Chris, Lou is going to be bringing God's Word to us this morning.
And just, you know, we tend to think that singing is worship,
and then the rest of the service is something different.
Actually, we're going to continue worshiping God by listening and responding to His Word.
This is one of the ways that we worship, is we listen and we respond to God's Word.
So our worship continues, just because there's not music involved doesn't mean we're not worshiping.
So we're going to continue to worship by listening to God's Word.
Chris is going to bring God's Word to us this morning.
And in many ways, I don't need to introduce Chris, because he serves in so many ways.
And Leo leads the production team, so the sound, they lead that team.
Chris also helps lead a CG.
He also serves in the worship team from time to time.
Some of the songs that we sing at church, Chris wrote those songs himself.
He's a great musician and a songwriter.
But Chris, you've also got a great grasp of God's Word.
And we've got a preaching cohort that meets once a month, and we go through texts.
And Chris has preached a few times there.
And Chris, you've got a great grasp of God's Word.
But you're also somebody who, as Isaiah 66 says, you've got a humility before God's Word.
You bow down before God's Word.
And you don't sit over in judgment.
You let God's Word speak to you.
And I really respect you for that, your humility before God and His Word.
So it's great to have you share Psalm 11 with us this morning.
Just one thing before Margo comes up.
So at Watermark, one of the things you'll notice is we quite often have a wide variety of people leading things, leading the service, leading communion, preaching.
And one of the reasons is we don't want to be a church that's so excellent, have such a high standard that we never give people opportunities.
We want to be a church that's constantly raising and developing people, giving people chances to minister.
The only way you grow is by getting a chance.
And so we want to be a church that part of our culture is to say, let's give people chances.
We don't need to have such a high standard.
We actually want to be raising people up and giving people chances.
So it's part of our culture.
So on that note, Margo, will you come and read Psalm 11 to us?
And let's listen to the reading of God's Word.
Hello.
We're reading from Psalm 11 today.
Starting in verse 1, we read,
In the Lord I take refuge.
This is the word of God.
Check.
Can you guys hear me?
But, yep, so as Kevin introduced me, my name is Chris.
And I don't actually work at Watermark, but I am preaching today by Kevin's invitation.
And, yeah, I work as an accountant.
I don't actually normally talk this much.
I normally sing a lot on stage.
And I think some people in my CG probably haven't even heard my voice before.
But, yeah, here I am.
I'm going to be trying to talk for 30 minutes.
So that's a challenge.
But, anyway, enough chit-chat.
For those who know me, you may know that I go bouldering quite a bit, which involves climbing up walls.
It's around, like, five meters tall or so.
And I grab onto a hose of various shapes and sizes, all without the assistance of a harness or a rope.
And on a good day, I can probably attempt a new climb and get it done in one go.
But on a bad day, usually trying a new route takes time and time of trial and error and trying to figure out where my hands go and where my feet go.
So sometimes it's putting all my weight, all my trust on a hold that's probably not that much bigger than a golf ball.
And sometimes it involves taking a bit of a leap of faith, jumping from one hold to another hold, hoping that my feet will land right where it needs to be.
And climbing can be representative of our daily lives, too.
Sometimes factors within our control can affect the outcome of our lives.
But sometimes factors outside of control, like the Typhoon 3, can affect them.
Sometimes we succeed in climbing the corporate ladder, but sometimes others beat us to the top.
Sometimes our high-risk, high-reward investments, like GameStop stock, makes us a lot of money.
But other times we lose money even on low-risk investments like bonds.
And while it's easy for us to praise God when we feel like we're at the top of the world and are doing well,
what happens when the hard times kick in?
Where do you place your faith in then in the midst of your hard times?
The chance to remain faithful in the midst of adversity isn't something that is much different from what David,
who was the author of Psalm 11, experienced.
And to give some background, David is the second king of Israel,
and he's most famous for, out of all the people of Israel, he was the one that beat Goliath,
who was a 10-foot-tall, formidable warrior.
