WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.640 All right, Psalm 94. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.119 Understand, O dullest of the people, fools, when will you be wise? 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:37.939 He who planted the ear, does he not hear? 00:00:38.659 --> 00:00:40.899 He who formed the eye, does he not see? 00:00:41.340 --> 00:00:43.700 He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? 00:00:44.140 --> 00:00:48.960 He who teaches man knowledge, the Lord, knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath. 00:00:49.820 --> 00:00:53.640 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law, 00:00:53.760 --> 00:00:57.060 to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. 00:00:57.060 --> 00:01:01.140 For the Lord will not forsake his people, he will not abandon his heritage, 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:05.439 for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.200 Who rises up for me against the wicked? 00:01:08.600 --> 00:01:10.060 Who stands up for me against evildoers? 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:15.719 If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. 00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:19.980 When I thought my foot slips, your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:24.120 When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul. 00:01:24.520 --> 00:01:26.540 Can wicked rulers be allied with you? 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:28.520 Those who frame injustice by statute. 00:01:28.980 --> 00:01:32.900 They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. 00:01:33.219 --> 00:01:37.160 But the Lord has become my stronghold and my God, the rock of my refuge. 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:41.540 He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:43.540 The Lord our God will wipe them out. 00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:51.340 I think some of you guys know I enjoy watching instant karma videos. 00:01:51.340 --> 00:01:51.960 I know. 00:01:53.359 --> 00:02:02.620 So these are videos of everyday people going through normal experiences and doing something that's wrong or unjust. 00:02:03.340 --> 00:02:07.100 And then soon after, you see instant karma happen upon them. 00:02:07.099 --> 00:02:08.799 So there's the video of the guy. 00:02:10.019 --> 00:02:12.120 It's like a dash cam video on a highway. 00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:15.159 This guy on a motorcycle speeds up some car. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:17.180 Obviously, they have been in some altercation. 00:02:17.579 --> 00:02:19.519 The guy sticks out his leg and kicks the car. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.180 And this makes him go off balance. 00:02:22.380 --> 00:02:22.860 And he falls. 00:02:23.540 --> 00:02:24.500 So there's that one. 00:02:25.200 --> 00:02:28.460 There are numerous videos of people stopped at red lights. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:30.520 And some guy is like, I'm just going to go. 00:02:30.640 --> 00:02:31.780 And he speeds through the red light. 00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:34.140 And then out of nowhere, you see lights turn on. 00:02:34.320 --> 00:02:35.380 And the cop pulls him over. 00:02:35.379 --> 00:02:39.340 So it's like they're very satisfying. 00:02:40.060 --> 00:02:42.180 Because you see the justice happen right after. 00:02:44.139 --> 00:02:48.079 But it would be the opposite if nothing happened. 00:02:48.599 --> 00:02:51.639 Like the guy in the motorcycle kicks a huge at the end of the door and just drives away. 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:53.740 Or you see all these people running red lights. 00:02:54.439 --> 00:02:56.060 And they don't get pulled over. 00:02:56.259 --> 00:02:57.039 They just keep going. 00:02:57.539 --> 00:02:59.979 So that is not satisfying. 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:01.240 That's really frustrating. 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:05.600 And that's infuriating because something wrong is happening. 00:03:06.020 --> 00:03:06.820 And you want justice. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:09.520 So that's where we are with this passage. 00:03:09.820 --> 00:03:10.700 Psalm 94. 00:03:11.620 --> 00:03:16.680 And it brings up the question of what do we do when we see injustice in the world? 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:21.000 Of things that are much more wrong than running red lights. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:28.860 What we see in this psalm is that it's a prayer of trust in God in the midst of an evil world. 00:03:28.860 --> 00:03:29.340 Right? 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:32.820 Trust that God sees and God will judge this evil world. 00:03:33.020 --> 00:03:34.940 It's broken up into three sections. 00:03:35.100 --> 00:03:39.060 So there's verses 1 through 7 with the psalmist crying out to God. 00:03:40.100 --> 00:03:45.780 And then there's verses 8 through 15 that acknowledges God's character. 00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:49.920 And then verses 16 through 23 about how we can trust God. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:52.280 So let's look at the first section. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:53.860 Verses 1 through 7. 00:03:53.860 --> 00:03:58.500 Here we see the psalmist asking God to shine forth and to rise up. 00:03:58.640 --> 00:04:02.420 And God is characterized as the God of vengeance and justice. 00:04:02.920 --> 00:04:03.960 What's happening here? 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:05.780 I mean, why is the psalmist crying out to God? 00:04:06.020 --> 00:04:08.280 He sees evil people are succeeding. