WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.700 let me say a quick prayer for us and then we can start reading 00:00:14.700 --> 00:00:21.400 heavenly father thank you that we get to come together and pray to you as a church as a local 00:00:21.400 --> 00:00:25.280 body of christ father we pray that you would bless our time together pray that you would 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:31.720 strengthen us through the work of prayer and we pray that you would help us to be effective 00:00:31.720 --> 00:00:39.240 help us to bring to you our needs our desires help us to do kingdom work and be the engine 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:44.180 for your kingdom and i pray that you're blessed your bless our time in your word and we pray in 00:00:44.180 --> 00:00:53.400 christine hey guys i swash your bells that's from king um all right psalm 109 00:00:53.399 --> 00:01:00.399 be not silent oh god of my praise for wicked and deceitful mouths are open against me 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:05.620 speaking against me with lying tongues they encircle me with words of hate and attack me without cause 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:12.079 in return for my love they accuse me but i give myself to prayer so they reward me evil for good 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:18.340 and hatred for my love appoint a wicked man against them let an accuser stand at his right hand when he 00:01:18.340 --> 00:01:24.540 has tried let him come forth guilty let his prayer be counted as sin may his days be few may another 00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:30.560 take his office may his children be fatherless and his wife a widow may his children wander about and 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:37.020 beg seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit may the creditor seize all that he has may strangers 00:01:37.020 --> 00:01:42.820 plunder the fruits of his toil let there be none to extend kindness to him nor any to pity his fatherless 00:01:42.819 --> 00:01:49.139 children may his posterity be cut off may his name be plot blotted out the second generation may the 00:01:49.139 --> 00:01:53.859 iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out 00:01:53.859 --> 00:01:59.079 let them be before the lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:05.519 for he did not remember to show kindness but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted to put them 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:11.799 to death he loved to curse let curses come upon him he did not delight in blessing may it be far 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:18.080 from him he clothed himself with cursing as his coat may it soak into his body like water like oil 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:23.100 into his bones may it be like a garment that he wraps around him like a belt that he puts on him 00:02:23.100 --> 00:02:29.540 every day may this be the reward of my accusers from the lord of those who speak evil against my life 00:02:29.540 --> 00:02:35.860 but you oh god my lord deal on my behalf for your namesake because your steadfast love is good 00:02:35.860 --> 00:02:43.260 deliver me psalm 109 verse 22 right now for i am poor and needy and my heart is stricken within me 00:02:43.260 --> 00:02:50.100 i am gone like a shadow at evening i am shaken off like a locust my knees are weak through fasting my 00:02:50.100 --> 00:02:55.580 body has become gaunt with no fat i am an object of scorn to my accusers when they see me they whack 00:02:55.580 --> 00:03:02.040 their heads help me oh lord my god save me according to your steadfast love let them know that this is your 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:08.239 hand you oh lord have done it let them curse but you will bless they arise and are put to shame but 00:03:08.239 --> 00:03:14.099 your servant will be glad may my accusers be clothed with dishonor may they be wrapped in their own shame 00:03:14.099 --> 00:03:19.280 as in a cloak with my mouth i will give great thanks to the lord i will praise him in the midst of the 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:24.639 throne for he stands at the right hand of the needy one to save him from those who condemn his soul to 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:33.859 death so um psalm 109 is a lament uh that prays for god's wrath and judgment upon a person's enemies 00:03:33.859 --> 00:03:40.239 it creates a potential challenge for us as christians because as followers of christ we're called to love 00:03:40.239 --> 00:03:46.299 love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you but here we read some pretty like harsh curses 00:03:46.299 --> 00:03:52.879 upon one's enemies may his days be few may his children be fatherless that there be none to extend 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:58.139 kindness to him so that's something we'll we'll need to wrestle with in this this passage and it helps to 00:03:58.139 --> 00:04:05.299 to hold on to the overall theme of psalm 109 which is how we respond in the face of injustice or malice 00:04:05.299 --> 00:04:12.979 so the main takeaway is that in the face of injustice we can entrust ourselves to god for his help and 00:04:12.979 --> 00:04:19.719 salvation so we can entrust ourselves to him there are three roughly three parts to this chapter there's 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:26.280 verses one through five uh which is complaints against the enemies um and then verses uh six 00:04:26.280 --> 00:04:38.360 through 19 um which is uh the psalmist um curses upon his enemies and then the rest um is is um his 