Judge So, Lest I be Judged

Well, turn to Psalm chapter seven or Psalm number seven. And like I said this morning, this is unusual because in the past I, when I would pick Psalms, I would almost always pick them topically. So I would. I either have sermon books that have like sermon outlines or I would have commentaries that are in particular orders or theological books that are in by subject and those kind of things. And I would usually take how I would do a psalm based on, like, try to do a variety of topics. So if I knew I was going to preach four psalms in a month, I might do four different topics, you know, or four different subjects or something like that.

But this time, because what I did was I went and I compiled all the psalms that I had preached or, you know, either preached expositorily like this or referred to at length. And I was surprised actually how many. I didn't know I had preached so many Psalms. But I had them all compiled and then I went to go see the ones that I didn't preach, right? So that's these last few have been psalms I didn't preach next week, Lord willing, or the week after, I remember, I'll be preaching Psalm 8. And I had preached that early, but I hadn't really done all the expository work.

So I tell you all that because it is weird to do 6, 7 and 8. And the reason I picked those in that order 6, 7 and 8, was because the subjects were different and they just happened to be in order. So it was a strange thing to have that happen to where I didn't organize it numerically, it just happened that way.

So we are in Psalm 7. And the neat thing about this psalm, as we get rolling here by way of introduction, is this psalm is the Psalm that I was talking about last week in the Psalm number six sermon without knowing it. What I mean by that was I hadn't already yet completed this psalm to the point where it was going to be preached. But I said last week in last week's psalm, in Psalm 6, that it looked like in that psalm, David, he's the psalmist in that one. David was. He was not justifying himself. David didn't seem in that psalm, in Psalm 6 to be seeking vindication. Like he wasn't saying, like he often does, I'm being wronged, the enemies are against me, vindicate me, protect me. He wasn't doing that in that psalm. He was actually seemed to be saying that he might have had some guilt because he was saying, don't put, you know, put your hot anger toward me or whatever.

And Then I was saying last week, without realizing this week would be this is that. You know what I'm talking about when David says, vindicate me and avenge me and take care of my enemies. Well, I didn't realize it was the next week and the next psalm. I should have just turned the page in my Bible when I was doing preparations, because that is what happens in this text. He does do that thing that we see often in this text.

And I would tell you before we get rolling to be careful what you wish for, especially if you're wishing for justice. I think a lot of people want justice, but they might not understand the implications of, of wanting and receiving justice. In other words, do we really want what we deserve?

I say that because we live in a time, in a place in the United States in particular, just in modern times. It's everywhere, it's in Europe, it's almost on all corners of the globe now that we're so far from any sort of accountability within self, any sort of self reflection, any sort of morals that somebody might think they deserve punishment. Like we are so far from that as a culture.

Everybody thinks they deserve happiness. Everybody think, in fact this is what's happening, you know this with free speech in our country and especially in Europe right now. They're really suffering right now in England and other places that people think now watch what I'm about to say and tell me if it isn't true. Okay? If I'm wrong, then you can tell me later. But I think you agree with me that I'm right.

In our culture, people think they have the right to never be offended. Like it is a God given right that you cannot say something that hurts me. What does free speech mean? Where did it come from? Why was there free speech? It was so that we could say things about the King of England. It was to say that we're allowed to say things that you might not like. That's what free speech meant. That's where it came from. It came with the freedom to say whatever we want to say. That's what free means.

Now in our country, we gotten so far away from biblical morals that we're saying bad things, right? Putrid, evil things. We're using our freedom to blaspheme and do all of that. But its foundational principle was to say whatever we want. And now we've gotten to the point where no, you, I can say whatever I want, but you can't say anything to hurt me. That's our culture now.

So if you were to say something bad about I don't know. The homosexual community right now. That's hate speech. You're not allowed to do that anymore. And they're trying to take that away from preachers and everything else.

So be careful when you wish for justice and getting what you deserve. Because if you're against God, getting what you deserve might not be a good thing to you. It'll be good for God. He always does what's right.

We believe we have the right to happiness. We are. If you haven't heard this phrase in a long time, we very much believe in situational ethics. Do you remember when that was a big phrase, especially in the 90s, situational ethics, that says, I will determine the ethic or the right choice in any given situation independently of from any sort of absolute statement or law. Right.

So in other words, if I think it's right to steal from you, then I get to steal from you. That's my ethic in this situation. If I think it's right to murder a baby because it's inconvenient to me, then that is the situation I find myself in. That's my ethic for it.

I'm saying all that because when you live in a culture and a world and a time where all morals and understanding of ethics is turned upside down and justice doesn't mean anything, it gets so chaotic sometimes that we might actually forget that there's a right and a wrong. And then we might forget that God, His Word and His law are absolute. And we might forget that we probably deserve wrath or justice rather than good and happiness.

