Would you please remain standing now for the
reading of the word? Normally, we will project
we project the the word, onto the screen.
But today, if you have your bible or
your phone, it is a good opportunity to
turn to it.
Where this summer, we are going through the
Psalms.
We have 3 more Psalms including today. Psalm
10, then Psalm 11, and then Psalm 12
the next 2 weeks before we go back
to Paul's letter to the Romans.
Again, Psalm 10 this morning. Please listen to
the reading of god's word.
Why, oh 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 boast of the desires 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
inequity.
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 hid in his face. He will
never see it.
Arise, oh lord. Oh 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
account?
But you do see,
for you know mischief and vexation,
that you may take 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
hand.
Oh,
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 of the earth
may strike terror no more. This is the
word of the lord.
Thanks be to god. Please be seated.
Well,
in the Roman Empire of the late 3rd
and early 4th centuries,
the Christians were under severe persecution.
The Emperor Diocletian was determined
to make Rome great again,
pledging to revive the glory of ancient Rome
through a strategy
that included,
on the one hand,
restoring and revamping
the
her her cult to the pagan gods of
the Greek pantheon,
and on the other hand,
unleashing
one of the most brutal waves of persecution
against Christians
ever known.
Homes where where Christians worship were destroyed.
Their scriptures,
which they cherish so much and were so
expensive, it was so difficult to get, were
burned.
And countless believers were imprisoned,
tortured, and martyred,
perishing
by the heat of the flame,
by the claw of the beast,
or
by the edge of the sword.
It was a time of deep darkness and
despair for those who held firm to their
faith.
To be sure,
many must have questioned the apparent success
of the wicked
as they fell victim to the unhinged rage
and merciless abuse
of powerful men.
Some must have wondered how long
they would have to endure such suffering.
They must have been deeply perplexed as to
why God was silent in the face of
such evil.
Now, you may recall from last week's sermon
that some Bibles combine Psalm 9 and 10
into 1 Psalm, and one of the reasons
for this is that Psalm 10 does not
have a title.
As I said last week, there are good
reasons not to combine, not to merge
these 2 into 1 Psalm, but the fact
that Psalm 10 does not have its own
title
and is therefore not tied to any particular
time or to any particular person
does make it easier for us to appreciate,
the fact that the psalmist asks in Psalm
10 a timeless question.
He asked, where is God when there is
injustice?
That is the question that many Christians are
asking today
as Christianity is the most persecuted religion
in the world.
It is the question that Christians under Diocletian's
great persecution
must have asked themselves
as they saw their loved ones being burnt
to death or torn to pieces by beasts
or decapitated
by Roman soldiers.
It is the question that the psalmist
gut wrenching lament in verse 1,
asked when he cries out, why, oh lord,
do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times
of trouble?
Yet, as we move through the Psalm, we
see the speaker shift from denouncing
man's wickedness
to confidently asserting God's character and commitment to
justice.
So as we consider Psalm 10 this morning,
at a time when the tide of the
culture is threatening the Christian church and when
some of you are navigating
especially turbulent waters,
let us be encouraged
that our God is a God of justice,
whose character never changes and whose promises
never fail,
and who sees,
hears, and acts in his perfect timing. In
fact, the main point that Psalm 10 has
for you this morning is that God's character
ensures his justice.
God's character
ensures his justice. And as we're gonna look
at Psalm 10 this morning under 3 headings.
First of all, the character of the wicked.
Secondly,
the cry of the Christian.
And finally,
the character of God. The character of the
wicked,
the cry of the Christian, and the character
of God.
Our first setter then is the character of
the wicked, which is the focus of the
first 11 verses in Psalm 10.
In these verses, the psalmist provides a clear,
even if revolting
MRI
of the wicked man's heart.
The image this Psalm provides is doubly helpful
because on the one hand, it enables us
to identify
the toxic agents
attacking the health of God's kingdom,
which can help us protect ourselves,
protect our families, and protect the church from
such toxins
regardless of what titles they may bear.
And on the other hand, this psalm enables
us to compare our own behavior
to this MRI of the heart, that we
might quickly identify areas of concern
and change our behavior
after the spirit enables us to faithfully exercise
the Christian muscle of repentance.
So
what are the findings of Psalm 10's MRI
of the wicked man's heart?
1st,
notice that according to the first 11 verses
of Psalm 10, one of the characteristics of
the wicked man is that he is conceited.
This is revealed in verse 2 where we
read that the wicked man is
arrogant.
In verse 4, we learned that an arrogant
heart stiffens the knees. As the psalmist writes,
in in in the pride of his face,
the wicked does not seek God.
All his thoughts are,
there is no God.
The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon comments,
the wicked man thought much, but he had
no thoughts for God.
Amid heaps of chaff,
there was not a grain of wheat.
