Hated Without a Cause #2

We might be afflicted and despised by men, but the Lord doesn't despise us. You know why He never despises our plea for help?

It's because He is a God of loyal love who has compassion upon His children. Many times when we're going through a tough trial or difficult situation, it can feel like God is taking His time in getting around to helping us. Hello and welcome to The Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hi, I'm Bill Wright. Today, Don brings his series called A Cry for Justice to a close with a powerful reminder that God always goes before us in every situation. And even though it may feel like the trouble is never going to end, our loving Heavenly Father will be with us every step of the way, resulting in our complete deliverance and His ultimate glory. Open your Bibles right now. Let's join our teacher for part two of a message called Hated Without a Cause here on The Truth Pulpit. Psalm 69, look at verses 10-12 with me.

When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate talk about me, and I am the song of drunkards. What he's saying is that the sorrow through which he is going has become an occasion for jest by sinful men. People mock him, they gossip about him.

The city leaders who would sit in the gates were opposed to him. The drunks, the lowest of society, made his suffering a topic of their songs. From the greatest to the least, men mocking him and opposing him mark this, all of this going on while he is praying and fasting with righteous desires. God, my godliness has become the occasion of contempt with my earthly contemporaries. And so he feels this deeply. You know, I like this aspect of David. I like this aspect of the Psalms. I like the fact that here we see a godly man who is articulating some of the desires and the passions and the sorrows of his soul. That this is not someone cold and remote that's walking with God. This is a man who knows something about sorrow, who knows something about expressing it.

A man with feelings and a man with passions of godliness. And that when you and I have those same emotions going on in our hearts, we have feelings of betrayed justice, feelings of being on the receiving end of unjust treatment that we find in Scripture that those feelings of our heart are given a voice. I love God for that. I love his word for that.

I love the fact that we find not shame and reproach from God as we go through such times, as we feel that, ah, what's a matter with you, you weakling kind of thing. No. No. God doesn't deal with us that way. Why?

Let's go back to where we started. Because he's a god of steadfast love. He's a god of mercy.

He's a god of compassion who, as Hebrews 4 says, we have a Christ who sympathizes with us in our weakness. Isn't that a precious place to be? Isn't that a wonderful place to find yourself with a god who loves you like that?

Yes, it is. Well, while the drunks were singing in an ungodly manner, David goes in verse 13 and stands in contrast to them. He says in verse 13, but as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord, at an acceptable time. O God, in the greatness of your loving kindness, answer me with your saving truth.

He's desperate. It feels like he's drowning, but he still has confidence in God's loyal love. Look at verses 14 through 18. He says, deliver me from the mire and do not let me sink. May I be delivered from my foes and from the deep waters. May the flood of water not overflow me, nor the deep swallow me up, nor the pit shut its mouth on me. God, don't let me die like this.

Don't let me die in this condition. Answer me. Verse 16, he says, answer me, O Lord. Yahweh, that name of God that particularly speaks of his covenant, promised keeping faithfulness to his people. Answer me, O covenant-keeping God, O Lord, for your loving kindness is good. According to the greatness of your compassion, turn to me and do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress.

Answer me quickly. O, draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies. The two things that I would have you see in that passage, which just requires more time than we can give it, is this call that he makes to God for help and for deliverance. And that call for help and deliverance is rooted in his knowledge and his trust in the eternal love of God. That is why he can pray in his distress.

That is why he can pray for help. God, I know I can appeal to you because you are this God of loyal love to me. And beloved, right there, coming back to where we started, I ask you whether you know God like that. I ask you whether your sense of confidence and your knowledge of his attributes is such that you can pray to him with the exact same confidence that David did.

God, I know I can pray to you for help in my distress because I know that you are a God of love. God, I'll go so far as to say I know it better than David did because since David, Christ has come. Since David, you have become flesh. Since David, the cross has been there. Since David, Christ has given his life. I see the fullness of it. And so I pray with even more confidence than David did, Lord.

I know you love me. Help me in my distress. Do you know God like that? Is your trust in him like that? David goes on and he expresses his certainty that God knows the situation even though there is no comfort for him on earth. Look at verse 20. He says, Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick. I looked for sympathy but there was none.

