How to Face Wrong Accusations

[0:00] Please take your Bibles and go to the book of Psalms. That black Bible in the chair in front of you, if you need to pull that out. Kind of start in the middle, maybe.

[0:15] And find page 414. We're gonna look at Psalm 54 this morning. Psalm 54, over the next three weeks, maybe four, we're gonna do some sermons from the book of Psalms.

[0:31] Excuse me, as I'm preparing for studying and having us go through the book of 2 Corinthians, I'll start that in August. So we're gonna leave for July and be gone for the month of July for vacation and then in August we'll start in 2 Corinthians.

[0:48] I'm trying to study up on 2 Corinthians. I have a lot to read and to prepare for. So I thought it'd be good, instead of starting and then stopping and then starting, I thought we'd just start in August and then we can keep going.

[1:02] So that's kind of the idea. So this morning we'll look at Psalm 54 together. See what God has to say from the book of Psalms. Can't go wrong with the Psalms, huh?

[1:15] I mean, who doesn't like the Psalms? Even someone who doesn't know Christ. You talk with them, they say, I've read the Psalms. It's kind of amazing how many people have read the Psalms. Psalm 54, I'll start with the superscript.

[1:26] For the choir director, on string instruments, a meskill of David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Is not David hiding himself among us?

[1:38] It's important for us to read that because it hinges upon how we interpret this. Verse 1. Save me, O God, by your name. And vindicate me by your power.

[1:51] Hear my prayer, O God. Listen to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen against me and violent men have sought my life.

[2:04] They've not set God before them, Selah. Look, God is my helper. The Lord is the sustainer of my soul. He will recompense the evil to my foes.

[2:19] Destroy them in your faithfulness. Willingly, I will sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name, O Yahweh, for it is good.

[2:31] For he's delivered me from all trouble and my eye has looked upon my enemies. China rejects ridiculous U.S. accusation of South China Sea militarization.

[2:50] That was the title of the article. The article goes on and says, U.S. assertions that China is millerizing the South China Sea are ridiculous, China said on Thursday, this past Thursday.

[3:02] After U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Washington would confront China's reactions, excuse me, China's actions in the disputed waterways. Mattis said on Tuesday the United States would push back against what it sees as China's militarization of islands in the South China Sea, despite China's condemnation of a voyage through the region on the weekend by two U.S. Navy warships.

[3:32] Accusations can be lethal. They could even lead to war. The accusation is who shot first for the American Revolution that led to war.

[3:49] But not just between two countries, even two people. You make an accusation against someone, you can have a war on your hands.

[4:01] Right? Or a group of people against one person. Make an accusation, a wrong accusation, a false accusation, you can have problems.

[4:18] Accusations can fly and it can destroy everything. Like the accusation that Trump colluded with Russia. And when you're accused, falsely, especially a group of people against you, how do you feel?

[4:43] Does it not feel like the whole world is against you? What do we do? What do we do when false accusations come against us?

[4:56] What do we do when wrong accusations are said about us? What do we do when life crumbles even? How do we respond?

[5:10] What should be our response? That's what this psalm is about. I titled it How to Face Wrong Accusations, God is our Helper and Sustainer.

[5:23] God is our Helper and Sustainer. How do you face wrong accusations? And we're gonna look at this so that not only ourselves, but others can learn how God helps us in times of great despair.

[5:43] when the accusations fly, it feels like everyone's against you. Here's a statement for you.

[5:58] In humble dependence, we must call upon the name of Yahweh God to find help in the midst of wrong accusations. We cry out to God to give us the help we need amid the false accusations, the wrong accusations that come against us.

[6:15] And so again, this is for us to learn how God helps us in times of great despair, but also how we can teach others, how we can encourage each other.

[6:25] And it gives us a bold and courageous spirit so we can trust God. He's trustworthy.

[6:36] He's faithful. He knows the truth. So, how do we face such accusations, these situations?

