Great, let me read for us and then pray for Nick and for us. Psalm 10.
Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In his arrogance, the wicked man hunts down the weak who are caught in the schemes he devises.
He boasts about the cravings of his heart. He blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.
In his pride, the wicked man does not seek him. In all his thoughts, there is no room for God.
His ways are always prosperous. Your laws are rejected by him and he sneers at all his enemies.
He says to himself, nothing will ever shake me. He swears, no one will ever do me harm.
His mouth is full of lies and threats. Trouble and evil are under his tongue.
He lies in wait near the villages. From ambush, he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims. Like a lion in cover, he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
His victims are crushed. They collapse. They fall under his strength.
He says to himself, God will never notice. He covers his face and never sees.
Arise, Lord. Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.
Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, he won't call me to account?
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted. You consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you. You are the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked man. Call the evildoer to account for his wickedness.
That would not otherwise be found out. The Lord is king forever and ever.
The nations will perish from his land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted.
You encourage them and you listen to their cry.
Defending the fatherless and the oppressed.
Let me pray for us. And then Nick, over to you.
Heavenly Father, we do pray and ask that you would speak to us from your words.
We thank you that our joyful confidence is that as your word is open, you are by your spirit at work.
And we pray that that might be our experience this evening.
Help Nick as he speaks. Help all of us as we listen, we pray.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Thanks, Steve.
Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
Does it ever seem to you that God is absent in your times of trouble?
That his attention is elsewhere?
Maybe you're just not that important to him.
After all, God has a universe to run.
Is God turning a blind eye to all the injustice happening everywhere?
It can often feel like that.
And indeed, looking at the news every day, there are constant examples of injustice,
of the strong praying on the weak.
On Wednesday evening last week, during our prayer meeting, we watched an Open Doors video
about the internally displaced people of Nigeria.
They're persecuted Christians who have been forced away from their lands and their homes
to live in tents.
And they're reduced to protecting themselves from the sun with bits of cardboard.
They're far from their homes.
And they struggle to find work to earn even a day's food.
Why does God seem far away?
So, this is how the psalmist begins, Psalm 10.
But before we look into that question,
just a quick word on the overall structure of this psalm of lament.
It can be broken down into four sections.
The first one is the first verse.
The opening cry to the Lord, where are you?
And the second goes from verses 2 to 11.
David is bringing the wicked and their ways before the Lord.
And then we have verses 12 to 15, where David calls on the Lord to act.
And he also reminds himself of who God is and what he does.
And in the final section, David concludes by declaring more facts about God.
Not only to bolster his own faith and to wait upon him,
but also to declare and acknowledge who God is.
So, let's start with the first verse.
David is in pain at God's apparent aloofness.
Lord, there is so much wickedness. Where are you?
Well, spoiler alert, God is not far away.
He's right there with the psalmist.
And he's right there with us.
In our everyday dealings in life,
God seeming to be distant is more a reflection
on our own state of being with regards to God
than his to us.
Our unbelief or our lack of faith in God
in whatever difficult situation we're in
can make us think this way.
But for the believer especially,
we must never forget Jesus' words
in the second half of John chapter 4,
which should be on page 1082.
And I'll just read a few verses from verse 15.
So, Jesus said,
If you love me, keep my commands.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another advocate to help you
and be with you forever,
the Spirit of truth.
The world cannot accept him
because it neither sees him nor knows him,
but you know him,
for he lives with you
and will be in you.
I will not leave you as orphans.
I will come to you.
And jumping down to verse 23,
Jesus replied,
Anyone who loves me
will obey my teaching.
My Father will love them,
and we will come to them
and make our home with them.
Anyone who does not love me
will not obey my teaching.
These words you hear
are not my own.
They belong to the Father who sent me.
So, for the Christian,
the almighty, infinite,
God of the universe and beyond
has made his home in us.
Jesus' words from the Father
mean without a shadow of doubt
that they come to us.
They live with us.
They're in us.
And you can't get any nearer than that.
So, in the next section,
David puts before the Lord,
so from verses 2 to 11,
he puts before the Lord
the iniquity of the wicked
that he sees all around him
against not only the weak and innocent,
but also towards God.
So, let's review some of the qualities
of the wicked as exposed by David.
They're arrogant.
They're boastful.
They're greedy.
Proud.
They have an enmity to God.
They're evil-tongued.
And they're murderous.
And there's certainly more that
could be taken from
what David's written down.
And how does he describe the victims?
They're weak.
Innocent.
Helpless.
Crushed.
Murdered.
So, we'll next look at the fallacies
of the wicked person's view of God.
But it's also worth pausing to reflect
whether we are ourselves
are guilty of any of these condemnations.
What were we like before God saved us
through Christ?
We are still works in progress.
