[0:00] I couldn't think of a better song to transition into Psalm 82 with. I'm really excited about it. If you have a Bible, go ahead and turn to the 82nd Psalm. This Psalm is a little different.
[0:13] It's written by a guy named Asaph. He only wrote 11 Psalms. They're always a little different, this one especially. It's unique in the fact that God does more speaking. God is always speaking in the Bible. But in this specific Psalm, God does more speaking than Asaph does.
[0:27] God has more time in the dialogue than Asaph does. In this Psalm, we're going to see what God has to say to evil. It's a really unique Psalm. It's a really encouraging Psalm.
[0:39] But if there's a biblical truth I could remind you of and one we must all come to believe, and a powerful one, one that we often take for granted, it's the fact our God is supreme. It's the fact our God is king. He is Lord.
[0:50] He is ruler. Jesus has been highly exalted. He has triumphed and won openly. And that's the truth we all believe, but we need to start living like it. If I can read some scripture to you, Psalm 2910 reads this, The Lord sitteth above the flood, yea, the Lord sitteth king forever.
[1:05] God is the king. Another Psalm, Exodus 15, 18. This is what God says about himself. The Lord shall reign forever and ever. Psalm 42, 7. The Lord, most high, terrible.
[1:16] He is a great king over all the earth. There is a biblical principle. There's a biblical truth. God is in charge. He is king. He is Lord. He is owner. He holds it all in his hands.
[1:27] He is almighty. And that is what God says about himself here. And although God is in charge and he's ruling our world, you probably have noticed it's a pretty crazy, messed up place. This week, I get something from the Atlanta journals every day in my email, and this week was especially heavy.
[1:42] I woke up on Tuesday to a headline. A 17-year-old boy was shot by another 17-year-old boy in Atlanta, and nobody's looking for him. They closed the case real quick. They don't think they'll ever find him.
[1:54] Next day, Piedmont Park, a lady is stabbed to death. Next day, a lady is found dead in Gwinnett Park. And these are so close to home, and I read it, and I know the truth. Lord, you're in charge.
[2:04] Lord, you're sovereign. Lord, you're king. But I read these things, and I'm just like the guy in the psalm. God, what is going on? Maybe you found yourself asking that question before. We live in a world that is evil.
[2:15] Sin is run rampant. It is martyred. We live in a world where evil is exalted, fooling and folly. Those are places in the foreground. Wickedness is worshipped. Violence moves. We live in a world in which injustice is ignored, and what's right is often rejected.
[2:29] I think you've seen that here recently. In our world, we live in a world in which sin is pushed forward, a world in which the systems are totally against God, a world in which the mind of mankind is enmity with God.
[2:40] We live in a world like that. And rectifying the truth of God being in charge and God being ruler and God being Lord over all, but you see evil in the world is a real hard thing. And as the psalm states, the foundations are out of course.
[2:54] Right? You look at the world, and some things just aren't right. Kids shouldn't die. Kids shouldn't be murdered. You look at it, and you're like, what is going on? The foundations are out of course. What's the response to that? And may I remind you, yes, God rules, but our world has been marred and eviscerated by sin, and the consequences of Romans 8 says that all creation groans.
[3:13] It hurts. It is waiting for God to come back and set things straight. If I could remind you of something, maybe you're here tonight, and you're hurting. You're facing the realities of a fallen and marred world yourself.
[3:25] You've been done wrong. You're just tired of fighting. You don't see a way out. You're frustrated. You're tired of seeing all the evil in the world. Maybe you don't see a way away from anxiety and fear.
[3:36] You're worried about the future. You're worried about your past. Maybe you're like the psalmist in Psalm 82, and you're asking, God, when are you going to fix this? Maybe you're suffering tonight. Maybe you're just outright hopeless.
[3:47] If I could remind you of something, there is hope for you in God, and there is hope for you in his word, and there is hope for you in Christ, and he has laid it up for us. And as we read this psalm, I challenge you, there is hope. Psalm 71 5 reads this, For thou art my hope, O Lord God.