But his life took a hard turn, though.
Not by his fault, but the previous king, Saul, disobeyed God and lost favor in God's sight.
And Saul became jealous of David.
In 1 Samuel 18, we read that as David and the men of Israel were returning home from battle after beating Goliath,
the Israelites were chanting,
Saul has struck his thousands and David his 10-thousands.
And now, I'm sure that the Israelites meant this as a chance to celebrate how the Israelites won the war over the Philistines.
But hearing Saul being compared like this obviously made him very jealous.
And Saul even wanted to kill him,
which forced David to flee from Saul and his army as they went after him.
And it was during these times of trials when David probably wrote this psalm.
So let's dive into this psalm together.
In verse 1, David starts with his main point by declaring that God is his refuge.
He writes,
In the Lord I take refuge.
How can you say to my soul,
Flee like a bird to your mountain.
So in light of David's security in God, the idea to flee or to run away is out of the question.
David doesn't ask others to validate his opinion by asking them what they think,
as if David needed someone else to tell him that finding his refuge in God is the right thing.
But he instead asks this rhetorical question to challenge the advice that he's receiving from his advisors.
So through the psalm, David wants to show us that we can place our trust in God during our trials
because he is our holy and righteous judge.
Let me repeat that again.
Trust in God during our trials because he is the holy and righteous judge.
And when bad things happen or when evil comes upon us,
we can still trust in God even if the world says otherwise.
And we'll take a look at the psalm in the following sections.
First section, the insufficient advice.
And second section, the holy and righteous judge.
So let's look at the first point, the insufficient advice.
Verses 1 to 3 reads,
So in these verses, David's advisors are essentially telling him to run away
so that David can preserve all that he's built his life upon.
Now, from David's perspective, this might not seem like a bad or unwise thing to do.
As mentioned earlier, at this point in history,
David already established himself as a valiant warrior,
and he was already in line to be the next king.
He was also anointed by the prophet Saul and has the favor of God upon him.
So if David doesn't flee, he might lose his popularity contest to Saul.
But also, if Saul wins, then Saul might continue ruling over Israel
and leading the Israelites down a path of moral destruction.
But David here isn't necessarily trying to prove that fleeing is bad or wrong.
In fact, as mentioned earlier, David actually physically fled from Saul.
But rather, David is highlighting how his advisors' advice to flee
is based on their limited view of who God is.
His advisors think that God isn't strong enough for David to place his foundation in.
And his advisors want to ensure that David,
especially when Saul or others are against him,
has some sort of backup plan just in case God fails.
And if we look at our own lives,
do we have our own backup plans in case God fails?
And what does that say about our view of God?
Do we believe that God is the sure and steadfast anchor
who is worthy of our faith and trust?
In verse 2, then reveals the immediate dangers that David was facing.
Let's look at verse 2 together.
So David's advisors are using the imagery of archery
to show us that the wicked, which refers here to Saul and his army,
are attacking the righteous, which refers to David and his men.
And on one hand, there's a sense of secrecy and surprise
when wicked are shooting in the dark.
Being in the darkness reduces our ability to understand our surroundings
and it gives the wicked an upper hand.
But on the other hand,
the image of the wicked shooting in the dark
also shows us how we often feel defenseless when we're being attacked.
Unlike someone standing right in front of you,
wielding a sword and slashing you or stabbing you,
archers are not only able to attack you from a distance,
but at the same time, it's also harder for you to retaliate and attack them back.
And before we move on to the next section of this psalm,
let us reflect on what this psalm means for us in our world today.
The Bible often portrays mountains as a picture of strength,
of stability, of security,
and that's how our countries would want our governments to be too.
But in a time when tensions are escalating between nations
and the stability of the global economy is at risk,
where do we run to?
Or if we look specifically more into our own lives,
in the midst of our own struggles,
what are the mountains that we flee to?
And where do we turn to to find security?