The only
the only place
where god is not
is in the thoughts of the wicked.
This is a damning accusation
for where god for where the god of
heaven is not, the lord of hell is
reigning and raging. And if god be not
in our thoughts,
our thoughts will bring us to perdition.
Indeed, perdition is the destiny of the wicked
man's conceit.
He desists from seeking after God, appeasing his
conscience by preaching to himself,
there's no God.
Now this does not mean that the wicked
man does not believe in God.
You may recall from our study of Paul's
letter to the Romans that in Romans chapter
1 verses 18 19, the apostle Paul teaches
that every human being knows
that God exists
because god reveals himself in the things that
he has made.
According to Paul, the only reason why there
are self proclaimed atheists
is that men and women, because of our
fallen sinful nature,
are predisposed
to deny God, and therefore, we work very
hard to suppress the truth, to suppress our
knowledge of God.
We know that there is a God, but
we lie to ourselves
repeating the words of the wicked man of
Psalm 10. We say, there is no God.
There is no God.
Yet we know better.
And the wicked man described in Psalm 10
also knows better as can be demonstrated from
his own words in verse 11,
where he says in his heart,
God has forgotten.
He has hidden his face.
He will never see it.
You see the wicked man is not actually
an atheist
since there are no true atheists.
But in his conceit,
he elevates himself
and he belittles God,
convincing himself that he will get away with
his sins
because he has successfully concealed his actions from
God,
so that he is entirely
outside of God's mind.
He tells himself,
God has forgotten.
The conceit of the wicked man is such
that we read in verse 3 that he
boasts of the desires of his soul, and
that even he even curses
and renounces God.
The wicked man may not do it in
public,
certainly not if it doesn't suit his own
ambitions.
But when he lowers his guard,
you may hear him boasting
in his selfish desires.
And such is the his contempt for God,
that through his actions,
through the way that he lives,
through the way that he treats others, through
the way that he prioritizes certain things over
other things, he curses God and renounces
his way.
The wicked man is so secure
in his conceit that in verse 5 we
read that he sticks out his chest and
he puffs at his
foes. In verse 6,
we see the fruit of the wicked man's
conceit.
He says in his heart,
I shall not be moved.
Throughout all generations, I shall not meet adversity.
The wicked man may not be a true
atheist, but he is a functional atheist
living as if God does not exist
or at least as if he knows better
than God,
that he is more clever than God,
mocking and abusing God's people without any fear
of God's justice ever falling upon him.
Is your heart suffering
from this kind of deadly
conceit?
Are you sinning with impunity?
Trusting that you will prosper in your sin,
foolishly relying on your ability
to hide your evil acts from God.
The second characteristic
of the wicked man revealed in the first
11 verses of Psalm 10 is that he
is cruel.
In verse 2, we learned that the wicked
man hotly pursues the poor, ensnaring them in
maliciously devised schemes that he has come up
with.
In verses 8 through 10, we learned that
the schemes of this cruel man target the
innocent,
the helpless
and the poor.
Because you see, since he is a bully,
his attacks are not frontal.
He relies on asymmetry,
attacking only the weak and using covert means.
He sets his trap and sits in ambush,
drawing unsuspecting
victims into his net.
He acts like his
father, the devil, who prowls like a lion
seeking someone
to devour.
In other words, Psalm 10 describes an angry
person
who bullies the weak, devoting much of his
time and energy to devise schemes that will
bring the downfall
of others,
delighting
as he uses his influence to crush his
helpless
and unsuspecting victims.
Do you know people like this?
Do you feel like you're under the thumb
of such an adversary?
Or instead of a particular person,
is the godlessness
of the world
oppressing your spirit as you witness society's increased
animosity and contempt even against Christianity
and against Christians?
Or worse yet,
are you the one displaying
cruelty
against others?
Do you spend more time thinking about how
to get revenge on those who have hurt
you, perhaps even wishing them ill? Then you
do pray for them to repent
so that they might be blessed by God's
grace even as you have been.
As a Christian,
you must not allow this. Because if you
do, your longing for justice against a wicked
person
might make you fall in the trap of
an even greater and more cruel adversary,
Satan himself.
Satan wants you to repay evil for evil
because revenge is a pill
that when swallowed
poisons the
heart. Let us therefore begin by first comparing
our own behavior
to this MRI of the heart, to make
sure that we are not the ones displaying
cruelty towards others, and thereby acting as childrens
of darkness
instead of acting
as children
of light.
The third characteristic of the wicked man revealed
in the first 11 verses of Psalm 10
is that he is covetous.
In verse 3, we read that the wicked
man is greedy for gain.
This is an especially dangerous characteristic
because in our materialistic society,
covetousness
can be difficult to detect.
