Thank God for His Justice - Pastor Tom Loghry
In Psalm 9, David praises God for his justice in the present time and in the time to come.
Transcript:
I want you to imagine a world of complete injustice. I want you to imagine a world that's different than our world. Because while we have seen much injustice, have you considered how much worse things could be? Imagine a world in which the Nazis won. Imagine a world in which the Confederacy won. Imagine a world in which our courts never do what's right, a world in which the poor and the sick are never cared for.
So far, I'm just kind of bringing things that kind of might immediately come to mind, are kind of our recent history. Things could be much, much worse in our world.
Now consider this question. Who gets the credit for there being some justice in our world? Now we have this tendency to kind of pat ourselves on the back, and we might like to congratulate ourselves, but I must tell you that we have no grounds for doing so. Consider how close the tides came to turning one way or another in so many of these affairs, circumstances determined by factors that were beyond our conscious control. Consider too the rotten condition of humanity. How is it that our values, at least, if not completely our persons, at least our values, have taken a more humane turn, worked out the past 2000 years? All of the credit belongs to God. It is God who directed every step that decided the battles, it is God through Christ who has reshaped the values of Western civilization and made an impression worldwide.
And there's more to tell of God's work, particularly in the case of ancient Israel and the church. But it all amounts to this. God deserves our thanks even as we anticipate that he will do far, far more than what has already occurred. Now, as I've told you every week, the Psalms are made up of various genres.
We have looked at Psalms of Praise, Lament, and today we look at Thanksgiving in Psalms nine, giving thanks to God for his justice. So we go to Psalms nine. We first look at verses one through six. For the Director of Music. To the tune of The Death of the Son. A Psalm of David. Now if I can just pause there.
Remember, this is the Superscription. This is all supposed to be put to music. Unfortunately we do not know the tune of The Death of the Son. But it's just interesting to see that glimpse that there's, there's a history standing behind this as David wrote this Psalm. David says, I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I'll be glad and rejoice in you; i'll sing the praises of your name, O Most High. My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you. For you have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge. You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name forever and ever. Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished.
From the beginning of the Psalm, we kind of get a sense of David's intent here. His intent is this. He wants to give wholehearted thanks to God, to the Lord. And when you see the word Lord in all caps in the Old Testament like that, it's meaning that in the original Hebrew, it's the term, the name for God, Yahweh.
So not just random all caps there, it's supposed to be indicating something. I'll give thanks to you, Yahweh, with all my heart. David is giving thanks for who God is and for what he has done. And the, when we're thinking about the things that God has done, well, God's done a lot of things. He's made the whole world, he's shown us mercy.
You, you, you can imagine all those things. But he, in this psalm in particular, David wants to give thanks to God for his justice. God has overthrown his enemies. David says, you've upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge. He says that God has destroyed the wicked.
He says, you have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked in verse five. Now, when we see that, we may think, well, I mean the wicked still remain. There's still some nations that probably could use some good rebuking. What David is reflecting here on though is the way in which God has rendered judgment in his own time.
There is still more to come. There is a now and not yet. When it comes to the justice of God as it's been revealed, as I said at the beginning, there's far more, much more to be revealed, and David can say this because of his own personal history, even he can reflect back on how he was chased by Saul. Saul was trying to have him killed. He can look back on Israel's history of, of how God delivered the people of Israel from the Egyptians, drove out the Canaanites, their various battles with the Midianites, Amalekites, the Philistines.
God has been faithful to his people. Thinking about what God has done, David goes from that and turns especially to who God is. In verses seven through ten it says, the Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity. The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
David is full of Thanksgiving because this Lord, his Lord, this Lord of justice and righteousness, he reigns forever. He has established his throne for judgment. Now, this is good news because the reality of our situation is this, the best of our rulers, of our human rulers, they don't live forever. They're not perfect either, but the best of our rulers, they don't live forever.
And so you might have a good political ruler for a while, and then you'll have some bad ones. So we can't rely on human beings to establish justice, and justice must be established from God himself. And by the same token, it's, this is good news because the wicked rulers also don't rule forever. Only the Lord reigns forever.
His rule will be never ending and he's going to bring righteousness. He says he rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity. He is the one who actually does what is right, and yet even as David is recognizing this of how God, if God is established on his throne, he's immovable, he'll reign forever.
