Series: Psalms
Title: A Call to Judgment
Text: Psalm 28: 4-5
Date: August 17, 2017
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Our subject is “A Call to Judgment.”
Psalm 28: 3: Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. 4: Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert. 5: Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.
In the news this week, we are hearing much about what is just and unjust. One side thinks they are just and their enemy is unjust and the other side thinks they are the just ones.
But fallen man, at his best state, is described in verse 3. This is Christ’s just judgment—not man’s—this is God’s just judgment of the very best of fallen humanity—“the wicked, workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.”
Zephaniah 3: 3: Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. 4: Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
It matters not what side of whatever issue a fallen man is on, whether in vain religion or irreligious, the man who is outside of Christ, and all outside of Christ, are wicked, workers of iniquity, speaking peace with their lips, while mischief is in their hearts. This includes vainly, white-washed, religious men as well as political, worldly men.
Micah 3:5: Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths [Christ], they even prepare war against him.
Believer, never look to man to determine what is just and right and what is wrong? Do not look to one religious denomination or another? Do not let democrats or republicans determine for you what is just and right? Do not let liberal or conservative determine for you what is just and righteous? Do not let CNN or FOX news determine for you what is just and right?
Always remember: the way of depraved flesh is to selectively choose what he calls moral for his own profit, while overlooking what condemns himself or his cause. God calls it working iniquity—working that which is unequal, unjust, unrighteous. It is speaking peace with the mouth, while evil is in the heart. This is the only thing a depraved heart can produce.
The only one who can save us from ourselves—and continue to save us from us—AND DO SO MAGNIFYING GOD’S JUSTICE—is God our Savior, Christ Jesus.
Zephaniah 3: 5: The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not;
So let us ask Christ our God in utter dependence upon him to do justly, “Draw me not away with the wicked.”
Since Christ alone magnifies God’s justice, we will focus tonight on how he deals with the wicked in verses 4-5. As we read verse 4, picture Christ the Judge calling for judgment upon the reprobate—Psalm 28: 4: Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
This is not David praying as a private individual for revenge upon his enemies. When I pray alone, I am praying as private individual—I am not representing anyone. When doing so, Christ teaches the believer to pray for our enemies, not for judgment upon them. That is not what this is.
This is David writing by inspiration of God the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:21: For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Proposition: In Psalm 28: 4-5, God is using David, who was king over natural Israel, to call for judgment—to call on God to magnify his justice against God’s enemies, as a picture of Christ who is King over spiritual Israel, who shall magnifyy God’s justice against God’s enemies!
John 5: 22: For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
This is prophecy showing how Christ the Judge shall magnify God’s justice upon the reprobate, even as Christ magnified God’s justice in the salvation of his people.
That should get the interest of every unbeliever here. If you plan to go through the rest of your life as you have up to this point—refusing to believe upon Christ—then I would pay close attention to this because this is how Christ shall magnify God’s holy justice upon you!
GOD JUDGES THE REPROBATE IN PERFECT JUSTICE
God judges the unbeliever the way he wants to be judged. God gives him exactly what he justly deserves—Psalm 28: 4: Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
God always does that which is just!
Those who face God without faith in Christ are saying they want God to judge them by their own works. So God does that exact thing. God “Gives them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours.”
Their “deeds’ include everything they did both good and evil, which all comes short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Be sure to get this, their “endeavors” are the wicked things that they purposed to do in their hearts but which God prevented them from performing.
All their deeds, even all they thought of doing, shall be found sinful and God shall “give them after the work of their hands; render[ing] to them their desert.” God shall give them that which they justly deserve.
Revelation 13: 10: He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Matthew 25: 41: Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Matthew 13:42: And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
GOD JUDGES THE BELIEVER IN PERFECT JUSTICE
In this same verse, we see that Christ judges the believer in perfect justice. He judges us the way we want to be judged. Christ gives us what is just.
He shall “Give them according to their deeds” But by faith we profess that Christ’s deeds are the only deeds we desire to be judged by. And Christ’s deeds are our deeds by God’s grace through faith. Through faith in Christ, God imputes to us the righteousness of Christ because that is what we are. God imputes righteousness to us because Christ made us the righteousness of God in him by his obedience.
Also, by Christ dwelling in us and interceding for us, God gives those who believe on Christ that which is “according to the [righteousness] of their endeavours. Remember, our “endeavors” are the things that we purposed to do in our hearts for Christ but were unable to perform.
In Christ, both the believer’s deeds and his unfulfilled endeavors are perfectly righteous, without sin before God.
