Psalm 94.
This is a psalm that talks about God being a just judge.
We don't really know who wrote this psalm or when they wrote this psalm, but it really
doesn't matter too much.
We kind of can relate to what's being said here.
It's a psalm that talks about the wicked seemingly getting away with the evil that they're doing,
but ultimately the psalmist recognizes that God will make sure that all wicked is judged
when the time comes.
And so we can take some hope and rejoice in that.
So let's pray and we'll get started.
God, we come to you.
I thank you for your word.
I pray that your Holy Spirit would be with us tonight, that you would help us to know
in our hard times to know that evil will not prevail, but that you are a just judge, dear
Lord, and vengeance is yours and you will bring about a just sentence at the proper
time.
So I pray dear Lord that we would find some peace in that.
And I pray dear Lord, you'd help us to hear our word.
Excuse me, hear your word tonight, dear Lord, that it would work in our lives and that your
Holy Spirit would speak to us tonight.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Psalm 94 verse 1, Lord, God of vengeance, God of vengeance appear.
Now we'll stop there for a second.
One day God is going to bring judgment on all people, everybody.
And the question that we have to answer is, are we going to be covered by the blood of
Jesus Christ when we stand before God in judgment, or will we face the judgment of God?
Will we face the wrath of God?
Will we face the punishment of God, or will we experience the eternal grace of God?
It is God is the one who is the just judge.
It is God who is the one who will bring about vengeance.
We are reminded about that in Romans chapter 12 verse 19.
Vengeance is the Lord.
He will be the one who will repay.
That's a quotation from Deuteronomy, I think, chapter 32.
But it is a good reminder to us that there are times perhaps that we are tempted to retaliate
because people do us wrong.
Maybe in a real trivial way of something that's not important and we want to get back at them,
or maybe sometimes people really hurt us in a serious way, and we want to hurt them back
in a serious way, maybe even a physical way.
It's important for us to remember it is not our place to take care of those type of matters.
The Lord will take care of those matters when the time comes.
That's what the psalmist recognizes here.
He knows that God is the one who is in control.
He knows that even if evil is done, it is God who will not forget of that evil, but
he will deal with that evil.
I praise the Lord for all of us that God has dealt with the evil of sinfulness by sending
Jesus Christ to die on the cross.
There is a solution.
There is salvation.
There is deliverance for us in the midst of our evil and in the midst of our sins through
Jesus Christ that we won't experience the wrath of God, but the grace of God.
That invitation is open to everyone here and everyone listening online and anyone in this
world who is evil, which is every one of us who's sin.
We're evil when we do those kinds of things.
There is hope even for those people who have done evil against us.
This is the hard part, right?
Because we may be tempted when people do evil.
We say, well, I'm not going to retaliate, but oh, I can't wait for the day they stand
before God.
That's not really a good attitude to have either.
Now, we want God to deal and bring justice to evil.
God has to do that, but our desire should not be any kind of joy that we get from looking
forward to someone being punished.
We should in fact pray for our enemies and pray for those who persecute us that they
would experience the same joy in Christ and deliverance in Christ that we have experienced.
Just as we have come through evil and been saved, that they too would come through evil
and be saved.
That's a real test for us to see how good our relationship with God is.
Can we muster up the strength to pray for our enemies?
Maybe we can.
Maybe we can't.
Maybe we say, I don't want to pray for them.
I want them to experience the wrath of God.
Well, we're not in too good a shape if that's our attitude.
Maybe our attitude is kind of tempted to be that way, but there's enough in us that tells
us, yeah, I got to fight this.
This isn't right.
We need to pray that God would help us.
We need to fight against those feelings until we get to a point that God works in our heart
in such a way that we genuinely pray out of love and concern for those who have wronged
us, that we can humbly go before the Lord and pray for them with all of our heart.
When we can do that to people who have really wronged us, well, that's a pretty good sign
that we're seeking God and we're going in the right direction.