[6:51] Here's three ways that David gives us in the psalm. Number one is request. And yes, they all start with R, of course. I mean, preachers have to do it like that. R, request, or ask, cry out, call.

[7:05] However you want to say that. Verse one and two. And notice, the four verbs in verses one and two. The four verbs.

[7:16] Do I have it? I think I, yeah. Save me, oh God. Vindicate me. Hear, listen. Four verbs, four requests, four cries from David.

[7:38] Or to put it simply, you pray. When you're falsely accused by something at your job, when you're falsely accused by something from a neighbor, from a friend, from a relative, within the church, I mean, anything, the first thing we should do is pray.

[8:04] Notice, that's what David does. The first thing he does is pray. Notice, save me, oh God, by your name. Vindicate me by your power.

[8:16] Parallel statements. He prayed for deliverance from life-threatening danger. And it really was. Saul was coming after him to kill him.

[8:33] Now this part here from that superscript that we read, the Ziphites, there's two parts or two different historical narratives this could be taken from. One is 1 Samuel chapter 23 or 1 Samuel chapter 26.

[8:50] In both cases, the Ziphites said, well, we know where David is. We'll tell you, Saul. So he's running for his life.

[9:03] This is when David penned this psalm. His life was being threatened. I think Kaylin mentioned this last week.

[9:17] You can identify with David. We can identify with David. We really can. Some people say, oh, you know, you haven't gone through what I've gone through.

[9:30] You don't understand. Okay, that's fair. I think it's kind of, I don't know, what's the word I would give? Impossible that I can experience everything that you experience and vice versa.

[9:45] And some people think that. It's like, unless you experience what I experience and you don't really understand. Some people think that. That's not exactly fair. But even if you think that, let me say this to you.

[9:59] David can. David has been there. So you can identify with David. David. Maybe I can't. But David can.

[10:12] And you see it here from this psalm. Notice he says, vindicate me by, excuse me, save me by your name. This is significant.

[10:24] He's referring to God's character or really, God's reputation. God has a well-known reputation among his people as the one who delights to save, help, and sustain them.

[10:44] I mean, this means everything. Reputation. I mean, you don't ask someone's advice who has a bad reputation, do you?

[10:57] Of course not. If someone's like a, known as a jerk, you're not going to ask them. Right? You're not going to do that. So he's, he's, he's staking the reputation of God here.

[11:11] By your reputation, save me. And then he says, the next part of verse one, vindicate me by your power. God, I'm being wrongly accused as a person of treason.

[11:29] Prove the fact that I did nothing wrong by saving me. Vindicate me. Display that I did nothing wrong. Saul was after him, right?

[11:42] Because Saul thought David was after the throne. I think it was in, in 1 Samuel 26. That's when Saul was sleeping.

[11:53] His men were around him. And David's right hand man says, check it out. Let me slay him. Your enemy's gone.

[12:04] You're free. David says, no way. Wow. This is what he's dealing with. David feels it.

[12:16] And then he says, vindicate me by your power, parallel to his name. God's name is powerful. God's character, his reputation is good.

[12:27] So prove the fact that I did nothing wrong by your power and name. I haven't committed treason. I've been nothing but faithful to the king of Israel, Saul.

[12:39] God, you know the truth. God's truthful character, his just, righteous character, would attest to the fact that David was wrongly accused.

[12:53] See friends, he's not just appealing to God, he's appealing on God. Upon his character. Your reputation is just.

[13:04] You know what I've done is just. So based on that, vindicate me. Because God knows the truth. And then, verse two.

[13:17] Hear my prayer. Listen to the words of my mouth. He appealed to God to stop and listen to what he was saying. Maybe he was feeling like God was not hearing him.

[13:27] You ever felt like that? Yeah. I do. I mean, talk about someone who feels alone.

[13:39] Yeah, David had his men with him, but they all looked to David. What are we gonna do? This guy's trying to kill us. David would feel so alone during these events.

