Sermons
Summer In The Psalms Pt 11 - A Sure Salvation
(upbeat music) - Good morning, my name's Vic Pearson, and it's my opportunity to lead us in the reading of God's Word, which ties very nicely with that song, by the way. If you would stand with me as I read, Romans chapter eight, verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. That was so short. I'm gonna read it again so you can sink in, because this is a truth that I know I need to hear every single day, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this truth and perspective from your word. In this life, we have, we are, and we will experience suffering and hardship. Some of it we bring on ourselves by our sin, forgive us. Some results from living in a fallen world sustain us, and some because of our identification with Jesus. Thank you, encourage us. It is because of Jesus, who he is, what he's done, and what he's given us that we look forward in expectation to the glory to come. To be in your presence, free from sin, free from pain, free from death, and free from suffering, and enjoying your goodness and all you have for us. Thank you. Help us maintain this heavenward perspective, even as we live out the days you've set before us. Teach us your word, by your spirit, through your servant, Pastor Ryan, to your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. - Amen, you may be seated. Good morning Christ community. If you have a Bible, I'd like to invite you to turn to Psalm chapter 69. Psalm 69. This morning, Psalm is very raw and heartfelt. It deals with, as Vic just pointed out, suffering and ridicule and anger and assurance, just to name a few themes. It's a Psalm that as we read through it, it appeals to all of us because at its most fundamental level, it communicates, I think, these three words. God help me. God help me. Like its sister Psalm, Psalm 22, it begins in distress and ends with praise to God, as we're gonna see, but at its root level, it deals with suffering and a plea for salvation. God help me. For all of our sweet moments with the Lord, we still walk through hard times, don't we? Many of us are, many of you here actually, are walking through a hard time this week at the sudden news, the tragic passing of a young lady in our community that many of you knew. And in those hard times, we have long prayers. We have seasons of pouring our hearts out before the Lord. And in those moments, I bet all of us have prayed that most simple of prayer. God help me. God, I need you to work in this situation because I don't see the way out. Well, this morning Psalm is similar to that. We don't know the historical situation surrounding this Psalm like we do with Psalm 51, but here, there's clearly something that has happened in David's personal life as he is being ridiculed and persecuted and hated. And he pours out his emotions before the Lord. He is a righteous sufferer in this Psalm. Not sinless, but behaving righteously. It's partly a Psalm of suffering, partly a plea for the Lord's justice to take place. It's a beautiful Psalm that communicates with deep imagery and striking metaphors. But more than that, and the reason that it is the last Psalm in our series and all the Psalms have been is it is a messianic Psalm. This Psalm is an experience of David that is picked up in the New Testament as the truer experience of Christ. So it's David's experience, yet typologically pointing forward to the greater David, Jesus Christ. David is the type, Christ is the anti-type. And because this Psalm is one of the most quoted Psalms in the New Testament, I don't wanna dismiss this. You can even write it down if you're taking notes. This Psalm is ultimately about Jesus. This Psalm is ultimately about Jesus. David is a righteous man who is suffering, but he points past himself to the perfect, righteous man who suffered for us. We're gonna get to that. So this morning, I'm gonna read the entire Psalm. It's a longer Psalm, so please follow along with me. Psalm 69, starting in verse one. Save me, God, for the water has risen to my neck. I have sunken deep mud and there is no footing. I've come in a deep water and a flood sweeps over me. I am weary from my crying, my throat is parched, my eyes fail looking for my God. Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs in my head, my deceitful enemies who would destroy me are powerful. Though I do not steal, I must repay. God, do you know my foolishness and my guilty acts are not hidden from you? Do not let those who put their hope in you be disgraced because of me, Lord God of armies, do not let those who seek you be humiliated because of me, God of Israel. For I have endured insults because of you and shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother's sons because zeal for your house has consumed me and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. I mourned and fasted, but it brought me insults. I wore sackcloth as my clothing and I was a joke to them. Those who sit at the city gate talk about me and drunkards make up songs about me. But as for me, Lord, my prayer to you is for a time of favor and your abundant faithful love. God answer me with your sure salvation. Rescue me