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Psalm chapter 10 is where we're
going to be. For kids in the service, we do have some activity
sheets over at the kid check table for you to engage with
during the service and to take notes. We'll also have some treats
for good notes and the completion of those activity sheets after
service. So Psalm chapter 10 is where
we'll be. But before we dive in, it's no secret to many of
you that I enjoy movies. I use them often in my sermon
illustrations, maybe too often at times. But one thing about
my taste in movies that might be helpful to know, and some
of you will probably have some strong disagreements with me,
is I love movies of all kinds, but I've pretty consistently
not liked Christian movies. I know, poor boohoo me. The pastor
doesn't like Christian movies. Now, they've gotten better in
recent years. I've seen better ones, but I
do have my reasons for this. First and foremost, it's obvious
that oftentimes Christian movies, they just don't have the same
sort of budget or quite honestly, talent that maybe more regular,
secular Hollywood movies would have. The screenwriting is usually
kind of poor. The acting definitely is not
that great many times. And then the other thing is that
they're often packed with too many themes. It's kind of like
we get one Christian movie a year, so we have to put everything
in it all at once. But really, as I look at these
movies, the biggest reason why I so often don't enjoy them is
because they always seem to have a little bit too happy of an
ending. That they almost seem like fiction
to me. You see, I've been a Christian
long enough and I've been in Christian ministry long enough
to know that there aren't always happy endings here on this earth.
In fact, we live in a broken, fallen, sinful world full of
wickedness. And I think sometimes these movies
give us false hopes and false assurances. Christian movies,
I think, sometimes don't take seriously enough the fact that
there is wickedness in the world that must be endured until God's
final judgment. Not every sickness is always
healed. Not every marriage is always
prepared or repaired. And the bad guys don't always
lose. And so one of the things as we
go to Psalm 10 that I want us to really realize is that wickedness
is real. That this is a real problem that
the world has and we ought to face it head on, not denying
it, not belittling it, but looking at what God has to say in response
to it. And so as we look at Psalm 10
this morning, we're really gonna split it in half with two points
that there is a reality to wickedness here in this world. And then
we need to look at what God's solution is to wickedness here
in this world. And so this is a bit of a heavy
psalm, a somber psalm, a psalm of lament, but nevertheless,
it is the word of God and we ought to devote ourselves to
the reading and understanding of it. And so if you would, would
you please stand for the reading of God's word, if you are willing
and able. We'll read the entirety of this psalm and have our call
and response at the end of the reading. Psalm chapter 10, beginning
in verse one. Why, O Lord, do you stand far
away? Why do you hide yourself in times
of trouble? In arrogance, the wicked hotly
pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes
that they have devised. For the wicked boasts of the
desire of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces
the Lord. In the pride of his face, the
wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is
no God. His ways prosper at all times.
Your judgments are on high, out of his sight. As for all his
foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, I shall
not be moved. Throughout all generations, I
shall not meet adversity. His mouth is filled with cursing
and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue are mischief
and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages.
In hiding places, he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily
watch for the helpless. He lurks in ambush like a lion
in his thicket. He lurks that he may seize the
poor. He seizes the poor when he draws
him into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink
down, and fall by his might. He says in his heart, God has
forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it. Arise,
O Lord, O God, lift up your hand, forget not the afflicted. Why
does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, you will
not call to an account? But you do see, for you note
mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands.
To you the helpless commits himself. You have been the helper of the
fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer. Call
his wickedness to account till you find none. The Lord is king
forever and ever. The nations perish from his land. O Lord, you hear the desire of
the afflicted. You will strengthen their heart. You will incline
your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is on the earth may strike terror no more. This
is the word of God this morning. Let us say together, may God
apply its truth to our lives. Thank you. You may be seated. And so we have ourselves an entire
psalm really devoted to the reality that wickedness really is a part
of this world, that we cannot deny it, we cannot turn our eyes
from it, and we cannot ignore it. In fact, I find it comforting
in some ways that the Bible does have an honest acknowledgement
of this fact that wickedness and evil exist here in this world. This entire psalm is devoted
to the unexplainable prosperousness of the wicked, even over those
who are afflicted, the oppressed, the poor. And this is something
that we ought not quickly to ignore. I think this is one of
the reasons why we can trust that the Bible truly is true. There are other religions, other
traditions that seem to seek to ignore the reality of evil. There are many Eastern religions
that will say that evil is something that must be overcome in your
mind, that all these things are not real and we can transcend
them if our minds are capable. If we even consider a more modern,
atheistic way of thinking, evil in many ways is relative. Relative
to the environment, there is no such thing as transcendent
or ultimate truth. Nothing is either good nor is
anything truly bad. Because there is no standard
in which we are all universally held to. No, there is something
extremely unnatural about both these positions, that evil and
wickedness is just part of our imagination, or that there is
no standard of what is truly good and what is truly bad. We
know to reject these things innately. because we encounter wickedness
and evil in the world, and we often have a visceral response
to it, that this is not right. Something must be done. And that's
exactly what we see in this psalm through David as he writes this.