There is this reality under which we're living in, which we are facing trouble. We're facing oppression. That must be the case if he's going to speak of God as a refuge and a stronghold. He says, the Lord's a refuge for they oppressed a stronghold in times of trouble. Very similarly, similarly, in Proverbs 18:10, it says, the name of the Lord is a fortified tower.
The righteous run to it and are safe again. David is speaking of personal experience here, as I said in his personal dealings with Saul in second Samuel 22 verses one through three. It says this, David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said, the Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior-- from violent people you save me.
So David's saying, this is my experience. I, everything was stacked up against me. I should have lost my life, and yet God was my refuge. I saw my refuge in him. And we see this in, in David's life because he had opportunity to kill Saul, and he didn't take that opportunity because he respected King Saul as God's anointed.
And so he was trusting completely in God for his protection, and that's the position that we find ourselves in this world. It's very tempting for us to try to take matters into our own hands rather than trusting in God, but God is a far better protection than anything else that we might resort to. Now, the reason why we can say this is because of the promise that christ has given us in John 16:33, he says, in this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world. So Jesus recognized that things weren't gonna be, wasn't gonna be easy for us, but our assurance is that Christ has overcome the world, Christ has overcome, and we have this promise that the Lord will never forsake us. He'll never forsake those who seek him. And we've seen this faithfulness from the time of Christ up until this present moment.
There's no reason why the church should have flourished. There is lots of different little religious sects that had appeared in the first century and none of them exist now. All of those religious sects, a lot of them were much more tolerated than Christianity, and yet it is the church which survived and in fact, thrived.
The church outlasted the pagan Roman Empire. In fact, the, the whole empire was converted to adoring Christ, to recognizing Christ as king. We, we see from there how God overcame European paganism. Now, sometimes God in his sovereignty, yes, there was military forces that worked all that out and such, but a sword can't change a heart.
Fundamentally, what we see working out across the pages of history is the transformation of the human heart as, as people are brought to Christ, many of our ancestors. We've seen how Christ has been able to overcome and stand against communism.
How the church outlasted the USSR and how the church even thrives under communist China. They can't, they can't stamp it out. And I would say even most recently in this country, I remember when I was a young man, not that I'm not a young man now, but a younger man. A younger man in the early two thousands, there was a whole lot of fear.
Like everyone's gonna go atheist. Secularism is just gonna run rampant. And I have to tell you, I don't think that's the case at all any longer. Now that doesn't mean that we're going Christian, but I want to just tell you this, is that the church outlasted the, the atheist, the atheist boom, so to speak.
I think in fact we're, we're in a time that's reacting against that, of people feeling a great spiritual need and feeling the emptiness of an atheist, secular society. And so we've seen God's faithfulness in the face of all of this opposition, and we can have confidence that we will overcome any other opposition, which, that will come up against us.
Now, I'm not a prophet, but just looking at the landscape, I do think we have to be on guard for what I would describe perhaps as a, as a new unorganized religion that may play nice with the church. We might be on friendlier, friendlier terms than we have been in the past. In that time, I was just referring to the early two thousands.
There's a lot of animosity towards the church. That may no longer be the case, but we need to be on guard because I think there may be a new unorganized religion that might emerge that would undermine the hope of the gospel and turn the hearts of people to some other hope. And this is really in fact the spirit of the antichrist at work, which would turn us from the one true Messiah to other Messianic hopes.
So we have to be on guard for that, even as we feel maybe some relief that maybe there's not as much opposition against us. And then globally, the church has to be prepared for the, it has to be prepared for the encounter which is already ongoing with Islam. Between 2010 and 2020, Islam was the fastest growing religion in the world.
Now Christianity is still the largest religion in the world, but Islam is the fastest growing in the world. Now, perhaps you see that and that makes you afraid. Once again, look at our history. Look at our God. We have no reason to fear because we will overcome. The church will not be destroyed. Once again.