And for comforters but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Gall was a bitter substance that was mixed with wine. It would not be pleasant to drink. It might even be poisonous. And what he's saying here is here I am in my distress and these people come to me and rather than giving me food to strengthen me, rather than giving me drink for my thirst, they betray me even further at the simple basic level of basic human kindness and they give me that which would injure me further.

God, that's the kind of enemy that I am dealing with. It is the height of treachery. It is the height of betrayal from David's perspective. And what do we find with Christ? As he's hanging on the cross, John 19 says, they offered him gall to drink. What was probably a cheap sour wine that very well if he had taken it would have prolonged his life therefore prolonged his pain according to commentator D.A.

Carson in his commentary on John. And so that even in the midst of Christ's suffering they're offering him something that would have made him suffer more. How wicked, how despicable, how vile is the sinful black heart of unregenerate men to deal with a man in suffering such. And not just a man in suffering, in David's case a godly man, in Christ's case the God-man.

What is it that prompts such wickedness and how do we deal with that? Well, we've seen in our first point that he asks God for deliverance, that's verses 1 through 21. What David does in Psalm 69 as we come to the second point here is he assigns the wicked to God. He hands them over to God. He asks the Lord to repay their evil. And as we read this passage ever so briefly let me remind you that we've dealt with this difficult topic of imprecatory Psalms in our prior two messages.

So I'm not going to repeat any of that here, let's just look at it briefly. David prays and he says, may their table before them become a snare and when they are in peace may it become a trap. May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see and make their loins shake continually.

Pour out your indignation on them and may your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be desolate. May none dwell in their tents for they have persecuted him whom you yourself have smitten and they tell of the pain of those whom you have wounded.

What's he saying there? He's saying that Lord they have boasted and laughed in the suffering of your people. We are experiencing the discipline of your hand in our lives and rather than stepping back in reverence they have made it a topic of sport and laughter, of their own perverse entertainment. Lord you see the injustice of this. Lord you see the wickedness that is about them.

Lord this needs to be addressed. God I'm asking you to deal with these wicked people. Verse 27, add iniquity to their iniquity. May they not come into your righteousness.

May they be blotted out of the book of life and may they not be recorded with the righteous. What David is saying is this, God you've already brought me low. These circumstances have already humbled me and these wicked men are finding delight in adding to my pain and affliction. They should have shown me compassion. Instead they've piled on.

Instead they are delivering late hits you might say. God what I'm asking for you to do is this. You see what they are doing. You see what they are sowing. The seeds of sin, the seeds of wickedness. What David is saying here in essence in this psalm is God let them reap what they have sown.

They deserve to feel the consequences. David here in this psalm is not taking his own revenge. David is not going out and striking them with his own hands. In fact David's life shows remarkable restraint when he is the object of personal insult or personal attacks. From King Saul, from Shimei who cursed him as he was walking by, David said let him alone. David had opportunities to take Saul's life and he always passed on it.

David was not a man of personal vindictiveness and David was not taking matters into his own hands to extract his own vengeance here. He's praying. He's pouring his heart out to a God who knows his situation, who knows the wickedness that he is being subjected to and to the God who is a God of compassion and who is on his side. God I commit them to you. Let them reap what they're sowing.

But Lord I'll leave the outworking of that to your hand. Hold them accountable for their sin. And when he asks God to blot them out of the book of life he's asking that they would have no share in God's blessing. Charles Spurgeon says the inner meaning of this request is that David wants it to be made evident that their name was never written there at all, that they were never a part of the true family of God. They were never a part of spiritual Israel because they never would have acted this way if they had been.

God make it manifest that they were never part of yours. And he says, this is quoted in Romans 11 referring to how Israel's hard-heartedness will bring judgment to them. Look at verse 25 of Psalm 69.

He says, may there can't be desolate, may none dwell in their tents. Yet again the New Testament draws upon Psalm 69 and applies this to Judas, that wicked man who betrayed our Lord. Speaking of Judas, it says in Acts chapter 1 verse 20, it is written in the book of Psalms, let his homestead be made desolate and let no one dwell in it and let another man take his office. The New Testament writer showing a fulfillment of this judgment in the life of Judas. So he commits the wicked to the Lord.