He lives in a world in which he sees wickedness, and he sees
wicked people prospering at the expense and the affliction of
those who are weaker and lesser than them, and his response is
visceral. This ought not to be so. And so as we look at the reality
of wickedness, the first thing we need to realize is that Psalm
10 shows us that one of the greatest sources of evil and wickedness
in this world comes from people. That people are often the ones
who are the source of evil and wickedness. How does this happen?
Well, our first sub-point here is that the wicked live as if
there is no God. We see this in a couple places
here in this psalm. I think of, first and foremost, verse four.
The psalmist writes, in the pride of his face, the wicked does
not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is
no God. To live a life characterized
by wickedness requires that you must first believe that there
is no God that you will be held accountable to. This is a point
made again in verse 11, that this wicked person says in his
heart, God has forgotten and he has hidden his face. He will
never see it. So maybe there's this idea that
there is a God, but he doesn't pay attention to the actions
of man or my actions, and so I can continue in my own selfish,
wicked ways, that I can look to myself as being ruler of my
own life. As I was studying this passage,
there were a number of commentators that talked about two ideas of
atheism that are often prevalent in the church or in reality.
When we think of atheism, we think of what these commentators
often call theoretical atheism. That someone would make the claim
that there is no God, that this is a theoretical claim that then
becomes the way in which you live. And there's some of that
here in this psalm. But there's language in this
psalm of the wicked renouncing God, turning their allegiance
away from God. And so in this psalm, some of
the wicked that are described here are not people who would
make this theoretical claim that there is no God, but they are
living in such a way that their actions would say that God does
not truly exist or that he does not ultimately hold people accountable
for their actions. And so this psalm, many commentators
said, has more to do with this idea of practical atheism. They
may not make this claim outright with their words, but through
their life and through their actions, they're living as if
God does not exist, or at the very least, that they will not
be held accountable to him. And sadly, I think there are
many, even within the church today, who would call themselves
Christians but who live as practical atheists, that you may claim
that there is a God, but you do not live as if there is one. You are master of your own domain,
king of your own kingdom, and you live and give in to every
desire and thought of your own heart, and yet you believe that
by claiming there is a God that that is enough to save you. Well, friends, It's not enough
to just believe in God, but we must entrust ourselves to Him
as our King, as our Lord, and as our Savior. That to simply
state with your mouth the correct assertion that there is a God
is not to have saving faith, but in fact, based on other scriptures
in the Bible, I believe that is a demonic faith. Look with
me at James chapter two, verse 19. James writes this to the
New Testament church. He says, you believe that God
is one, you do well. Even the demons believe this
and shudder. It's not enough to proclaim that
God exists. We must entrust ourselves to
him as God, as king in our lives. Romans 10 9 gets at the heart
of what this true saving faith is that I feel compelled to soberly
remind all of us in this room. Romans 10 9 says, because if
you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. To be saved, you must believe
that there is a God and submit to him as Lord and as King. And to live as if God truly does
exist, that he rewards and he punishes and he saves through
Christ and Christ alone. And so these wicked, they live
as if there is no God. They live as either theoretical
or practical atheists. And the result is that if you
live as if there is no God, then there is no outward standard
that you are ultimately accountable for. You get to make up the rules
for yourself. Ultimately, you will live as
your own God, determining right and wrong for yourself. We see
this happen in the story of God's people, I think most notably
of Judges chapter 21 through 25, or sorry, chapter 21 verse
25. Judges makes this characterization
about the wickedness of the people of Israel at this time. What
made them so wicked and rebellious toward God? It is this, in those
days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right
in their own eyes. If you want to see wickedness
in the scriptures, read the story of Judges. There is this downward
spiral of the people of God who turn from God as their king and
do this very thing. They do what is right in their
own eyes. And things just get worse and
worse and worse. Their wickedness is intensified
throughout that book. We see this even happening here
in this psalm. That the wicked are described
and their actions are described in a number of ways and as we
learn more about the wicked from this psalm, Psalm chapter 10,
we see that their wickedness grows and grows and grows because
they live more independent of God and his word and his law.