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:44.560 plea to god and ultimately seeing the glory of god as as the end of all this um so let's look at verses 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:51.379 one through five uh the psalmist complain to god he's got he's got enemies um he has people who are 00:04:51.379 --> 00:04:57.860 returning him evil for good um he's he's loved them but they're they're hating him back and he's getting 00:04:57.860 --> 00:05:04.500 attacked with with lots of slander words of lies and hate accusation um and so it's it's it's pretty 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:11.139 awful experience to receive ingratitude when uh when you've loved someone um to do somebody good but in 00:05:11.139 --> 00:05:17.879 return get hatred or indifference um you know it could be from co-workers classmates uh could be 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:23.659 from your spouse or kids i imagine how hurtful it would be like like up late making food for 00:05:23.659 --> 00:05:28.500 collateral and like washing her clothes and she's like dad you don't love me like i'm not grateful 00:05:28.500 --> 00:05:34.839 for you at all they'd be like ah that hurt right um but i mean on the other hand i think about how 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:42.099 often we would do this to god um romans 8 says that god works all things for our good psalm 84 11 00:05:42.099 --> 00:05:48.019 god does not withhold any good thing from us but like mark prato said when he visited we can have 00:05:48.019 --> 00:05:52.979 hard thoughts about god i think it's really easy for me to have hard thoughts um about him we don't 00:05:52.979 --> 00:05:59.539 really think he loves us when when he does and we choose to to look at our circumstances instead of 00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:04.500 looking at his word where he says he's compassionate um and he's he's gracious and he loves us 00:06:04.500 --> 00:06:10.540 um but we all have hard thoughts we all have wrong thoughts about god don't be discouraged right that's 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:15.780 why that's why christ came and christ came and experienced this song in his life he's the one who 00:06:15.780 --> 00:06:23.259 was unjustly arrested unjustly accused and put to death he's the one who did good to people but 00:06:23.259 --> 00:06:29.420 they killed him in jealousy and hatred judas someone from his inner circle that he loved and 00:06:29.420 --> 00:06:35.079 prayed for and cared for he betrayed him right so um we have an amazing savior he did this for us he 00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:42.500 did this because he loves us um so we can take courage in that uh verses six through through 19 so 00:06:42.500 --> 00:06:50.240 these are the harsh words uh by the psalmist um quick note here it's it's somewhat ambiguous um as i was 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:58.460 studying up on this commentators are are split in terms of like who is saying this because the 00:06:58.460 --> 00:07:06.259 the um pronouns change it goes from the plural of enemies to the singular appoint a wicked man against 00:07:06.259 --> 00:07:10.540 him right it says in verse six let an accuser stand his right hand so it's going from the plural to the 00:07:10.540 --> 00:07:17.000 singular so um some people think maybe this is a quote of like the enemies saying this against david this is a 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:21.579 attribute david right and so david's basically saying to god like look at what they're saying to 00:07:21.579 --> 00:07:27.300 me right so that's one view um i i'm going with the view that this is sort of just david 00:07:27.300 --> 00:07:33.160 making singular his enemies like this just like he's talking in the singular of all these people who 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:38.720 are saying this stuff to him so i think that makes sense uh but i could be wrong um but assuming that 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:44.980 view so he he prays that his enemies prayers for example would be counted as sin again they'd be 00:07:44.980 --> 00:07:50.640 his children would be fatherless his wife a widow so basically this guy would die right um his enemy 00:07:50.640 --> 00:07:57.080 was loses possessions there'd be no kindness extended to him and um and the reason right why is david 00:07:57.080 --> 00:08:02.160 praying these things it's because the enemy his enemies uh did the same thing they didn't show kindness 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:08.819 they cursed others uh they took advantage of others so this is uh basically some serious like eye for 00:08:08.819 --> 00:08:15.800 an eye happening here right um my enemies did this let this come upon them um and again there's 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:22.379 it's an uncomfortable tension for us as christians because we're called to love our enemies so how are 00:08:22.379 --> 00:08:30.199 we supposed to read this um again as i was researching this i came across the comment like most like most 00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:34.360 churches in their standardized like readings of the psalms are just kind of like skip over this part 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:40.060 right um because they don't want to deal with it uh in in a christian paradigm but i think we can i 00:08:40.060 --> 00:08:44.919 mean we should apply this this is god's word um so this does apply to us i think a couple ways it can 00:08:44.919 --> 00:08:51.740 apply to us is one we we ought to hate evil and injustice these things are wrong and we should hate 00:08:51.740 --> 00:09:00.200 it right um so yes on one