So we have to kind of flip a switch when we hear these things from the Word. We need to be told from the Word. And we need to understand going into the Word, that we are not good by nature. We're not morally good, we're not ethically good. We're not deserving of good things. And if we need justice, you want to be careful to how you ask for it.

So you can see the title of the message. It comes from Matthew 7, sort of, Judge not, lest you be judged. Well, David in this text says, judge so, Lord, lest I be judged. He wants to be judged.

David isn't saying, judgment's bad and you can't judge me. David isn't calling God bad for judging him. He's saying, I might need judgment. But then David turns the corner and we'll see at the end of the psalm, or toward the back half of it at least, where he once he knows he's right with God, he asks for judgment for someone Else too.

And that's the neat thing about this psalm is how it starts and then how it ends, and then the punctuation at the very end, like the last line of the psalm, is strange in light of the rest of the psalm. So I really like where this psalm goes.

So a couple of details. This psalm is hard to pin down in terms of time and. And setting. Sometimes a psalm, the heading of it, the superscription, will tell us what the psalm is about. This one does. But the story or the scenario we find ourselves in, the context we find ourselves in is not a context that is known historically.

So even though it tells us David's going to tell us in a minute what it's about, we don't have more history. It isn't in Chronicles or, I mean, Kings or Samuel or anything. There's no more history that we know of.

A person named Cush is mentioned, but it's not the place called Cush. So we don't really know the context, but we know enough to understand the meaning of the text. So we don't have a lot of details to sort of pin this down. But I can tell you that this psalm goes somewhere, and it also has an interesting heading we'll get to when we get there.

So let's pray and we'll dig into it together.

Father, thank you for this psalm. Thank you for David and his constant example. We just said this morning, Father, in the Hebrews text that the main point of the examples is not just so that we can have happy life on earth, but in this case, these are principles that David penned and sang about, and so that we could have a functional, healthy Christian life on earth while we're waiting for glory and moving toward glory.

So we do want to use the text as intended, and we do want to move forward in our faith and walk by faith toward the upward call in Christ. And we know David here is telling us how to do that, how to walk in our world and how to think about injustice and even if it hurts a little, so help us with that. In Jesus name. Amen.

Well, the SuperDescription is verse 1, at least the first part of verse 1, a meditation of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite. Hmm.

Did you notice something somewhat unique there? Who is David singing to? Huh? Isn't that interesting? We don't see that a lot. We usually think of, like, a song on this kind of instrument that's going to be sung congregationally. Well, this is David singing to the Lord, but It's also David singing to the Lord about a particular situation.

In this case a person. Notice what it says and we'll see a little, a little bit later there will be some clarifying statements that will give this first part of the verse a little bit of understanding. So when he says concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite, well, given what the psalm says, sounds like those were not good words.

So whoever this Kush guy is from the tribe of Benjamin, he's probably not saying good things to David because now David has heard the words of Cush and he's singing to the Lord. And I'm going to go ahead and say what I always say because I'm goofy. He's probably singing a blues song to the Lord.

This is a heavy song, heavy hearted song. It's not going to be a happy, toe tapping, upbeat song here. Okay? He's his heavy hearted Kush. Whoever that man is, has said, I assume it's a man has said something to the, to David that has bothered him to a point where he is now going to give words to the Lord in song.

And I maybe. Have you ever done that? You ever sing to the Lord? You ever make songs up between you and the Lord? Maybe you need to do that this week. Having a tough time singing a sad song between you and the Lord and sing it, open your heart to him.

I actually do that. I have over 100 songs I've written that mostly are some sort of prayer between me and the Lord. I don't share those with you, but. Because you probably wouldn't like my crazy rock music. But I do write music with that kind of heart, like singing to the Lord or even crying to the Lord. I'm hurting and please hear my cry.

And mostly my songs are Fix Me because I'm broken. You know, it's like those kind of songs pouring my heart out. But that's what David does here and that's what. We don't have a historical date. We don't know the context, we don't know the reference exactly, but it's some sort of adversary.

It looks like, oh, another note. I don't have it in my notes, but I see it as I look down here on the page. All that, if I'm right and you can check me on this, if your Bible does it. All of the Lord, lords in this whole psalm, all of them are capitals. That means all of them are the name of Yahweh.

And so I'll just say this once out of the gate so that you can keep it in your pocket for the time we have together is whenever you see the name of Yahweh. First of all, remember that. This is. We just did that this morning, by the way, Alice did really good. She knew all the Ten Commandments this morning, and we were just talking about them outside. And to take the Lord's name in vain was a very serious offense to the people of God. Right?