So, we still fall and we still sin.
And even whilst the Holy Spirit resides in us,
what things might we recognize in ourselves
in this psalm
that demand repentance and forgiveness from God?
So, let's have a look at the wicked person's attitude
towards God
and the lies that they tell themselves.
They include renouncing or reviling the Lord.
Believing there is no God.
Believing that they are somehow immortal and invincible.
They believe that God won't see their sin
but they can hide their sin from God
and also believing that God won't hold them to account.
In verse 3, the wicked man boasts
about the cravings of his heart.
He blesses the greedy and the unworthy
and he reviles the Lord.
And reviles is a strong word.
The wicked man pushes God away from his thoughts.
His focus is purely on himself
and he lets everyone know it.
His mantra is greed is good.
In verse 4, we see how the wicked man's pride
results in him not having any desire for God.
His thoughts are crammed full of other things.
To quote from Spurgeon's commentary on Psalm 10,
he wrote,
The only place where God is not
is in the thoughts of the wicked.
And this is a damning accusation.
For where the God of heaven is not,
the Lord of hell is reigning and raging.
In the ESV translation, verse 4 ends,
All his thoughts are,
there is no God.
So in all his dealings,
he behaves as if there is no higher power.
God's judgments are so far away,
he believes that they are in another jurisdiction.
In verse 6,
the wicked man deludes himself in thinking
no harm will ever befall him.
He is self-confident and assured.
And when we're young,
it's very common for us to think and act
as if we're never going to die,
even as we see death all around us.
And sometimes that continues as we get older,
unless we've been given
some kind of terminal diagnosis from a doctor.
It's very common for us
to not genuinely consider our own mortality.
We may believe it won't happen to us,
or that it's decades or years away.
Ultimately, none of us know when our time is up.
In one sense,
it's like not knowing the time of Jesus' return.
We must live our lives expecting him to return today,
but we must also plan ahead sufficiently
so that we can live the lives God has given us
for his glory.
So we must be ready to meet our maker.
We can only do that if we acknowledge our own mortality,
our own weakness,
our sinfulness,
and acknowledge his immortality,
his power,
his holiness,
his goodness,
and his grace through Christ Jesus.
There's an irony hearing those
that don't believe in God
call out to him when something happens
that does shake them,
or when someone does do them harm.
It is a natural instinct to call out and pray to God,
even for those that don't follow Christ
or try to live a godly life.
In verse 11,
the wicked man says to himself,
God will never notice.
He covers his face and never sees.
But God sees all.
And there's so many Bible verses we could look at.
Proverbs 15, verse 3 is one.
It says,
The eyes of the Lord are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
And in verse 13,
as I jump slightly outside the section,
the psalmist cannot get his head around
why the wicked man should revile God
and delude himself into thinking
that God won't call him to account.
So the wicked man lives his life
basing his actions and deeds,
his motives and greed
on this sandy foundation of lies,
content to ignore God,
and treat him with contempt,
enabling him to think that
his praying on the weak and innocent
will be without consequence.
So in the next section,
verses 12 to 15,
David is calling the Lord to action.
Arise, Lord, lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.
And he calls on the Lord in verse 15
to break the arm of the wicked man,
thus rendering him unable
to enact his wickedness
and harm on the weak and helpless.
David reminds himself in verse 14
that God does see the trouble of the afflicted
and does consider their grief,
that he is the helper of the fatherless.
He reminds himself in verse 15
that God is able to take to account
the evildoer for the wickedness
that they have tried so hard to conceal.
So what are the home truths
that David has spelled out so far in the psalm?
Well, that God is not far off
because he's everywhere
and he is with us.
God is aware of everything that happens.
He knows everything.
God will hold everyone to account
because God is just.
And God does care for the afflicted.
We read earlier in John 14
that the Holy Spirit makes his home
with those that God has saved.
He is with us through affliction and grief.
He understands.
Let's turn to Romans 8
and I'll read verses 26 to 30.
It should be on page 1135.
In the same way,
the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought to pray for,
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us
through wordless groans.
And he who searches our hearts
knows the mind of the Spirit
because the Spirit intercedes for God's people
in accordance with the will of God.
And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew,
he also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers and sisters.
And those he predestined,
he also called.
Those he called,
he also justified.
Those he justified,
he also glorified.
Paul goes on to write in verse 35,
Many a believer suffers at the hands of wicked men.
However,
these wicked men are used by God
to further his own plans and purposes.
The wicked will receive from God
what is due to them.
God will judge,
and there's no way around that.
We've been going through the letter
to the Philippians
during our Sunday evenings this term,
and one of the main themes is suffering,
especially at the hands of men.
Sometimes God will let you see
the fruits of the suffering.