You see, once you reject God, you lose any power or restraint
that God and his law has on you, and you give in to your most
sinful and carnal desires. Look at the examples from Psalm
10. Point your attention to verse three, that this wicked person
boasts of the desire of his soul. that he is greedy for gain. If you're familiar with Old Testament
law, particularly the Ten Commandments, you can see that in these things
we have a breaking of some of God's law. To boast of the desire
of your own soul is to make yourself chief over God. You shall have
no other gods before me, and yet we are boasting in our own
desires, in our own soul. and ignoring God. We're greedy
for gain, meaning we are coveting, which we know that God has commanded
us not to do. Verse four, we see them curse
and renounce God. They turn their allegiance from
him. They take God's name in vain. Verse four goes on to say
that there is no God. The first and greatest commandment
is you shall have no other gods before me. We must acknowledge
our sovereign. Verse seven goes on that they
are filled with cursing, with deceit and oppression, a breaking
of more commandments. You shall not lie and many others.
And then we see that escalation more and more later in verse
eight. They murder the innocent. We
know straightforward, you shall not murder. And then lastly,
verse 10, the helpless are crushed. They sink down and fall by his
might. Scripture would also tell us
that we are to love our neighbors as ourself. And so we see all
kinds of wickedness here in this Psalm. It goes from bad to badder
to worse. That the more they live as if
there is no God, the more they fall into greater wickedness,
greater evil, and greater sin. And the most troubling thing,
according to the psalmist here, is that the wicked appear to
greatly prosper in this world. That they are not held to account.
that they're able to get away with this. David is greatly troubled
as he writes this. He writes in that first verse,
why, O Lord, why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you
hide your face in times of trouble? How could you let the wicked
continue to live in open rebellion against you, that they would
grow and prosper and enjoy all the joys of life at the expense
of the afflicted, of the poor, of the fatherless? There's a
desperate call in verse 12. Arise, O Lord. O God, lift up
your hand. Forget not the afflicted. David, as the psalmist, is troubled,
not just because of the actions of the wicked, but because of
the lack of action that he sees in God as he does not punish
them in the moment. As we read this psalm, we see
that the wicked grow in their arrogance and in their boldness.
They truly begin to believe that there is no coming judgment. They've gotten away with so much
and nothing has happened, so what's to stop them from doing
even more? The wicked believe they are invincible. Verse six talks about this, that
the wicked says to himself, I shall not be moved. I shall not even
meet adversity. You see, because they have gotten
away with things for so long, they no longer believe that there
is any future judgment coming for them. It's simply just a
myth to scare them into good behavior. And this is often still
the perspective and the condition and the thinking of those who
would live contrary to God according to their own wicked desires even
today. God hasn't done anything yet
to stop me. Maybe all of this is just made up to scare me into
good behavior. It's a bit of a lighthearted
illustration, but I'll give it nonetheless, even though the seriousness of
this Psalm, but the wicked, they treat God's coming judgment like
children swimming in a swimming pool. I don't know about you,
but I grew up having a pool as part of my house growing up in
Southern California. And I can remember from the earliest
age, my dad would tell me, don't pee in the pool. Right? Some
of you dads here and parents are like, yes, that is instruction
number one with kids. Don't pee in the pool. And I
can remember my dad telling me not only to not pee in the pool,
but if you do, there is a special chemical that is in the pool
that if you pee in it, it'll turn a different color and we
will know. And so, being the young child that I was, my first
thought was not, oh, no. It was, I wonder what color it
is. And so you would be swimming in the pool. And when I say you,
I would mean me. As a young kid, I would swim in the pool. And
you'd just pee a little bit and then swim away really fast so
nobody would know it was you. And you'd look back and see if there
was any different colors in the water. And nothing happened.
