Justice for all...
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Today we’re going to be continuing through the Psalms. We will be in Psalm 10…
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.”
His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments 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.
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.”
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.
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.
Brain dump:
Verse 1 begins this dialogue that David (King David) is directing towards the Lord. “Why God, do you stand far away?” Is the question…and this is the question that we’ve been asking for many moons and that the world has been asking for an even longer time.
The problem of evil…the problem of the world around us when the bad guy wins…the bad guy gets away with it. When the poor aren’t brought justice… When that person just becomes another statistic… what do you do Christian? What do you do when
David paints the picture of this wicked man…who seems to ‘get away with everything’, who has no regard for man or for God.
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.”
The evildoer: (v. 1-12)
Crushing the helpless
No regard for God or for consequences
His mouth is filled with cursing, lies and oppression of others
He ‘murders’ the innocent
He says ‘I shall not meet adversity’—no one will stand up to me
V. 10:
The foolish victim and unlucky victim are wondering if God is indifferent toward their plight
V.12 ACT God… these evildoers think you won’t be holding them accountable
This is where our world is… this is our world right now and everyone that is separate from Christ. I’m not selling the Jesus juice. I pride myself with being blunt…and a little jaded (God is still working on that part of me).
I want to read something to you from a musical group called Fort Minor. Fort Minor was one of my favorite groups in high school. They are actually led by Mike Shinoda which was part of Linkin Park (another one of teenage Dennis’ favorites…that and the flobots). It’s funny as well… times don’t change much. Most of the teens I work with today flee towards music to help them cope with the world around them. Adults do the same thing at times… the name of this song is Slip Out The Back.
You know me
I used to get caught up in everyday life
Trying to make it through my day so I could sleep at night
Tried to figure out my way through the maze of rights and wrongs
But like you used to say
Nothing feels like it's really worth it
Forget perfect, I'm trying not to be worthless
Since I last saw you I've been looking for a purpose
Well, I met this kid who thought like I did
He had a weird way of looking at it
This is what he said
Slip out the back before they know you were there
And at the worst you'll see nobody cares
Cause you don't wanna be around when it all goes down
Even heroes know when to be scared
Now, I don't remember where I met him
Or remember his name
But he walked funny like he was just too big for his frame
Just over five foot but he weighed a buck fifty
And what he said seemed so right it stuck with me
Listen, it's like poker, you can play your best
But you gotta know when to fold your cards and take a rest
And know when to hold your cards, hold your breath
And hope that nobody else is stacking the deck
Because I don't need to tell you that life isn't fair
It doesn't care, it arbitrarily cuts off your air
And like you, I want someone to say it's okay
In the truest part of our hearts everybody's afraid
We're just under-appreciated and overwhelmed
Fighting so hard to hide our fear that we're scaring ourselves
You understand what I'm saying, cause you always did
But it's different in the words of a cowardly kid who said
This song gets to this idea that life isn’t fair… and that as humans we need to know when to call it quits. It hits at the center of this idea that humans are fearful and fill their lives with things to help them forget about this fear. I want to remind us all…as Christians, many of us came from this worldview.
Our world…right now… is crying out. And I find myself in a position that I find myself often…in need of a reminder. The world didn’t just get this way. When I listen to the world around me I hear the following:
Who are we voting for?
I just lost my job and we don’t have a penny left
Is COVID that serious?
My loved ones are sick
My unemployment is about to run out
I’m alone
I’m angry
I’m confused
Life is rough but we’re doing…
Or… I get the social media representations of life. I do want to insert a slight error code into my argument here:
We always act like those apart from Christ are miserable and are all depressed and leading horrible lives… and that isn’t quite true. Many are leading ‘fulfilling lives’ and they are advancing in their professions and accumulation of material. They are educated and are quite happy in their lives.
Now… why my rant? Psalm 10 is King David addressing God… he’s saying: Look God, this wicked man is getting away with it.... what are you doing? What are you going to do about it? He’s prospering… he’s oppressing, abusing, and getting away with it…
This is the age old question: evil is happening and where is God?
This is where we get into part 2 of this shindig.
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V.14-18 [Part 2]
You do see because you note mischief and hatred THAT you may take it into your hands (v. 14)
The helpless commit themselves to you…
You have been the helper of the fatherless
“Break the arm” of the wicked
Call his wickedness to account until you find none… hold him and make him pay for every wickedness
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.
You will strengthen their heart
You will incline your hear to do justice for the fatherless and oppressed
So… the man (of this earth) may strike terror no more
Psalm 10 gives us an answer to the “where are you God?” Question… right where he needs to be.
God is the one who strengthens the heart of the oppressed.
He angles his heart to do justice for the fatherless and the oppressed
Until this man…strikes no more terror and fear.
But Dennis…are Christians supposed to seek justice for the oppressed? Should we march ? Should we protest? Should we do more?
I’ll tell you what I've seen from a lot of believers these last couple of months. This belief that in our striving to seek justice for the oppressed that we could get rid of all forms of oppression. That we could get rid of this ‘wicked’ man… that, if only we legislate more. If we just DO MORE… if Christians just took the Gospel seriously enough this wouldn’t be an issue…
And …If I could be blunt for a second:
We can’t fix the sin that is embedded in the heart of another human. We can’t legislate heart change. We can’t shame others into changing.
Yes:
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
Yes:
But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Yes:
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
But… ultimately, justice and making things right is up to the Lord.
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Application: As we go through life seeking justice for those around us know this:
(1) The Lord is in control
(2) The Lord will see to it that justice is served, but this will come at his timing and his place
Going back to Slip Out The Back. What you lead people to Jesus with is what you lead them to. Preach the Gospel not some watered down moralistic deism. I want to remind us of this fact: an oppressed, poor individual who doesn’t know the Lord will still face judgement for their sin unless they know Jesus.
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
This doesn’t say:
whoever does x and y should not perish
with the exception of widows, orphans, oppressed …
Hear me on this because I don’t want to come across as cruel. Francis Chan in his book ‘Erasing Hell’ talks about his grandmother passing away and knowing that she didn’t know the Lord. He says, look I can understand Hitler going to hell…but not my grandmother. And he pens the following:
Part of me doesn’t want to believe in hell. And I’ll admit that I have a tendency to read into Scripture what I want to find—maybe you do too. Knowing this, I’ve spent many hours fasting and praying that God would prevent my desires from twisting Scripture to gratify my personal preferences. And I encourage you to do the same. Don’t believe something just because you want to, and don’t embrace an idea just because you’ve always believed it. Believe what is biblical. Test all your assumptions against the precious words God gave us in the Bible.
God is the only one who can calm our hearts.
God can take our shaking fists
Even though God may seem far away…he isn’t. It is in those deep moments of silence in our lives that the Lord is doing his most previous work and soul care.
God will strengthen the hearts of the oppressed. God angles his heart towards their cries
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
I want us to also remember this… an oppressed person who doesn’t know Jesus is still doomed to the flames of hell unless they know Jesus.