You can rack 'em up, they'll be knocked down. And when I'm talking about racking 'em up and knocking 'em down, I'm not talking about the people. Sometimes, unfortunately, if people are going to persevere in evil, yes, that does happen to them, but ultimately, as in the case of the Roman Empire, in the case of communists, in the case of any people, what we ultimately want to see happen is that they themselves will be turned to Christ, so that even as we see an upsurge in conversions, or at least the growth in Islam, what we wanna see is that these Muslims turn to Christ. At the same time though, we have to appreciate and understand that deliverance isn't always immediate. In fact, it often isn't and it may not be until the day of resurrection in the case of us individually. And so even in Thanksgiving, we find David crying out to God to intervene. Just as our own hearts are drawn to cry out under the weight of this world, we continue in verses 11 through 14, sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done. For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted. Lord, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death, that I may declare your praises in the gates of daughter Zion, and there rejoice in your salvation.
Once again, David's confidence here is that God will not forget us, God has not forgotten. God will not forget. He remembers us.
He sees those enemies that are persecuting us. And again, our ultimate enemy is not those who are of flesh and blood. It's the spiritual powers at work in league with Satan. Those are the, that, that's our ultimate enemy. But the good news is that these enemies are no match for our God. And what David is crying out here is for God's deliverance in order that God himself would be all the more glorified and praised.
And I wanna share with you a story that I think testifies to this, and I've shared it with some of you at our last stay to pray. This isn't a wide known story because it comes from our own denomination, so Christian brothers and sisters, but from the Advent Christian family.
In the country of Tanzania, we have some Advent Christian churches and we have a couple of brother pastors there named Johnson Odoyo and Amos Komanya. And I believe Johnson's this, oops, pressed the wrong button, I believe Johnson is the tall fellow here and Amos is, is the fellow here in the suit. So I'm just gonna read you directly the story that was shared from the testimony of their work.
As, as you'll remember, you may, may recall, these fellows have been doing pioneer missionary work going out from their locale where they pastor to unreached tribal groups, going to the Hadzabe and I think some other groups as well, leaving their families for weeks at a time. So this is the story that's told Pastors Johnson Odoyo and Amos Komanya planted a church in the district of Mang'ola through faithful, determined ministry. It involved hard work as they went from door to door in village after village sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Their work also involved intense spiritual battle battles as they encountered the forces of evil in every village where they ministered.
In the District of Mag Mbuga Nyekundu, lived one powerful witch doctor named Ng'wengweche. The community both nearby and far off feared him greatly. Politicians and government officials came to him seeking blessings for themselves and curses for their enemies. He held tight control over the village: nothing could happen without his permission. Those who opposed him risked being struck blind or lame. Children were even given to him for use in sacrifice.
People warned Johnson and Amos to avoid this man's door. But armed with the spirit of God, they went anyway. Ng'wengweche assumed they were outsiders coming to seek his permission and his blessing. Instead, they told him about the one true God who offers eternal life to anyone who follows Jesus. The witch doctor was furious. He warned them not to speak another word about Jesus Christ or they would suffer great harm. He also demanded that they begged for forgiveness for entering his territory without permission. If they refused, he promised they would die within two days.
Here in America, we had no idea of the spiritual battle that was happening, but faithful prayer warriors were lifting up our pastors and God brought about a great victory.
Within those two days, the feared witch doctor fell silent. His tongue became paralyzed, and he couldn't speak. As time passed and he failed to recover, he sent messengers to Johnson and Amos, begging them to come and pray for him. They went to his hut and laid hands upon him in prayer. His tongue was immediately loosened, and he declared that Jesus Christ was more powerful than any god he had ever served. He bowed before them and surrendered his life to Christ. Then he called for his eight wives and told them, my time is over. Listen to these men. They'll tell you about the one true God. Soon after, he died, and about a week later, Johnson and Amos went and preached the funeral for this man, and 48 people came to salvation.
An incredible testimony of the power of God. Now the interest of Johnson and Amos here wasn't their own safety. If they were concerned about their, their own safety, they wouldn't have gone to see the witch doctor who curses people and strikes them with blindness. And the, the witch doctor that they give children to for sacrifice, they wouldn't have done that.
But their interest was not their own safety. Their interest was in the glory of God. We can see God's glory revealed by this great work accomplished turning this man to himself and turning so many others to himself in the wake of his passing. You see, God will not be stopped. The wicked cannot win. They sow their own destruction.
We conclude with verses 15 through 20. The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. The Lord is known by his acts of justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God.