So you try it again. And nothing happened. And pretty
soon, you're like, this is made up. This is not true. None of
this. There are no consequences to
peeing in the pool, so why would I get out and ruin the fun when
I can just stay in and play all day? Now I know I've just been
uninvited to every pool party ever to be held at Harvest. But
the thinking, as comical as it may be, is the same. Because
there was no immediate visible consequence for my actions, then
I began to believe that there were no consequences altogether,
that this wasn't real. in the same way as the wicked
maybe dabble in their own selfish desires, knowing that they're
wrong according to God's Word, and no consequence happen, it
emboldens them to do more, and more, and more, to the point
that they now believe that either God doesn't exist because he
hasn't done anything to stop me so far, or that God doesn't
see, and he doesn't care, and he will not hold me accountable.
Boy, will they be mistaken. You see, the wicked see no need
for God because things seem to be going just fine for them as
they are in the moment. But we know, and we'll talk about
later in more detail, that there is indeed a coming judgment,
that God will hold people to account for every action but this idea that things seem
to be going just fine is one that keeps people from turning
to God even now. You know, we've had a year of
ministry here in Liberty Lake, and in some ways, we've been
very blessed. Things have gone very smoothly.
We have wonderful volunteers. We have a wonderful space. There's
lots of things to celebrate, but there have been difficulties
as well. I think, honestly, Liberty Lake
is a difficult place to do ministry. Because we live in one of the
most affluent, nicest neighborhoods in all of Spokane. Many people
probably believe that things are going just fine for them
as they are right now. And they have no concern of any
coming judgment from the Lord. It's not to say that the people
in Liberty Lake are as wicked as what we read in Psalm 10,
but what we must realize is that every person is sinful and wicked
by nature because of sin. I think of Genesis 6-6 as it
describes people in God's creation. Or sorry, 6-5. The Lord saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth and every intention
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. People
may not be as bad as they can be, but every person is wicked
apart from the saving nature and renewal of Christ. And the
funny thing about this verse is it comes before Noah and the
flood. And you know what the people probably thought before
the flood came? Things seem to be going just fine. There doesn't
seem to be a lot of consequences for our rejection of God. only
to find out that God's judgment does indeed come and often comes
swiftly. Jesus has warned us of a coming
judgment like a thief in the night, a day in which nobody
knows, but a day that is indeed coming. And if we don't repent
and trust in him, then we will indeed be held to account. And
so my heart is for those all over the earth, but as a church
planted here locally in this neighborhood, my heart is for
those in Liberty Lake and the greater Spokane area who seem
to be comfortable, who seem to be not concerned with the consequences
of their disbelief and rejection of God and their choosing of
self as God or Lord or King in their life. But the world is
wicked. and a coming judgment will be
had, and the only way to be saved from it is through Christ Jesus,
our Lord. So this is why we as a church
in Liberty Lake need to be diligent in sharing the good news of the
gospel. It can be simply, again, through inviting people here
to hear the word taught and preached as Lord willing, myself and others
faithfully teach God's word, but teach it in such a way that
gives invitation for those to believe and be saved. And also
as through our ministry, we continue to equip and encourage and hold
one another accountable to sharing this good news, the only news
that can save people from the consequences of their sin. And so the first point that we
have in this psalm is that wickedness is real. It's in the world. It
is a problem. So what now then is God's solution? What is God's solution to wickedness
in the world? Well, first, as Christians, we
must believe that God will hold the wicked accountable. He will
do that. We see a number of verses that
encourage us to trust this fact. Verse 13 says, why does the wicked
renounce God in saying it's hard you will not hold account? The
wicked falsely believe that God will not hold them accountable.