For example,
the Apostle Paul's suffering in chains
resulted in the whole palace guard
knowing that Paul was suffering,
his suffering was because of his faith
in Jesus Christ.
And Paul did see the spread of the gospel
in his own lifetime.
Sometimes God will not let you see
the fruits of the suffering.
Part of Job's suffering
was having the tribe of Chaldeans
steal his camels
and put his workers to death.
Job lost his family
at the hands of Satan,
and he suffered much physical pain
from Satan too.
Whilst the Lord did restore Job afterwards,
Job was none the wiser
as to why all this suffering
happened to him.
Christ himself was beaten up,
mocked, tortured,
rejected, and executed
at the hands of wicked men.
In Matthew 27,
we read that just as Jesus
was nearing death,
he called out,
my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
So, here we see God
hide his face away from Christ.
Christ was completely alone,
suffering on the cross.
He was separated from the Father's love.
And during that time,
he received all the judgment
and punishment
that's for the sins due to us.
He did this for all those
that he has called,
that he has justified
and glorified,
as we read in Romans 8.
So Christ knows what it feels like
to the max.
Thankfully, that wasn't the end.
Christ was raised from the dead
and went up to heaven
to sit at God's right hand.
And he's interceding for us
so that our sins
are not counted against us,
but against his own sacrifice
on the cross.
So, we're nearing
the end of the psalm.
So, we're at these final verses,
16 to 18.
David is declaring to all
that God is the king
forever and ever.
And we can take heart
that our saviour
and redeemer,
Jesus Christ,
is king forever and ever.
Amen.
And David reiterates
that God does hear
the desires of the afflicted,
that he is a source
of encouragement for them,
and that he also listens
to their cries and laments.
Christ says in Matthew 11,
in verses 28 to 30,
Come to me,
all you who are weary
and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me,
for I am gentle
and humble in heart,
and you will find rest
for your souls.
For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.
He defends those
without a defender
and those under the cough.
Christ is our defender,
our counsellor,
our comforter,
our saviour,
our redeemer.
And the psalmist
looks forward
to the day
when the nations
will perish
from his land,
and mere earthly mortals
will never again
strike terror.
Christ will return.
He is our hope
in life and death.
We look forward
to a new heavens
and a new earth,
where we will be
resurrected in new bodies,
and through Christ
we will be absent of sin.
The wicked
will not be present.
And as we close,
I must mention
Christ's command
to love our enemies
in Matthew 5.
It is a difficult thing
to do at the best of times,
and at the very least
we should pray for them
in earnest.
Since each of us
was once an enemy
of God,
God desires
none to perish,
for every day
God grants
before Christ's return
is a day of salvation
for someone.
And not just
for ordinary
I'm a good person
because I haven't
murdered anyone
or stolen anything
folk,
but also
for murderers
and thieves
and worse.
So,
I will finish
with these words
from Revelation 21.
Then I saw
a new heaven
and a new earth.
For the first heaven
and the first earth
had passed away.
There was no longer
any sea.
I saw the holy city,
the new Jerusalem,
coming down
out of heaven
from God,
prepared as a bride
beautifully dressed
for her husband.
And I heard
a loud voice
from the throne
saying,
Look,
God's dwelling place
is now among
the people
and he will dwell
with them.
They will be his people
and God himself
will be with them
and be their God.
He will wipe
every tear
from their eyes.
There will be
no more death
or mourning
or crying
or pain
for the old
order of things
has passed away.
And he who was
seated on the throne
and said,
I am making
everything new.
And then he said,
Write this down
for these words
are trustworthy
and true.
He said to me,
It is done.
I am the Alpha
and the Omega,
the beginning
and end.
To the thirsty
I will give water
without cost
from the spring
of the water of life.
And those who are
victorious
will inherit
all this.
And I will be
their God
and they will be
my children.
But the cowardly,
the unbelieving,
the vile,
the murderers,
the sexually immoral,
those who practice
magic arts,
the idolaters
and all liars,
they will be consigned
to the fiery lake
of burning sulfur.
And this is
the second death.
So take courage.
God is with us
even when it seems
he's not.
and when we're
going through
really difficult times
at whoever's hands,
whether it's
man's hands
or nature's.
Thank you.
Amen.
Thank you, Nate.
Let's pray.
Father,
we do thank you
for what we've heard.
We thank you
that you're not
absent in our suffering.
You're not absent
from this world
of suffering.
But thank you
that like Nick
has told us
in the person
of the Lord Jesus,
you have entered
into this suffering world,
paid for our sin
and bought at great cost
a people for yourself
who inhabit,
will inhabit
a remade world
where there is
no more sickness
or suffering
or death
or grief.
Keep us going
until that day.
Keep us speaking
of you,
looking to you,
living for you,
we ask
in Jesus' name.
Amen.