Let me pray for us.
Heavenly Father, we have gathered to hear from you and to cry out to you in prayer.
And we don't want this to be just a checkbox of things to do here,
but we want this to be an opportunity for us to commune with you, to relate to you,
to grow in our love for you,
to increasingly conform all of our values, our thoughts, our attitudes to that of Christ.
And so we pray that you would do that work in our midst this evening.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Psalm 64, verses 1 to 10.
The title of it says,
To the Choir Master, a Psalm of David.
I'll read it out loud for us.
It says,
Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint.
Preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the throng of evildoers,
who wet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
shooting from ambush at the blameless,
shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
They hold fast to their evil purpose.
They talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking,
Who can see them?
They search out injustice,
saying,
We have accomplished a diligent search,
for the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.
But God shoots his arrow at them.
They are wounded suddenly.
They are brought to ruin,
with their own tongues turned against them.
All who see them will wag their heads.
Then all mankind fears.
They tell what God has brought about,
and ponder what he has done.
Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord,
and take refuge in him.
Let all the upright in heart exult.
The main point of this psalm is that we can take refuge in God,
who fights for us.
We can take refuge in God because he fights for us.
Verses 1-6 is about the sudden assault of the wicked.
And then verses 7-10 is about the sudden retribution of God.
And I don't know if you guys have ever gone laser tagging or paintballing.
Yeah.
Right?
But when you go,
you kind of get paranoid and a little skittish
because you're kind of getting hit or shot from places you don't expect.
It's because people are ambushed.
Right?
And that's, of course, just a game.
But here, in Psalm 64, David's talking about how in real life,
he feels like evil people, wicked people are kind of sitting in ambush,
leveling their arrows at him, shooting their arrows and attacking him.
And so he cries out to God for deliverance,
and he writes about that in verses 2-6.
It says,
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the throng of evildoers who wet their tongues like swords,
weighing bitter words like arrows,
shooting from ambush at the blameless,
shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
They hold fast to their evil purpose.
They talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking,
Who can see them?
Right?
The words used to describe their attacks,
and it's like secret plots, ambush.
They snares secretly, right?
So they all suggest the type of assault that cannot be anticipated, right?
So it's coming from places he doesn't expect,
when he's not expecting them.
And these attacks, because it's a plot,
it's done in secret, it's coordinated,
it's not like a,
it's not a mindless or reactionary,
heat of the moment kind of assault,
but something that has been meticulously planned,
like a military operation.
And their secret plots are not known to David,
who is the presumed author here.
And so he observes in verse 4,
that the attack comes to him suddenly,
because he's not anticipating.
And the mode of these wicked people's attack is verbal.
So if you look at verse 3,
it says,
The evildoers wet their tongues like sword,
and aim bitter words like arrows.
So their tongue is their sword,
and their words are their arrows.
And they have staged,
basically then,
a carefully planned smear campaign
against David,
and the psalmist,
and then with choice gossip,
whispered in strategic places,
and hard-hitting slander,
uttered behind his back.
And their evil plans are such
that it fills the psalmist with dread.
Right?
So that's the situation.
And that,
but just as,
so,
and then in 7 to 10,
he tells us about
the sudden retribution of God.
He says,
But just as they shot their arrows
of bitter words to the psalmist,
verse 7 tells us that
now God shoots his arrows at them.
Right?
And then just as they attack the psalmist suddenly,
in verse 4,
verse 7 now tells us that
they are wounded suddenly.
Right?
So God's justice,
you can see how reciprocal it is.
Right?
The way they attack the psalmist,
God is going to bring retribution.
And so even though they use their tongues
like swords in verse 8,
well,
verse 8 promises that
they will be brought to ruin
with their own tongues
turned against them.
God will turn their slander
and gossip against them
so that all who see them
will wag their heads.
Right?
So this image of God
shooting his arrows,
right,
is a picture of him
as a divine warrior
who fights for his people.
And that's why we can take refuge in God
because he fights for us.
And Charles Spurgeon
puts it very memorably.
He says,
They shoot
and shall be shot.
A greater archer than they
shall take sure aim
at their heart.