Ecclesiastes 9: 7: Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
Therefore, in the day of judgment, Christ shall “render to them according to the work of their hands that which is their [just] desert.” Christ magnifies God’s justice by giving his people what Christ earned for us by justifying us, which is what we justly deserve for trusting him.
When we meet God in final judgment, believers will have declared all our lives since God called us, that in Christ alone we wanted to be found, having only his righteousness and none of our own. And so we shall be judged accordingly and given all that belongs to Christ because it is our just due by Christ’s finished work!
So you see, Christ, in salvation as well as condemnation, magnifies the justice of God.
But sadly, unbelievers hear this and go on rejecting Christ.
Ecclesiastes 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
We will either magnify God’s justice as a trophy of his grace by believing on Christ and surrendering to him in this life. Or we will magnify God’s justice on judgment day for rejecting Christ, as he casts us into outer darkness forever. But either way, God shall give what is just and his justice shall be magnified by Christ alone! Oh, believe on Christ now!
WHO IS TO BLAME?
Who will be to blame if we perish in condemnation? What will be the cause that the reprobate is cast out in justice?—Psalm 28: 5: Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up. The cause for this just and sudden destruction will lie squarely on the shoulders of the sinner--“because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands.”
As we saw Sunday, the works of our Lord and the operation of his hands includes: creation, providence and salvation. But I want to focus on the latter, because those who regard not his works in salvation, regard not his works in the other also. The blame will be on the wicked because he would not believe on Christ by which sinners regard “the works of the LORD, [and] the operation of his hands.”
The works of the LORD are his works of redeeming his people from the curse of the law in justice and righteousness by Christ. The very purpose for which Christ came down was to declare the righteousness of God in the salvation of his people. That is why God’s Son was made of a woman and made under the law. It is why it was a must that “He hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin’ that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” And Christ hath finished the work and magnified and honored God’s law in holy justice! So when God imputes righteousness to a believer, it is because it is just. Christ made us righteous by his obedience!
The operations of his hands are the LORD’s works in regeneration and sanctification. This too is through Christ our Lord magnifying the justice of God.
Titus 3:5: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
It is just and therefore the Holy Spirit of God must make all for whom Christ died heirs by creating a new man in us. In that new spirit, he must grant us faith and repentance because the deeds of Christ—his blood and righteousness—demands it. So God makes us his workmanship created in Christ, preserved in Christ and shall resurrect us and accept us in and by Christ.
The holy justice of God is declared in and by Christ Jesus on the cross, as well as in regeneration.
Therefore, the blame for the unbeliever’s condemnation goes to himself because he “regards not the works of the LORD [In and by Christ], nor the operation of his hands, [through Christ]”
John 3: 17: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
1 John 5:10: He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
2 Thess 2: 10:…they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11: And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Be sure to get verse 12 of 2 Thessalonians 2. God “shall magnify his justice by destroying the [reprobate]” because they would not delight in Christ magnifying God’s justice—by believing on Christ. They believed not the truth. Instead, they had pleasure in unrighteousness. For the great majority in this world the unrighteousness they take pleasure in is their own vain, so-called justice. For this cause, God shall damn them!
Oh, please understand this! Through faith in Christ—simply casting all your care on Christ—confessing him and continuing in him all our days—the believer confesses that all our “regard [is to] the works of the LORD [in and by Christ], [and to] the operation of his hands, [through Christ]” Understand these next two verses:
John 3: 21: But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God [that is, that our deeds are worked in and by Christ our God!]
By simply coming to Christ the Light in faith, we are manifestly declaring that all our deeds, are not our own, but are worked in and by Christ our God! Now, hear the Psalmist say the same thing,
Psalm 73:28…I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.
By simple faith in Christ alone, believers are saying that Christ alone magnifies God’s justice, and robes us in Christ’s righteousness, and in and by Christ’s works, God is well-pleased with them.
So in this day in which we live, I am giving a call for judgment of another kind! I calling on believers to use spiritual judgment. Believer, be not carried away with this vainly religious, self-righteous and unjust religious and political world. Look not to men and governments and divided factions! Look only to Christ, believe only on Christ, obey only Christ. In Christ alone shall justice be magnified and his kingdom be established in righteousness!
When God has judged all the unrighteous, God’s people will be so perfect and see God’s justice magnified so greatly by Christ that when he casts out all reprobate sinners into hell, scripture says we will praise God for his righteous judgment:
Revelation 19: 1: And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: 2: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and [he] hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hands.
Amen!