord. God, we thank you for that great gift of unmerited salvation that we receive from you through the gospel. And Lord, we are a people who desire justice, and you promise that one day you will make all wrongs right. God, that this world will be judged by fire and renewed into a new creation. God, it is not wrong for us to long for your justice to reign over the earth. But God, as we think about the wicked and as we think about your judgment falling upon the earth, we take great comfort that you, Jesus, are our refuge, that we can find peace in you, that we may be able to experience joy and singing because of your great protection over us. Oh Jesus, we love you and we thank you for the great salvation that you have worked through your life, death, and resurrection. May we serve you wisely and faithfully here on this earth for as long as you would have us. We pray this in your mighty name. Amen.