Series: Psalms
Title: Three Requests
Text: Psalm 9: 19-20
Date: June 28, 2012
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Psalm
9: 19: ARISE, O LORD…
By faith, believers see God
the Father and Christ our Savior is our just Judge sitting upon the
judgment-seat ruling for us. He presides over heaven and earth like a judge in
a courtroom. When God arises, the fierceness of the ungodly immediately bows to
him.
Proposition: However proud and strong our enemies
may appear they are in the hand of our God.
So our prayer to God is, Arise, O LORD.
Title:
Three Requests
Divisions: I. v19: LET NOT MAN PREVAIL; II. FOR
GOD TO DO WHAT HE JUDGE RIGHT IN HIS SIGHT--V19: LET THE HEATHEN BE JUDGED IN
THY SIGHT; III. THAT GOD WOULD CALL OUT HIS ELECT FROM AMONG THEM—V20: PUT THEM
IN FEAR, O LORD: THAT THE NATIONS MAY KNOW THEMSELVES TO BE BUT MEN. SELAH.
I. LET NOT MAN PREVAIL
If man were allowed to
prevail in his sinful, God-hating desire: 1) Man would take God off his throne,
2) Man would put a division between God and his children 3) Man would destroy
mankind.
Man would do it for
covetousness. Natural man is a fallen, covetous, self-seeking, vain creature
ruled by money, self-gain.
1
Timothy 6:10:…the love of money is the root of ALL evil:…
Selfish gain makes judgment
and righteousness take a back seat and oppression rule the day!
3 examples:
1) Companies patent on seed is patent on life.
Listen carefully, believer,
this tree called fallen mankind has the love of self-gain coursing from its
very roots into all its branches so that the only fruit depraved man produces
is poison. One very practical example: genetically engineered seed is labeled a
pesticide. That’s the only kind of fruit
depraved man produces—poison—even the very best men, have sinned and come short
of the glory of God.
2) Religion is corrupted by money and self-gain the
same way.
Preachers who are doctors of
divinity, buildings, and programs full of activity are used as the attractants.
But they all cost lots of money. The gospel of Christ and him crucified does
not make money—the gospel is offensive, it divides, it puts sinners in the dust
and Christ triumphant ruling all things.
When the gospel attracts it is because the Lord addeth to the church such as should be saved.
But to pay for other
attractions they must preach up man and preach down God, preach up religious
activity and preach down the works of God and “the wicked walk on every side,
when the vilest men are exalted.” (Ps 12: 8)
3) Unseen corruption. Believer, remember, there is
much more powerful evil above that which you and I see with these eyes—secular
and religious.
Ephesians
6: 12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.
Application: These things strike fear in a
believer’s heart. They should. We are powerless against them. But I have given these examples because none
of these things is new. Corruption is as old as sin. Let me give you just one example of many, in
the scriptures. Israel’s rulers were corrupted: both, religious and civil.
Isaiah
5: 7: For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and
the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold
oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
Isaiah
9: 15: The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that
teacheth lies, he is the tail. 16: For the leaders of this people cause them
to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. 17:
Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have
mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and
an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly.
Application: Believer, don’t look to man—we can’t
expect to find the cure in the cancer!
Look not to protest groups made of men or legislative bodies made of
men—our strength is not in man.
Look to the LORD whose hand
is working all these things together for good to them that love the Lord, to
them who are the called according to his purpose.
We need not drive to
DC. We don’t have to make our voice
heard in the capital. We have the ear of
the King of kings and the Lord of lords!
We only need to go into our
closet, approach his glorious high throne and make this request, “ARISE, O LORD, LET NOT MAN PREVAIL.”
The Lord will not end the
evil yet but he will speak peace to our hearts. His word which stills our
troubled hearts is “Fear not!”
Isaiah
42: 13: The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like
a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
1
Samuel 2: 9: He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be
silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
Man can be bribed, but not
our Victorious Redeemer!
Isaiah
45: 13: I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways:
he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor
reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
Application: When
you see all the wickedness in this world remember that the Lord has left it
here and left his purchased possession in the midst of this evil on
purpose. He has done it to teach us that
our strength is not in man or ourselves but our strength is the Lord. Our LORD shall prevail!