from the myrema, don't let me sink. Let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep water. Don't let the floodwater sweep over me or the deep swallow me up. Don't let the pit close its mouth over me. Answer me, Lord, for your faithful love is good. And keeping with your abundant compassion turned to me. Don't hide your face from your servant. For I am in distress, answer me quickly. Come near to me and redeem me. Ransom me because of my enemies. You know the insults I endure, my shame and disgrace. You're aware of all of my adversaries. Insults have broken my heart and I am in despair. I waited for sympathy, but there was none. For comforters, but found no one. Instead, they gave me gall for my food. And for my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table set before them be a snare and let it be a trap for their allies. Let their eyes grow too dim to see and let their hips continually quake. Pour out your rage on them and let your burning anger overtake them. Make their fortification desolate. May no one live in their tents. For they persecute the one you struck and talk about the pain of those you wounded. Charge them with crime on top of crime. Do not let them share in your righteousness. Let them be erased from the book of life and not be recorded with the righteous. But as for me, pour in in pain. Let your salvation protect me, God. I will praise God's name with song and exalt him with thanksgiving. That will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves. The humble will see it and rejoice you who seek God take heart for the Lord listens to the needy and does not despise his own who are prisoners. Let heaven and earth praise him. The seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah. They will live there and possess it. The descendants of his servants will inherit it. And those who love his name will live in it. This psalm, as I said, is about Jesus. Don't forget that. In light of the length of this psalm, I can't cover every single verse this morning, but I'm gonna highlight four points from the psalm that speak to both David as the righteous sufferer and point forward to our righteous sufferer. So we're gonna see this morning, the plea of the sufferer, the reason for his suffering, the implication against his enemies and the fulfillment of this psalm. Point number one this morning, if you're taking notes, there's an outline in the bulletin provided. Point number one, the plea of the sufferer. David opens this psalm with a plea for God to save him. And as I said, we don't know the exact circumstances surrounding what's happening in his life, but it seems like those that David knows personally have done him wrong, have treated him wrong, and he's experiencing affliction because of it. But the way he starts off these first few verses are telling. These are cries from the soul that at some point, if you haven't yet, you will experience in your life. David starts out, save me God, for the water has risen to my neck. As someone who has never been a great swimmer, I know the fear of that water rising to your neck, and you begin swimming or trying to swim, and it's not helping, there's only more fear that comes about fear of the water overtaking you, of feeling helpless as it actually does. And David cries out from his heart, God, save me. It's up to my neck, I'm not going to make it. What does he say next? I've sunk into deep mud or your translation might say the mire. Just when he feels the water coming up to his neck and he's wondering how will he get out? And then his foot, it finds a little purchase, it finds something that he hopes can help push himself up, and he's hoping that this is his help. It doesn't help at all. He sinks further in. We've all been in near a river or a lake, or some of you are fishermen, and you walk through some marshy type terrain, or they walk through some mud and mire, and you know what happens when you do that. What happens when you step in deep mud? You lose your purchase, you slip, you sometimes even lose your shoes, and as you're putting more strength and pressure down, what's happening? You're only sinking further down. You only sink further down. And just as he thought he had a way out of his predicament, it only worsens. The very thing that he's trying to push up upon is only causing him to sink all the more. He has no rock to stand on, such that he ends verse two, "The flood sweeps over me." What are these metaphors getting at? What's he trying to describe? In light of his circumstances, what he's saying is that he can't breathe. He can't breathe. He just can't catch his breath. He's attacked from all sides. He's feeling overwhelmed, feeling as if he can't make it. How many of us use that very phrase all the more to describe our stresses in life today? I'm up to my neck and fill in the blank. What are we saying? We're feeling overwhelmed. The same is true as some of you come in for counseling, and you have the stresses of life, and work, and sins, and family situation, and they come in for counseling. They simply say, "I can't catch my breath." I'm feeling overwhelmed. I'm ragged. I'm drowning in this sea called life. We all understand