So when God's name, his actual proper name, Yahweh, is being used, you can kind of put a lot of weight in that. It isn't. This isn't just David penning the Lord. The Lord, and he's saying flippantly at all. He's actually saying God's name, Yahweh.

So the song would be singing. If they sang it, they would be singing. They wouldn't be saying the word Adonai, Lord or master. They would be saying God's name, Yahweh. And when they're singing that, they mean the covenant keeping God. That's the main idea.

Most everybody agrees with that. The idea is when you say the name of God, it's connected with the work of God for his people. Remember when the people say, who has sent me? Who's Moses supposed to say to Pharaoh? The I am has sent me. Right. So the idea is he's keeping his covenant with Israel. He's going to rescue these people out of Egypt. And his rescue of the people is him keeping his covenant.

So when you use God's name in the Old Testament, his name name. His proper name, not just a title, it has all that built into it. All that built into it. Got it.

So I'm not going to say that every time the Lord's name is used in this text, but you'll notice it's in there a lot. His name, name. And I think that's important because David is calling out to his God that keeps his promises.

There's a covenant between God and David too, isn't there? The forever throne covenant and the kingdom of David forever. So those promises that God Yahweh made to David, when David's singing to him, he's singing him, hey, you. The one I know, the one that I'm in covenant with, the one that has made promises to me. That's who I'm talking to.

So it's important. It's just like, significant. Like when Jesus says our Father, when we call our God our Father. That's very significant. Well, this is his proper name, so you'll see it in a bunch of the Verses here as we move on.

So here's the first refuge seeking that David does. The second half of verse one. O Lord my God, in you I put my trust. Save me from all those who persecute me and deliver me.

So here we go. David is now, instead of saying, I'm in trouble and it's my fault, he's immediately now praying for deliverance. But the first thing he prays, I want you to see it, because this is to me very valuable. And it's going to be a theme, kind of a theme. I'm going to repeat these kind of thoughts as we unfold this psalm together, and I would really love for us to take it with us.

So that first thing I want you to notice is he's not starting with the deliverance. His first words are not deliver me. What are his first words to the Lord in this song? When he's going through trouble and you I put my trust. So he's starting with trust. He's not starting with the ask for help. That's very important to me, that his very first words are in you I put my trust.

Then he says, now that you know I trust you, save me from my enemies and those who persecute me. Do you see it? So he doesn't wonder if the Lord is going to take care of him or not. He doesn't start with save me, and if you do, then I'll put my trust in you. He's starting with the trust.

Very important. Remember that, because it's going to be weird what he says here in a minute about what he says to the one he trusts and what he expects from him in terms of judgment. Okay, so start. And then he says, why? Why is he claiming. Why is he. What's he praying for? What's he afraid of? Verse 2.

Lest they tear me like a lion, rending me in pieces while there is none to deliver. So he's saying, lord, if I pray to you, if I trust you, deliver me, save me. Because if you don't save me, if I don't have a deliverer, the word is literally they're going to maul me to death, right?

In other words, if the Lord doesn't deliver, I'm not going to make it. That's what he's saying. He's saying that he says, lest they tear me like a lion, they'll rip me to pieces. Do you ever say, he got tore up? Like, you see somebody get hit in a football play or something? Man, that guy got tore up. Well, when we say it we don't mean it. David means it.

Help me. Help me before they tear me up. Because if you're not here to protect me, I'm going to get mauled. I'm going to get ripped apart. I'm not going to make it.

So David says, I trust you, and if you don't deliver me, they're going to rip me apart. That tells you how much I'm depending on you right now for my safety and my protection.

Now I could go and do a whole sermon application tangent here and say, what other things in the world do you trust? There's like, that could be the sermon. The sermon could be David, trust the Lord. What do we trust? Do we trust income? Do we trust friends? Do we trust happiness? Do we trust money? Do we trust alcohol? Do we trust pornography? These are the kind of things that people put their trust in, right? The things that people count on to deliver them from life and trouble.

But David is saying, I trust you. So that's a whole nother sermon. That's not the main point of this text. He's asking for help from whatever Cush is doing toward him.

It literally says, concerning the words of Kush, maybe Cush is planning an attack. Maybe he's planning a military campaign. Maybe he's planning an assassination. I don't know. Maybe if you know more, you can tell me later. But places I looked, I couldn't. Now you see in the next part where I'm saying, by the way, if you see the typos, like three, period four, if that's the way it looks in your notes, that's all my fault.

And if you ever wonder about the typos, I never say this, I should probably tell you. So you don't think I'm just the worst typist in the world, whether that's important to you or not. But when I'm preparing sermons, my brain is going so much faster than I can type. And so as I type, there's so many errors and I don't even think to correct them. I'm not ever trying to make the thing I type look good. I'm just trying to get the thought down.