But verse 14 says, but you do see For you note mischief and
vexation, that you may take it into your hands. The idea is
the wicked think that God does not see what they are doing,
but the Christian knows that God has his notebook open and
he's taking note of every act of mischief or vexation or iniquity,
that our sin can never be hidden from God, a reality that all
must face. I'm reminded of another Psalm,
Psalm 139, in which David describes this very thing, that even if
I tried to hide myself or my sin from you, God, it is a futile
attempt. Psalm 139, verses seven through
eight, David writes, where shall I go from your spirit, or where
shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are
there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you
are there as well. He goes on in verses 11 and 12
in that Psalm. If I say surely the darkness
shall cover me and the light about me be night, even the darkness
is not dark to you. The night is as bright as the
day, for darkness is as light with you. We cannot hide from
God. And we cannot hide our sin from
God. You may be able to hide it from
the world, from your peers, from your family, from your coworker,
your spouse, but sins cannot be hidden from God. He notes
every one of them. And this is both a warning, but
also a comfort to those because oftentimes wickedness is at the
expense of the helpless or the oppressed. And there's not much
we can do about it, but we hope in faith that God will hold people
accountable. And so the psalmist says in verse
15, break the arm of the wicked, stop their evil actions, intercede
for us. Break the arm of the wicked and
the evildoer. Call his wickedness to account till you find none. He's saying wipe them from the
face of the earth. And this is what we see in the
psalm, that there will indeed be a day when the wicked are
held to full account for all their actions. God will hold
all the wickedness to account. He will judge it and exact his
righteous punishment until there is no more wickedness left on
the earth. We have a fuller picture of what
this day will look like as further revelation was given as we look
to the book of Revelation on what this great day of judgment
will look like. Let me read roughly five verses
from Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 through 15, and pay close
attention to these verses as they describe this day in which
the wicked's arm will be broken, and they will be giving a full
account until there is none left over. Revelation 20, beginning
in verse 11. The Apostle John writes, then
I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it. From
his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found
for them. And I saw the dead, great and
small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another
book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were
judged by what was written in the books according to what they
had done. And the sea gave up the dead
who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in
them, and they were judged, each one of them according to what
they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown
into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the
lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not
found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the
lake of fire. Do you see the correlation between
what is described in Revelation 20 and what we read here in Psalm
10? That God makes note of every
mischief and every vexation. Though you think these actions
are hidden, they are recorded in books. There is a whole library
in heaven of your deeds, particularly those that deserve punishment.
And it's not as simple as just using whiteout to cover those.
Nope, that is not what happens. The only way to wipe those out
is with the blood of Christ. To have your name taken from
these books full of your guilt and transferred and written into
the book of life because of your personal faith and trust in Jesus
Christ. And if that does not happen,
then you will be judged according to what is in your books. And the result is that the wicked
will be judged completely by being thrown into the lake of
fire. Revelation would go on to say that by being thrown in
the lake of fire, they will be tormented day and night forever
and ever for their wickedness. This is a troubling reality that
we must face, and I understand that the doctrine of hell and
eternal punishment is indeed a troubling thing to reflect
upon. Some of you maybe came to church this morning hoping
to receive an encouraging word, and yet you're met with this
somber reality of God's judgment of the wicked. But friends, we
ought not to ignore it. When we think of essential doctrines
that we must believe and affirm, as difficult and troubling as
they may be, this is one of them. It's troubling, but we can't
ignore it. And the reason for it, well,
there are a number. But first and foremost, I want
us to see that it is unnatural to not desire justice, to not
desire that wickedness would be punished. That is an unnatural
thing. When we see wickedness in the
world, particularly the vilest actions, our heart longs for
punishment and justice because we know it is right. For example, I don't believe
very many of us, if any of us at all, would be moved for sympathy
towards someone who was guilty of some of society's worst offenses. I won't go into detail, but in