that to a degree. We might not have the persecution that David does, but we certainly have the pressures of life. And if we're being honest, that's some of you here this morning. Feeling like you are drowning. Like it took everything you had just to get here this morning, like the flood waters have overtaken you. The weary he continues on in the psalm, parched, eyes failing, deceitful enemies who want to destroy him. Though he didn't steal, he has to repay. He says, "Those who hate me are more numerous than the hairs on my head." Praise God, not many of you hate me. (congregation laughing) And so in this poetic description of David's circumstances, or his experience, we see that he's feeling overwhelmed. He feels like he's drowning from his experience, and the first line of this psalm is this plea to God, save me God, save me, help me. Who has not prayed that prayer? Save me God, I can't do it alone. I'm overwhelmed on all sides, God, I'm drowning. I'm overwhelmed at the suffering and this diagnosis that my family remember just God. I'm overwhelmed at these bills that keep piling up and these anxiousness I experience over my kids and their salvation, and my spouse is constantly frustrated with me, and I'm drowning. (congregation laughing) That experience that all of us have felt is the experience of the psalmist here, and Psalm 69. And yet, there's a difference between him and us. There's a difference. You and I, this side of the new covenant, we have a promise. A promise that the flood waters will not overtake us. Not overtake us to the point of drowning. Why is that? Because those flood waters overtook David's descendant. Overtook David's Lord, overtook Jesus Christ for you and I, no such promise was given to him. He came and was sent on a mission. He was focused and going to the cross apart from all else. He came on a mission to save and to save through sacrifice. In the experience of this psalm, we can't help, but be reminded of David's descendant who does stand in our place as the flood overtakes him. Even as we think on this metaphor and what actually happened to Christ, I think the imagery is striking. One of the interesting things is you read about Roman crucifixion and they study about how they actually succumbed to death. What would actually be written down as the cause of death? And there's various reasons to be sure, but what many scholars point out is that often it occurred by asphyxiation. They suffocate. The muscles in their diaphragm can't hold them up anymore. They can't breathe. They are so exhausted that it's just a time game to wait them out, trying to pull themselves up, trying to push themselves up just for one more breath. And as David couldn't catch his footing because of the mire as the water has come up to his neck, we were reminded of our Messiah on the cross as the nails are in his feet and he's hanging on a cross just trying to push up to get one more breath. One more gasp of air before the deluge of death overtakes him until he cries out, "It is finished." We all resonate with this experience to some degree because it's life in a fallen world. It's life in a fallen world, we suffer. But friends, let us never be so consumed with our experiences, true as they may be, that we fail to turn from our suffering to the greater suffering of Christ on the cross, where the greater David saves all those who truly cry out, "Save me, God, save me." Well, I said earlier that we don't know all the circumstances surrounding this song. We don't know exactly the exact historical events that took place. We are given some reasons, some insight, which brings us to point number two, the reason for his suffering. Look with me starting at verse seven. For I have endured insults because of you and shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother's sons because zeal for your house has consumed me and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. What would others say, those closest to you, your family, your closest friends, what would they say that you are passionate about? For my son, it's football. I walk in the house and there's a football flying at my face. For my oldest daughter, it's gymnastics. She will literally be eating a meal, take a bite, do a handstand, take a bite, do a handstand. For my next daughter, it's her birthday, just coming up on Tuesday and how her grandparents spoil her rotten with gifts. What would others say concerning you? What would you say drives you in this life? What others around you agree with that assessment? Because in one sense, what drives someone, what they are passionate about, what they are known for is what is most easily recognizable about them. And why is David experiencing these things? Why are others hating him without cause and seeking to destroy him? Verse nine, because he is zealous for the things of God. He is zealous for the things of God. He has a passion for God that drives him in all of life and now it bothers others. Those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, those who are naturally in rebellion against God, they see him praising God, living for God and they don't like it. That will not do. He endures insults