So forgive me if you ever see any weird typos in the sermon notes when they get to you. Hosanna is supposed to check those for me, and most of the time she does. But sometimes I forget to mention that and we get go through a few sermon outlines and so if you see any typos, it's my fault. It's not the secretary's fault.

And I'm telling you why. It's because I, like, I can't type very fast. I don't know how fast you can type, but I can't type fast at all.

So look what David is saying in verse 3 and 4. Judge me lest I be judged. Right? Now what I mean by lest I be judged will come up now in verse three.

Look at verse three. Oh, Lord, there it is, all capitals. My God, if I have done this. In other words, it sounds like he's saying. This is back to what I said earlier. It sounds like he's saying, if I. If the things that Cush is saying about me are true, right? So Cush is saying something about me, and if I've done the thing he said. That's what I think he means here in verse 3. If I have done this.

Now, here's what I want to say. This, this, to me, I said that there are other things we could trust. But to me, the biggest theme and the lesson of the sermon, if I could get the point across, that I think David can be helping us proud Americans with. Who never are allowed to be offended, who are entitled to our rights, who deserve good things and blessing, who should expect good.

We live in a affluent society where we have the access to good things and blessings, so we should expect all those blessings, right? A happy life is me having pleasure. If you live in that culture and you think you deserve all those things, if bad things happen to you, is your first reaction going to be, hey, bad things shouldn't be happening to me, or I probably deserve this, right?

Look at the lesson we learned from David. So David is being mistreated he is being, however he is being treated, judged, being, if I'm right, that verses three and four are the mistreatment sort of on the page and the things he's going through, he's being mistreated. What is his response? Is his response unfair? You're violating my rights, I deserve better. Is that what he's crying? This is not how it's supposed to be for me. I'm supposed to be respected.

But he doesn't have any blame or excuse. He's not immediately saying unfair. So I think there's a couple of kinds of people, at least two and maybe three, somebody in the middle. There's the self destroyers.

And what I mean by that are people that always think themselves guilty, even when they're not right. So you can. I'm one of those people like whatever's going on in your life, it's probably my fault. That's the way I think. I'm just that way by nature. I feel guilty most of the time. I feel weak most of the time.

So I'm that guy. I'm that guy that even if it isn't my fault, it's probably my fault in my mind. And it's not healthy. And it's also not always my fault. So it's not accurate.

So the people who are constantly thinking that they are so bad and so beyond help that there's no forgiveness and they don't deserve any good thing and they destroy themselves, right? Those are those kind of people.

And on the other side of the pendulum are the more common type, which are people that think they shouldn't be mistreated. They think they deserve good, they expect blessing regardless of whether they've done anything to deserve it or not. They just think by default. The default should be, I get good things, I'm supposed to be happy, and God owes me happiness.

So there's your two extremes, but then there's the person who probably has the balance in the middle. As I said, I know I don't deserve any good thing, but if God will bless me, I'll receive the blessing, right? Those people that have it, right.

But what I want you to see is David doesn't defend himself. His first comment to the Lord, his first thought to the Lord is, I am being accused of something terrible. And his very first reaction and thought is not unfair. How dare they. His first thought is, lord, I might be what they're saying I am. I might be guilty of the thing they're saying. I might need the judgment that they say I need.

How foreign Is that to a 2026American, to start, the first thing that is said, I don't think you did what's right. The first reaction is, oh, you might be right. I need to consider that I might be wrong. Might consider that I didn't see the whole picture. I might consider that I'm the one at fault. It's so rare to hear people do that.

Just, have you ever heard anybody in any comment section or video or any other thing you ever see on the Internet, Facebook or any other thing you are not right about that thing, and then have the first reaction be, thank you for telling me, I now understand. And now I think what you think is that the Internet, you know, we are just not used to saying, it might be me.

So David starts with that, what a great example. It might be me. Lord, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands. And David isn't just saying this, like out of, you know, this isn't false humility. He's saying, we know David, and if this happened after Bathsheba and Uriah, David has had dirty hands. David is a normal man. David knows his capability of sinning.

And he's saying right now, hey, before I start asking for your help and expecting you to deliver me from something, at these enemies who are accusing me or condemning me or trying to destroy me, before I say, help me, I want to make sure if I'm guilty, then look at what happens next.

Verse 5. Let my. Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me. Yes, let him trample my life to the earth and lay my honor in the dust. And then he says, selah, Think about that. Pause, take a moment. Do you hear what David's saying here? David is saying, if I am what the critics say I am, Lord, kill me.

