God is a Righteous Judge

Stephen Littlejohn

Selah • Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

Psalm 7:title–17

Refuge

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Main Idea: The LORD God is the Righteous Judge and Refuge.

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God is a Righteous Judge

Psalm 7 ESV

A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite. O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver. O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends. I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

“A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.”

“If God was slandered in Eden, we shall surely be maligned in the land of sinners.” - Spurgeon

The Lord God is Our Source of Refuge and Deliverance in the Midst of Slander

v.1-5

Confident plea - v.1

The Lord God is Our Source of Refuge and Deliverance in the Midst of Slander

Cautious plea - v. 3-5

;

Where do I run when life gets hard?

The Lord God’s Righteous Judgement is Certain

v. 6-9

A renewed prayer of faith - v. 6-8

An appointed a judgement

The Lord will judge v. 9

The comfortingThe Lord God’s Judgement is Both Sobering and Comforting

v. 10-16

The sobering judgement for the wicked - v. 12-16

v. 12-13 - The mercy of warning and repentance

v. 14 - The character of the wicked

v. 15-16- The end of the wicked

judgement for the righteous - v. 10-11

- our confident hope is in an alien righteousness!

v. 8

So What?

Is the Lord’s judgement both sobering and comforting to you?

V.17 - Let’s Sing!

God is a Righteous Judge

Main Idea: The LORD God is the Righteous Judge and Refuge.

INFO guide & Game night & Summer camp - Real courage

7 A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.

1 O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;

save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,

2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,

rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

3 O Lord my God, if I have done this,

if there is wrong in my hands,

4 if I have repaid my friend with evil

or plundered my enemy without cause,

5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,

and let him trample my life to the ground

and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

6 Arise, O Lord, in your anger;

lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;

awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.

7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;

over it return on high.

8 The Lord judges the peoples;

judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me.

9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,

and may you establish the righteous—

you who test the minds and hearts,

O righteous God!

10 My shield is with God,

who saves the upright in heart.

11 God is a righteous judge,

and a God who feels indignation every day.

12 If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;

he has bent and readied his bow;

13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.

14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil

and is pregnant with mischief

and gives birth to lies.

15 He makes a pit, digging it out,

and falls into the hole that he has made.

16 His mischief returns upon his own head,

and on his own skull his violence descends.

17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,

and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

Main idea: Refuge is a common theme in Psalms : The Judge is our Refuge?

How can God allow such evil, such wicked things to happen to his people - to good people?!

Last Sunday, a man that many knew and loved drove his vehicle into a restaurant killing members of his own family. (Sin within our own convention - school shootings………………..

The truth: They will stand before the Righteous Judge and the Judge who will not err.

The Lord will do what is right.

This Truth both sobers and comforts

“A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.”

- most likely Saul or Shemei

Concerning cush - Most likely a Shemei like figure that cursed Dan opposed David -

Many think Cush in this text had accused David a treason against Saul.

“If God was slandered in Eden, we shall surely be maligned in the land of sinners.” - Spurgeon

Focus on the Judge today - no time to deal with man side only that we begin with:

The Lord God is our source of Refuge and Deliverance in the Midst of Slander

This prayer is both confident and yet cautious

Confident plea - v.1

1 O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;

save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,

O Lord my God - Covenant language - in you alone do I put my trust - personal intimate

His case he lays before the Judge is based in his confidence of His God

God had not begun to be his refuge, he already was his refuge. - I take!

The Confidence: His father can deliver him from those who are attacking him.

V.2 - 2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,

rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

There’s a real danger - Like a lion

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

If the Devil is like a Lion what is the Lord like?

CS Lewis: Aslan is not a tame lion

He who call you will rescue you & strengthen you & he alone is worthy of our all consuming attention not our attackers!

Cautious plea - v. 3-5 (Humble plea)

3 O Lord my God, if I have done this,

if there is wrong in my hands,

4 if I have repaid my friend with evil

or plundered my enemy without cause,

5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,

and let him trample my life to the ground

and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

I am innocent….. but test me!

- “If” - I could be wrong!

If i have repaid my friends/ally with betrayal or rescued with empty hands - Treaty/cov. talk

David was careful to avoid the appearance he was trying to take the kingship from Saul ( - Davids innocence proclaimed from Sauls lips)

We should be able to claim that they have been living faithful lives.

Above reproach - Even still we will be slandered!

We must test our own motives:

- A good conscience has sure confidence

12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.

21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;

He is not claiming an across-the-board perfection; he is simply claiming to be clear of responsibility for this bit of trouble. (Davis, pg. 86)

Yet he prays test me:

Yet, we carefully realize that it is possible that we are harboring sinful attitudes

Humility does not require of us to acknowledge the truth of false charges brought against us.

What humility demands is a judgment of ourselves, not below the truth, nor above it, but according to it, vv. 3-5. (Plumer, pg. 116)

David does not take vengeance into his own hands, which he might well have been able to do, being king.