And beloved, here you go. As David is praying this, remember that he's praying in a representative capacity. Remember that others are affected by what's happening to him. Remember that zeal for the Lord and the glory of the Lord is animating everything that he says. There are broad consequences to what's happening to David.

Many people are affected by it. When you and I are personally insulted, when people personally react against us, even in the cause of Christ, Christ calls us, you pray for your enemies, you love those who persecute you. What David is doing here is different because the circumstances are different. Here the cause of God is at stake. Here the glory of God is at stake in a way that is usually not at all at stake if we're thinking rightly and clearly in the personal animosities that we deal with day to day.

That said, beloved, let me put it this way, to give a sense of perspective. You know, I have people that are still hostile to me after decades. I don't like that, but I'm not angry with them. I'm not asking God to bring judgment on them. I'm asking God to save them. God, show mercy to them. They need mercy. And their hostility directed to me as a Christian is dealt with in that perspective and that's the way you should deal with hostility that's directed to you and your personal thing to make the point. I pray differently when other people are at stake, when the cause of God is at stake, when the people of God are at stake. I can't treat that, I can't lightly dismiss that, following through on the hypothetical, because it's your well-being at stake. It's something beyond me.

And so I would say, God, I give them to you and ask you to deal with them, to stop that wicked influence so that your people would not be harmed by what these wicked people are trying to do. You see the difference? There's this representative capacity that changes the way that you think about it.

And so we kind of separate ourselves out. We say, David knew what it was like. He didn't raise his hand against a personal enemy.

Great, I see that. That's what Christ calls me to in Matthew 5. But Lord, when your glory is at stake, when people are perverting your truth and when people are leading your people astray, God, I'm going to ask you to intervene.

I don't have a personal stake in this. It's your people that are at stake. And for their sake, Lord, I ask you to exercise your strength to protect them, whatever that means for the wicked people that are bringing this harm upon them. I think that's the right way to see it. I don't think that people in spiritual leadership can just idly stand by in prayer and just say, well, you know, whatever it's going to be, it's going to be.

God, this matters. These are people for whom Christ died. I won't raise my own hand against them, but God, I will sure appeal to you to exercise your protective shepherd care, to exercise your rod and staff to drive away the wolves, whatever it takes, so that your people would be safe and secure and protected. That's how I understand this. That's how I see the enduring relevance of imprecatory psalms. Not done lightly, but when the occasion presents itself, there's time for men of God to step up and pray, God, you need to help us. This is greater than us. This is more than we can deal with. This is beyond our control. God, there are forces of wickedness behind these men.

We are wrestling with principalities. Lord, deal with the whole situation so that your people would be safe and secure and delivered safely into your heavenly kingdom. I'll have it no other way, God. If I pray wrongly, discipline me, but I'm going to pray for the protection of your people.

So, there you go. Point number three. David said that we ask for God's deliverance. We assign the wicked to God.

Point number three. David here in Psalm 69 anticipates final deliverance. He anticipates final deliverance.

As almost always happens in the psalm, you end on a high note of praise. And David, having assigned the wicked to God in verses 22 through 28, in verse 29, he summarizes his overall lament and plea for help. He says, verse 29, but I, he's turned his focus away from the wicked, and now he's back. Verse 29, but I am afflicted and in pain. May your salvation, O God, set me securely on high. Kind of a summary of everything he said up to this point. And from that summary, he turns to praise.

I love this. Verse 30, having committed himself fully to God, his cause to God, the wicked to God, he's dealt with it all in prayer. Now, he pivots, leaves that behind, and turns to praise. In verse 30, he says, I will praise the name of God with song and magnify him with thanksgiving. And it will please the Lord better than an ox or a young bull with horns and hooves. Thanksgiving, he says, is a better sacrifice to God than any animal ever could be. Echoes of Psalm 51, verse 16, when David speaks in a similar vein. God, thanksgiving and praise is a better sacrifice.