For many of us, we always find ways to distract ourselves,
to escape from our present realities,
whether it's through alcohol, through Netflix, through Tinder.
And while these things are not necessarily inherently bad,
they only take our focus off of the situation temporarily
and ultimately fail to provide the long-lasting security or peace that God gives us.
Once you've sobered up after a long night out,
you still have to wake up and go to work the next day.
And once you've finished binge-watching Netflix,
you might have to finish your homework that's due tomorrow,
assuming that chat GPT is not allowed,
but that's a different conversation.
But instead of finding our refuge in these things,
this psalm calls us to find our true refuge in God,
just as David did,
trusting that God hasn't failed,
as God showed David when he beat Goliath,
and never will fail us through eternity.
And so we've looked at the insufficient advice
that David has been receiving from his advisors,
but then what is it about God
that makes David cling to him as his refuge?
And what is it about God
that draws David to him
instead of causing David to flee?
And why should we, if we look at the psalm,
why should we cling to God
when struggles come our way?
And David proceeds to describe who God is
in verses 4 to 7,
which leads to our next point,
the holy and righteous judge.
And first, let's look at God, the holy judge,
as David establishes in verse 4.
In which he writes,
the Lord is in his holy temple.
The Lord's throne is in heaven.
His eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
So as Kevin talked about earlier,
the word holy means to be set apart.
It's to be made distinct by God from what is ordinary.
And in this verse,
David uses the word holy to describe God's temple.
And if you think about back in David's time,
the Israelites gathered to worship God,
not in a church building,
not in Ebenezer school,
but in a place that's known as a tabernacle.
And the innermost part of the tabernacle
is known as the holy of holies.
It's where the presence of God dwelled,
and is so holy and sacred that,
as Leviticus 16 shows us,
only one person is allowed to enter the room each year.
And this one person is the high priest
who entered into the holy of holies
to atone for the sins of all of Israel.
And he was only able to do so
after following a series of procedures
to ensure that he met God's standard of cleanliness.
And in fact, some accounts also mention
that they would tie a rope to the leg of the high priest
just in case the high priest might have missed a step
in cleaning himself and died in the holy of holies
so that they could track him out.
But as we see here,
God's holiness means that no one can be in his presence
without first being made clean.
And therefore, only God himself in his holiness
qualifies to live in his holy temple.
And coming back to Psalm 11,
David also shows us God's holiness
by reminding us that his throne is in heaven.
In verse four, he writes,
the Lord is in his holy temple.
The Lord's throne is in heaven.
And if you recall in the very beginning of the Bible
in Genesis 1,
we understand that on the second day of creation,
God separated the heavens from the earth.
And this is not just a physical separation
that makes it impossible for us to get there.
But it's also a reflection of how sinful our own hearts are
and how infinitely far away we are from God.
Our hearts are so full of sin that no amount of good deeds we do
outweighs the penalty of our own sin
and buys us a ticket into heaven.
And just as how we in our unholiness cannot be in the presence of God,
we can't enter heaven either.
In the last line of verse four,
David reminds us of God's vantage point.
He writes,
So David uses the imagery of God's eyes and eyelids
to remind us that God knows all things and sees all things.
Although God lives and reigns from heaven,
which, as I talked about earlier,
is separated from earth by much more than a physical barrier,
his knowledge and understanding of the world
transcends that barrier.
He sees beyond this barrier between us
and hears and knows every spoken and unspoken thought that we have.
And since God knows everything,
we can trust in him knowing that he knows what's best for us.
And this isn't meant to sound like God is creepy or intrusive or a stalker,
but that because God knows and sees everything,
he's able to judge us righteously because he has all the facts.
To give a fair and just judgment.
And this leads us to our next point.
God, the righteous judge,
which we see in verses five to seven.
David writes in verse five that,
The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves the violence.
So on one hand,
David describes God as hating the wicked,
but on the other hand,
David describes God as testing the righteous.
