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.