The psalmist here recognizes that God is the one who deals with evil.
Verse two, rise up judge of the earth, repay the proud what they deserve.
Lord, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked gloat?
They pour out arrogant words.
All the evildoers boast.
Lord, they crush your people.
They afflict your heritage.
They kill the widow and the foreigner and murder the fatherless.
They say the Lord doesn't see it.
The God of Jacob doesn't pay attention.
So the scene is kind of sent for us here.
Whoever is writing this psalm is acknowledging that there are some who are in power who are
evil.
There are some enemies that are coming against God's people and specifically it is listed
the foreigner, the fatherless, the widow.
These are the ones who are getting a lot of this attention, this evil poured out on them.
Now this is exactly the opposite of what God said because repeatedly in the scriptures
what do we see?
That God says look after the foreigner, look after the widow, look after the orphans.
And so these people are evil.
They're doing exactly the opposite of what God says and the psalmist is calling out for
God to bring some deliverance here.
God don't let this evil continue but bring justice on this situation.
These people do these things and they don't think that God's paying attention.
And maybe there are plenty of evil people in the world today that say the same thing.
Oh yeah, where's God at?
Doing what I want to do.
Maybe even sometimes as Christians we see evil that goes on and we may even say God
where you at?
Why are you allowing this to happen?
But God doesn't forget.
God doesn't sleep.
God is not like the God of Baal that we talked about Sunday that they kept hollering and
hooting and cutting themselves for.
Elijah said where's he at?
Maybe he was asleep.
Well we don't serve a false God who sleeps.
If God's not answering it's because it's not his time to answer.
It's not because he doesn't hear.
It's not because he didn't know we're calling out.
It's because God has not chosen to answer.
Why does God allow evils to go on?
Well it's hard.
We see some really evil things in this world.
But God knows what he's doing.
God knows everything that he's doing.
It's like when you put a puzzle together.
It might have a thousand pieces in that box.
And you can look at each one.
You can see a little bit and it don't really make sense to you.
And so it's hard to put the puzzle together when you don't see the picture on the box.
What's the first thing you do when you open the puzzle?
You put the picture on the top of the box there so you can see what you're doing.
Well the thing about us as humans is we don't see the top of the box.
We see the pieces.
We see this piece where we say golly there's a lot of evil here and there's some evil here
and here's something and here's something.
And we see all these pieces and they don't make sense to us that God could do anything
good with these pieces we see.
But God sees the front of the box.
He sees the big picture.
We don't see it.
And we just have to trust that God's going to put all the pieces in the right place.
So these evil people, they don't think God hears them.
They don't think that God's paying attention and acknowledging and seeing what they're
doing.
But the psalmist knows otherwise that God does know all the wicked that is done.
And so he says in verse eight, pay attention you stupid people fools.
When will you be wise?
Now that's a good verse and we're talking about these evil people here and we might
not like to apply this verse to us, but maybe there are times in our life that we need to
read this verse that maybe we are being foolish and maybe we need to listen to this.
Maybe we're being stupid and maybe there are times that we need to pay attention to these
words.
Pay attention stupid people fools.
When will you be wise?
So are we living in a little foolishness?
Are we living in a little evil?
Like these people that the psalmist is talking about.
Well, that's not a good place to be.
We don't want to be stupid, foolish people.
Maybe sometimes we are.
We don't like to admit it, but maybe sometimes we are more than we care to say.
Verse nine, can the one who shaped the ear, not here, the one who formed the eye, not
here, the one who instructs nations, the one who teaches man knowledge, does he not discipline?
The Lord knows man's thoughts.
They are meaningless.
So what does the psalmist say?
Yeah, God knows what's going on.
He made our ears.
He made our eyes.
So certainly he's capable of seeing and hearing and he knows what goes on and he even knows
what goes on in our minds and in regards to the evil.
It ain't nothing.
It's kind of meaningless.
It ain't much going on in there, but God knows what's going on.