Covetousness for money,
otherwise known as greed, easily camouflages as diligent
work. Covetousness for power
or ambition
easily camouflages
as bold leadership.
Covetousness for fame or narcissism
easily camouflages
as natural charisma,
but what ultimately gives covetousness away,
what enables this MRI to detect it, is
that covet a covetous person
always
thinks more highly of himself
than he does of others,
and therefore, he thinks he is entitled
to whatever someone else may have,
which is why he is always greedy for
gain even at the expense of others.
Covetousness
is such a wretched sin
that god etched it in stone
at the at the being the last of
the 10 commandments
as if by giving it to us last,
it would be first in our minds always.
Jesus said that all of God's law is
contained in these 2 commandments.
Love the lord your god with all your
heart, with all your mind, with all your
soul, and with all your strength,
and love your neighbor
as yourself.
But the sin of covetousness
demands that you hate God and neighbor.
It first causes you to despise God's providence,
being discontent
with the good gifts gifts that God has
given you. And then it causes you to
despise your neighbor, being envious of the good
gifts that God has given him or her.
To be sure,
it is an especially heavy burden
to endure the oppressive weight of a covetous
person, who will not think twice before hurting
you or hurting others for the sake of
his own personal gain.
But it is even a more grievous
sin
when our own hearts are infected
by this toxic
poison.
The 4th characteristic
of the wicked man is that is revealed
in the first 11 verses of Psalm 10
is that he is cunning.
In other words, he is skillful in his
deceit
and evasion.
We see in verse 7
where we read of the wicked man that
his mouth is filled with cursing
and deceit
and depression.
Under his tongue are mischief
and iniquity.
In John 844,
Jesus calls Satan the father of lies, asserting
that there is no truth in him.
The wicked man of Psalm 10, therefore,
acts just like his demonic father since his
mouth spews deceit,
curses,
oppression,
mischief,
and iniquity.
It is so easy to minimize the damage
that our words can cause.
The old adage states
that sticks and stones may hurt my bones
but words will never hurt me.
The saying is intended to teach children
resilience
against
verbal insult insults.
However,
the truth is that even children know how
much damage words can cause.
God created the universe by speaking it into
existence,
but human beings often use speech not to
build up,
but to destroy,
to tear down.
Lies and slander
can cause irreparable damage to a person's reputation,
severing relationships,
inflicting
emotional damage,
and even causing financial loss as credibility is
undermined
by false accusations.
In a fallen world that hates Christ and
hates his church, if you're a faithful Christian,
at some point you can expect
to be slandered on account of your faith.
Wicked people will despise your genuine faith in
God
because they will not understand it.
And because they don't understand it, they will
hate you for it. You must be prepared
to endure such trial.
But also,
as a follower of Christ, you must be
especially careful
to guard your own tongue.
Be mindful of your language.
Do not lie.
Do not slander.
Do not curse.
Use speech to edify others, to build up
the church, to glorify God.
Psalm 10's MRI of the wicked heart
reveals a heart that is conceited,
cruel,
covetous, and cunning.
All of which are characteristics
of the prince of darkness.
May our hearts MRI
reveal the characteristics
that befit
the children
of the light.
So having looked at the character of the
wicked, let us consider our second header, the
the cry of the Christian.
In verses 12 to 15, we see that
despite
the significant persecution the psalmist
and and his fellow brothers and sisters are
enduring,
he does not despair,
but raises his cry up to God saying,
arise, oh Lord.
Oh 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
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 prayer of the psalmist has 3 parts.
Each of 1 contradicting
1 of the 3 assertions
that the wicked man makes in verse 11.
First,
even though the wicked man said in verse
11 that god has forgotten,
the psalmist here calls it calls God to
forget not the afflicted,
but rather to arise
and to lift up his hand.
He asked in verse 13 why the wicked
should renounce God and believe that God will
not call them to account.
When I was a kid, one of my
uncles owned a lion for a brief period
of time before he donated it to the
zoo.
He kept the lion in a large cage
in one of his ranches, and I remember
that one day, I accompanied my dad to
go feed this lion at the ranch and
we brought one of our dogs, a beautiful,
strong,
and very brave boxer.
When he got to the ranch, our dog
was going crazy because he could smell the
lion.
As soon as the truck stopped, the dog
jumped out of the truck and ran straight
towards the lion, who was lying down in
his cage with his back to us.
As our dog was running toward him and
barking loudly,
the lion suddenly arose and turned toward us.
And the very moment
that the lion turned around, our dog froze
in his tracks and ducked his head.
The mere sight
of the lion's face
was enough to make our dog reconsider his
life choices.
In verse 12, the psalmist calls God to
arise and lift his hand,
that the wicked might reconsider
his life choices.
And the psalmist calls God to action
by contradicting the lies of the wicked,
the lie that God had forgotten.
