Psalm 10

Call to worship- 1 Peter 1:20-21

· Introduction: Good morning church! Would you turn with me to Psalm 10? This week we will be studying Psalm 10. As you turn there, I just want to highlight a few announcements. (ICE CREAM SOCIAL- Wear a GPC shirt for Saturday night- let me know if you need one!, etc.)

o Would you please stand with me for the reading of God’s word? READ, PRAY, You may be seated, drink.

· Wickedness is such a broad topic. And if we are honest, it almost sounds so removed from daily life. But it really isn’t. Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote a very famous poem about the Charge of the Light Brigade.

o The charge of the light brigade was a military disaster. The British Light Cavalry was ordered to charge through a canyon towards the British cannon during the battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War in 1854. Roughly half of the almost 600 men were either killed or wounded during this charge.

o As terrible as that is, there’s something arguably even more terrible; the fact that it could have been avoided! That charge never needed to happen! See, the order was never even given!

§ Instead, there was some intentional miscommunication between British officers due to grudges that they held against each other.

§ See, the two British cavalry officers were brothers-in-law who despised each other!

· When the overall British commander sent the order, he intended for the light brigade to head one direction, but that command was not given. Instead, the British light brigade charged straight down the canyon towards the entrenched and well defended Russian lines.

o While charging into this canyon, the soldiers were shot at from 3 different sides. Mass casualties quickly piled up and there was chaos and confusion everywhere. The battle it is widely believed could have been won if the British heavy brigade, the sister brigade, had charged into the valley!

o But remember! Their commander had a bitter disagreement with his brother-in-law who commanded the Light brigade. For whatever reason, the heavy brigade never entered the conflict, instead watching as the light brigade took heavy casualties and was forced to retreat!

§ The wickedness of these two men was seen through their hatred and disdain for each other, disdain which was reportedly caused due to a husband not loving his wife as he should, which had a consequence- great loss of human life!

§ Today, we will see David is going to pour out his heart about the wickedness of our world while also sharing how hard it can be to move forward! And truly, I can understand David’s emotions!

MAIN POINT: Though the wickedness of our world can seem overwhelming, we have hope because of God!

· This morning as we continue in Psalms, we are looking at Psalm 10, which is essentially the second half of Psalm 9.

o If you recall, Psalm 9 is an acrostic psalm and the first half of the alphabet was in Psalm 9 while the last half is Psalm 10. Psalm 9 was a reminder of God’s goodness and His deliverance. Psalm 10 is a solemn reminder that God’s deliverance is not always right away! David still gives us an example of praising God though, even during the darkest hour!

o It is also a reminder of the evil that we face on a daily basis.

· As we begin, we see David condemning EVIL!

· David starts out saying, “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. For the wicked boasts of the 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.”- Psalm 10:1-4

o Immediately, we should notice that David’s tone is substantially different than what is was in Psalm 9! In Psalm 9, David was very positive and here, he is much less positive!

o As David begins, he cries out to the Lord wondering why the Lord seems to be so far away?

I can’t help but think of what the eyewitnesses to the Charge of the Light Brigade felt as they watched these 600 men charging straight towards death! No other English unit was ordered forward and to the observer it had to seem like everything stood still!

I think during trials, we sometimes feel like that is God! Just watching as we suffer!

§ Do you ever feel this way? Do you ever feel like you don’t fully understand where God is; or like you don’t understand what is going on?

·It’s easy to feel like we don’t see God! It isn’t because GOD ISN’T THERE, It’s because we don’t slow down enough to LOOK FOR HIM, or we don’t like God’s answer! Matthew Henry phrases it well. It’s not that God doesn’t answer, it’s that God “delays” here! David had to have faith, just like we need to!

o As David pours out his heart, he cries out wondering about the wicked man. A common theme of this section from verses 1-11 is that this man HATES GOD AND IS PRIDEFUL!

§ Let’s look at some more of the characteristics in these first 4 verses.

§ David says that the wicked man is arrogant and takes advantage of the poor. He is greedy!

§ The wicked man also boasts about what they want and the things they do are done in greed! They are “greedy for gain,” or are interested in their own interests first and foremost!