God hasn't forgotten.
God's not going to let evil go unpunished.
Praise the Lord.
That's good news.
And then we kind of shift gears here in verse 12.
Lord, happy is the man you discipline and teach from your law to give him relief from
troubled times until a pit is dug for the wicked.
The Lord will not forsake his people or abandon his heritage for justice will again be righteous
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
Now we have these evil people that aren't paying any attention to the Lord and his instruction
and his law, but then on the flip side, those who are God's people, what does it say of
them?
It says that happy is the man you discipline.
Now isn't that interesting?
We see that same type of language in Hebrews chapter 12, I think.
The Lord disciplines the one that he loves.
And so who are we going to be?
Are we going to be the wicked who see and experience maybe some of the discipline of
God and who continue on our wickedness?
Are we going to be those who take the wickedness of God and let it teach us a lesson so that
we will grow in the Lord and do what is right?
Then what does it say?
Happy is the man you discipline and teach from your law.
So it's good for us to see the word of God, to see the instructions of God, that it would
convict us, that it would discipline us, that we would see the areas where we're sinful
and wicked and it might hurt in the same way that as a parent is going to discipline a
child and give them a whooping and that's not popular in our culture, but you can usually
see a difference between kids that are disciplined and kids that are not disciplined.
That's just the way it is.
And God sometimes has to discipline us to get our attention, not because he doesn't
love us, but because he does love us.
A parent who lets their child get away with everything and never corrects them and disciplines
them, I don't know how much they love them.
Now, any parent that's listening to this that says, I don't discipline my kid and I love
him, well, maybe you do, but I don't know.
I don't know, for any parent that lets their kids run around and do anything they want,
that's not going to end up good for the kid in the long term.
Kids have to have structure and they have to have discipline.
That's true in every aspect.
It's true in the classroom.
I'm sure Ms. Julie could tell us that.
Kids that aren't disciplined, they want to run wild, but once you give them a little
discipline and get them in line, it's amazing how much better they are.
Let's continue.
Who stands up for me against the wicked?
Who makes a stand against evildoers?
If the Lord had not been my helper, I would soon rest in the silence of death.
If I say my foot is slipping, your faithful love will support me, Lord.
Okay, so here's the problem that we are up against, just like the Psalmist, is sometimes
we face people that come against us.
We face evil, we face wickedness.
And how are we going to stand?
Who is going to stand for us?
Well, what does the Psalmist say?
Who stands up for me against the wicked?
Well, it is the Lord who is our helper.
It's the Lord who's going to help us to overcome.
And so don't fret in those times in your life where life is difficult and there's somebody
coming against you and things are tough and the devil's coming against you or people you
see are coming against you.
Don't fret because it's the Lord who's going to help you to stand.
It's the Lord who is going to stand with you in the midst of your battle with the wicked.
What does he say?
If I say my foot is slipping, now how many times have we ever felt that way in our life?
Like we're slipping and we can't hold on any further.
We're at the end of our rope.
We're just holding on and we're clinging with everything we can and we've been fighting
and life is hard and it's difficult and we don't think we're going to make it.
And we say, God, I'm slipping.
Well, who's going to hold on to us?
It says that the Lord with his faithful love will support us.
Well that's good news.
That when we get to the end of all we can do, that the Lord is there.
So we fight and we trust and we seek the Lord with all that we have.
But even when we can't stand on our own, the Lord is there for us and that is very reassuring.
Verse 19.
This is a good verse.
When I'm filled with cares, your comfort brings me joy.
Or when my anxieties are upon me, your translations may say something like that.
When I'm full of anxiety, God, your comfort brings me peace.
That is a good verse because anxiety runs rampant in our society.
I mean we are anxious because we are as a society, we just want everything.
We're so used to everything right now and passing go, go, go, go, go.
We never stop and we just get anxious about everything and then we get worried and we
get nervous and that anxiety just builds on us and the more anxious we get, the more anxious
we get.