because of this zeal for God. He is boldly and openly championing the cause of the Lord. And at times, verse eight, it comes between him and his family. Does that not sound like Jesus' words about him being the cause of division between fathers and sons and mothers and daughters? Ultimately, these people, they don't love God. They love themselves. And to see someone like David who has a passion for God, it will not do, he must be brought down. And as I've been thinking through this this week, I think there's a warning in it for us. Brothers and sisters, may we never put out the flame of someone who might be more passionate for God than us. May we never put out the flame of someone who might be more passionate for God than us. May we never squash the passion of a new convert. May we ourselves never grow dull and stagnant to the things of God and to the glories of the gospel. May we never be like the foes, but instead, may we be marked ourselves by a zeal and a passion for the things of God. And so as we think of our own zeal for the Lord in our own life, hear me here. This is not to be heard as a law for you to measure your standing before God by your zeal for him. Don't put yourself under the law this morning as we think through this together. Your righteousness and your standing before God has been accomplished through Jesus Christ. It is done. So grace motivates us now in our zeal for the Lord. But brothers and sisters, when you are lacking motivation, when you are not feeling zealous for the things of God, when feeling stagnant in your Christian walk, let us never look to ourselves more and more, but to Christ more and more. Beholding him as the perfect savior is the only sure way to grow in our zeal. But the question, I think, can be asked, do I prioritize the things of God? Do I have a passion for the things of God in my life? Am I zealous for God? Sure in God's blessings and providence, we might not experience the persecution that David and our brothers and sisters in other countries do for having a zeal for God. But dare I say, even in our context of Idaho Falls, can we not be marked by a zeal and a passion for God that at times might also make verse seven true of us, that we endure insults because of him? I pray often, as I know many of you do, that God would grow my zeal and passion for him and brothers and sisters. I know we are all praying that prayer. I pray as well that you would identify brothers and sisters in our midst and pray often that God would grow them in their zeal for him and in their love for him and their passion for him. Members of CCC, we should be praying that for one another. But there will be moments in your life, there will be opportunities in your life, where you have an opportunity to be zealous for God, to share the gospel, to push back against lies, to speak truth to the culture, to evangelize, and God forbid that we don't take them out of fear of insults or ridicule or being made fun of. If we're being honest, fear of man is an irksome thing, isn't it? It constantly wants to whisper to you, they'll think you're a fool if you say that. You'll butcher your gospel pitch, it's better not to say anything. How can you talk about Jesus when you yourself are caught up in that sin, you hypocrite? And we listen to those lies, we fear the pushback or the ridicule that might come, the remark that might make us look like less in front of others. Pray that your zeal for God would make you fear him more than others. What the world considers foolish is what God uses to reveal his wisdom, and I often take heart that he can use a fool like me and a fool like you. Let us be marked by love and truth and boldness. Zeal will show itself in word and deed. And further, as I'm talking about this, I'm talking about moments of being zealous for the Lord, but I don't want just moments, I know you don't either. I want a whole life that is marked by a passion for God. First Corinthians 10, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Pray often that in your sanctification, you'd be made more like Christ who was consumed with a zeal for his father. Friends, don't let life just pass you by. Be purposeful in how you live for God. And since I'm going down this road, I'm just gonna keep going. If our Christianity and our Christian beliefs and actions expose us to shame and ridicule, let us realize that our experience is neither novel nor alarming. If our Christian beliefs and actions expose us to shame and ridicule in this life, let us realize that our experience is neither novel or alarming. Charles Spurgeon says this, zeal for God is so little understood by men of the world that it always draws down opposition upon those who are inspired with it. They are sure to be accused of sinister motives or of hypocrisy or of being out of their senses when zeal eats us up, ungodly men seek to eat us up too. And this was preeminently the case with our Lord because his holy jealousy was preeminent. It is, as Jesus says, in John 15. If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours, but they will do all these things to you on account of my name because they don't know the one who sent me. They ridicule you, they