That's why I'm calling the sermon. Judge me lest I be judged. David is not afraid to lay himself before the Lord. He is not afraid. He's not hiding anything. He's being completely transparent before the Lord. He's going to the Lord and saying, I only want your help, Lord, if I'm innocent, I only want your help. If I have been dependent on you and if I have righteousness, I know you're righteous. I would not expect you to treat me good if I'm doing the wrong thing.

Yet that's pretty much definitive of our whole culture is people not doing the right thing and then being bothered that God doesn't do good for them all the time.

So I love this so much. I always think of Paul when he says it in the lawsuit, passage of First Corinthians 6, when he says, you should rather. Rather ought to be cheated instead of suing your brother in the Lord, you should rather it would be preferable to be cheated than to sue a brother. That idea of me, I would rather me be the target than you. I'd rather I be the one that experiences the guilt and the difficulty than you.

That's just like the Lord. That's what he does on the cross for us.

And here's David saying it right before the Lord. If I have done the thing they're telling me I did, if I'm guilty like they say, lord, I don't want victory. You take me out. You judge me. If I deserve judgment, judge me, let the enemy win, because I would not want to win and have things go my way if I'm not right with you.

It's powerful what's happening here. That's the lesson to me of the whole psalm. I do not want God to bless me if I'm not honorable before his eyes. I would not expect God to be good to me if I wasn't faithful.

Now, that doesn't mean God isn't good to us when we're struggling or failing. That doesn't mean he doesn't show mercy to people who don't deserve it, because we all don't deserve it. Right? Ultimately, theologically. But I love that David is saying, I need help right now, but before you help me. If they're right, don't help me. If they're right, don't help me. I don't deserve to win.

Maybe you can think about bigger picture things like your country. We're about, this is our 250th year. Does our country deserve to be safe and free and prosperous? Maybe we need to pray about that for our country and our leaders before we cry unfair because things aren't going the direction we want. Maybe we need to, in that case, dare to be a Daniel and pray for our nation so that we could expect blessing because we're being faithful. That's a bigger picture issue.

But I do think about it, that sometimes people seem to want good things from God, but not recognize they haven't been given him any good thing.

Now he says, I'm saying, act quickly. I'm saying, he's Lord, it's kind of like this. You examine my heart, judge me if you need to, and if I'm guilty, wipe me out. But it seems like David goes, okay, I said that now. And I assume you've done it. Now let's get moving to the part where I need help. Like there's a quick turn right here.

Look at verse six. Arise, O Lord. He says it immediately, right? Arise O Lord. In your anger lift yourself up because of the rage of my enemies. Rise up for me to the judgment you have commanded.

So the congregation of the peoples shall surround you. Look at carefully. This is neat. For their sakes, therefore return on high. The Lord shall judge the peoples and judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to my integrity within me.

Imagine saying that to the Lord. Assuming you're not an egomaniac that thinks you're really great and always have good integrity. Assuming you're a normal thoughtful Christian who knows what perfect righteousness looks like in Jesus Christ. Assuming you know the high standards that God has in his law, that even to lust after a woman is like adultery, right? Even hating your brother is murder.

If you understand the high righteous moral code of God, imagine saying to God, judge me in my integrity. Oh man, I don't know that I've ever said that, Lord, you know I'm right. I'm like, I hope I'm right.

But David is saying it because he already did verse 3 and 4. He already self examined. David already checked himself. Think of the communion service. David already examined himself before he took communion. He took a moment and looked inwardly.

And then he says, since I am confident that I'm right with you and I expect judgment if I'm not, then arise and take up my cause. Make judgment, do what you say you do to the wicked.

And then he says, it's for the sake of the people. Did you see that? He says, for their sakes, for your people. So David is also thinking of the people of Israel. He's not only thinking of himself, he's thinking of the people that if you do this, it's for their sakes. Return on high.

And then he says, the Lord will judge the peoples. And then he says, the Lord will judge me. So this is a really transparent guy here. He is not just like assuming he's good without any self examination.

He's not a proud person. Like we can be proud and expect blessing without any self examination. To examine ourselves, see whether we're in the faith, to take that time and look in the mirror of the word of God and see how we're doing before the Lord and to really do the examination and say, oh Lord, I'm seeing as I. As I examine your word, I examine your principles, I'm seeing things in My life that need to be purged. There definitely needs to be surgery done. I've got this area of my life that I've been hiding, the sin, this issue, this weakness, this anxiety. I'm struggling with all these things.

And I'm asking you, Lord, to help me with that. Help do the surgery, the heart surgery. I'm a believer. I love you. You're my father. So I'm asking for help here.

And now David has done that in the first part of the psalm. And he's saying, now that the work is done, and like I say, it's fast, he turns around and says, lord, sick him. Get him, get him. Because I know that you wouldn't want your people and me to hurt.