And then we get anxious because we're anxious and we don't want to be anxious and the anxiety
just comes and it comes and that results in a panic attack or an anxiety attack.
And that's kind of debilitating.
You don't want to get out.
You don't want to be around anybody.
And so anxiety is a real deal.
And I would venture to say that everybody in this room has experienced that.
Maybe some more than others, but I suspect that everybody has experienced some anxiety
or maybe the cause is what this is.
There's some wickedness coming against us or maybe it's just stress or worry or whatever
it is.
There are plenty of things in our life that bring about anxiety.
We're going through some tough life situation, whatever it is, there is anxiety sometimes
in our life and maybe some in our life for some of you here tonight.
And if so, then I would encourage you to remember this verse because this is a good verse.
When I'm filled with cares, when I'm filled with anxieties, your comfort brings me joy.
So where are we going to find comfort and joy in the midst of our anxiety?
We're going to find it in the Lord.
That needs to be the first place we go and they take a deep breath and we can read passages
like this.
And oftentimes it's probably going to bring you some, some peace almost instantly when
you seek the Lord and you say, God, I'm in the midst of this anxiety attack.
God, I need your peace and comfort.
And you just cling to this word.
And you remember Philippians chapter four, verses four through six, be anxious for nothing,
but in everything through prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God and
the peace of God, which transcends understanding will guard your hearts.
Those are some good verses.
Those verses in these verses are so good for anxiety and that may be good for you and they're
going to be good for somebody else.
You're going to encounter cause you're going to know somebody.
You probably already do the struggles with anxiety.
These might be good verses to share with them.
When our anxiety overwhelms us, it is the comfort of the Lord that brings us joy.
Verse 20, can a corrupt throne, one that creates trouble by law, become your ally.
They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.
Okay.
So these bad guys, they're, they're coming against God's people.
They come against God, but they will not prevail.
They're going to come, but they're going to be dealt with.
The one who trusts in the Lord will prevail.
The one who trusts in the Lord, their foot will not slip.
The one who trusts in the Lord in the midst of the anxiety of their situation will be
comforted by the Lord.
And even if the wicked bring their best shot against God and God's people and God's plan,
it will not thwart God's plan.
And he says that in verse 22, but the Lord is my refuge.
My God is the rock of my protection.
He will pay them back for their sins and destroy them for their evil.
The Lord, our God will destroy them.
What a beautiful word there in verse 22, but the Lord is my refuge.
My God is the rock and my protection.
And so the Psalmist knows life is hard.
Sometimes it looks like evil.
Evil people are getting away with evil and nothing's happening.
Like God's not paying attention or he doesn't care.
But the Psalmist says God, he is paying attention and God does care and God will not let the
evil go unpunished, but God will deliver those who trust him and make him their rock.
There is salvation even for the evil, if they will repent, even for the wicked, if they
would repent.
There is deliverance if they would just stand on the rock of Jesus Christ, the same rock
that is our comforter, that brings us joy and the midst of our anxiety as we are up
against whatever situations we come up against.
So God is good.
God is a deliverer to those who would seek him and God will bring punishment to those
who will reject him.
Let us be those who trust in Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.
Father God, we come to you.
We thank you for these good words.
I pray that we would find encouragement because dear Lord, we just live in a world that has
got wickedness in it and it doesn't seem right, but dear Lord, you're going to make it all
right when the time comes.
You will deal with everyone in the way in which they need to be dealt with, dear Lord.
So I pray God that each one of us would be those who seek you, that make you the rock
of our life, dear Lord, that you would hold us up.
God, maybe there are some tonight that can relate to that anxiety that we talked about.
I pray that you'd give them that comfort and joy that only comes from you, dear Lord.
I pray that those anxiety attacks wouldn't get the best of them, but that they would
find strength and peace in you.
And so I pray that you would help us to cling to that truth of that word tonight, that it
would be a blessing to us, dear Lord.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.