And now this might seem confusing
as we would expect God's reaction to the righteous
to be the opposite of hate,
which is love.
But David's choice of words here
give clarity and insight as to how God demonstrates his love toward the righteous,
which is by testing them.
And in the same way,
despite how Saul is trying to kill David,
David so firmly believes that God loves him
and is using this opportunity
as a way to test him.
And if you look at verse six,
verse six further,
David further elaborates what God does to the wicked.
David writes,
Let him rain coals on the wicked.
Fire and sulfur and a scorching wind
shall be the portion of their cup.
So David shows us that God himself,
and not David,
is the one who will enact vengeance against the wicked.
David also reminds us that the wicked deserve God's punishment,
which isn't meant to be a light warning,
but it's so severe even to the point of death.
And in the same way that God is just in punishing the wicked for what they deserve,
he is equally just in rewarding the righteous for what they deserve,
which is by testing them.
Let's look at verse seven together.
For the Lord is righteous.
He loves righteous deeds.
The upright shall behold his face.
The word righteous is normally used to describe someone or something
who is morally right or justifiable.
For instance, if you refer to someone as a righteous man,
that someone would be someone who stays on the right side of the law,
even when he's tempted to disobey it or pressure to break it.
But here in verse seven,
David reminds us that God is righteous,
that he is the ultimate standard of righteousness.
And the fact that God is righteous
is not different from how he is holy.
In fact, God's righteousness works hand in hand with how God is holy.
God's perfect righteousness shows us
what his perfect standard of holiness is.
It shows us that we fall infinitely short of his standard
and how much we are in desperate need
of his all-sufficient grace to save us.
And David doesn't end by describing God as righteous,
but he also adds another sentence
by saying that God loves righteous deeds.
And does it sound like David is unnecessarily repeating himself?
By placing these two ideas together,
David reminds us that a righteous God must love righteous deeds.
And it would go against God's character for him to love unrighteousness
or be in the presence of any unholiness.
And this is exactly what gives David the confidence
to place his trust in God,
that God in his holiness
will be able to see that David is in the right
and that Saul is in the wrong.
That God in his righteousness
will help David, the righteous one,
win the battle while judging Saul, the wicked one,
by punishing him according to what he did to David.
But what does David finding his refuge in God mean for us?
Like David, we too might feel like
we are often unjustly persecuted
for doing the right thing.
If you're in school, maybe you feel like your teacher
should have given you the A
instead of giving it to your lazy classmate
who slacked off during a group project.
And if you're in the workplace,
maybe you feel like your clients are always
blaming you for sticking too closely to the rules,
especially when bending the rules just a tiny bit
can help them save money,
which really appeals to me because I'm a tax accountant.
So yeah.
But regardless of how others are treating you,
we can rest assured
knowing that God is the holy and righteous judge
who notices these things,
whether big or small.
His knowledge of everything in our lives
makes him worthy of our full trust and devotion.
And just as David finds his refuge in God
during hard times,
we too can find our refuge in our holy and righteous God,
even when our struggles seem too big
and when God seems small.
So from reading the psalm,
maybe you think that you don't need God
or maybe you think that you're the righteous one
in a story just like David is.
And because of that,
you don't deserve God's punishment.
But we fast forward a few chapters to Psalm 14.
David writes,
there is none who does good,
not even one.
And even David himself,
the seemingly righteous man
who is being attacked
and pursued by the wicked Saul,
comes to this conclusion
that he himself is not good.
And Paul also writes something similar
in Romans as well.
He says that,
for all have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God.
Even the great apostle Paul himself
knows that he is inwardly a sinner.
The Bible shows us that all of us
are unable to meet God's standard of righteousness
by our own efforts.
And it's due to our own sin
that makes it impossible for us
to save ourselves.
We are inherently wicked
and we rightfully deserve
the fire, the sulfur,
and the scorching wind
to come upon us,
just as David shows us in this Psalm.
