Praising God's Justice

Passage: Psalm 9

CIS: Even in the darkest of days, God’s justice leads us to praise.

Intro

Me (may know me as the: guy from more than that, the bass guy, or maybe the hyper nerd that loves apologetics, philosophy, and theology

Being a philosophically minded apologist...

Lends itself to a fun relationship with the psalms.

Always fun to see how each lyricist represents each theme or attribute of God

Passage Intro

Song/Hymn

A psalm (song) of David according to Muthlabben

No indicators of when exactly this is in the life of David but because this is a lament psalm

Muthlabben is only used in this Psalm but what we can tell is that it was a communication for the music director.

Structure is Chiastic which means that there are repteated themes that move in one direction and then reverse. (Example: ABCBA)

We are going to look at each theme today with a climax theme of: Even in the darkest of days, God’s justice leads us to praise.

{Pause}

Begin with story/illustration to cover before entering bulk of passage

Music has always helped me in my darkest times when it seems like there is no light, music was always a way for me to get me back to focusing in on Christ

During my divorce, one of the songs that I would play was Son of the Morning by the band Oh, Sleeper. This song was the opener and the title track to the album. This album was a concept album that chronicled the battle between God and Satan. One of the lines of the last song on the album, The Finisher, is, “I will burn off your limbs and you will never shade again. You will bow at my feet or I'll rip out your knees And make of your face all the carnage you crave.” It talks about the ultimate victory that God will have over satan and how God will make a mockery of him.

What is your story? Is there marital struggles going on? Are you angry about the lack of justice you see or have experienced? Are you afraid to take a stand for a biblical worldview regarding something like abortion because of the ridicule you may be subject to from the “other side”? Have you left something behind and constantly are in fear of getting caught back up in what you have left because those people are still around?

Of the many themes of metal, judgement seems to be a pretty widespread theme that is talked about and that is what this Psalm is all about justice of the enemies of God’s people...

Enemies that are still at large which leads to our first point...

1. God, the Just Judge

(vv. 3-6, 15-18)

Psalm 9:3–6 CSB

When my enemies retreat, they stumble and perish before you. For you have upheld my just cause; you are seated on your throne as a righteous judge. You have rebuked the nations: You have destroyed the wicked; you have erased their name forever and ever. The enemy has come to eternal ruin; you have uprooted the cities, and the very memory of them has perished.

Enemies are still looming but David calls out God’s nature and what his enemies are to the Most High

God is the righteous judge and is just.

God doesn’t uphold what is inconsistent with his nature.

Yes he sustains the entire world but this is future looking to the final judgement when all our enemies will (go to next section of scripture)

Psalm 9:15–18 CSB

The nations have fallen into the pit they made; their foot is caught in the net they have concealed. The Lord has made himself known; he has executed justice, snaring the wicked by the work of their hands. Higgaion. Selah The wicked will return to Sheol— all the nations that forget God. For the needy will not always be forgotten; the hope of the oppressed will not perish forever.

Call back to The Finisher line and make the connetion that the mockery is that of Satan’s own pit he dug.

“I will burn off your limbs and you will never shade again. You will bow at my feet or I'll rip out your knees And make of your face all the carnage you crave.”

Gospel connection: ^^ Look at the cross! and how it was made to be a mockery of Jesus but ended up being a mockery of Satan dealing the final blow to death itself. Think about how wonderful this is! we don’t have to worry. The penalty has been taken. Snapping at your kids or some road rage during crazy traffic around 5 pm or maybe even wishing ill on a person of an opposing political party as yourself. Jesus took the punishment for these sins, no matter how insignificant they seem or how seemingly deserving the person was of the response you gave. What we need to do is come to Jesus with open hands of faith, with a repentant heart, and a desire to be transformed into the image of Jesus who made a mockery of satan.

Application to non-Xians: Want you to know that God will give those who deserve the utmost punishment the punishment they deserve. (the pit they dug is the one the fall into). This punishment is not going to be your standard, but his.

It is good that you recognize justice but I want you to think about it… as the theologian Thomas Oden says… the “one who recognizes relative justice at all must posit that absolutely just being in relation to which rough models of justice are to be measured.”

explain

His standard, and it’s a high standard, will be what judgement will be by and that is so freeing because...

Transition: There is a way out of this utmost punishment. It is found in God himself and not anyone or anything else. Not money or power or fame. Luckily we are working through a Psalm of David who knows this reality the best. Which is point number 2...

2. God, the Just Savior

(vv. 7-14) but skipping over v 11

Psalm 9:7–10 CSB

But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for judgment. And he judges the world with righteousness; he executes judgment on the nations with fairness. The Lord is a refuge for the persecuted, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you because you have not abandoned those who seek you, Lord.

Skipped v 11 for a reason. Bare with me.

Psalm 9:12–14 CSB

For the one who seeks an accounting for bloodshed remembers them; he does not forget the cry of the oppressed. Be gracious to me, Lord; consider my affliction at the hands of those who hate me. Lift me up from the gates of death, so that I may declare all your praises. I will rejoice in your salvation within the gates of Daughter Zion.

Even though David knows his only source of salvation as coming from God, that does not stop him from crying out to God in the mean time.