[4:02] Thou art my trust from my youth. We can trust in who God is. Psalm 46 1 says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in a time of trouble.
[4:13] When you're down, you don't see a way out, have hope because God wins. He is almighty. He is king. He is bigger than the evil. Let's read this psalm real quick. I'll read the first two verses, and if you guys could read verses three and four, this is a dialogue.
[4:28] Let me set it up for you. It's almost like you're in court. Asaph is narrating here. It's like biblical law and order. Asaph is narrating here. You hear the dunk, dunk, and you're in the courtroom. God sits in the role of the judge, and down here, as the arraigned, you have these evil judges, rulers of the world.
[4:44] We'll read in Psalm 82 1, so the scripture says, God standeth in the congregation of the mighty. He judgeth among the gods. How long will you judge unjustly and accept the person of the wicked? Selah. Five, they know not, neither will they understand.
[4:57] They walk on in darkness, all the foundations of the earth. Right, of course. I've said ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High, but ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes.
[5:08] That's the sentence that God issues to those wicked judges. Thankfully, those judges weren't very just, but our God is just, and he offers justice. Verse number eight, this is what Asaph finishes the psalm with.
[5:20] And I think this is a prayer that some of us can pray. I think when life gets hard, maybe you're struggling now, maybe you're suffering now, this is what God, this is what Asaph has to say. Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit the nations.
[5:32] When it's all said and done, when all the cards are played, when everything's there, when it's all over, we can leave and rest with peace and hope knowing God's going to judge this. He's going to make it right.
[5:43] He is going to rule and reign. Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer. Lord, I thank you for this day. I thank you for your word, Lord, and thank you for how it works and how it's powerful, God. Lord, I pray that you'd work tonight, Lord.
[5:53] I pray that you'd comfort the hurting. I pray that you'd give hope to the hopeless. Lord, I pray that you'd stir our hearts, Lord. I'm so thankful for your word and how it works. God, I pray that you'd save anyone who's not saved, Lord. I thank you for how you're moving, Lord.
[6:05] God, please work tonight. Lord, I pray that you'd move me out of the way, Lord. Let your word have free course in our hearts. In your name I pray, amen. There is so much hope in this psalm. In this 82nd psalm, it's odd.
[6:17] It's different. It's different than a lot of the psalms. It is a prophetic psalm, and it's a psalm in which God does most of the talking, like we stated earlier. We can be encouraged and reminded, though, God is going to judge, and he's going to make things right.
[6:28] And this psalm's prophetic. And I'm so thankful for prophecy in the Bible. Growing up, I didn't understand it very well. I mean, a whole lot of prophecy we still don't understand. But growing up, I didn't have a firm grasp on what the point of prophecy was.
[6:39] Well, you know that God uses prophecy all the time to comfort the hearts of his people? He uses what he's going to do to comfort us now. You know, 300 verses of your Bible are about the birth of Christ before it happens. And amazingly, three times that is about his second coming.
[6:52] You know, God likes prophecy, and he wants to use prophecy to comfort his people. I can say that 1 Thessalonians 4.18 says this in talking about prophecy. It says, wherefore, comfort ye one another with these words.
[7:03] That's a passage about prophecy. We go to 1 John 3.3. We see it offers hope. It says, and every man that hath this hope purifieth himself even his pure. So we see that prophecy is good for hope. It's good for comfort.
[7:15] And then not only that, we learn that God put prophecy there in the Bible for a reason. 1 Peter 1.21, for prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but by holy men moved of God. But holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
[7:27] So prophecy wasn't just put there by accident. It wasn't God just filling pages. It wasn't God just making like side stories and side arcs. It was put there for a reason by God intentionally. So when we come to Psalm 82, although it's prophetic, we can still take hope in it.