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:11.300 Evil people aren't getting their due. 00:04:12.380 --> 00:04:13.740 The wicked and the proud are happy. 00:04:14.480 --> 00:04:16.780 The arrogant and the evil are boasting. 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:19.439 They're killing vulnerable people. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:28.480 And beyond these crimes against their fellow man, they're transgressing against God by saying, like, God doesn't see us. 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:29.300 He's not going to do anything. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:30.219 Right? 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:32.000 So that's the situation here. 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:37.680 We've probably seen these kinds of things, like, have had firsthand experience with them. 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:49.360 I mean, I just think back about my life of very common experiences in the classroom where you see somebody just, like, during a test sneaking, like, peeking over someone's shoulder and, like, acing the test. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:49.639 Right? 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:55.639 Or, like, coworkers who steal ideas or steal work from other people. 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:57.960 And they're the people who get raises and promotions. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:01.840 And it seems like nothing bad is happening. 00:05:02.019 --> 00:05:02.180 Right? 00:05:02.220 --> 00:05:02.860 There's no justice. 00:05:03.579 --> 00:05:06.360 So how can this happen if God is sovereign? 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:09.800 They don't fear God. 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:12.480 They don't even feel any remorse. 00:05:12.660 --> 00:05:15.600 But they feel proud, like they've gotten away with it. 00:05:16.340 --> 00:05:19.259 So when this happens, the psalmist is crying out to God. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:20.460 He's asking God to shine forth. 00:05:20.860 --> 00:05:22.180 So that's a quick lesson for us. 00:05:22.280 --> 00:05:33.000 You know, when times get difficult in these situations, instead of disconnecting from God, saying, God, I'm just going to forget about you because you're not here, he cries out to him. 00:05:33.280 --> 00:05:33.460 Right? 00:05:33.500 --> 00:05:35.199 So we can imitate that. 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:43.319 So in the second section, verses 8 through 15, we see that the psalmist speaks about who God is, so his character. 00:05:43.659 --> 00:05:44.639 What about God's character? 00:05:45.019 --> 00:05:48.639 He affirms that God sees and hears and that God knows everything. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:50.139 And he punishes. 00:05:50.139 --> 00:05:56.500 And so he rebukes those who thinks that God doesn't see and hear. 00:05:56.500 --> 00:06:04.779 And he gives the rhetorical questions of, you know, God who created the ears and the eyes. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:06.220 Of course he hears and sees. 00:06:06.540 --> 00:06:06.740 Right? 00:06:06.740 --> 00:06:08.860 It's kind of stupid to think that he wouldn't. 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:11.460 So God sees and hears. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:12.420 He punishes. 00:06:12.860 --> 00:06:14.259 He also disciplines his people. 00:06:14.460 --> 00:06:14.560 Right? 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:15.040 He teaches. 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:15.780 He trains up. 00:06:15.779 --> 00:06:18.399 Proverbs 9.10 says, 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:23.159 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 00:06:23.159 --> 00:06:27.179 So it's God who teaches us and gives us wisdom to fear him. 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:30.759 And finally, it says that God is faithful to his people. 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:32.319 Verse 14 says, 00:06:32.699 --> 00:06:34.199 For the Lord will not forsake his people. 00:06:34.660 --> 00:06:36.060 He will not abandon his heritage. 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:38.439 That can be how we feel at times. 00:06:39.780 --> 00:06:43.060 But the psalmist is confirming that, you know, God is faithful to us. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:45.259 So this is a verse that we can cling to. 00:06:45.379 --> 00:06:49.980 We can marinate on when we feel abandoned or feel lost. 00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:51.420 That God doesn't forsake us. 00:06:51.420 --> 00:06:56.060 Yeah, so in the second section, we have these takeaways, right? 00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:56.560 God sees. 00:06:56.699 --> 00:06:57.240 God disciplines. 00:06:57.480 --> 00:06:58.020 God is faithful. 00:06:58.920 --> 00:07:01.460 In the third section, it gets more personal for the psalmist. 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:05.819 He talks about his own trust in God, how he will trust in God. 00:07:06.220 --> 00:07:08.980 He talks about how God has been his help. 00:07:08.980 --> 00:07:12.720 He recounts how God is the one who has saved him. 00:07:13.700 --> 00:07:16.620 And, you know, this is useful for us. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:21.100 It's, you know, in our community group, we've talked about how it's helpful to remember 00:07:21.100 --> 00:07:24.379 the past times that God has helped us when times are tough. 00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:28.640 Even if we can't see how God will save us in the current situation, we can think back 00:07:28.640 --> 00:07:31.680 about previous times and know that God's going to figure out a way. 00:07:33.900 --> 00:07:40.420 And we read how God will, quote, bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for 00:07:40.420 --> 00:07:41.580 their wickedness, right? 