One of his arrows
shall be enough
for he never misses his aim.
Right?
So that's,
that God fights for us
in that way.
That he is,
and that's why we can take refuge in him.
Those who take aim
at God's people,
God himself
will take aim
at them.
Right?
This kind of reminds me
of 1 Corinthians 3,
17,
which we talked about
recently in our church.
If anyone destroys God's temple,
God will destroy him.
For God's temple is holy
and you are that temple.
And these wicked people
took their shot
at the psalm
without fear.
It said in verse 4,
but after God's judgment
and retribution,
it says in verse 9,
all mankind fears.
Right?
So God's just judgment
upon the wicked
will instill a proper fear
of God in people's lives
and in the heart of man.
And that's why he says,
and that's why those
who have the fear of God
no longer need to have
the dread of the enemy
that verse 1 speaks of.
And this will ultimately result
in rejoicing for the righteous.
Psalm 64.
Yeah.
And it says in verse 10,
let the righteous one
rejoice in the Lord
and take refuge in him.
Let all the upright in heart exalt.
So, I don't know if you noticed already,
but there's a contrast here
between the upright in heart
in verse 10
and the wicked
who are described
as heart of a man
are deep, right?
In verse 6.
So the wicked
were described in this way
in verses 5 to 6.
They hold fast
to their evil purpose.
They talk of laying snares secretly
thinking,
who can see them?
They search out injustice
saying,
we have accomplished
a diligent search
for the inward mind
and heart of a man
are deep.
So this is a description
of the wicked.
So that description
of their heart,
which is deep, right,
is contrasted
with the upright in heart
which exalts in God.
And I think Jeremiah the prophet
probably had these two verses,
verses 5 to 6,
in mind when he wrote
in chapter 17, verse 9.
It says,
the heart is deceitful
above all things
and desperately sick.
Who can understand it?
Right?
So it says,
no one can understand,
so no one,
it's basically that verse
that talks about
how no one can understand
the depth of depravity
that resides
within a man's heart.
But the following verse
in Jeremiah 17, 10
also says,
but I, the Lord,
search the heart
and test the mind
to give every man
according to his ways,
according to the fruit
of his deeds.
So this psalm
is speaking of how
the wicked believe
that their wicked deeds
are unsearchable,
right,
that they will not be found out,
right,
their hearts are deep
with wickedness.
And no one can understand
the profundity
of their,
the depth of their complexity,
the depth and complexity
of the evil
that resides in their heart.
But God tells us
in Jeremiah 17, 10
that he searches the heart
and tests the mind
to give every man
according to his ways,
according to the fruit
of his deeds.
So that means
he will find out
their wickedness
and execute his justice.
So this is good news,
obviously,
for people who are
upright in heart
and who take refuge in him
and trust in his judgment.
But of course,
that's with the condition
that our hearts
are indeed upright.
And unfortunately,
the problem is that
God's people
throughout history
have repeatedly failed
to be faithful to God
and failed to keep
their covenant with God.
And so their hearts,
too,
like these wicked people,
are full of wickedness.
It's deep with depravity.
And so then,
what recourse do we have
as God's people?
And that's the promise
that prophesied about Jesus
in Ezekiel 36, 25 to 27.
God promised,
I will sprinkle
clean water on you
and you shall be clean
from all your uncleanness.
And from all your idols,
I will cleanse you
and I will give you
a new heart
and a new spirit
I will put within you.
And I will remove
the heart of stone
from your flesh
and give you
a heart of flesh.
And I will put
my spirit within you
and cause you
to walk in my statutes
and be careful
to obey my rules.
Right?
So it's only when
we have a new heart
that God,
new heart from God
that we can be upright
in heart
as the psalm speaks of.
And we receive
that new heart
only by receiving
Jesus Christ
into our lives
and by repenting
of our sins
and believing in Him
and so then being renewed
in the Holy Spirit.
And so that's really
the promise,
the ultimate promise
that this psalm
points to.
That's the promise
in which this psalm
is fulfilled
is that so that
we can be upright
in heart
and take refuge
in Him
in the God
who fights for us.
So with that in mind,
maybe we can sing
a song to Him
and let's pray.