[13:55] Pray. Ask. Ask. Cry. Request. That's the first response we should have. Amid false accusations. Number two.

[14:07] Remember. Remember. And there's three parts. I think three parts. One, two. Yeah, three parts to this. First, remember who they are.

[14:21] Look at how he describes them. Verse 3. Which is really Saul and his men. For strangers have risen against me. Violent men have sought my life.

[14:33] Interesting. Strangers. That term is designated to other nations. Gentiles. And here, he means apostates who are acting as cruel, inhuman people.

[14:48] Like your typical Gentile. Saul. Now, who specifically? We know from the superscript. It's the Ziphites. Samuel. Excuse me. Saul's men.

[15:02] The Ziphites from Samuel's, 1 Samuel's, those verses there, whether it's chapter 23 or chapter 26, they took the side against David. They pledged themselves to Saul.

[15:14] And here's David. He's saying, you guys, you're on my side. Now you're against me. You betrayed me. And do you see the connection, friends, here in the first part of verse 3, with the last part of verse 3, strangers have risen.

[15:35] Violent men have sought my life. Notice the next part, last part of verse 3, they have not set God before them, Selah. The connection is David says, those who falsely accuse him, are strangers, they're violent men, and he equated them with those who do not set God before them.

[15:59] You see that? What starkly sets us apart from others, we set God before us. He's on our mind.

[16:10] He's our focus. God's. It's like what David says in Psalm 16, verse 8. He says, I have set the Lord, Yahweh, continually before me.

[16:28] These strangers, these violent men, they haven't done that. you know, this tells us something else.

[16:43] It tells us that just because we set God before us, that doesn't mean we won't face struggles, or attacks, or be falsely or wrongly accused.

[16:55] just because you're doing the right thing, that doesn't mean you're going to get off scot-free. Just because you're doing the biblical thing, that doesn't mean you're not going to suffer.

[17:14] That's what that says. That's what that means. I mean, David, as he was described, was a man after God's own heart.

[17:28] And yet, look at how he's suffering. I mean, what would it be like if all your friends were, are against you? Even those close to you.

[17:39] Family members against you. Some of the church are against you. How do you respond? How do you feel? Talk about being discouraged. You feel deflated.

[17:56] You feel so alone. I mean, you're the only one seeking what the Lord wants, yet people are telling you that the Lord's against you.

[18:08] You ever had that? That just hurts, man. It was a deeply hurtful thing to David to have the people who said they were committed to him to walk away.

[18:21] They bailed. Yet, that's why it's important. Remember who they are. Actions speak louder than words.

[18:38] Consider the source. But don't just remember who they are, but remember the second part to this point. Remember who God is. goes together.

[18:50] Verse 4, Look, God is my helper. The Lord is the sustainer of my soul. Secure, assistant, my aid. That's what helper means.

[19:03] He's upholding me. He's sustaining me. Upon Him, I lie, I rest, I lean, because God's faithful. Remember, He staked all this on the reputation of God.

[19:17] Remember that? Verse 1 and 2. God's name, God's character. So that's why He can say, that's why He remembers who God is. So that's why, you're my helper.

[19:29] You're my sustainer. In times of deep despair and discouragement, we need to do what David did.

[19:41] Remind ourselves of our great, mighty, powerful God. He is the one upon whom we lean and rest. He's going to talk more about who God is and His grace, His goodness.

[19:52] We'll see that in a moment. Plus, because God has sustained us by His grace in the gospel through the Lord Jesus Christ and because He knows the wickedness of our hearts, yet He still has faithful love, we can rest sure upon Him.

[20:12] That's good. Remember who God is. God delights to help His people because He's made known to them their total need of Him.

[20:27] In other words, God uses these instances of wrong accusations, of things going haywire in your life and in my life to remind us that we must lean upon Him.