my mind, one of the worst things a person can do is harming an
innocent young child in the vilest way that you can imagine. I'll
let you fill in those blanks for yourself. Knowing that a
person is guilty of such horrendous wickedness, directed at someone
so sweet and innocent and pure and holy, moves us to desire
not just swift, but harsh judgment, righteous judgment upon that
person. In fact, if that were to happen
to maybe a loved one of ours, death would be too merciful in
some of our eyes. You see, the wickedness of these
actions towards an innocent person deserves severe punishment. I use that example of maybe the
most innocent person or situation that we can think of, a young
child, but what we fail to see is that all sin is an assault
on a perfectly holy, innocent, pure being, God himself. There is no greater offense. And if you're moved with undying
wrath over a crime against an innocent child, how much more
worse ought we to think of crimes against a perfect and holy God? This is why divine judgment,
the doctrine of eternal punishment in hell so clearly taught in
scripture is essential. And to erase it or to ignore
it is to ignore some other really important key understandings
of Scripture. First and foremost, if we ignore the reality of hell
and the punishment therein, then we belittle the perfect holiness
of God. That we're not acknowledging
His perfections, His holiness, His worthiness. In many ways,
we're thinking less of Him, not more of Him. I would say also,
we fail to appreciate what Christ did. When you understand how
wicked sin is and how perfect and holy God is, you understand
your guilt in a greater way. And I don't think we could ever
fully comprehend it. But when you look at the cross,
what you must realize is Christ absorbed all that torment, all
that torture that should be righteously put upon you for your offense
towards God. That was his love displayed,
that he took that and absorbed that for you. And to ignore the
teaching of eternal punishment or the doctrines of hell is to
belittle the sacrifice of Christ. It's to make his love smaller
than what it truly is. And lastly, if we don't believe
these things, then I think we'll be less motivated and compelled
to share the only hope of salvation that people have, to be saved
from such a fate, the gospel, that you may not be willing to
say it out loud, but practically, your actions speak, ah, hell's
probably not that bad. I think they'll be fine. No, we desire people to come
to saving faith in Christ. And so we believe that God punishes
the wicked. That's one of the things that
we see as a solution to this problem of wickedness. But let
me end on a more hopeful note, that as Christians, we must believe
that God also does not forget the afflicted, that we suffer
under wickedness. This Psalm repeats that over
and over. There are various pleas from the psalmist to not forget
the afflicted. We have verse 12, forget not
the afflicted. Verse 14, to you the helpless
commits himself. You have been a helper to the
fatherless. Verse 17, oh Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted. And verse 18, do justice to the
fatherless and the oppressed. While this psalm focuses a lot
on the reality of wickedness here in this world, it also is
a psalm of trust that God will not abandon us. He will not leave
us to suffer under the affliction of the wicked forever, but he
is mindful towards us. And how do we know that God has
not forgotten the weak, the poor, the afflicted? Well, I think
the best way to know that God has not forgotten about us in
this estate is because he entered into this estate with us, that
Christ came and he lived with us as those
who suffer, as those who are poor, as those who are afflicted
by all the wickedness here in this world. This was prophesied
in Isaiah, but as I read these words, and if you're familiar
with the story of Christ through the gospels, you know how true
these words are. Isaiah 53 verses three through
five says this, how Jesus enters into our reality of being afflicted,
showing that he has not forgotten us. Psalm 53 verse three says,
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hid
their faces, he was despised and he was esteemed not. Surely
he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow, yet we esteemed him
stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. but he was pierced
for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with
his wounds, we are healed. God has not forgotten our suffering. He hears us when we cry out to
him. We know this to be true, not just from this psalm, but
chiefly through the life of Christ, that he would live among us,
suffer like us, more so even that he would die and he would
rise again so that we can be saved, so that we can be healed
and delivered. But the last question that we
have here is many ways the first question that David asked, why
then does God still wait to act? Why not judge the earth now?
Why not make all these things a reality now? Well, I hope that
you have a greater longing more and more as you live on this
earth for these things. That's one of the reasons why
I read from that particular passage that we do for communion, that
we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, and our attitude
ought to be, come, Lord Jesus, come. Or the attitude of verse
one, why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself
in times of trouble? Verse 12, "'Oh, rise, O Lord.