[7:40] We can still take comfort in it. We can still rejoice in it. We can still praise God for what he's going to do. And this psalm is vivid. It is a courtroom scene. Asaph is our narrator. God sits in the seat of the honorable judge.
[7:51] And the gods are on trial, the liturgy gods. They have done wrong. They have made unjust calls. They have let evil grow. But how thankful are we that God is going to set things straight?
[8:01] When you look at the world and you see all the evil, you're suffering yourself. You see all the bad? Rejoice knowing that God is going to set things straight. These little gods in this story, we see verse number one says, it sits in the congregation mighty, judges among the gods.
[8:14] These little gods are human leaders that God has appointed, human governors that the Lord has appointed. We can say this because like Brother John said, the Bible is its own best commentary. Jesus in John 10, 34, that makes this reference. He says this, is it not written in your law?
[8:26] I said, ye are gods. So Jesus, when he refers to this, he's talking to Israeli leadership. Those described here, they're judges, they're magistrates, they're rulers. They were intended to be the mouthpiece and representatives of God.
[8:37] But instead, these people that he had appointed, they only thought of their own interest. Bible says they didn't do justice by the poor. They didn't do justice by the widows. They only wanted to gain. They only wanted money. They only wanted to secure a check by the end of the day.
[8:49] They weren't good leaders. That's all they wanted. If I can remind you of something, it is God who sets up leadership. Deuteronomy 1, 16. This is what he says. So every leader that we have, every authority that we have has been placed there by God.
[9:08] Daniel 1, 21 even says it more vividly. He changes the times and the seasons. He removeeth kings and setteth up kings. So God sets up leaders who he wants, and God takes down leaders when he wants. So in this story, there's been some judges appointed, and they're doing wrong.
[9:21] And although these individuals are in charge now, they aren't exempt from judgment. Because unlike them, God is a just judge. And that's the beautiful part. Asaph, after witnessing this court scene, prays a prayer that I think some of us have probably prayed before, or will pray, or are praying right now, or maybe should be praying.
[9:39] He just prays a simple prayer. Lord, make this right. And I think that's a prayer that we should all pray. Child of God struggling. Child of God hurting. Child of God who may be going into a battle. Child of God, there may be a battle coming down the road, whatever that is.
[9:52] Take hope knowing this. God is going to make things right. Rejoice in that. He is king. He is Lord. He is almighty. The first thing we're going to see in this passage of Scripture as we go through it is we're going to see the arraigned.
[10:04] These gods and judges are the authorities of God's appointed. Despite their authority, they still have to answer to the supreme authority, which is incredible. Because, you know, there is nothing too big for God. God had set these leaders up. Don't get me wrong. They were powerful people.
[10:14] But even though they were powerful, they still have to answer to the source of all power. They still have to go to God himself. And I think in our lives, we need to realize that God is the supreme authority. It says he stands in the counsel of the mighty next to all evil and folly and foolishness and whatever you're going through, anxiety, depression, I don't know anything we're struggling with.
[10:32] God stands supreme. They don't even come close to him. God stands over it. He wins. Those who practice evil, God stands supreme. It says in the psalm, they don't stand. God stands.
[10:42] It's not them who are ruling. It's God who's ruling. They don't even hold a candle to what God can do in his power. He stands over the mighty. Even those forces that you don't think you can win over, even those battles you don't think he went over, even those enemies you don't think he went over, even those struggles you don't think he went over, even that person, thing, whatever in your life that you don't think there's any victory over, God stands over it.
[11:03] And we can take hope in that because God is bigger than it. Christian, I implore you to remember that God always wins. He is victorious. And that's the beautiful part. Because God is victorious, he also grants us victory.
[11:15] Romans 8, 37. We all know this verse. Athletes say it all the time, but it doesn't take away from the truth of it. Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Our God wins.
[11:28] And the beautiful part about being a child of God is that you are on the side of God. And the Bible says that Jesus has triumphed openly over it. He won. Class 2, 15, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a sure of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
[11:42] Our God has already won. And the Bible says that there is no battle, no temptation, no struggle, no issue, nothing we lose. There's nothing that we'll lose on. We are on the side of God Almighty.