[20:45] All we have received from Him is His grace. Everything we have is grace. And He sustains us. He's our helper. He's our assistant.

[20:57] We can rest upon Him. He knows the truth. Remember who they are.

[21:11] Remember who God is. And number three to this, remember what God will do. Look at verse five. He will recompense the evil to my foes.

[21:22] Destroy them in your faithfulness. Remember what God will do. How does God respond to those who love and trust Him? He repays the harm done to them upon their enemies.

[21:38] That's that word recompense. It's the boomerang of their sin. It's going to turn right back on them.

[21:50] Or as the saying goes, what goes around comes around. And He says, destroy them in your faithfulness.

[22:01] And if you have enemies, it's hard not to be like. Destroy them in your faithfulness. Oh God, you know. These are imprecatory Psalms.

[22:13] I love these Psalms. Yeah, yeah. Not vindictive, but trusting that God is faithful to His people and He's faithful to judge.

[22:26] He would display a character of faithfulness bringing judgment upon His enemies, upon our enemies. And remember, I told you, David did not take vengeance on Saul or his men.

[22:43] Though Saul was wrong. I told you earlier, there he is. There's Saul. There's all the guys, his protectors, and they're all falling asleep.

[22:57] Because it says the Lord had caused a deep sleep to fall upon them. And was it Abishai, I think it was? Do you remember? Is it Abishai? He's like, take this out, David.

[23:08] I'm going to take his head off. And he says, no, do not lay a hand against the Lord's anointed. And that's when he took like his spear and things like that. He goes up on the hill and he's like, hey, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, hey, whose is this?

[23:26] I mean, David did not take vengeance. He didn't take his own revenge. He left it for God to do. And God did it, didn't He? Remember what happened to King Saul?

[23:38] God did it. Romans chapter 12, verse 19. We never take our own revenge, but we leave room for the wrath of God.

[23:49] God will deal with those who falsely wrongly accuse us. God will deal with them. You just tell the truth graciously and you give it to God.

[24:02] You give it to Christ. You give it to the Father. Father. So, request, remember, number three.

[24:13] Last one. Respond. Verse six and seven. Respond. What does David do here? What's the next thing he does? The one thing that I don't want to do, the one thing that we don't want to do, the one thing we don't think about doing, give thanks.

[24:33] Look at what he does. Willingly, I will sacrifice you. I will give thanks to your name, O Yahweh, for it is good. Free will sacrifices. This is what he's talking about. It's a ritual here. It's an outward expression of what's spiritually happening in his heart.

[24:47] And remember, he's in the wilderness. He's nowhere around the tabernacle. So, he's talking about his heart. He rejoiced in the hope he was given and would make a vow to give thanks to God.

[25:07] That's David's attitude. We don't respond that way, do we? It's not our natural response. Natural response is, man, Lord, would you put me in this mess for? Right? Not David.

[25:21] And remember, don't forget this. We can identify with David. Don't forget where he's at. He's not in, I'll get in trouble for saying this, he's not in plush America with running water and electricity electricity at the flip of the switch.

[25:45] He's not in the plush American culture that we live in. He's in the desert and the king of Israel was seeking his life.

[25:56] I'm going to talk more about this in just a moment. What's going on? From 1 Samuel chapter 23, we'll talk about that in just a second. He gives thanks.

[26:07] He was so confident that God would save and deliver him that he would give a willing sacrifice. Instead of spiraling down into depression, anxiety, or fear, we should lift up our hands in thanks.

[26:28] Give thanks. I will give thanks to your name. Notice the word name there again. You see that? That takes us back to verse 1, remember? Remember? Save me by your name.

[26:40] So again, he's talking about the reputation of God is reliable, so I'm going to give thanks to you. God is trustworthy. If you miss anything in the sermon, wake up for just a moment.

[26:57] Travis, wake up. What? What? What? What? I'm just kidding. He's always engaging me in the message.

