Confident in the Face of Corruption
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, And blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; Thy judgments are far above out of his sight: As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: For I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: Under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: In the secret places doth he murder the innocent: His eyes are privily set against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: He lieth in wait to catch the poor: He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, That the poor may fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: He hideth his face; he will never see it. Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: Forget not the humble. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, To requite it with thy hand: The poor committeth himself unto thee; Thou art the helper of the fatherless. Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: Seek out his wickedness till thou find none. The Lord is King for ever and ever: The heathen are perished out of his land. Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may no more oppress.
Wickedness and evil and corruption is not new. It has existed since the fall.
The Characteristic Response
The Characteristic Response
Have you ever asked this question before?
Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
God Seems Absent
God Seems Absent
To the Psalmist, God seems far away
To the oppressed, God may seem absent, and help seems far away.
In times when God seems absent, but the trouble is at your door, we can get discouraged.
God Seem Unavailable
God Seem Unavailable
Not only did it seem like God was absent, it seemed like He was unreachable.
He could not be found, He did not seem to answer the cries of His child.
He was hidden.
Have you ever felt like God was unavailable? Even when you know better, you believe what the Bible says, have you ever, like the Psalmist, asked God that characteristic question — Why?
I find it encouraging that we have here, recorded for us for all time, one of God’s children, discouraged, distressed, frustrated at the state of the nation and people around him, asking that age-old question that we start asking as soon as we master the language — Why?
Why does God seem far away? Why does He seem unavailable? Why, in spite of all of the prayers we have prayed, does it seem like the world is only getting more wicked?
Why, with what we know of the character of God, do wicked people seem to prosper, and take on positions of power?
And here, in Psalm 10, we see the character of Wickedness, in all of its vile atrocities.
The Character of Wickedness
The Character of Wickedness
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, And blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; Thy judgments are far above out of his sight: As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: For I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: Under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: In the secret places doth he murder the innocent: His eyes are privily set against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: He lieth in wait to catch the poor: He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, That the poor may fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: He hideth his face; he will never see it. Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: Forget not the humble. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
The Self-Confidence of the Wicked
The Self-Confidence of the Wicked
Consider all the instances of pride in these verses:
(2) in his pride he persecutes the poor
(4) through the pride of his countenance he will not seek God
(5) he puffs (snorts) at his enemies
(13) he contemns God
Webster 1828 —
1. To despise; to consider and treat as mean and despicable; to scorn.
2. To slight; to neglect as unworthy of regard; to reject with disdain.
Do you know any proud people?
ILLUSTRATION — A PROUD TURTLE
A turtle once wanted to spend the winter in Florida, but he knew he could never walk that far. He convinced a couple of geese to help him, each taking one end of a piece of rope, while he clamped his vise-like jaws in the center.
The flight went fine until someone on the ground looked up in admiration and asked, “Who in the world thought of that?”
Unable to resist the chance to take credit, the turtle opened his mouth to shout, “I did.”
Do you know any that are too self-absorbed to seek their Creator?
Do you know any that are so proud, they not only reject God, but despise everything to do with God?
It’s ironic that the same people who claim that God does not exist can foster so much hatred for Him.
(The Self-Confidence of the Wicked)
The Speech of the Wicked
The Speech of the Wicked
(3) Boasteth
Can you think of any bragging sinners?
It seems common today to hear of people declaring their wickedness, boasting in their “lifestyle”
(3b) Blesseth the covetous
Those that cannot be satisfied or content are elevated and adored
The most materialistic, greed ridden people are lifted up as examples and pillars
(6) He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved
The wicked feel invincible.
They feel untouchable
They have placed themselves on a pedestal above all of the rest
(7) His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity
Cursing — foul language is far more common today than ever
A study done in a SAGE journal compared books written in the early 50s to books written in the mid 2000s, and discovered that the occurrence of swear words in the later books was 28 times what occured in the older books.
(The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television: Increases in the Use of Swear Words in American Books, 1950-2008. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2158244017723689)
Deceit — has anyone said anything untrue lately? Is deceit more common than ever in our day? How well do you trust the media, your elected officials? Your coworkers?
Fraud — there may be a few instances of fraud we could talk about — but fraud is occuring nationwide
Mischief — hurtful, trouble inducing, fighting words (twitter?)