hand the lord was led like a lamb to the slaughter he didn't cry out when all 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:04.720 this injustice was happening to him but it's not like that's the end of the story he was raised from 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:10.480 the dead um he is the righteous lord every knee will bow every tongue confess that that he is lord 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:14.420 and he's going to do away with sin and injustice and sorrow right those things are wrong and they're 00:09:14.420 --> 00:09:21.340 going to be gone um so it's good to hate evil and to cry out against it uh second thing to notice is 00:09:21.340 --> 00:09:29.300 that we ought to cry out in trust to god um because even though the psalmist is speaking these these harsh 00:09:29.299 --> 00:09:36.159 things to god against his enemies he speaks them to god it's not like he takes matters into his own 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:43.019 hands right so even though he's saying like may this guy's children be fatherless and his wife a widow 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:48.599 he's actually going out and killing this guy so that his kids are fatherless and his wife is a widow 00:09:48.599 --> 00:09:56.419 right he's he's pouring out his heart to god um so i think of psalm 62 it says for god alone oh my soul 00:09:56.419 --> 00:10:03.099 wait in silence for my hope is from him he only is my rock and my salvation my fortress i shall not 00:10:03.099 --> 00:10:09.319 be shaken on god rest my salvation and my glory my mighty rock my refuge is god trusted him at all 00:10:09.319 --> 00:10:15.219 times oh people pour out your heart before him god is our refuge is a refuge for us um so i think 00:10:15.219 --> 00:10:19.919 the application is that we have to pour out our hearts to god um in the big things and the small 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:26.500 things and god will hear what we shouldn't take vengeance ourselves but we should trust him to 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:33.939 take vengeance in his own ways and his own timing um and then the last part so verses 20 through 31 00:10:33.939 --> 00:10:40.719 um here the psalmist asked for deliverance because of god's steadfast love verse 21 says deal on my behalf 00:10:40.719 --> 00:10:47.980 for your name's sake um i yes i desire comfort i desire comfort like quickly i desire medication i desire 00:10:47.980 --> 00:10:54.620 deliverance uh but more important than all these things is god receiving glory is god receiving um 00:10:54.620 --> 00:11:01.360 it's god being known truly um and and for the great god that he is it's important for us to 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:07.080 to remember that we're in a world full of sinners um world full of people who are going headlong 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:13.840 towards death and you know it's more important than my comfort that they be reconciled to god 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:21.940 that they know him and they're saved from death and um so i remember i also remember the lord jesus 00:11:21.940 --> 00:11:27.899 verse 25 in the psalm says i am an object of scorn to my accusers when they see me they whack their heads 00:11:27.899 --> 00:11:37.900 and so we read in in his uh experience of being crucified in matthew 27 it says in verse 39 and those 00:11:37.900 --> 00:11:43.540 who passed by derided him wagging their heads and saying you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it 00:11:43.539 --> 00:11:49.399 in three days save yourself if you are the son of god come down from the cross so also the cheap 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:54.939 priests with the scribes and elders mocked him saying he saved others he cannot save himself he's 00:11:54.939 --> 00:11:59.819 the king of israel let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him he trusts in god 00:11:59.819 --> 00:12:06.159 let god deliver him now if he desires him for he said i am the son of god and the robbers who were 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:13.219 crucified with him also reviled him in the same way and so i mean as he was dying people high in 00:12:13.219 --> 00:12:20.699 society and low in society everyone was mocking him and jesus just took it you know he just endured it 00:12:20.699 --> 00:12:26.659 um i think my reaction when i'm slighted and disrespected is to quickly 00:12:26.659 --> 00:12:36.959 like defend myself but jesus doesn't um and he did it so that we could we could know god we could be 00:12:36.959 --> 00:12:42.799 his children um through faith in him and uh the lord is our teacher he's the one that we should fix our 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:50.620 eyes on and follow in his footsteps derive hope and strength so yeah remember when you're experiencing 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:57.980 difficulties like we all do um live for god's glory um and it might be an occasion to to glorify the 00:12:57.980 --> 00:13:03.700 lord um it's it's like the woman from uh the sermon this past sunday who just want to be healed and 00:13:03.700 --> 00:13:10.980 slip away right but god had something better for her than that um so yeah be encouraged uh when you're 00:13:10.980 --> 00:13:16.240 facing injustice remember to cry out to pour out to the lord trust in him and uh with that let's let's 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:19.320 enter into some some prayer hey brian 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:19.340 hey brian 00:13:19.340 --> 00:13:19.399 hey brian 00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:20.000 hey brian