And even after we die,
we are destined to live
and burn in hell
for all eternity.
But the story doesn't end here.
God doesn't just leave us
in our place of sin and despair
to fend for ourselves.
In fact,
he provides a way out
of our hellbound trajectory
by sending his own son,
Jesus Christ,
who is both fully God
and fully human
to this world
to show us how he wants us to live.
Which sounds like good news, right?
Except,
because of our sin,
we didn't want Jesus.
Instead of making Jesus our king,
we rejected him
and made ourselves
our own kings,
just as Kevin talked about last week.
And we hated Jesus so much
that we gave him
his death sentence
by sending him
to the cross
where he died.
But when Jesus died,
something amazing happened.
The Bible tells us
that at that moment,
there was a big earthquake
and the curtain
that once separated
the Holy of Holies
that I talked about earlier
from the rest of the temple
was torn in two.
And this means that
from that moment onward,
we no longer needed
a high priest
or a sacrificial offering
because Jesus himself
is the great high priest
and the sacrificial lamb
who paid for all of our sins.
Those who turn to him
and trust him.
And he bore the death penalty
that we,
wicked sinners,
deserved.
And in doing so,
he spared us
from the punishment
of God's judgment.
But then Jesus' death
was not the end though.
Three days later,
he rose from the grave.
And Romans 6, 9
tells us that
death no longer
has dominion
over Christ.
So we too,
if we place
our full faith in Jesus
and trust that
the blood he shed
on the cross
is more than sufficient
to cover our sins,
then we too
will be resurrected
in heaven
after we die.
So what does Psalm 11
mean for us?
As David shows us,
when it seems like
evil and chaos
are surrounding you
and your life
is crashing down,
we should still
find our refuge
in God
because he is
our holy
and righteous judge.
And like David,
we don't have to look
to anything else
or anyone else
to find our refuge.
But we can instead
remind ourselves
of who God is
and let the truth
of who God is
draw us to him.
He resides
in his holy temple
in heaven
and righteously
judges us
for his own glory.
And the refuge
we find in God
is exactly
what we need
to survive
the enemy's attacks
on us.
But the Christian life
isn't just
about surviving though.
It isn't just
about the here
and now.
If you look
at verse 7,
David writes
that the upright
shall behold
his face.
And what does
David try to say here?
To behold something
is more than
just looking at something.
It also has
an aspect of gaze,
of contemplation,
of looking at
something intently.
The first song
we sung today
was Behold Our God
in which the chorus
says,
Behold Our God
seated on his throne,
come,
let us adore him.
And we aren't
here just trying
necessarily say,
hey,
there's God,
let's look at him
and sing to him.
But we are instead
fixing the eyes
of our hearts
on God
who sits on the throne
and using all
that we have
with all enthusiasm
to ascribe to God
the praise
and the glory
that he alone
deserves.
So now we know
what the word
behold means,
but
what does David
mean when he says
that the upright
shall behold
his face?
Can we even see
the face of God?
God tells Moses
in Exodus 33
that you cannot
see my face
for man shall not
see me and live.
And as we looked
at just now,
because of our sin
and unholiness,
we cannot even be
in the mere presence
of our holy God.
And much less
are we physically
able to see
God's face.
So David here
is instead
showing us
that the ultimate
end goal
of the Christian life,
beyond all the trials,
the tribulations,
the suffering
in your life
that God puts us
through
is to see
the face of God.
To be able to see
not a God
hidden behind a veil,
but instead
see God
for who he really is.
not the seemingly
evil and cruel God
that we tend to see,
not just the God
that punishes
the wicked,
but to instead
see him as
the holy God,
the righteous God
that demonstrated
his love for us
by sending his son
Jesus
to die on the cross
for us.
And he is the God
in whom we can place
our full trust in,
just like David did
when he was being
pursued by Saul.
And so,
now we know that
we need to survive
until our journey ends.
But what about
the here and now?