·
Could we prevail in fulfilling the law? He prevailed for us.
·
Could we prevail in justifying ourselves from the curse? He
prevailed for us.
·
Could we prevail in recreating ourselves after his image in
righteousness and holiness? He prevailed within us.
·
Can we prevail in keeping ourselves from the evil even for a
minute? He prevails for us.
·
Look away from the evil, to our Shield and Defender who sits on
his throne in glory.
Illustration: The
diver a watertight suit. He is surrounded by water but preserved from it. The
believer in this evil world is surrounded by evil, but we are preserved by the
mighty power of God.
Application:
Remember, God will have us to ask him to help.
Ezekiel
36: 36: Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the
LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the
LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. 37 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for
this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will
increase them with men like a flock.
So we ask him, Ps 9: 19 Arise,
O LORD; let not man prevail…
II. OUR SECOND REQUEST IS FOR THE LORD TO DO WITH THE NATIONS WHAT
IS JUST IN HIS SIGHT—v19: “LET
THE HEATHEN BE JUDGED IN THY SIGHT”
We ask for God to vindicate
and save his children from the power of those who oppress and wrong us
according to what is his right and just judgment. What a relief to know the burden of executing
what is just in this earth on our behalf is in the hands of the holy Judge of
heaven and earth. And he shall do right.
Genesis
18: 25: That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous
with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far
from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
There was one righteous man
in Sodom—called just Lot—and for
that one man’s sake the Lord spared Sodom until he brought that man out. As
long as God has one child in this earth—he shall judge the heathen for us--Shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right?
Because
all his elect children are righteous in him—“by his one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified.”—God’s saints are perfectly justified in Christ Jesus. All the sins of all God’s saints are pardoned
for his sake. Because God is just…
·
None of God’s saints will be separated from Christ—God will never "cast away"…
·
God will not cast us out of his covenant because in the blood of
Christ it is ordered in all things and
sure—yea and amen!
·
God will not cast us out of the hands of his son--none can pluck them out of his hand.
·
God will not cast us out of his family—the son abideth forever
·
God will not allow us to perish eternally—many believers have
suffered cruel deaths—but none are able
to separate us from the love of God in Christ—fear not man who is only able to
kill the body—fear God who is able to save both body and soul.
God
delights in child, sets us as a seal on his heart, keeps us as the apple of his
eye, and preserves us safe to his kingdom and glory. BUT GOD WILL JUDGE THE HEATHEN AND VINDICATE HIS CHILD FOR THE
SAKE OF HIS SON. Bildad said,
Job 8: 20: Behold, God will
not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers: 21:
Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing. 22: They
that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the
wicked shall come to nought.
Ecclesiastes 8: 12: Though a
sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I
know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: 13:
But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his
days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
Application: Believer, God’s child is so one with
Christ that the war waged against one of Christ’s redeemed children is war
waged against God. The LORD will save his children from wicked hands for the
sake of his own Son.
Illustration: The
fight in the schoolyard and the teacher.
If we would have prevailed
we would not have stopped till serious injury or death. That teacher came between us. She dragged us to her classroom—she said, I
am the judge, the jury, you’re guilty, and I am issuing the penalty. She let
not man prevail. She judged us in her sight and did what was right to save us
from ourselves. Then we knew something
about ourselves and something about her.
III. OUR THIRD REQUEST IS THAT THE LORD CALL OUT HIS ELECT FROM
AMONG THE NATIONS—“PUT THEM IN FEAR, O LORD: THAT THE NATIONS MAY KNOW
THEMSELVES TO BE BUT MEN. SELAH.”
Put them in fear, O LORD—be a
schoolmaster over them—make the commandment revive that they might see they
have no righteousness so that they become fearful of you. The enemies of God have no fear of the LORD.
Spiritually dead sinners are bold, confident in their own strength
and refuse to depart from evil and they call what they are doing wisdom
Job 28: 28: And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord,
that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Proverbs 8: 13: The fear of
the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and
the froward mouth, do I hate.