O God, lift up your hands. Forget not the evicted. Take
action now.'" So why does God wait? Well, I think, most simply,
He's allowing time for people to repent and believe. So that
we do not suffer the fate of the wicked who are cast into
the lake of fire, but who trust in Jesus. This is what 2 Peter
3, 9 says. The Lord is not slow to fulfill
his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not
wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. We ought to both long for Christ
to come and judge and make all things new, but at the same time
give thanks and praise that he has not come, so that more may
be welcomed into his kingdom. At the very least, thank you,
Lord, for allowing me to repent and believe before doing these
very things. And so as the afflicted, we endure
wickedness in the world and God promises to use our suffering
for his glory and our good. This is the promise of Romans
chapter eight, verses 28. This promise that many of us
are familiar with and we know that for those who love God,
all things work together for good for those who are called
according to his purposes. This is seen in the life of Christ,
that he would suffer wrongly for sins, even though he was
sinless, but through that wicked action, particularly of his crucifixion,
the greatest good was accomplished for all the earth, that salvation
was won for mankind. And there have been many stories,
both in scripture, but also in the lives of Christian, that
demonstrate this principle, that God can use our enduring of suffering
as the afflicted for his good purposes. One person I think
of is a woman named Elizabeth Elliott, a wife of a missionary
whom you may know, Jim Elliott. If you're not familiar with the
story, let me summarize it. Jim Elliott was a missionary
going to a tribal people in South America, and as he approached
these people, him as well as many of his companions were brutally
murdered by them as they sought to share the love of Christ with
them. And it would just so happen that Jim Elliott's wife, Elizabeth
Elliott, through various circumstances, would be put in a position to
care for these tribal people, some of the very people that
put her own husband and his companions to death, saving them from a
disease outbreak within their village. And as a result, many
would become Christians. Elizabeth Elliot would go on
to speak about her sufferings and how God used them for his
good purposes. And she's known for using an
illustration of a sheep and a shepherd. She was not a shepherd herself,
but she witnessed a shepherd one day caring for his sheep
in what looks like quite a violent, disturbing way. You see sheep
are prone to have flies hover around their eye and they can
get bacterial infections in which their eyes will actually begin
to rot and they will go blind, leaving them even more helpless
than they already are. And so she witnessed these shepherds
violently take these sheep and dip them into a water that had
solution to clean out their eyes. And she used that as an illustration
of really her own life. that there was great wickedness
that happened to her by the hand of God, in her opinion, that
felt evil, that had no purpose, only to later learn that God
was using it to make her more like him. That those sheep were
probably fearful of being drowned by their shepherd. Little did
they know that the action of the shepherd was not unloving,
but very loving. It was the protecting of their
very sight. In the same way as God allows
us to suffer under the afflictions of the wicked, this promise of
Romans 8.28 is that we know that even this suffering, even though
these actions may appear to be wicked and vile, and why, God,
would you allow this to happen? God can use it for his purposes,
to glorify himself, to win people to Christ, and to grow us in
Christlikeness. And so if Elizabeth Elliot and
others could have this attitude because she had a grand view
of God, I would encourage us to do the same. Because the condition of people
has not changed in the world. There are many wicked people
who are lost and far from Christ, who need to be warned about the
coming judgment and told about the only way in which they can
be saved. And this really is our mission here at Harvest.
You've heard me speak of it before, but I'll say it again. We get
our name from Matthew chapter nine, verses 35 through 38, when
Jesus speaks of the laborers going into the harvest field.
Let me close our service by reflecting on this and as it relates to
this psalm. Matthew nine, 35 through 38, and Jesus went throughout
all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues
and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. and healing every
disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowd, he had
compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like
sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples,
the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore,
pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers
into the harvest field. But there are still many afflicted,
harassed, helpless, fatherless people out in the world, suffering
under the consequences of their own sin, the wickedness of this
world, wickedness of others, in need of hope and redemption
through Christ Jesus. And my hope is that we would
want to go and tell them about this good news, how they can
be saved, how they can be delivered by God from their afflictions,
and saved from his coming judgment as well. And so let us pray for
God's justice as it is right and good, but let us also hope
in God's mercy. Would you join me for closing
prayer? Heavenly Father, Lord, I do feel the need to thank you
for this psalm. It is not a psalm in which I
would have been led to choose on my own, But Lord, it is a
psalm in which through your sovereign wisdom, you penned by the hand
of David. Acknowledging that this world
indeed is broken, and that we see not only great wickedness,
but we see the wicked prosper here in this life. But we know
this is not the end. We can trust that the wicked
will be held accountable and judged rightly before you. But
we also recognize, Lord, that we ourselves are not innocent.
And we thank you for your mercy that as we were helpless and
fatherless and afflicted and oppressed, Lord, you met us through
Christ Jesus and you saved us by his life, death, and resurrection
and our faith in him. Lord, help us to be a people
who hope in you and who share this hope with all who need to
hear. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.
The Reality of Wickedndness (Psalm 10)
Series Summer through the Psalms
Pastor Sam Kraemer of Harvest Liberty Lake Church delves into Psalm 10, addressing the harsh realities of wickedness in the world. Pastor Sam dissects Psalm 10, highlighting how it acknowledges wickedness and God's eventual judgment while also affirming God's awareness of the afflicted. This sermon discusses God's patience, the inevitability of judgment, and the hope offered through Christ. Join Pastor Sam to explore these profound themes and their relevance to contemporary Christian life.
| Sermon ID | 9224163812621 |
| Duration | 46:15 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Psalm 10 |
| Language | English |
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