· They do not do what God wants! Instead, they want evil things; which is why they curse and renounce YAHWEH; their CREATOR!

o The very God who made them and loves them, they HATE! They despise everything about God. They do not want to be corrected; THEY WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANT!

§ Does that sound familiar at all? It should! This is human rebellion against God in its most basic form! Sin is REBELLION! IT IS WANTING OUR WAY INSTEAD OF GOD’S WAY!

o In fact, as David ends verse 4, we see that this wicked man thinks to himself, “There is no God.”

§ The wicked man chooses to seek his own gain instead of GOD! He chooses to seek his own personal glory instead of God! In the short term he may look successful, but I can promise you, this is not going to work out!

· In verses 5-7 David continues painting a picture of this wicked man. Listen to what he says, “His ways prosper at all times; your judgements are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, ‘I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.’ His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.”- Psalm 10:5-7

o The wicked man seems to prosper at all times! He’s seen and praised for his success; seemingly never worried about anything else!

o He enjoys his success, scoffing at all his foes, all his adversaries, or anyone who doesn’t praise him!

§ The wicked man focuses entirely on his temporary pleasure and power!

o The wicked man says that nothing can change him or move him, that NOTHING will cause him adversity. He is prideful and selfish; he is full of himself! His mouth is vile, he is filled with nonsense and foolishness!

§ That foolishness is seen when he curses God and man, as he tries to oppress people and deceive people!

§ He is a scam artist, there’s something just not quite right about him!

§ He speaks mischief and iniquity! In other words, this is just a BAD MAN!

o That’s the portrait that David is painting! The man discussed in Psalm 10 is truly WICKED!

§ A man without Jesus and without a personal relationship with God is totally lost! There is no hope; there is no understanding and there is no future for that man!

· Instead, that man is dooming himself to eternal judgement and punishment at the hand of God!

· Before we consider this description of the wicked man in our context, let’s look at the rest of what David says about him in verses 8-11.

· David says, “He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. He says in his heart, ‘God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”- Psalm 10:8-11

o The wicked man described in this psalm is not only prideful, he is manipulative and he wants to USE OTHERS FOR HIS OWN PERSONAL GAIN!

§ He thinks he will get away with this! He tries to find the most helpless people to take advantage of! This is the guy who is trying to scam the little grandma. He wants to take advantage of people and he wants to use them for his gain!

· Everything that he seeks is about him! Why? Because he doesn’t think God sees it! He knows deep in his heart that God is real although he tries to deny God! But, he has a small view of God and does not fear God! Instead, he assumes God will never know!

· The fear of God is so important! It’s important that we know WHO OUR GOD IS! AND WHEN WE KNOW WHO GOD IS, WE WILL NATURALLY FEAR GOD BECAUSE OF HIS SHEER PERFECTION, HIS HOLINESS, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HIS POWER!

o As we know God more, we will see our NEED FOR GOD MORE!

· So, as we’ve looked at the wicked man, what are really the takeaways?

o Well, the wicked man in Psalm 10, the wicked refuse to acknowledge God, they are filled with pride, they pursue their own passions regardless of the cost that it has for anyone else and they seek their own desires above all else!

o They take advantage of others, they push their agendas, they deny God and they curse God! They turn on those who disagree with them and they seek to cause chaos and harm!

§ The wicked of Psalm 10 are intensely wicked and yet there are parallels between this description and what we so often see in our modern day.

o If you honestly just take a step back with me and put aside any emotions and look at our culture, culturally, everyone wants to get ahead, people want what is in their best interests, people want the easy way through life and they don’t care what it costs someone else!

§ Not only that, there is a widespread attitude that God is either not real or doesn’t care, so it doesn’t matter what you do! Party it up, do some drugs, sleep around, change your gender or create a new one, experience “FREEDOM,” or to put it another way, do whatever feels right to you!

§ That’s wicked behavior! Here’s the thing; this is not new! This is what has been going on since the beginning of time! Why? Because sinful rebellion against God’s created order has been going on since the Garden of Eden!

· And as Paul tells us in Titus 3, we were once just like this! You may think, “Well, I never did THAT!” But, did you ever lie? Did you ever tell half-the-truth? Did you ever get jealous of what someone else had? Did you ever choose to do something even though you knew it was wrong? IF YOU HAVE EVER SINNED, and every human has, then you are just as wicked in God’s sight as the wicked man in Psalm 10!