And if you judge me righteous, if I have integrity, I expect that you'll take care of me and take care of our enemies in that way, right? So we're yours. Defend us.

And that. Remember this part here in verse 6 and 7. Remember this? If the kids were here, they would do the thing. Remember in this verse at the end, when we get to the last verse, okay? Because in the last verse, the punctuation mark on the psalm kind of harkens back to this thought right here. That's in these verses.

Now, verse nine. Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just. For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds. My defense is of God who saves the upright in heart.

That's our David right there. There's our King David. That's the David we know and love. I love how he says these things. He says, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end. And I think we could all agree that David knows that the worst person violated by the wickedness of men is God, that the person who deserves wickedness the least is God.

And so David is saying it for himself. And then he turns the corner and says, establish the just. But I do want us to see, for the righteous God tests the heart, hearts and minds.

So God is righteous. The sin is ultimately against him. We recognize that he will put an end to wickedness, and we can expect him to have his way. So, Lord, put us all under the microscope. Put me under the microscope and put the bad guys under the microscope. Examine us all.

And I know, Father, that you'll do the right thing. Their wickedness will come to an end. And if I'm right before you, you'll establish me. He'll fortify me. I'll be okay. I do know that.

Remember, is it Amos that says that that the wicked flee when no one pursues. Is that Amos that says that? I know that he's the one who says that. You think you've escaped the Lord and you go in and you put your hand on the wall and you think you're safe and you got away from an animal and then a snake bites you. You know, he talks about that idea that you might think you're safe, but you're not.

So I think it's helpful to remember that we want to be slow to ask for justice, quick to love justice, we should love justice. That the right thing gets done, but slow to ask that we receive justice, thinking that we're right with the Lord. And ask if we're right with the Lord. And get right with the Lord.

And have the confidence that when you do all he says to get close to him, to draw near to him if there's sin to be forgiven. If you have areas of your life where you're complacent, where you rekindle the fire, and you get close to him and you say, lord, you will establish us who do that. We who put our feet, plant our feet plainly and firmly on your word. You will defend us.

God will defend his people. I don't know if you've ever needed God to defend you. But man, it is something when he does. It is something when the Lord has your back. It is something where you know that you're depending on him, you know you've trusted him, you know you've put your hands his, and you're trusting him and he takes care of you.

Now, by the way, the next note that says act appropriately is not a suggestion that God would ever act inappropriate. What I mean is, God do the appropriate action to this situation. Okay, that's what. That's what I mean. I don't want to. It reads a little weird. I noticed this afternoon as I was reviewing.

So verse 11. God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

Now, remember this. When you think God loves everybody, okay? If you're the kind of person that says God loves everybody, remember these verses. If he does not turn back, he will sharpen his sword. He bends his bow and makes it ready. He also prepares for himself instruments of death. He makes his arrows into fiery shafts.

When you think of fiery darts, who do you usually think of? Did you ever think that the Lord had those two, but he's pointing them at his enemies? Do you see it? It says it.

And the reason I'm saying that, I'm talking about the. Does God love everybody is because it says every day he's angry with the wicked every day. How often is the Lord angry with the wicked? Is it only when they're really bad? Is he loving them sometimes so that he wishes they would get saved, but some of the time they're super duper bad. So that's when he's angry. Or Adam. No, he says angry at him every day.

Now I know I'm pushing theology into a psalm. Got to be careful doing that. That's not sound hermeneutics. But I do want us to think about it. When there's passages like that in the Bible that says God is prepared to judge these people, it literally says there in verse 13, instru of death, he's pointing his weapons at his enemies. That tells you that God hates sin and he's going to judge it. That's what it says.

And the wicked who do the wrong thing and the wicked who spit in the face of God, they should expect judgment. Do we want to defang the Lord? Would we prefer to say he has his arms open to his enemies here and he's inviting them to come? I know that's what we want in the gospel. That's what we hear in the Gospel. And it's true that God invites sinners to come home, but he also hates wickedness. He hates sin. He's angry at it. And in this case he's angry at it where he's pointing weapons at it, ready to shoot.

I talked about the sermon that Pastor preached this morning about Abel and his blood screaming from the ground. And that same sermon, I think it was the very same sermon. He talked about the cup of wrath that God had that he was going to pour out on the earth. And the way pastor held his hand up there like that, there was this cup of wrath out there. I mean, I was like, please don't turn your hand over. Don't spill it. Because I didn't want the wrath.

But the idea that God is just prepared to pour out his wrath, he is prepared to execute justice. He's a just God. And David's claiming that. David's saying he's just. He's got his weapons pointed at the bad guys.

Well, if you think that they don't deserve that, or that's not nice, or it doesn't fit your picture of the friendly, kind, loving, saving God. Let's look at what happens in verse 14. Because they are doing evil. These wicked people are doing evil.