slander you, they persecute you because they don't know God. For the most part, we have been protected here in America, and I pray that that would continue. But the vast normalcy for our brothers and sisters throughout the world and throughout church history is persecution and ridicule and a receiving of hatred as Satan and the spiritual forces at be and the indwelling sin of the flesh seeks to go against all those who love God and want to see his kingdom go forth. Let us not be surprised. Let us fear God more than we fear man. God grow us in our zeal for you, come what may. Point number three, in his zeal for the Lord, David is going to make an implication against his enemies. The implication against his enemies. Part of this psalm is something called an imprecatory psalm, and that word imprecation comes from the Latin word, imprecari, and it's formed by a Latin word with a preposition precore, which means to pray, an im, which means upon, or against, to pray against. An imprecatory psalm is a psalm in which the psalmist cries out for judgment against his enemies. Cries out that God would do something against them. There are over 100 imprecations in the psalms, and six of them are here in Psalm 69. And in God's providence earlier this summer, before I even knew I was preaching this text, I was part of a Zoom cohort that walks through different books on biblical theology, and the book that we walked through is called "Cursing with God" by Trevor Lawrence. I highly recommend it to you. I will admit it's his dissertation is very wordy. Hope he comes out with a non-academic version, but it's really good, cursing with God. But Lawrence defines the imprecatory psalms as prayers that are directed to God that petition God to act on the basis of his covenant commitments to judge the wicked, petitioning God to act on the basis of his covenant commitments to judge the wicked. In other words, these prayers are an exercise of his covenantal justice, and as such, in the New Testament, contrary C.S. Lewis, God love him, who called these prayers devilish and diabolical, and also contrary Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who said that only Christ can actually pray these prayers. I agree with Lawrence and others who would argue that rightly understood and rightly prayed, these prayers do have a place in the life of a new covenant believer. Now I don't have time to only preach on the theme of imprecation in the Bible this morning, but we are going to look at them. And I'll give us a short biblical theology. Psalm 69, look with me starting in verse 22. Let their table set before them be a snare and let it be a trap for their allies. Let their eyes grow too dim to see and let their hips continually quake. Pour out your rage on them and let your burning anger overtake them. May their fortification be desolate. May no one live in their tents. For they persecute the one you struck and talk about the pain of those you wounded. Charge them with crime on top of crime. Do not let them share in your righteousness. Let them be erased from the book of life and not be recorded with the righteous. How often do you pray that? How does that make you feel when we read that? Maybe you're thinking C.S. Lewis is right. They are devilish and diabolical. It confronts our Christian sensibilities, doesn't it? We aren't sure what to do with it at first glance. It's strong language, but here is the reality. Those who set themselves up against the things of God will be judged, they will be judged. And while that for sure will happen in the next life, sometimes it also happens in this life. David is experiencing as God's chosen king, those who hate and ridicule the things of God. As God's covenantal representative, he is on the receiving end of these evil adversaries as they seek to do harm to him. And so David prays that God would judge them in light of this. Judge them God, in the midst of providing your sure salvation, in the midst of me crying out, save me God, would you judge them for what they've done to me? David prays that God would exercise justice and wrath against them. Notice some of the language. Let me just explain this a little bit. Verse 22, let their table set before them be a snare. One's table in the ancient Near East and the enjoyment of a meal and fellowship with friends and family, that was a sign of peace and security and flourishing. David says, God, flip that table over. Undo all of that. Let it be a trap. Let what they think they have security in actually be their undoing. Verse 23, eyes that grow dim and hips that quake. Let them not perceive things accurately. Let them not have the comfort of sight. Let them experience the fear and the pain that I have felt. Verse 24, pour out your rage on them. Let your burning anger overtake them. Rise up God. Judge the wicked who have done these things to your servant. Verse 25, make their fortification desolate. Much like verse 22, may they have no sense of security. May they have no safe refuge to retreat to. Verse 26, for they persecute the one or him who you struck. Here's another cause of the psalm. They persecute the ones who are wounded. They vex the sick. They