Vanity — empty words, useless words
(11) He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten, He hideth his face; he will never see it
(13) He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it
The wicked care nothing of being held accountable to a Holy God
They do not think He sees
They do not think He cares
(The Speech of the Wicked)
The Savagery of the Wicked
The Savagery of the Wicked
(8) In the secret places doth he murder the innocent
Sounds like abortion to me
(9) He lies in wait — always setting a trap for someone, always developing some scheme
His attitude, His actions, His eyes, His speech, all of them are wicked and vile.
How can people in prominent positions say, and plot, and promoted such terrible things? Because they are completely and utterly wicked and evil, and have fully rejected the God of the World.
When faced with the self-confidence and speech and savage character of the wicked — one is tempted to ask that characteristic question of God — Why?
But you can have confidence in the face of Corruption when you focus of the Character of God.
The Character of God
The Character of God
Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, To requite it with thy hand: The poor committeth himself unto thee; Thou art the helper of the fatherless. Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: Seek out his wickedness till thou find none. The Lord is King for ever and ever: The heathen are perished out of his land. Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may no more oppress.
7 Truths Concerning God’s Character:
God’s Perspective
God’s Perspective
(14a) Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite,
Though the wicked may thing they have gotten away with it, God sees it.
ILLUSTRATION — God Sees It
A group of men gathered one Saturday morning to help paint a friend’s large, two-story home. Toward the end of the day when the job was almost complete, a small bit of trim, which could not be seen from the ground, remained unpainted. One of the men said, “Since nobody can see that piece of trim, I guess we don't need to paint it.” “Not true,” said another of the crew as he went for a ladder. “God sees it.”
God sees every action
God hears every thought
God knows every motive
God’s perspective permeates all of creation
God saw every fraudulent ballot — He knows the actual count!
God sees every murdered infant
God watches every backroom deal
God observes every bribe, and scheme, and kickback
Nothing escapes the eyes of our God!
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Beholding the evil and the good.
(God’s Perspective)
God Punishes
God Punishes
(14b) To requite it with thy hand:
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
The punishment is coming. And there is no sin that will escape God’s wrath.
If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his works?
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
(God’s Perspective)
(God Punishes)
God Protects
God Protects
(14c) The poor committeth himself unto thee; Thou art the helper of the fatherless.
God is a refuge in trouble, and a defender of the defenseless.
He is a ready help.
God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
God may seem far off, but He’s actually very present
(God’s Perspective)
(God Punishes)
(God Protects)
God Pursues
God Pursues
(15b) Seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
We have see countless investigations of the innocent, and few of the guilty.
God will investigate and seek out wickedness, and His investigation will bring everything to light.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
(God’s Perspective)
(God Punishes)
(God Protects)
(God Pursues)
God is the Potentate
God is the Potentate
(16) The Lord is King for ever and ever
No matter who ends up in the white house, God is and will forever be on the throne.
Focus on that kingdom, and you will worry much less about this one.
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
(God’s Perspective)
(God Punishes)
(God Protects)
(God Pursues)
(God is the Potentate)
God Perceives
God Perceives
(17) Lord, thou has heard…thou wilt cause thine ear to hear
God may not seem available, but He is. Call on Him.
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
(God’s Perspective)
(God Punishes)
(God Protects)
(God Pursues)
(God is the Potentate)
(God Perceives)
God Prevails
God Prevails
(18) To judge the fatherless and the oppressed that the man of the earth may no more oppress
I’ve read the end of the book — God wins.
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
No matter how hopeless this world seems — God has already prevailed!
Conclusion
Conclusion
You can fool the hapless public,
You can be a subtle fraud,
You can hide your little meanness,
But you can’t fool God!
You can advertise your virtues,
You can self-achievement laud,
You can load yourself with riches,
But you can’t fool God!
You can criticize the Bible,
You can be a selfish clod,
You can lie, swear, drink, and gamble,
But you can’t fool God!
You can magnify your talent,
You can hear the world applaud,
You can boast yourself somebody,
But you can’t fool God! (Grenville Kleiser)
Don’t let the character of the wicked discourage you — focus on the character of God!
And live your own life in light of His Character!