That's more pleasing to you than any animal ever could be. And so I offer you my praise, Father, knowing that it pleases you. Verse 32, the humble have seen it and are glad. You who seek God, let your heart revive. You see again his concern for the people of God. He says, as I praise you, the people of God will draw strength. The humble will find encouragement.

They will be glad in it as they see it, O God. And why can we have this corporate rejoicing in the midst of our affliction? Verse 33, for this reason, it's because the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his who are prisoners. We might be afflicted and despised by men, but the Lord doesn't despise us. He doesn't afflict us. You know why? Let's answer the question.

Let's keep coming back. You know why he never despises us? You know why he never despises our plea for help?

It's because he is a God of loyal love who has compassion upon his children. And if we belong to him through faith in Christ, that is the infinite storehouse that we draw upon when we go to him in prayer. God, I am confident in your presence because I know you love me.

I know that you are gracious and I can come to you and I can pour out my heart before you with an absolute certainty that you will receive me well. And if my prayers are somehow misdirected, Lord, I know that you'll straighten all of that out. And so in verse 34, he says, let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah that they may dwell there and possess it. The descendants of his servants will inherit it and those who love his name will dwell in it.

David here looks beyond his present situation to the future salvation of Israel. And so he ends in praise. God, the outcome for your people will be their final deliverance. And in that final deliverance, we will be offering you pure and unhindered, undistracted praise. And that's what he's looking forward to, that final deliverance that informs the way that he prays in the midst of his opposition now. Let's draw this to a close.

Let's bring this plane in for a landing. What can we draw from Psalm 69? Beloved, Christ has gone before you in sorrow. And how did it end with Christ? He's exalted to the right hand of the Father. He went through sorrow, he went to the cross, he went to the grave, but he came out in glory.

And he ascended and he is exalted to glory. That's who Christ is and that is the pattern of God in dealing with his own. Christian, are you walking the path of unjust affliction?

Well, take heart. God knows the way of the righteous. Sometimes he takes us through affliction. Sometimes we go through accusations. Sometimes those who are close to us push us away. But God knows all of that.

It's not the end of the story for you. God knew the way of David and David says this comes out in glory. God knew the way of Christ and Christ is now exalted to glory one day to come back again from that glory to make it known over all the earth that he is Lord of lords and kings of kings.

In Christ, God himself walked that way. Beloved, I beg you to take to heart that in your affliction the love of God for you has not changed. He receives you now in sympathy and in the end he will deliver you completely. And all that will be left for you after all of the sorrows of this life are done, what will be left with you will be your presence at the throne of Christ giving him praise and honor and glory with all of the tears wiped away, with all of the sorrows forgotten and nothing but bliss and joy and praise consuming your every thought forever and ever. Amen.

God never forsakes his own. Your hard path, beloved, will end in praise. That's Dawn Green bringing our series titled A Cry for Justice to a close here on The Truth Pulpit. And dear friend, if you'd like to review this broadcast or maybe like to share it with a friend or loved one, simply go to thetruthpulpit.com to listen again.

That's thetruthpulpit.com. And Dawn, today as we close out this series, what advice would you give to the person listening right now who may be dealing with a seemingly out of control situation, wondering when God is going to step in and make things right? Well, Bill, these are questions that from time to time trouble the heart of every true believer as we see things going wrong in our personal lives, we suffer under the hands of unjust people or maybe we see it at a macro level with the politics of the world that come crashing down and uphold evil things in the name of tolerance. Well, my friend, let me encourage you with this.

Remember this. God always has the final word on these things. And he is a good God who is faithful to his people with great loyal love.

And if you are in Christ, you can know that God is going to cause everything to work together for good so that even if men intend evil against you, God will overrule it to accomplish good in your life in the end. That's what he did with Joseph in the book of Genesis. That's what he did with his righteous son when they crucified him. It's what he did with the apostle Paul. It's what he's done throughout the ages of church history. So, my friend, be patient in your trials.

Be patient in the face of injustice and look to Christ because scriptures promise us that he who believes in Christ will never be disappointed in the end. Thanks, Don. And friend, that brings our time for today to a close. I'm Bill Wright. Thanks for listening and join us next time on the Truth Pulpit, teaching God's people God's Word.