But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish. Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence. Strike them with terror, Lord; let the nations know they are only mortal. In these verses, we have this great kind of juxtaposition, this contrast set between God and those who are mere humans and and those who are wicked.
God is known for his acts of of justice, whereas the wicked are just known for their own foolishness. All their ploys end up leading to their own destruction.
The wicked forget God. And as a result, they go down to death.
But God doesn't forget the needy. He doesn't forget the afflicted, and so hope remains for those who are suffering. Because of God's faithfulness, our confidence rests in who God is and in his promises. Both old and New Testaments testified to this in Proverbs 23, verses 17 through 18 says, do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There's surely a future hope for you. Your hope will not be cut off. See, it's so easy for us to see all the things that all the powerful and rich have and say, oh, I wish I was just like them.
You have something better. You have God. It's in God that our future hope is.
Riches can be lost, the powerful can fall. Nothing can separate us from the love of our God. Paul says in Romans 8 31 through 32, he says, what, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? You see, if God is for us, then we can go to the witch doctor.
If God is for us, we can go and move ahead, face down the things that seem impossible because we know God is at our side and we are doing his will. And even if it leads to death, this is, Christ went through the cross. That was God's will, that was God, God's plan. Even if it leads to death, we will overcome. We'll be raised in victory.
David cries out again, not just for his own sake, but for the sake of God's glory. Verses 19 through 20, he says, Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence. Strike them with terror, Lord; let the nations know they're only mortal. You see, human beings are given over, they, we have this great tendency to develop a God complex.
And as we accumulate power, we tend to think that all the more, and what David is crying out for here is God, disabuse them of their, of the lies that they're telling themselves. Show them to just be mere mortals, mere creatures, little ants compared to the immortal God.
We have to remember this ourselves. Yes, we cry for God to make, to expose this, but we need to remember this ourselves lest we be dominated by fear. Lest we fear those who oppose God. They're no gods. They're mere mortals. We remember that God is greater. This is what the Lord says in Isaiah 51. It says, I even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your maker, who stretches out the heavens and lay who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they'll not die in their dungeons nor will they lack bread. For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar -- The Lord Almighty is his name. I put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand-- I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, you are my people.
We have nothing to fear because of who God is and because we are his people.
And so, yes, we cry out that the Lord expose the nations, the powerful to be what they are. That they are mere morals, and that is a prayer that God will ultimately and finally answer on the last day when Christ returns and judgment is rendered, when justice is made complete. Revelation 20 11 through 15 it is told.
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. The Dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
It's before the throne of God, before the judgment seat of Christ that every human being will be humbled as we must give account to him.
For sure, this prospect invites us to consider our own standing before God. On our own we should lack all confidence and be filled with dread at the prospect of standing before God.
We should be filled with dread, that is, unless we are covered by Christ and so have our name written in the Book of Life. Joined to Christ by faith we shall be saved, apart from him, though, we shall be destroyed. At the same time though, as this prospect prompts some self-reflection, this prospect should also raise up within us a chorus of Thanksgiving unto God. Thank God injustice is not eternal. Thank God the tyrants and the corrupt will be cast down. And unless those who have harmed us have turned from their ways and received the same mercy we ourselves have need of, unless they have turned to Christ, they shall answer to God for what they have done.
They don't get away with it. Thank God!
But more than this-- we shall live under God's reign of justice forever after. There will be a new earth, a new society, a new regime, which God will be all in all-- a world made right.
It is against this backdrop that we consider the darkness of our world and see it all to be mere shadows, futilely resisting the dawn of a new day.
This reality invites us to stand with Johnson and Amos and so many more who have come before us. We have nothing to fear. As Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians four, verses 16 through 18. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen eternal. Let us pray.
Dear father, with our whole heart we give thanks to you. We thank you for what you have done, for what you are doing, and for, for what you will do father.
For the justice that has been revealed and will be revealed in full the day of Christ's return. We thank you Father for this confidence that we have in Christ.
That because we see the victory of Christ, we know, we know, we are assured that evil will not win. That injustice will not stand, but that all of this, along with the devil in his cohort and with every human being who allies themself with the devil, all will be cast down and destroyed.
We thank you, father for your unstoppable justice, for our assurance and our hope that you shall reign forever and ever, and that we will live in that good world to come. We give you praise in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)