· But, like Paul continues on to say in Titus 3, there is hope for us in Jesus!

· See, we are not condemned to a wicked life. Paul instead says that, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”

o That is the hope that we have! We have hope because we are redeemed by Jesus death and resurrection!

§ This is the ultimate hope that we have and that we need. This is what the solution is ultimately to the wickedness in Psalm 10!

· We should tell the world about Jesus and share the GOSPEL WITH THEM! WE SHOULD SHARE THE HOPE THAT WE HAVE BECAUSE IT IS THE HOPE THAT OUR WORLD NEEDS SO BADLY!

Our world desperately needs hope! Why are people pursuing all these sinful pleasures? Why are people pursuing wealth above all else and fame above all else? BECAUSE THEY WANT HOPE! PEOPLE WANT TO FEEL VALUED AND VALIDATED!

AND WE HAVE WHAT THEY TRULY NEED! WE HAVE JESUS WHO GIVES HOPE, WHO GIVES LIFE, WHO LOVES THEM AND WHO GIVES THEM THE TRUE FREEDOM THEY NEED! FREEDOM WITH NO CONSEQUENCES, FREEDOM WITH NO LETDOWN IN THE FUTURE!

§ As we move into the second half of Psalm 10 we are going to see something else extremely important.

· When we are suffering because of the wickedness of others, it can be very hard to feel hopeful. Indeed, it can be easy to want to give up!

o But, what David shows us in verses 12-18 is what we should do when faced with the consequences of the wickedness of our world.

· David responds to all the wickedness in prayer! He says, “Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, ‘You will not call to 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.”- Psalm 10:12-15

o David responds to the wickedness by crying out in prayer! He prays and asks the LORD, YAHWEH, EL, or YAHWEH GOD to rise up! David asks God to go out and punish the wicked! SAVE THE VICTIMS!

§ David doesn’t seek out his own selfish revenge against the wicked; he submits that desire to God! He leaves revenge to GOD!

§ David goes to God with his struggles and sets an example that we should do the same!

· Truly, just as we saw last week, vengeance belongs to the Lord! The wicked man may think that no one sees his cheating, his stealing and his deceit, but GOD DOES!

o The wicked think they are avoiding punishment but they are not! GOD WILL PUNISH as a result of HIS RIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENT!

§ That is what David pleads with God to do and it’s what God does!

· Examples from scripture:

o David and Goliath (the context of this psalm)

o The conquest of Israel by Joshua- God promised the people of Israel this land and GOD DELIVERED IT!

§ God punished the wicked people of the land who had been proudly sacrificing babies, and worshipping idols!

God also faithfully provided the land to the people of Israel! They conquered AND EVEN WHEN THEY TURNED FROM GOD, GOD SENT JUDGES, THEN PROPHETS to CALL THEM BACK!

o Nehemiah and the exiles.

§ God preserved Nehemiah and the returning Israelites despite the efforts of the evil people of some gentiles to stop them from following God!

§ God’s deliverance was not immediate, BUT GOD CAME THROUGH!

o So in your own life, how do you need to lean into God? WHAT DO YOU NEED TO TRUST GOD WITH? What situation is near to your heart that you need to give to God?

§ Let me give you a challenge; do that now! DO THAT TODAY! Do you need support? Lean into the Lord and lean into your Church family! We are to support each other and to encourage one another!

§ Do you feel frustrated with the sinfulness of our culture? Are you tired of the redefining of basic things that we read in scripture? GO TO GOD AND PRAY! I promise you, God will answer that prayer!

§ OUR WORLD NEEDS THE HOPE OF JESUS! We need to both be ready to share this, but we also need to be consistently on our knees PRAYING FOR OUR NATION, just as Nehemiah prayed for the Lord’s GUIDANCE!

· David continues on saying, “The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.”- Psalm 10:16-18

o As David continues to pray, he cries out praising the LORD FOR BEING KING FOREVER AND EVER!

§ Nations and people will pass away, but GOD WILL NOT! Remember, David sung in Psalm 9 about God destroying the enemies of Israel! We talked about how God did just that!