Verse 14. Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity. Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.

Now that falsehood jumped out at me when I was preparing. Because that again goes back to what I think cush, whoever the guy is, gal is person is, says falsehoods about David like that. So they are saying that David said if I am whatever they might be saying I am, then judge me. And now he's calling what they're saying falsehood.

I think, I think that's what's happening, that somebody is saying false things about me. They're misrepresenting me. They might be judging me, they might be condemning me.

Remember what his own son did, right? Absalom out there in the marketplace spreading bad words about his dad.

And David is saying, if they're doing it, then take me out. And now he's saying the wicked brings forth iniquity. And he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.

This is the nature of the wicked. These are liars and evil people and they bring forth law breaking. That's usually the word in the New Testament. Translated, iniquity is lawlessness. I don't know if it's the same in Hebrew. I didn't look it up.

There's evil in the world. Did you know that? And it isn't evil like mythical monsters evil. It isn't like this amalgamous, non corporeal cloud thing called evil. There are evil people in this world. People that follow after the course of the devil. People that hate God and they have faces and they have names and God knows who they are. And those people bring forth iniquity. And God will judge them. He is watching them. But you get the nature of them right there in verse 14.

Now verse 15 is another one of those bell ringer verses because talking about the wicked of the world. But now I'm going to talk about the other wicked of the world. And what I mean by the other wicked are not the super villains with black hats and capes. I'm talking about the people who just simply ignore the authority of God and ignore his law and don't do the right thing toward him or toward his people. And that person can be grandma, that person doesn't have to be a villain ready to make war against King David.

So even though I don't think David is turning the corner to that kind of person, it's just when I read these verses, I think of this kind of person. I think that yes, there are wicked people out there that actually are seeking wickedness and to overthrow God and his people.

But then there's also this other thing I'VE seen over and over again where people are doing the wrong thing over and over again. And you call them to repentance and you tell them that they're not pleasing to the Lord with their life and they keep ignoring you and they keep ignoring him and keeping.

Sometimes they're spitting in his face overtly, but also sometimes they're just cruising along in life and not giving the God the worship he deserves. They're ignoring him. And I do. I want to think about that person.

When you look at verse 15, he that's the wicked made a pit and dug it out and has fallen into the ditch, which he made. What does it mean when we say you dug your own grave? What does that mean? What do we mean when we say that he dug his own grave? What do we mean? We mean that somebody did the wrong thing and they knew they were doing the wrong thing and they dug a hole for themselves and now they're in their own hole and they can't get out of their hole.

Well, that's what the wicked do. They dig their own hole. And by the way, what's the famous way if you ever find yourself in a hole, what's the wonderful instruction to follow? Stop digging. Okay, these wicked people kept digging. They kept digging. They kept digging the hole. They kept digging themselves into trouble. They were doing terrible things their whole life.

And this is the part where I apply this to sinners in general, not just the overtly wicked that David is being attacked by. I just challenge you. I don't think this is you in the room. It could be you in the room, and I hope it's not you in the room today. But if it's ever been you in the room and it's somebody you know in the room, take it with you that please, please don't dig your own hole.

Fall into the hole and then say, God, why am I in a hole? This happens so much. I wish I had the ability to project for you on the screen. All the times people are telling me the trouble they got into in their lives when the obvious thing that happened was they dug their own hole. They dug their own ditch over and over again.

I only started drinking a little years ago. Somebody I love dearly. Many of you know them. You won't guess who this is because you would never have heard this story. I don't think you wouldn't have heard it from them. But they did say to me, johnny, where do you think we were Friday night? Why are you asking? You'll hate where we were Friday night. Then why are you doing this to me?

And they had gone to a club to go dancing and partying. And this was a Christian, this was a member of our church. And they were telling me that because they knew it would bother me. They knew it would bother me.

Those people are divorced now. Those people are alcoholics now, Right? Start digging and you fall in your own hole. Please. The very least you can do if you dig a hole and fall in it is don't blame God for the hole. The very least you could do is don't turn your fist up at God and say, why is my life like this when you haven't lived for him in your life.

You know what I've never seen? I've never seen somebody that was fully committed to the Lord, that was faithful to church, that prayed every day, that served the body of Christ, that shared the gospel, that discipled other people. I've never seen that person in a hole.

I've seen them suffer a lot, seen them go through real hardship, loss, lost loved ones, go through pain, disease. I've seen the person who does the right thing hurt a whole bunch. What I've never seen is them have to climb out of a hole that they dug.

So please don't be like the wicked that dig their own hole and then cry, why me? Why is this happening to me? Because you got a shovel in your hand. Stop digging.