What are ways
that we can find
our refuge
in our holy
and righteous God
in our daily lives?
The one,
if life is good,
recognize that
you still need God.
Finding our refuge
in God
starts with us
knowing that
we need him.
Maybe you feel
like you're doing
well right now
and you don't want
to change the status quo
or maybe you think
that God is something
that only the weak
and the broken people need.
But that is exactly
why we need to first
understand about ourselves
is that we are
inherently weak
and broken people.
Whether life is good
or bad,
our works still
cannot save us.
And regardless
of our circumstances,
we are still
in desperate need
of God's grace
to save us.
So even when life
is good,
remember that
you still need God.
And two,
if life is a struggle,
remember that
this journey
isn't over.
In defending his ministry,
Paul writes
in 2 Corinthians 4, 17,
that for this light
momentary affliction
is preparing us
for an eternal
weight of glory
beyond all comparison.
So whatever you're
struggling with right now,
maybe it's a job situation
you're in right now
or maybe you're
struggling with sin.
Maybe you are
struggling with depression
or maybe you've
lost a loved one
recently.
But know this,
we can trust in God
knowing that he
is preparing us
for an eternal purpose.
And just as David
trusted that God
is testing him
through his trials,
we too can trust
that God
is using our situations
to shape us,
to mold us
into something greater.
And we can rest assured
with the assurance
that one day
we will see Jesus
face to face
as David described,
free from the sin
and the suffering
in this world.
And if you're here today
but don't consider yourself
to be a Christian,
then perhaps ask yourself,
where does your hope
lie?
And even if you don't agree
with anything that I said
over the past hour,
I hope that this question
resonates with you.
And I do want you to know
that this is also a question
that Christians struggle with
all the time.
Where does your hope lie?
And I myself,
as I was reflecting
on this question
while preparing
for this message,
I've been thinking
about how much hope
I've been placing
on an internal transfer
application I put in
that has been in limbo
for quite a while.
I got support
from my boss,
I had my interviews,
and HR even told me
that the interviews
went well.
And I was very optimistic
that I would be starting
in my new department
at the beginning
of this year,
thinking that it would
deliver me out of
the misery and the boredom
and the repetitiveness
of my current position,
and instead give me
long-lasting happiness
and fulfillment.
But fast forward to now,
I'm still on my same job.
Though through this long
and arduous process,
I do feel like God
has been working within me.
He's been challenging
my convictions,
he's been testing
my patience,
and while I still
don't fully know
why he's placed me
or kept me where I am,
I know that he has
a specific purpose
for doing so.
And in the meantime,
even though my transfer
hasn't happened yet,
or maybe it won't even happen,
I am still trusting God
knowing that he is
sovereign over my life
and that he,
as the holy and righteous judge,
is in control over my life.
And this is just my story,
but I'm sure that all of you guys
have similar stories
of placing your trust
in other things
than in God.
And in every situation
that we are in,
we can still place
our trust in God
knowing that he is
our holy and righteous judge.
And even when it seems
like our struggles never end,
even when it seems like
our world is crashing down on us,
we can still place
our full faith in him.
And as we will sing later,
Jesus is the solid rock
on which we stand
as we navigate life
on this earth.
watermark,
let us seek Jesus
in everything that we do
and build our foundation
in him
from now
until the day
we will see him.
Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father,
I thank you for
being the holy
and righteous judge
over our lives.
And God,
we're sorry that
we've placed our hope
in our education,
in our career,
in everything else
but in you.
But God,
I pray that
you help us see that
whether it's in the midst
of our struggles
or whether we are doing good,
you are still the God
that we can place
our trust in.
Help us trust in you
knowing that
through our testing,
you are transforming
our hearts
to become more like yours.
And help us trust in you
knowing that
our journey isn't over,
that we have something
to look forward to
at the end.
And Jesus,
help us look forward
to that day
when we will be with you,
when we will be free
of the sin
and the suffering
and the trials
of this world.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
Eig New