[11:54] And it starts off with this psalm saying that God stands in the counsel of the Almighty. That's where God's at. But not just that. Jesus, he's beat the death. He's beat death, hell, the devil, and the grave.
[12:06] Jesus has won. And if you're here tonight and you've trusted Jesus as your Savior, you can leave here with full assurance that there is victory in Jesus. He grants us victory, and we can leave here knowing, and not just knowing, we need to believe that God is mighty enough to win.
[12:19] If you're here and you're not saved, you're here and you don't know the Lord, can I tell you something? That there is no victory for you because you're fighting your own power. And the only way you're going to win is if you get on the side of God, not God getting on your side, but you getting on God's side.
[12:30] You trusting Jesus to save you, placing your faith in him for salvation, the work that he did on the cross and in his resurrection, and believing that there is victory. But not only do we see these judges brought before God, brought before the mighty one, but the judges are judged.
[12:44] God set them up as judges. But how great is this? God is the ultimate judge. Notice it's God who does the judging. How many times do we see something or we're done wrong, we see some evil happen, and we're up in arms, we're ready to go fight, we want to go set it right ourselves.
[12:58] Well, you know who does the judging? It's God who does the judging, not us, not a human. It's God who does the vindicating. Vengeance and justice belong exclusively to God. This is what God says about Deuteronomy 32, 35.
[13:09] To me belongeth vengeance and justice and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due time. God is the one who ultimately gets to make the call. God is when he makes a judgment.
[13:20] And how great is that? Because we can't really do it. We don't have the real power to make any change, but God does. And not just that. This is what else God says here. He says they're going to be punished like regular men. Psalm 82, 7.
[13:32] He says, but ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes. Ultimately, no matter how powerful they are, no matter how big this thing is, it falls. Just like men.
[13:42] These judges are judged. But can I tell you something? So are all men. And God judges these judges and rule is sure. But he says you're going to be judged like everyone else. This is what the Bible says in Hebrews 9, 27.
[13:53] It is appointed unto men to die once, but after this the judgment. Can I tell you something? It's another biblical truth, a little more morbid, not one we want to face all the time. But everybody has to die.
[14:04] All men. This is what the Bible says in Romans 2, 16. In the day where God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Everybody dies and everybody gets judged. Thankfully, God is fair. He doesn't skip judgment on anybody.
[14:15] And this is a sobering, yet true reality. God is going to judge all men. And I challenge you to think about what is your fate going to be when you stand before God Almighty? What is the fate of your friends and family going to be when you stand before God Almighty?
[14:28] What is the fate of your lost coworker going to be when you stand before God Almighty? What is the fate of your classmate going to be when they stand before God Almighty? Every man has to be judged. Everybody will die.
[14:39] Everybody will stand before God. And that should change the way you view things. and it's a sobering yet true reality. But can I remind you something? Although God is judge and although God will issue judgment upon all men, Bible teaches that Jesus came to deliver us from condemnation.
[14:52] Although God is judge, he does not enjoy damning people. That's not his favorite thing to do. John 3, 17, even reads this, for God sent not his son in the world to condemn the world, but that through him the world might be saved.
[15:05] God came to deliver sinners. He came to save sinners. He did not come to condemn. And although he is judge and he will set things right, how great is it that he saved us? How great is it that he came down here with love and compassion and he died on a cross and if we place our faith in, we can be delivered from judgment because Jesus took the wrath of God for us and he took the judgment that we rightfully deserve and he's given us his love and he's placed grace on us and we've been saved and we can stand before God Almighty now.
[15:33] It's a really sweet transaction. Not only do we see that the people are before God, but then we see the accusation. Psalm 82, 3, and 4, we also see why God arraigned them. We see why God brought them before him.