[27:09] He's like, yeah, yeah. When I say something stupid, he goes, no. I'm just kidding. God is trustworthy. Amen?

[27:22] Where's my mom? I give her 20 bucks every Sunday to say amen when I'm preaching. Was that on the tape? Can we talk? Mom, mom, here's your 20.

[27:33] Say a couple more amens. Here's another 20. Mom, well, Caitlin's preaching. Say it to that. Right? Yeah. Well, we're on vacation, mom.

[27:43] You know, come on. Here's a 50. She's like, I want some more, Jim. What's the matter with you? Anyways, I digress. Stick with the notes, moron.

[27:53] Okay, I'm sticking with my notes. God is trustworthy. He's the only one who can sustain and help us because there's no one like him. He is the sovereign one.

[28:07] And here's his reasons. The first reason, I'm going to give thanks. Why? Because God is good. His goodness. God's character is good and powerful.

[28:22] This is huge. David did not and would not allow his terrible circumstances to circumvent or distort his knowledge of God.

[28:38] This is key for how we deal with depression. not allowing circumstances to determine our actions or our feelings.

[28:51] Carol Trahan in her book Help, I'm Depressed, she says this, quote, circumstances and people do not determine our destiny. Rather, our responses to circumstances and people determine whom we will become.

[29:08] That's so true. This is key. If you are dealing with depression and anxiety and fear, this is key.

[29:22] Don't forget what I said earlier. You can identify with David. He feels it because he was there so he knows this. You can't say, well, he doesn't understand what I've been through. Yes, he does.

[29:33] You can't cop that attitude. You can't give that excuse to David. You can't. You have no idea what it's like to be running for your life like he did for years and he was the king of Israel.

[29:48] You have no idea. You can judge me on that. You can't do that on David. He understands. He would not allow his terrible circumstances to circumvent or distort his knowledge of God.

[30:05] I'm going to give thanks to you because you're good. I'm running for my life but you're good.

[30:18] I'm going to get killed but you're good. God is good even in adversity, turmoil, economic booms and bust.

[30:33] we must give thanks all the time because he's good all the time. Why does he give thanks? Because God is good.

[30:44] Second, God delivers or his grace. Another G word. God is good. His goodness. His grace. Notice he says verse 7 for he has delivered me from all trouble.

[30:56] God will always deliver us just not the way we think or expect. Eh?

[31:11] David prayed this. He wrote this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that we may benefit as Peter says in 1 Peter 1.

[31:22] So he's running. Here's this 1 Samuel chapter 23. I told you I was going to bring this in. Here it is. 1 Samuel 23. He's running. Saul's on one side of the mountain.

[31:37] David and his men are on the other side of the mountain. Saul's catching up. David's freaking out. He's hurrying to get away from Saul.

[31:48] He's about to catch him. The men were surrounding David. The messenger comes. The Philistines were upon the people.

[32:00] So Saul left and went out to meet the Philistines. Oh! Whew! Man, that was close. I mean, you would think David's penning this and then, well, God's going to deliver me in this way.

[32:15] No. The men were about to come upon David. So he's like, oh, this is it. It's okay. Okay. The Philistines are upon us.

[32:27] Saul leaves. David received temporary respite because later on Saul comes after him again. God delivered him but not the way he expected.

[32:41] God will deliver us and deliver us again and then again and then again and then again and then again. He'll be faithful.

[32:53] God is our helper and sustainer and we're called to trust him no matter the circumstances in which we find ourselves yet, he will not always deliver us in the way we want or the way we expect.

[33:05] But look, it's not up to us to determine that, is it? I don't make up the rules. It's not my plan.

[33:17] You got to beef with that then you got to beef with God. It's his deal. God's good. His goodness.

[33:29] God delivers. His grace. And last reason. Because God defeats or His greatness. His goodness.