Moab, Edom, the 7 Cannanite nations: Ammon, Amalekites, Amorites, Jebusites, Girgashites, Hittites, Hivites, and Perrizites. Not to mention the Philistines, the Midianites, etc. God prevailed! Just as God did for the Israelites, HE WILL FOR US! THIS WICKEDNESS WILL NOT LAST OR PREVAIL FOREVER!

· David continues to reaffirm his confidence that the LORD WILL STRENGTHEN THOSE WHO ARE AFFLICTED AND THAT GOD WILL PROTECT THOSE WHO NEED A PROTECTOR!

o David cries out in confidence knowing that God will do justice to ALL!

§ Both wicked and those who are crushed and beaten, GOD WILL JUDGE! GOD’S JUDGEMENT WILL BE SOVEREIGN AND WILL BE JUST!

§ God’s judgement will be perfect!

· The Lord hears all the cries of the afflicted and IS WITH THEM!

o Really, in verses 1-11, we saw how evil the wicked are. In verses 12-18, we are reminded that GOD’S DELIVERANCE; the very thing that David wrote about in the first half of this acrostic, IT IS REAL AND IT IS COMING!

§ We may have to wait and endure which is hard, BUT GOD IS COMING AND GOD WILL SAVE! IT IS WORTH WAITING FOR GOD!

· Conclusion: So how does all this apply to our lives?

o I think it applies quite clearly! Our world is far from perfect! Our world has many issues and there are many difficult situations that we face and things that we see in the world that are just not right!

§ Wickedness is all around us. Not only are there literally people who are exploiting the poor and the weak, WHILE BRAGGING ABOUT IT, there are many other forms of wickedness in our world!

· Albert Mohler wrote a book on this very topic that I really appreciate! It’s called The Gathering Storm: Secularism, Culture, and the Church.

o One of the most notable things in his work is that the reaction of sinful mankind truly has not changed! Just as the wicked man in Psalm 10 cries out, “THERE IS NO god” mankind does the same today!

§ Whether in abortion, or in sexuality, in the decline and redefinition of the family, or through simply the selfishness of culture, we see wickedness all around us!

§ Honestly, David’s words are just as fitting today as they were when he wrote them! It can simply put be easy to feel hopeless in the face of this cultural chaos and revolution.

o But, it’s not actually hopeless because we have a solution to all of these challenges and issues!

§ GOSPEL THAT WE TALKED ABOUT EARLIER! (GOD- PERFECT AND RIGHTEOUS! HOLY AND STRONG! MAN- SINFUL AND FALLEN, SEARCHING ON OUR OWN STRENGTH TO BE COMFORTED, BUT NOT SEEKING GOD IN OUR SINFULNESS, JESUS- PERFECT SAVIOR, LOVES US, CARES FOR US, GIVES US MEANING, SALVATION- REPENT OF OUR SINFUL WAYS AND PUT OUR FAITH IN JESUS! GO AND SIN NO MORE! LEAVE YOUR SIN BEHIND, FOLLOW JESUS!

Our solution to the challenges of this world is to share this very message! This is our hope in all situations! This is what we cling to!

· Are you discouraged by the world around you? Does your heart break at what you see? Do you grieve as you see the sin of our nation? DON’T DESPAIR! YOU HAVE THE HOPE THAT OUR WORLD NEEDS!

· Let’s be faithful to bring the gospel to our world! PRAY FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR, PRAY FOR OUR COMMUNITY, PRAY FOR REVIVAL, PRAY FOR CONVICTION! PRAY AND ASK GOD TO MOVE JUST AS DAVID DOES IN THIS PSALM!

o O that our prayer lives would mirror Psalm 10! Full of raw honesty with God, pouring out our hurts and pains, asking God to move, while also declaring our TRUST AND EVERLASTING FAITH THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL!

§ Truly, we can give our lives fully to God in complete comfort and faith knowing that GOD WILL PROVIDE AND GOD WILL MOVE! TRULY AS DAVID PROCLAIMED, OUR LORD IS KING FOREVER!

Let’s Pray.

Benediction: Philippians 4:12-13- No matter what we face this week, let’s rejoice and rest knowing that Jesus is with us!