Verse 16. His trouble, the wicked now is upon his own head. Do you see it? And his violent. Now we go back to the real villain of the story. His violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.

In other words, this guy, probably Cush, probably somebody condemning, criticizing David. He has been saying he's doing wickedness, he's doing falsehood, he's doing all the wrong things. He's directing it at God's chosen man, David, whatever he might have been in his life, king or not, whatever David is the target of this man's vitriol.

And this man now is being told by God that he's wicked and he's doing the bad things. And David has said, if I am guilty of what he said, then judge me first. And now David says, I've. You've purged any sin in my life. And now I understand I'm right before you. I have integrity before you.

So you will make me and people like me the, the righteous. We will be on solid ground and made upright and, and okay and protected. But I'm now asking you, go after these people.

And these people dig their own hole and their judgment is on Their own head. Do you see it another way? You might say that is the way Paul would say that. Without excuse. The people who do wicked are without excuse. They will not get to cry innocent before God. They deserve the justice that's coming.

And then the craziest turn of the whole thing. It's wild to me how this ends because it seems like something's missing. What I mean by that is it goes from their judgment. Their trouble shall return upon their own head and his violent dealing shall come down on his crown. You almost want a Baptist preach that. Right? And then how does that, how does the psalm end? I will praise the Lord. It sounds like it turns into a happy praise song at the end.

I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. Do you see what I'm saying? How that seems like a turn at the end? Like he goes from bring down judgment. I will sing to the Lord.

But the reason that is true is because that is true. That's how our lives should be. If God does something amazing and good and strong and executes justice and takes care of his people and establishes them and gets them through difficulty, especially if that difficulty is attacks from the world and this place and the devil and they get through something and God takes care of them and they come out the other side of it healthy and alright and right with the Lord.

The only thing you should do is sing, Jesus loves me. This I know you should be singing praise to the Lord. I asked for deliverance because I was in trouble and I was smart enough to say, if I'm guilty, judge me. But I'm not guilty. I'm right before the Lord. So I'm asking for help. Take care of those wicked people. They're digging their hole. Take care of them. He takes care of them. And what does David say? I'm going to praise the Lord. That's what I do. After all, that is I praise the Lord. I ask for help. I trust the Lord. Now I'm going to sing praise to his name.

I love it. I love how it ends. And I also love the language. I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness. Who does David care most about having their will done? Do you see it? Can you see that? That what he cares most about is that God's righteousness is executed. He doesn't care most about himself being taken care of.

He cares most. Like he's out there saying, lord, the things they're attacking me with, I'm your person. They're attacking you by attacking me. So you take care of your name, your righteousness. You do what will make you look great in the earth. Want to magnify your name. That's why it says, then I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

So I'm going to. I'm going to make sure that in my life I'm walking in a way, in righteousness and integrity, so that if I get accused, if I get attacked, the attacks won't stick. First of all, I won't be rightly accused or blamed. That's what blameless means, right? That no blame will stick.

I'm going to have integrity, and if I am attacked, I'm going to trust the Lord and I'm going to pray. Lord, you have your way with the wicked. If they're out there gonna dig their own hole and break judgment on themselves, you do what you want with them. And I'm asking for help. Deliver me from them.

And once I'm solid, that the Lord will take care of me. What can man do right? What can anyone do? If God is for me, nothing. He'll take care of me.

I love David's confidence. I love that it ends with the praise. I love it ends with a praise chorus. And it does prove to me that David cares most about the Lord. He cares most that God's name is intact, that the wicked people are not going to get away with violating the word of God. He's not going to let that happen.

David's going to say, I'm going to point it out. And I'm going to cry from the mountaintops that God is just and he's good and that he does the right thing. And I'm going to try really hard in my life for me to do the right thing so that I know I'm on the Lord's side and he'll take care of me.

And like I said, my favorite takeaway to me, the most applicable takeaway from this psalmist is that part where David starts and begins. Instead of trying to justify himself, instead of trying to vindicate himself, he starts with, examine me, search me, O God, before I start calling other people wicked and expecting you to spank them. I want to make sure I don't need a spanking. We're going to get to that in Hebrews 12. I already prepared those sermons. The spankings, they come to believers, too.

But thankfully, he also takes care of his own. And you can be right with him and walk with him and know that the Lord has your back. He's taking care of you.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for David's example in many ways. But in this case today, I really appreciate the lesson from David to start with honesty with you. And I would like to think that we've all learned that lesson, that if we're going through things, the first person we should examine is in the mirror.

And we want to do that right, and we want to do it by your word and before we cry, why me? We want to lean on you and trust you. So help us, please help us trust that you will have your way. Vengeance is yours and we trust you and we'll thank you in Jesus name. Amen.