[33:40] His grace. His greatness. The last part of verse 7. My eye has looked upon my enemies. God had done two deeds for His servant.

[33:55] First, He delivered him. And second, He has overthrown David's enemies. Not in the sense of gloating but seeing that He has been preserved by the Lord.

[34:07] There's initial defeat that takes place but then you find out there's total defeat later. Do you see, I mean you take this psalm, okay, so we read this psalm, we studied it, we're almost done.

[34:21] And then kind of pull yourself back and look at the big picture of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It's called the metanarrative of the Bible.

[34:34] Do you see the metanarrative here in this psalm as you take a step back and look at the metanarrative, in other words, the whole storyline of the Bible. Do you see it here?

[34:48] Do you see how David depicts the Son of Man, our Savior Jesus? He also faced adversity but He entrusted Himself to the Father.

[35:01] That's what we read in 1 Peter 2, right? Verse 21. I mean, Jesus was accused of all this wrongdoing, of sin, and He did nothing wrong.

[35:14] He's the Son of God for crying out loud. That's the metanarrative of the Bible because the metanarrative of the Bible shows us here is God's people.

[35:28] They're following Him and yet they suffer but He vindicates them. That's the metanarrative of the Bible because that's what happened with Messiah. He is God's servant, the servant, who was perfect and yet He suffered and died on behalf of sinners and yet God vindicated Him by resurrecting Him.

[35:54] There's the gospel here. Jesus was wrongly accused but what did He do? He entrusted Himself to the Father and trusted the Father. And because Christ did this, the Father exalted Him, resurrected Him from the dead and in the same way, God will vindicate us because God always wins.

[36:18] Jesus gave His life on behalf of sinners submitting Himself to the Father's plan. That's why you should come to Jesus today. You should repent and put your trust in Jesus and yet I'm going to tell you, your problems won't go away, you'll probably have more problems.

[36:40] Your life could probably get worse. If somebody tells you your life will get better, they're either an idiot or they're lying to you because it's not true.

[36:54] The metanarrative of the Bible is that the righteous person, woman or man who seeks the Lord, you're going to suffer because our Lord suffered.

[37:11] He suffered and died on our behalf and He saves us and changes us and yet God vindicated His Son so He will vindicate you. Realize in the end, God wins.

[37:27] He always wins. And guess what? So will you. In humble dependence, call on the name of Yahweh God to find help in the midst of wrong accusations against you.

[37:43] He is our helper. He is our sustainer. Request. Pray. Remember who they are, who God is and what He will do and respond with thanks because of His goodness, His grace and His greatness because God is good, God delivers, God defeats.

[38:05] I'll leave you with this. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, he says this, quote, I sometimes think that the very essence of the whole Christian position and the secret of a successful spiritual life is just to realize two things.

[38:25] I must have complete, absolute confidence in God and no confidence in myself. God is our helper and sustainer.

[38:40] Can we pray? We pray, Father. We thank You first that You're good. We thank You first, first and foremost that You're gracious and that You're great.

[38:58] And we admit that we're weak. We admit that our faith is just so flippant.

[39:15] And yet thank You that You are faithful and You're steady, steadfast and strong. So through the turmoil, circumstances, we find ourselves in, the curve balls that gets thrown at us in life, false accusations that come, help us.

[39:47] First to pray, to remember, and to respond with thanks because You are good. You are gracious and You always win.

[40:06] You will vindicate us and sometimes it's in this life and yet we know that it definitely will be in the life to come. take this time and ponder, think, let your mind dwell on the truth that we've seen here in Psalm 54 and really the gospel.

[40:35] Thank the Lord for His goodness to you and His Son. and after a few moments we'll worship by giving and we'll worship by singing and praying and then we'll worship by eating.

[40:53] Whether we eat or drink, whatever we do, we'll do all to the glory of God. Just a few moments right now, silence that we'll take where you can think and ponder and let the Scripture penetrate your heart by the power of the Spirit.