Instead he submits his case to God, who alone has the ultimate right to judge and who alone can judge perfectly. (Boice, p. 62)

It is better to maintain integrity and continue to suffer injustice, than to sell out to evil and form ranks with the unrighteous. (Boice quoting PC Craigie, p. 65)

Ref

Where do I run when life gets hard? (To the world for justice or to my Lord and My God - the world or the church?)

1 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame;

in your righteousness deliver me!

2 Incline your ear to me;

rescue me speedily!

Be a rock of refuge for me,

a strong fortress to save me!

What do we do when we are slandered by the wicked? We know this:

The Lord God’s Righteous Judgement is Certain (His judgement is both righteous & certain/sure)

v. 6-8

6 Arise, O Lord, in your anger;

lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;

awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.

7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;

over it return on high.

8 The Lord judges the peoples;

judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me.

A renewed prayer of faith - v. 6-8

The confident yet cautious prayer gives way to a refreshed prayer of faith!

Arise - lift yourself - awake - Be provoked and act in justice

- The Parable of the Persistent Widow

7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

Justice isn’t a mere possibility it’s a promised reality based on God’s character.

An appointed judgement -v. 6

...you have appointed a judgment.

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Appointed day and an appointed Judge.

The Lord will judge v. 9

9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,

and may you establish the righteous—

you who test the minds and hearts,

O righteous God!

Two certainties: V.9 - One will be established and one destroyed

Established = settled - firm - fixed - permanence

….you who test the minds and hearts,

13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Omniscience - The depth of divine knowledge - mind and heart is naked before the Judge.

The picture:

The Confident plea from God’s child that has sets his case before the Judge.

The Judge comes out of his chambers and sits on his judgement throne.

The Lord God Judgement is both sobering and comforting - v. 10-16

The sobering judgement for the wicked - v. 12-16

v. 12-13 - The mercy of warning and repentance

12 If a man does not repent, God will whet (sharpen) his sword;

he has bent and readied his bow;

13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.

There is time to repent

v. 14 - The character of the wicked

14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil

and is pregnant with mischief

and gives birth to lies.

Three graphic pictures of the slanderers history

Woman in childbirth (full and intends to come out)

Conceives mischief (Devil is the father of lies)

Name is falsehood

Lying/slander is the children/fruit that the wicked bear

v. 15-16- The end of the wicked

15 He makes a pit, digging it out,

and falls into the hole that he has made.

16 His mischief returns upon his own head,

and on his own skull his violence descends.

Result: Fall in the pit they dug for the righteous (Deceptive - sneaky - friendly to our face but sets a trap for us)

As God’s people are persecuted and slandered, God has not been sleeping, He has been sharpening his sword on the revolving stone of the wicked and if they will not repent he will cut them to pieces.

The bow is bent & God never misses His mark.

When great evil hit our lands, lives or neighborhoods and we hear where is your God, we must say what Scripture says he is on his throne sharpening his sword.

- books & a book

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Are these things written to scare you? Yes! They should sober all men to hear God say my bow is bent and if you don’t repent you will perish.

Summer camp: Our God is a warrior!

- not in notes

One day the most powerful ruler of the world will cry for rocks to crush their heads to save them from the wrath of the lamb

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Yes, The judgement of the wicked is sobering & certain but:

The comforting judgement for the righteous - v. 10-11

10 My shield is with God,

who saves the upright in heart.

11 God is a righteous judge,

and a God who feels indignation every day.

Clears the guiltless

10 My shield is with God,

who saves the upright in heart.

11 God is a righteous judge,

and a God who feels indignation every day.

He saves the upright

God protect the Righteous

1 Clap your hands, all peoples!

Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared,

a great king over all the earth.

We do not need to fear the Judge if we have taken refuge by His grace in His Son.

So What?

Is the Lord’s Judgement both sobering and comforting to you?

We are all headed towards a judgement

If you are in Christ is it should comfort even excite

- Our ultimate hope is in an alien righteousness!

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus

Becasue of the finished work of Christ the Judge will not say not guilty - becasue of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ He will say - I declare you - Righteous!

Micah going to come in just a minute and sing a song he wrote about a time when God will make all things right!

Lets go to

The truth: Yes, We walk in our own integrity but even so we will be slandered and persecuted.

V.4 sets the context - the suffering - persecuted - church

4 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels

Suffering is evidence that Justice is coming

Just - God to repay & give relief

When - When the Lord Jesus returns

How?

8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Sobering!

Those who slander us and those who know not God

Motive us to pray for mercy for those who hurt us and reject him.

9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

Presence = blessing and grace - No grace & No mercy

What will be waiting in hell for the wicked? - the Just wrath of a holy God!

The comfort!

10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

To be glorified in...what? YOU! - Fully glorified to marvel at our Lord!

11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

V.17 - So Let the Redeemed Sing!

17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,

and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

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