brag about how they have done it. They rag on David in his suffering. They don't know the cause of his suffering. They speak ill of him in the midst of his suffering. How can we not think of Christ on the cross? As he's under the wrath of God and those soldiers and others are standing there mocking him as he's suffering. Verse 27, charge them with crime upon crime or iniquity upon iniquity. May they not share in your righteousness. Crime upon crime. David is praying that God would fill them up with their own sins. That the sin of what they are doing would be what they themselves experience. Why? He answers it so they would not share in God's righteousness. Now that's severe. And that's the one that jumps out to me. David is praying when he says that, that they would not share in salvation. You must have a righteousness from God. It must be shared with you for you to be saved. And here he says, "May no such thing happen to them." And then he doubles down, verse 28. Let them be erased from the book of life and not be recorded with the righteous. Now we understand that the book of life represents those who are the people of God, those who are saved. And he's not saying like with a pencil, let their salvation actually be taken from. He's saying, "Don't show them your grace. "You're hessed. "You're loving kindness. "Do not save them, God." So we read this and we think, what in the world do we do with this? As you look at the history of interpretation throughout Christian history, there's different things that are offered up, some bifurcate. They say that's the Old Testament God, but the God of the New Testament is different. He's more gracious and loving. Well, that's just poor theology. Some would say that these are the words of a sinful man. So this is David in his sin, crying out for judgment against them. These are his sinful remarks. Well, David was never rebuked for any of his imprecation. And Christ and the apostles pick up these imprecations as we're gonna see in a moment and use them in the New Testament. Others would say that's a different covenant, the Mosaic covenant, but we live under a new covenant. True, but as we'll see, doesn't mean that imprecation has gone anywhere. Or maybe you leave it up to mystery, you aren't sure what to do. Let me give us a few thoughts. These Psalms, like all of scripture, are inspired by God and are profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. So these Psalms are expressions of the Old Testament saints longing for God's vindicating righteousness and how in their love for God, they detest the wicked. You have to hold both here as a new covenant believer. And their love for God and their desire to live a righteous life, they come to detest the things of the wicked. These are also teachings that instruct us concerning God's attitude towards sin and impenitent sinners. And while the Psalms have the most imprecations in the Bible, and yes, they are poetry, but they're still communicating things that are true, there is imprecation in the New Testament. And so today, I'm gonna push against us a little bit, today in today's church, what we are comfortable with is praying or imprecating against evil spiritual forces. In light of Ephesians six, we leave it more general. We don't name names. And this is good and true. That's completely fine. I wanna tell you that this morning. Paul even outlines, as I said, that for us in Ephesians six. But what's interesting is that every instance of imprecation in the New Testament is actually against someone living, actually against humans or a group of them. And so the reality is that these spiritual forces, what we have to understand, are often at work through systems and governments and yes individuals who actively oppose the kingdom of God. Governments that embrace communism, Planned Parenthood, individuals who curse the teachings of God in his church. As such, imprecations can be warranted. This does not mean, let me give us some guardrails. This does not mean that we fail to love our enemies as Christ commanded. It does not mean that we take matters into our own hands. Remember, these are prayers. So they are prayers that God would act, not that we ourselves act. And it does not mean we allow an unrighteous anger to motivate us, nor do we adopt a haughty or prideful attitude. Rather, in our love for God, our love for His church and His kingdom, our love for His creation, and yes, even our love for our enemies, praying at times in seasons of strife and wickedness that God's covenantal justice would be meted out is actually a sign of love and does glorify God. There's more to say here, but a lot of my time, let me demonstrate briefly from the New Testament, some of these imprecations. Jesus in Matthew 18, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away, it will be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Jesus, Matthew 23, pronounces seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees, seven times calls them blind guides, whitewashed tombs, hypocrites, and a woe is just a form of imprecation woe to you for how you have been behaving and what you've been doing and saying. 