00:07:41.620 --> 00:07:42.760 So God's going to be fully just. 00:07:42.820 --> 00:07:43.600 He's going to take vengeance. 00:07:44.520 --> 00:07:49.720 This might sound harsh, but I think this is really satisfying. 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:53.560 To know that God will judge evil in the world. 00:07:53.700 --> 00:07:57.440 Because if not, our options are really bad options, right? 00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:02.700 We can, we might be tempted to take justice into our own hands and just kind of burn with 00:08:02.700 --> 00:08:03.640 vengeance, right? 00:08:04.700 --> 00:08:09.240 We might resign ourselves to think that justice will never be served and be hopeless. 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:14.180 We might actually give into the temptation of pursuing evil ourselves. 00:08:14.180 --> 00:08:16.180 Like, we're going to get away with it. 00:08:16.379 --> 00:08:18.180 So why not just give into it, right? 00:08:18.379 --> 00:08:19.300 Get ahead in the world. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:24.600 But no, God is just and he does administer justice so we can be at peace. 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:25.280 We can trust him. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:35.100 It can be hard when we see wrong in the world to cry out to God, to recount his character, 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:36.159 to trust him. 00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:39.459 So why might we not respond with faith in God? 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:44.600 We might disagree with God, with his plans, with his system. 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:46.000 His timing is too slow. 00:08:47.459 --> 00:08:48.839 And we want justice now. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:51.299 Maybe his response is too lenient, right? 00:08:51.339 --> 00:08:52.559 He's being too nice to people. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:53.959 He doesn't bring down the hammer. 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:59.719 Carolyn talks about how sometimes she wishes, you guys know like the staple button? 00:09:00.019 --> 00:09:02.399 Like, oh, that was easy, like that commercial. 00:09:02.739 --> 00:09:06.619 She wishes she had like a similar button, except it's like a bomb that explodes people, right? 00:09:06.759 --> 00:09:09.739 As a way to like very quickly bring justice down on people. 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:15.619 But God is lenient, right? 00:09:15.699 --> 00:09:17.059 God is merciful. 00:09:17.059 --> 00:09:26.500 You know, I think underneath those temptations, there are the thoughts, the false thoughts of maybe we know better than God, right? 00:09:26.579 --> 00:09:29.779 Our timing is better or our judgment is better. 00:09:30.479 --> 00:09:38.879 Or that it's better if we control our life instead of God controlling circumstances, which, you know, aren't true, right? 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:46.960 I think even now, if I'm tempted to think about how it's better for me to control life, I'm reminded of my limitations. 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:52.259 Because being a new parent, I'm so tired all the time, and I need to sleep like all the time, right? 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:57.080 Even the reminder that I need to sleep, and God neither sleeps nor slumbers, right, is a good reminder. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:09:59.179 He's all-powerful, and he's sovereign. 00:09:59.179 --> 00:10:06.679 So, I mean, I think about just to dig deeper into this part of God being lenient and God being merciful. 00:10:07.259 --> 00:10:09.019 There's a verse in Ezekiel that says, 00:10:10.019 --> 00:10:13.579 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the sovereign Lord. 00:10:14.179 --> 00:10:17.199 Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? 00:10:17.599 --> 00:10:23.500 So, God is just, but his desire is that everyone turns and lives, right? 00:10:23.539 --> 00:10:26.479 That's why he gave us the Lord, so that we have this way. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:38.720 So, when God brings down the hammer, it's not what we deserve, but it's so that Jesus can have already paid that debt, and that we can turn and know God and be free. 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:49.840 So, don't begrudge God for his mercy that saves the world, that saves us and saves others, but embrace it, and embrace it for others, too. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:55.440 So, that's what the psalm is talking about in terms of takeaways, right? 00:10:55.560 --> 00:10:57.040 What are some things we can take away from the psalm? 00:10:57.580 --> 00:11:01.139 We can ask ourselves, when we witness wickedness, how do we react? 00:11:01.220 --> 00:11:03.040 Do we cry out to God and remember his character? 00:11:04.560 --> 00:11:06.600 Or do we try to take things into our own hands? 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:08.340 Against who do wrong? 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:10.019 Do we disregard God's mercy? 00:11:10.519 --> 00:11:12.800 Are we uncompromising and demanding justice? 00:11:13.300 --> 00:11:15.480 Or do we remember that we've been forgiven in Christ? 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:22.139 So, just an encouragement to, you know, let's remember the gospel and live in step with it for ourselves and for others. 00:11:24.220 --> 00:11:26.039 Brian, can we sing another song? 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:27.039 Thank you.