This is forward looking. David is not aiming at salvation in this world but in the world to come.

Though he is being oppressed by something or someone, why else would he implore God to consider his affliction if he saw salvation in any other place.

I want to ask you, “What are you being oppressed by? and where are you looking for salvation?”

Are you feeling the effects of the past cultural sins and aiming for salvation on this side of heaven?

What about sticking it to the “man” or maybe your parents because they just don’t know what it’s like to be you. Are you seeking immediate salvation?

Are you imitating David who imitates God in patience and promises made to crush the head of the serpent?

This Comes from knowing gods name (who he is) and seeing his justice play out in the past so he has no reason to doubt that he will be faithful in justice in the future.

For us: Knowing his name and seeking our refuge in God’s justice

Meaning of Knowing and seeking is that of:

knowing the person as real,

knowing about the person, and

trusting that person whom you are seeking

^^This is the description of biblical faith! Knowing and trusting the person of Christ

If you are here today and you know who Jesus is, I want to ask you, “Do you know him and trust him?”

It is one thing to know about. Another to place trust in what you know about.

Takes it into a different type of relationship. One where in which the person is known intimately and because of that, trust is placed in the person.

Even non-Christians like Emily Qureshi-Hurst (a philosophical theologian), Dan McClellan, and New Testament scholar, Bart Ehrman, know Jesus and the the Gospels’ content well but do not trust the person of Jesus with their salvation.

This knowledge and refuge seeking is objectively real and evidenced in the world we live in (see Psalm 19)

Extended to the whole of humanity and this is why we have this thing called evangelism.

Every person has the ability to seek the Lord from the very natural world we live in and through His personal revelation in history that we now have bound between two covers, the Bible.

Gospel Connection (Xian application): Jesus when he judges in the end will remember those who knew his name

He will judge with fairness and according to the blood which has washed those who follow his only begotten son.

It is a constant thing to continue to know him deeper and deeper every day.

Application (non-xian): If you are tired of trying to make it work, pleasing others to get ahead, chasing the next buck, or escape the clobbering of those around you, you can rest easy in knowing that Jesus is the righteous and just refuge for you. You can rest knowing that he will take care of it in the end.

Just know that just because he will take care of it in the end that the road to the light at the end of the tunnel is not going to be an easy road to take. Jesus doesn’t call us to a life of luxury but a life of selfless refuge in the knowledge of the throne of God.

This is all packed into God’s nature, who he is, and when found to be an accurate description of the world w live in and the circumstances we find ourselves in this leads us to praise, our 3rd and final point.

3. God the Just, the One Worthy of Our Praise

(vv. 1-2, 11, 19-20)

Peppered throughout the psalm, in good chiastic style, is the high point of David’s affections. This is the desire of his heart and the thing he desires the most, the Lord himself.

The one worthy of the praise we long to give to something or someone.

Psalm 9:1–2 CSB

I will thank the Lord with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous works. I will rejoice and boast about you; I will sing about your name, Most High.

Bringing to mind the call of the Israelites to allegiance with God

Deuteronomy 6:4 HCSB

^^“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

echoed in Matthew 22:37

Matthew 22:37 HCSB

He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Every argument from an apologist, preacher, and even you that you make about the goodness of God falls into this category of praise. It is a work of thanks, a declaration, a rejoiceful boast, and a song when it is in accordance with who God reveals himself to be and when glorifying God is at the center.

Psalm 9:11 CSB

Sing to the Lord, who dwells in Zion; proclaim his deeds among the nations.

This is the climax of the whole psalm. David makes this stand out in the middle of his song which should lead us to have our ears perked up at what he is really aiming at.

Though it is a lament, the purpose of a lament is to trust and praise God more through our angst. (Trust me, I am an elder emo, I know what angst is.)

How I was angst within my divorce and how the argument for the resurrection is what kept me going not just in school but in my faith. I couldn’t deny that Jesus defeated death and that this argument is really a declaration, a rejoice full boast, and a beautiful song of the deeds of God who raised Jesus from the dead, the ultimate death blow to death itself

Psalm 9:19–20 CSB

Rise up, Lord! Do not let mere humans prevail; let the nations be judged in your presence. Put terror in them, Lord; let the nations know they are only humans. Selah

Xian application: All of the praising God in the midst of enemies and persecution of some sort or another as a mark of one after God’s own heart.

look at Paul and Silas in Acts 16 where they were in prison and being the victims of injustice for relieving a slave girl of a demon. They praised God despite the imprisonment because it was for doing good.

Peter implores the same response of being willing to endure the persecution for doing good in his first letter.

(Give emotional inflections) Non-Xian application: With all the suffering you see going on in the world, where is your praise going? We have seen David’s trust that God is going to judge the evil we see in the world and this is the trust (which is what we call faith) that all Christians have. Where is your trust going? because Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light.

I want to finish this out by circling back to the song we referenced earlier, The Finisher by Oh, Sleeper. The song ends with these words:

We will sing to a world reborn from suffering. From the armories the angels sing. You will see them end this suffering. From the armories the angels sing. You will fear them when they lift their wings. They will sing to a world reborn. They will sing as I cut off your horns. I'll cut off your horns.

[Prayer to end]