2nd, the wicked man said in verse 11
that God will never see.
But the psalmist in verse 14 confesses to
God, you do see.
He asserts that God knows every sin of
the wicked and that he brings justice by
his hand, for he is the helper of
the fatherless.
The wicked man may not sin with bold
may sin with boldness,
but in the end, he will not sin
with impunity.
Therefore, the helpless can commit himself to God
because God will repay.
3rd, the wicked man said in verse 11
that God has hidden his face.
But in verse 15, the psalmist implores God
to call the wicked to account,
breaking the arm of the wicked and evildoer.
Thus, the prayer of the psalmist is a
complete contradiction
of the narrative
inside the wicked man man's head.
God has not forgotten.
He is not blind.
He will repay.
The wicked man may raise his fist in
defiance against God and against his people, but
in the end his arm will be broken
and God's arm will be lifted up high.
This is helpful for
us because the psalmist writes this psalm
while undergoing
tribulation.
He cries out in verse 1, remember, why,
oh lord, do you stand far away? Why
do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
That cry
describes the circumstances
in which the psalm is written,
with the faithful under the thumb of the
wicked, and the psalm is wondering where God
is.
It is as if the lies of the
wicked,
that God is blind and absent and uncaring
are beginning to take hold
in the heart of the psalmist,
causing his heart to skip a beat and
to falter.
But in the psalmist prayer,
he contradicts the lies of the wicked, thereby
resetting his heart's rhythm and restoring it to
health.
Therefore, beloved Christian,
like the psalmist, whenever your heart falters,
contradict the lies of the wicked one
and remind God and yourself
the truth.
And, no, this is not simply a therapeutic
exercise to help you feel better.
It is a prayer strategy that is anchored
in the truth because the psalmist faith and
confidence are grounded
in the character
of God.
This brings us to our final header, the
character of God. We saw already
in the psalmist prayer that contrary to the
lies of the wicked man, God is not
forgetful,
but knows the truth.
That he is not blind,
but sees all things.
In other words, God is omniscient.
He knows and sees
everything.
We also saw that God is not hidden,
but is ever present.
In other words, God is omnipresent. He is
everywhere so that no one can hide from
him.
And we also saw that God is not
weak,
but will arise and execute justice.
In other words, God is omnipotent.
He is all powerful.
After confessing these mighty
attributes of God, the psalmist is emboldened.
And in verses 16 18, he declares,
the Lord is King forever and ever,
and the nations perish from his land.
Oh, 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 to the oppressed, so that man who
is of the earth may strike terror no
more.
The psalmist offers this bold declaration,
not because it has come to pass,
but because God has promised to defend his
people
and to bring the wicked to justice.
A promise of this magnitude
would make a liar out of every person
because though any person of goodwill
would have the desire to carry out justice,
no mere human being has the ability to
execute that justice to the uttermost.
We may ensure
that justice
is executed
in our own small spheres,
and in fact, we should
ensure that justice is executed in our small
spheres because we have seen that God is
a God of justice, and as his people
we are to strive
to be men and women of justice.
But we do not know all things,
so we will be ignorant to the plight
of some.
Nor can we see all things,
so we will in some of our judgments.
Nor can we overcome all opposition,
So our actions will be thwarted at times,
but God shares none of these limitations.
So he can
make these big promises
to bring all the wicked to justice and
to vindicate all of his people.
God's attributes ensure
that he can keep these promises
as well. And more importantly, God's character ensures
that he will
keep these promises.
When Diocletian
was persecuting Christians
with vicious cruelty,
his concede made him believe
that
through cunning,
he could bring to Rome and to himself
all the glory
that his heart so desperately coveted.
He thought that he was bullying defenseless Christians,
when in reality he was provoking
the everlasting God.
In an unprecedented move in Roman history,
Diocletian
inexplicably
abdicated the throne
1 year after beginning the great persecution against
Christians.
Then
within a year of his abdication,
the tetrarchy that he instituted
to rule Rome
began to collapse,
and Constantine the Great was pronounced
emperor in the west.
Within 5 years,
Diocletian would be dead,
and Constantine would reunify Rome
as her first
Christian
emperor,
changing the course of civilization
forever.
Diocletian worked,
but Christ won.
Therefore beloved Christian,
when the flames of tribulation cause your heart
heart to falter
and your faith begins to fail,
focus not on the strength of your adversary,
but look instead
to the mighty attributes
and righteous character of your God.
Indeed, let us heed the words of the
author of Hebrews,
who in chapter 12 says, since we are
surrounded
by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight and
sin which cling so closely.
And let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us, looking
to Jesus,
the founder and perfecter of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the
right hand of the throne of God.
And he shall come again with glory
to judge both the living
and the dead. Let us pray.