23, 33 snakes, brood of vipers. How can you escape being condemned to hell? Jesus in Mark 14 at the last supper, describing the coming betrayal of Judas, for the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed, it would have been better for him if he had not been born. Compare that with David's words in verse 28 of our Psalm. Well, Ryan, Jesus was sinless. He can say those things, we can't do that. Paul, first chapter of Galatians, but if even we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse beyond him. That's how important the gospel is. As we have said before, now I say again, if anyone is preaching to a gospel contrary to what you've received, a curse beyond him. So when we talk about those preaching a false gospel, the Joel Osteins of the world, the Kenneth Copeland, the T.D. Jakes, and all those like him, may we recognize that distorting the gospel is no small thing. 2 Timothy 4, Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his works. Paul's words here remind us of the writer of Hebrews when he says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. In the first Corinthians chapter 16, after bringing so much correction to this church, Paul says if anyone does not love the Lord, a curse beyond him. Maranatha, our Lord come. Now we turn to Revelation six in the throne room of heaven as the seals are taking place. We're in the very presence of God where sin is not even allowed. He cannot tolerate it. When he opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar, the souls of those who had been slaughtered because the word of God and the testimony they had given. They cried out with a loud voice crying out, Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood? Why do I include this? Because in a straightforward way, we want to be people of the book. We want to be whole Bible people, not just those who pick and choose what we like and disregard what we don't. Further, this side of eternity, prayers of implication, what I'm hoping to show, prayers of implication at times can be warranted and can be prayed by the people of God. Even when you look in church history, you would be astounded at how often they did this. You see, I think what's happened in the church is that sometimes we think that if everyone just rationally heard and understood the gospel, then they would follow Jesus. Like it's just a rational equation. Someone just needs to sit down with them at a coffee shop, clearly explain to them how good Jesus is and then they would follow him. It's just mental acquiescence. As if a rational understanding of the gospel, that equals salvation. Friends, there are many atheists who understand and can explain the claims of Christianity. Satan himself knew God's word and could quote it. Now, what we have to understand is that there are wicked who align themselves against the things of God and as Psalm 11 makes clear, the Lord hates the wicked. And we are called to love them as our enemies. I'm trying to hold these intention, right? To call to love them as our enemies, to proclaim the gospel to them, to pray for them, but a prayer of imprecation can also take place as we plead and pray that they would be judged for their wickedness, that the church would be vindicated and that God's covenantal justice would be praised. It's a merciful thing to pray that their wickedness would cease. There's a lot more to say on this and expound upon this, but please direct all questions to Pastor Jeff. But I leave you with this quote from James Montgomery Boyce, famous former pastor, 10th Presbyterian in Philadelphia. He's commenting on verse 28, where it says, "Let them be erased from the book of life." He says, "We pull back from words wishing that someone else might go to hell. But if those others are persistently and ultimately unrepentant, that is the only place they could possibly go and be. If they were taken into heaven, they would ruin heaven." Point number four, the fulfillment of this psalm. The fulfillment of this psalm. Let us read the last four verses of this psalm starting in verse 33. "For the Lord listens to the needy and does not despise his own who are prisoners. Let heaven and earth praise him the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, they will live there and possess it. The descendants of his servants will inherit it and those who love his name will live in it. The psalmist starts in the mire and the mud asking for deliverance that God would save him and he ends up praising God at the end. The God who will save Zion, who will save his people. As I made clear throughout this morning, this messianic psalm finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. He is the greater David, the sinless righteous sufferer who suffered for you and I. But notice briefly how some of these verses are picked up and fulfilled in Jesus Christ and I'm just doing the more explicit references. There are many more illusions. Verse four, those who hate me without cause is picked up in John 15. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have no excuse for their sin. The one who hates me also hates my father. If I had not done the works among them that no one else has done, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have seen and hated both me and my father. Look at here, but this happened so that the statement written in their law might be fulfilled, they hated me for no reason. All of this happened in the New Covenant, in the New Testament, so that it was written thousands of years before and David's experience in Psalm 69 would be fulfilled in Christ. Verse nine, zeal for your house has consumed me. Picked up in John chapter two, Jesus drives out the money changers and those selling things in the temple. He drives them out with a whip and noticed verse 17 and his disciples remembered that it is written, zeal for your house will consume me. Second half of that very verse, verse nine, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. Paul picks this up in Romans 15 to highlight Christ as the prime example of someone who suffered or approached at his own cost in order to build others up. Verse 21, they gave me gall for my food and for my thirst. They gave me vinegar to drink. Sour wine is what we're pointing forward to. John chapter 19, after this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said I'm thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was sitting there, so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. Paul will cite the curses in verses 22 through 23. In Romans 11, as the reasoning for why the Jews have been hardened to the message of the gospel, why they have failed to embrace Christ as Messiah, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. This psalm is ultimately about Jesus Christ. In David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he's writing this for himself. He's writing this for his own experience, but he's also writing unbeknownst to him for the true experience of his offspring, the Lord Jesus. In Christ, all the promises of God find their yes and amen. He is the righteous sufferer of Psalm 69, and he is the one who alone fulfills it. They hated him without cause, and he suffered the drowning of God's wrath, so that you and I might be forgiven. Why did they do this? Because zeal for the Lord's house consumed him. He was on a mission as the Messiah of God to save and redeem the people of God. He was not their version of the Messiah, he was God's. And he came in humility, he was led like a sheep to the slaughter, the implications of God's enemies were committed to him instead, he received what you and I should have. For while we were still sinners, Christ died, and yet his second coming will not be like his first, as he will come not as a sheep, but as a conquering king. Psalm 69 is about Jesus Christ. My friend, if you don't know Christ, I pray that you've gotten a glimpse of him this morning. He's the fulfillment of this psalm, both because of who he is and what he did. And the beautiful thing is that he invites you to follow him, to recognize that you need a righteousness that is not your own, to stand before God one day. To trust him, we in here are not perfect. Believe it or not, we're hypocritical, we are sinners. We were clothed with a righteousness that is not our own. We are seeking to follow our king, Jesus Christ. And let me promise you this, just because you become a Christian does not mean that your life will be any easier. Your life might not be any easier, you might even have more sufferings and more persecution because of it, you can be assured of that. But Jesus Christ has done the work to reconcile you to God and he will gladly have you at his table. May God, through his spirit, work on your heart this morning. And to the saints, those of us who embrace Jesus Christ as Lord, let us praise God all the more for the rich imagery of this psalm and how it causes us to behold Jesus in an even greater light. He is our righteous sufferer. And because of those sufferings, because of his work, we too are now our righteous before our father. Despite what we feel, despite how zealous we feel for the Lord, even in this very moment, despite what we think the blood of Jesus is sufficient. Praise God, it's not the amount of our faith that saves us but the object of our faith. Let us rejoice that God will save Zion. He will save his church in verse 36. Those who love his name will live with him all the days of their lives. Let us pray. Holy Father, we love you. We praise you as the God who is sovereign overall. We praise you for the revelation of your word that you have not left us to ourselves. We praise you ultimately as we read through this experience, as we resonate with the suffering and the anger even of Psalm 69, that we know that its ultimate fulfillment is found in Jesus Christ. God, would you save those this morning who do not know you? Would you open their heart to believe, their mind to understand, their eyes to see the beauty of Jesus Christ and what he has done for them. But God help us as well in the midst of our suffering to not run from you, but to run to you. Help us as well to recognize even the place of imprecation in the life of a new covenant believer. God help us to praise your son, Jesus, all the more for what he's accomplished for us. It's in his name we pray. Amen. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)