[15:44] This is the accusation that God raises. God says this in Psalm 82, verse 3 and 4. He says, deliver, defend the poor and fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and needy, deliver the poor and needy, rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
[15:55] God raises an issue with two things these judges have done. God raises two charges against these judges in the courthouse. He raises this, their partiality to the wealthy and lack of concern for the poor and defenseless. These issues upset God because they fly directly in contrast to the character and attitude of who God is.
[16:12] They're kind of polar opposites of how God feels about the world. I can say this because if we look at Exodus 34, verse 5 through 7, this is what God says about him ruling. This is what God says about himself. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood by him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
[16:25] And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed. This is God speaking about himself saying, the Lord God merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keep mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions of sin, by no means could they guilty, visiting the iniquity of fathers upon the children and upon children's children in the third and fourth generation.
[16:43] Basically, God is a good God. He's merciful. He's just. Romans 2.11 even says, for there's no respect of persons with God. He's not partial. James 2.14, Dylan got close to it.
[16:54] Maybe in another year, he'll get through James 2. But he preaches, he says this. What profit, my brethren, though man say he hath faith in that works and faith save him? It's the wrong verse there, but God isn't partial.
[17:05] God even offers us, offers commands in the scriptures to leadership about partiality. He says this in Leviticus 19.15, you shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. Thou shalt not have respects unto persons, unto the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness thou shalt judge thy neighbor.
[17:22] So partiality and their bias flow directly in the face of who God was because God and his character is not partial. Not a respecter of person. He's full of mercy, full of grace, full of truth, and their leadership and the way they were ruling, they're opposite of God.
[17:36] They weren't who God is. And we can leave here being encouraged by the fact that God visits the poor and fatherless. That's a great, great thing. James 2.14 even warns us believers of it because I'm going to tell you something, we will mimic what we magnify, and if we magnify God, we should start looking like him.
[17:52] If we exalt God, we will emulate him, we'll start to act like him, we'll start to behave like him. Can I tell you something? James reminds us that we are to not be partial in how we deal with people.
[18:05] We treat everybody the same, and that's the way God is. I remind you that our Lord Jesus spent most of his time with the worst in society, the outcasts in society, the bad people in society, the sick, sinners, and publicans.
[18:17] That's who Jesus spent a vast majority of his time with. If I can tell you something here, the way we feel about God will affect the way we treat people. And if we exalt God, that means we're going to love people.
[18:28] And what's beautiful about this too is, the Bible says that God visits the fatherless and the poor. You know that was us. Maybe not financially, maybe not in society, but before Christ, we were dead, destitute, bankrupt, we had no hope, we were enemies of God, we were slaves to sin, we had nothing good to bring to the table, our best works for his filthy rags, and God in his mercy stepped out of the worship of heaven into this dirty, rotten earth and died on a cross for people like us.
[18:59] He visited the fatherless. He literally visited the fatherless, literally came down. This is what the Bible reads in John 8, 34. Jesus says and said, Verily, verily, whosoever committed sin is he servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abides forever.
[19:12] The son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Indeed, Jesus came down to this earth and he broke the bonds of sin, broke the bonds of death, came down to the poor, powerless, those who were children of the devil, enemies of him, and he forgave us, saved us, cleans us, sanctifies us, uses us now, and that is a beautiful thing.
[19:33] So yeah, may God bow down with these judges to make impartial judgments when these judges didn't take care of the fatherless and the needy and the poor because God in his character is not partial. God in his character loves the fatherless and the poor.
[19:44] God in his character is merciful and gracious. Their actions were totally opposite of who God was and not just that. We too were the poor and powerless.
[19:55] We had no help. We were the needy. Romans 5, 6 is a verse many of us know. For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly and God did what no judge would do back then.
[20:07] God did what those evil judges wouldn't do. Unlike these judges, can I tell you something? God did deliver the poor and needy. Unlike these judges, God did have something gracious for the poor and needy. Unlike these judges, God cared about the poor and needy and that was us.