What
is this “fear of God?” It is a holy disposition formed in the soul by the Holy
Spirit. The fear of God includes:
·
A dread of God’s displeasure and a desire of God’s approval
·
A regard for God’s excellencies and submission to God’s will
·
Gratitude for God’s benefits and sincerity in the worship of God
·
Conscientious obedience to God’s commands
Until
God the Holy Spirit creates a new heart—men do not know themselves to be but
men—but when God sanctifies himself in the new heart. He makes us to behold Christ high and lifted
up then he makes a sinner stand in awe of God.
We deal unrighteously; God does all righteously. Sinner, be sure you look to the cross, there
is God’s own Son, that spotless lamb of God, who knew no sin, who was made sin
for his elect that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Do you see how God must do all things in
righteousness because he is holy God?
We deal unjustly; God does all justly. When “he laid on him the iniquity” of all his
elect…God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up. God will by no means clear the guilty. (2 Cor 5: 21; Is 53: 6; Ro 8: 22; Ex 34: 7)
Sinner,God is just. Except you come believing Christ—as Paul said, Philippians
3: 9: And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is
of God by faith: Except you come by faith in Christ, you will be found guilty!
We rejoice in unjust judgment; God delights in just mercy. But also see how God delights to show
mercy! God went to the heights and
depths and width to give his only Son to justify his people justly that he
might justly show them mercy. God KEEPS
MERCY for thousands, FORGIVING iniquity and transgression and sin.
When sinners are made to see the holy character of God in Christ
on the cross that is when we begin to have right views of self and right views
of God.
We are weak and ignorant but look to the cross and see God in
Wisdom and Power, by his knowledge, overruling the armies of heaven and earth,
friend and foe, to justify his children from our sins—we are weak and
powerless—God is Almighty Wisdom. Do you
fear him?
We are unholy sinners but look to the cross and see God in perfect
holiness fulfilling his law in Christ himself, see God the Father
and God the Son ever pleasing himself in holy character, ever faithful to
himself in complete holiness of heart, ever fulfilling all his holy purpose of
exalting his holy name---we are unholy in ourselves--God is holy, separate from
sinners. Do you fear the Lord?
We are born dead, dying nothings but see Christ ascended to the
Father and see God our Savior is Life—Light is Life, Truth is
Life, Righteousness is Life—the sun gets its brightness and life giving
qualities from Christ the Sun of righteousness—in us is darkness and death of
sin—in him is no darkness, no death—only Life! Do you fear the Lord?
We come forth believing we can accomplish any purpose we choose
and yet we have no real purpose—like a pig in mud—but look to the cross and see
God doing as he pleased from eternity, see the purpose for which
he made the world, the end to which he has worked all things, the one for whose
sake he continues to call out his sheep, the end to whom you will be brought to
bow in grace or in judgment.
Daniel
4: 35: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and
he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What
doest thou? [Do you fear the Lord?]
Sinner,
what can you give to God? You and I
can’t give anything to God of ourselves.
We can only give to God what God has already given to us.
Psalm
50: 10: For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle
upon a thousand hills. 11: I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild
beasts of the field are mine. 12: If I were hungry, I would not tell
thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.13: Will I eat the
flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? 14: Offer unto God thanksgiving;
and pay thy vows unto the most High: 15: And call upon me in the day of
trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Application: Sinner, I pray God will work this fear
in your heart that you may know yourself to be but a man. And believer, remember, if God did not work
this fear in our hearts, we would think ourselves gods.
·
We need God’s restraining hand of grace to save us from our own
hand of sin.
·
We need the swelling of God’s chastening providence to keep us
from the swelling of our natural pride.
·
We need thorns in the flesh to puncture our vain balloon so self
can deflate and God remain our all.
God has shown us the love of
a faithful Father to make us see we are but men. “May God give us fear of the LORD that we may
know ourselves to be but men.”
Review of these three requests:
Do you see friends turning
from God to their own hurt? Our first request: Arise, O LORD, let not man
prevail;
Do you see this world appear
to prevail in wickedness and iniquity? Second, Arise, O LORD, let the heathen
be judged in thy sight
Is
it truly your hearts desire to see God call out his sheep from among the
nations? Third, Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves
to be but men. SELAH.
Illustration: The
lifeguard and the boy in the pool.
God hears his children when
we cry unto him.
Exodus
33: 17: And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast
spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
So cry unto him!
Amen!