[20:22] If we want to leave here and view people how God views them, maybe we should share some of this good news with our lost friends and families. Not only do we see those people who were arraigned, not only do we see the people who were brought before God and charged or assigned, but then we see God make a solution.
[20:35] Psalm 82, verse 5 reads this, Verse 6, I said, ye are gods and ye are all children of the most high, but ye shall die like men and fall like one of these princes.
[20:51] Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all nations. He makes it, he lets us know their hearts. You know God, he just doesn't spit out the judgment, but he also says why they do what they do.
[21:03] The first thing he said in Psalm 82, 5, it sounds awfully like the first chapter of John to me, but he says, because they walk on in darkness. The reason they do that is because they're in darkness. Before judgment, God issued their, he showed their motives for why they did.
[21:17] They do wrong because you do not walk in the light of God's way, rather they take the path of lost men in the world. That's exactly what walking in darkness is. When the Bible talks about walking in darkness, that means you're walking in the way that you want to go, the way of the world, the way contrary to God, because we come to find out in the New Testament that to walk in light is to walk into obedience and submission of Christ.
[21:37] And these judges here are walking on in darkness. To submit to Christ is to walk in light. Let's read what the Bible says in John chapter 8, verse 12. Then spake Jesus unto them, saying, I am the light of the world.
[21:48] He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Jesus is the light of the world. If you walk after him, you too shall have light. To submit to Christ is to walk in light.
[22:00] And these leaders are doing wrong because they don't walk in light. 1 John 5 through 7 reads, This then is the message we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
[22:13] If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Christ Jesus cleanseth his son and cleanseth us from all sin.
[22:24] So that's the principle. To walk in light is to walk like God walks, is to walk in submission and obedience to him. And to walk in darkness is to walk in disobedience to him, contrary to him, what you want to do in your own way, going your own way, going astray rebellion.
[22:37] That's what these judges are doing. They chose to walk in darkness as opposed to walking in the light of God's way. And what we can do for these judges, what we can do for these things in our lives, for the people in our lives, authorities in our lives, leadership politically, socially, I don't know, at work, whatever that may be, pray for them.
[22:53] Pray they find the light. That's what I would do. I look at this world and I see all sorts of you going on. I'm going to pray for them. I'm going to pray that they find the light. Not just that, if I have an opportunity, let's tell them about the way to be saved.
[23:03] Let's show them the light. Let's let our light shine. Let's preach the gospel to them. Let's preach the thing that's going to save them. Let's show them the thing that will work affectionately in them and that will save them. The world is in darkness, I remind you.
[23:15] These judges judge like that because they're in darkness, but you know, the vast majority of the world lives in darkness. The vast majority of our community lives in darkness. And the Bible says that we are lights. Our Savior is the light and he has given us his word, his truth, his gospel, his saving power.
[23:31] And we get to go out into our communities, homes, coworkers, friends, whatever it is, and we get to tell them about the thing that saves them. You know what? These judges did what they did because they were in darkness. Child of God, you have somebody in your life who's given you trouble.
[23:44] Maybe you introduce them to the saving power of Jesus Christ and you might just change that heart of theirs. He might just fix it. And it's a powerful thing. Let's pray they find the light. Let's be the people who show them the light. And not just that, he also makes another statement in verse 82, 82 verse 7, but they shall die like men and fall like one of the princes.
[24:03] He makes a statement. They're going to die like men. Which brings us back to that sobering truth. All people are going to die. He says this, they're going to die like men. Can I tell you something? Because they walk in darkness, because they sin, because they're human, the death is always the conclusion to sin.
[24:20] That sin always leads to death. We can say this, Romans 6, for the wages of sin is death. Romans 5, 12, for it is by one man sin is the world and death by sin. James 1, 15, when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and when sin is finished brings forth death.
[24:35] If I can remind you of something, if you're here and you're like these judges and you haven't put your faith in Jesus Christ and you are walking on in darkness your own way doing what you want to do, you too are like this passage where it says you will die like men because all men have to die and all men have to stand before God.
[24:50] And that's what he reminds them of. He makes that statement. They will die like men. Can I remind you of something? There is nobody too rich, nobody too powerful, nobody too good, nobody too whatever to get out of the way of death.
[25:04] But thanks be to God who has delivered us from death through Jesus Christ. But it's a sad reminder. Those in our lives who have not trusted Jesus, their end is death.
[25:14] And not just a physical death but separation from God. I want to get the good news in my friends and family and community. I want to get the good news around the world. That's why we give to missions. We don't give to missions just to have pictures on the wall or feel good about ourselves or put up wells in Africa or anything like that.
[25:27] We give to missions because there are really people dying and having to stand before God. And I challenge you as missions conference rolls around, as faith promise season starts to come in, pray about and consider what are we going to do to get the gospel, the saving light around the world.
[25:42] It's important. There are people dying without it. And not just that, we're also reminded that God is going to set things right. And how great is that? When it's all said and done, when God sits these people down, he arranges them, he assigns the charges.
[25:56] This is what he says. Asaph prays this, Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit the nations. Asaph finishes with a prayer and he asks God to set things right. And I remind you, leave here knowing that God is going to set things right.
[26:11] I don't know what any of us here are going through. I don't know what the trials look like throughout the week. We all live different lives. But I can tell you something. There is temptation that is common to man. Everybody suffers. Everybody goes for something. Everybody's tempted.
[26:22] Everybody deals with something. You can leave here knowing that God is just, holy, powerful, mighty, and whatever that storm, circumstance, bad thing is, God is going to set it right.
[26:33] You can leave here knowing that if you've placed your faith in him, he's going to make it right. I read those news articles this week and I was, it hurt. I mean, I hated reading that. And I was frustrated because I was like, man, maybe we can go down there and do something ourselves.
[26:45] But within the truth of this passage, God's going to set it right. That's not an excuse for apathy or anything letting wrong slide. But that is to let us know that God is going to make things right and we can trust that.
[26:56] We can believe that. We can place our faith in that. We can build a firm foundation upon the fact that God will make things right. He will rule and reign and judge nations. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will come back and he will rule with the rod of iron and he will set things right.
[27:12] We can have hope in that. We can comfort each other with that. We can get through trials and storms and circumstances and all sorts of things with that hope that our Lord is going to make things right.
[27:23] And maybe some of us just need to do what ASAP did. When the trial's all said and done, when you're suffering, when you don't know what's going on, you're clueless, you're confused, you're dazed, whatever it may be, just look up to heaven, pray to God, Lord, arise quickly, set this thing straight, make this right, God.
[27:42] I don't know what's going to happen and we can leave with our faith and that this is a prayer that we can all join into. We can leave here knowing that God is going to set things right. Child of God, we live in a crazy world that is totally messed up by sin.
[27:57] Evil's everywhere. I think we've all seen it. It runs rampant. Maybe you're going through a trial. You're hopeless. That doesn't have to be the case. I challenge and encourage you to know that God is going to make things right.
[28:09] Pray the same prayer that ASAP prayed. Lord, set this right and we can leave here believing that he will. With everybody's head bowed, everybody eyes closed, we'll finish here. Give you a moment to respond.
[28:23] We just heard a message about how our God is powerful. The psalm was about how our God has the power to make things right, how he's going to make things right. Maybe you're here tonight and you are suffering and you're going through a trial, something you don't see an end to.
[28:38] There's something, an enemy bigger than you. Go to God with it. You can go to the altar and pray. You can pray in your seat. Maybe you're here tonight and you haven't placed your faith in Jesus. You're like one of those judges.
[28:49] You're walking in darkness and your end is going to be death. Jesus loves you. He wants to save you. You can place your faith in him to save you. Give you a moment to pray here and we'll come back and sing with Stephen.
[28:59] Amen. Thank you.