["Pomp and Circumstance"]
announcements real quickly if you do not have a bulletin just raise your hand and one of our
ushers can get one for you if you need a bulletin just put your hand up we'll get one for you
the verse this week psalm 16 11 that will show me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of
joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore and that's a good verse there we like
that if you open up your bulletin you'll see our service time sunday morning service 10 30 am and
we do invite you of course to be with us on sunday morning on the lord's day for church and sunday
evening service at 6 p.m and of course we're glad that you're here for the wednesday evening bible
study if you notice we have our soul winning times there we have special soul winning times this week
which are reflected there but we'll talk about that uh here in a minute in fact if you just
look across the page there we want you to remember that this is a big week it's a big weekend for us
here at verity baptist church and this is our family and friend day and that is our family
friend day sunday is on sunday this sunday september 15th at 10 30 a.m and of course we're
going to be celebrating our church's 14 year anniversary and 14 years ago my wife and i started
verity baptist church in our living room with just a handful of people and the lord has blessed us of
course over the last 14 years and we of course want to celebrate this time so we want to invite
you to be here of course for family and friend day and we want to encourage you to bring somebody
with you you should in your bulletin have one of these cards and we want you to use this card to
invite somebody to church maybe you have a neighbor or a co-worker a friend a family member that you've
been thinking about inviting to church and this is the time to invite them if you have someone you've
been thinking about this is the best service to invite them it's called family and friend day they
can't get offended for you to invite them to family and friend day all right this is how you
do it just walk up to your co-worker not while you're supposed to be working all right on your
break or you know it's your neighbor or your family member whoever it is and tell them hey
they're doing this thing at my church it's called family and friend day you're my friend i consider
you my friend and i'd love for you to come and join us for family and friend day we're gonna have
lunch afterwards how are they gonna be offended at that you know what i mean i mean if you tell
them you're my friend they want us to invite friends so i'm inviting you um they're not gonna
be offended at that let them know we've got special things going on of course special music
from the vbc choir and orchestra uh free lunch after the service we're gonna be grilling out here
after the service for everyone that's in the service we have the anniversary mugs that we
give out every year to the families and then candy suckers for all of the kids so make sure
that you're here for family friend day invite somebody family friend day you say i have no
family or friends i'm a hermit i don't know anybody all my friends are online okay whatever
then just invite a stranger all right when you're going through the drive-through you're going
through the checkout um then just give this to somebody say hey i'd like you to come want to
invite you to family and friend day but invite somebody use this card also of course we have a
big soul winning push this uh weekend starting thursday september 12 at 6 p.m we're gonna meet
here and we're gonna have a real short meeting we're gonna get you partnered up and we're gonna
send you out for about an hour or so of soul winning on thursday and on friday we'll do it
again at 6 p.m and on saturday morning we'll have our big soul winning rally at 10 a.m i'll be
preaching on saturday morning so i want to encourage you to be here we'd love to have 100
participation for the soul winning and i want to encourage you if you normally come on saturday or
you normally go on thursday then go to your normal soul winning time and then go to one extra or two
extra my family and i will be at all three of these soul winning times and we want to encourage
you to be at them as well and then of course if you want to help us hopefully there won't be too
many but whatever cards we have left over after soul winning we want to hand those out and if you
want to help us with handing those out on saturday afternoon putting them on cards and things like
that then you can sign up on your communication card that'll be this saturday september 14th at
2 p.m you're going to be meeting in the starbucks parking lot the address is there for you it's the
one in the walmart parking lot we'll buy you starbucks all of that but then you can help us
pass out whatever is left and we would appreciate your help of course with that if you look at the
announcements there another big announcement is our spanish service that's on saturday september
28th at 5 p.m and we've got lots of people sign up for this already and we're excited about it
but we're this is the first time ever that we're doing a spanish service and we'd love for you to
be a part of this so you can join us on saturday september 28th at 5 p.m in the fellowship hall
and this is open just so everybody knows it's open of course to all of our spanish speakers
we have lots of spanish speakers here in our church we'd love you to be to be a part of this
if you have friends or family that speak spanish and maybe they don't come to the english service
of course our main service here then you can invite them to the service or if you'd like to
learn spanish then you're also welcome to come to the spanish service and we're going to have
a potluck a spanish-themed potluck on that day as well so make sure that you are ready for that and
you can sign up on your communication card homeschool group they've got pe class on thursday
september 19th and then of course there's other things there for you to look at if you look at the
back of the bulletin birthdays and anniversaries for the month of september this week we had
celine zuniga's birthday on september 8th and leah nel tesco's birthday on september 9th
and yesterday was my sister's birthday miss michelle cruz on september 10th praise report
money matters all of those things are there for you to look at and if you are a first-time guest
if it's your first time here at verity baptist church we're so glad that you are with us we have
a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building this evening as you go out the
main doors you'll see a little table set up and on that table you'll see these little gift bags
please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight and also we ask
if you are a guest that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card which is
inserted in your bulletin if you need a pen just raise your hand and one of our ushers can bring
you by verity baptist church pen we'd love for you to take a moment to fill out this card we'd
love to have a record attendance and we'd like to send you something in the mail we'd like to send
you a little gift but we need your info to do that so when we're done with the announcement we're
going to sing a song when we're done singing we're going to receive the offering and as the
offering plate goes by you can drop this card in the offering plate and i think that's it for all
of the announcements so we're going to go ahead and take our song books and we're going to go
to page number 100 as we prepare to receive the offering this evening we're going to sing day by
day one zero zero
100 day by day and let's go ahead and sing it out on the first day by day and with each passing
moment strength i find to meet my trials here trusting in my father's wise bestowment
i've no cause for worry or for fear
a whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what he deems best
lovingly it's part of pain and pleasure mingling tall with peace and good page number 100 singing
100 singing out on the second every day the lord himself is nearly with a special mercy for each
are all my cares he feign would bear and cheer me
is a charge that on himself he laid
as like
singing out on the last help me
lose not faith's reconciliation offered me within thy holy word
help me lord when toil and trouble meaning
and to take us from a father's hand
one by one the days the moment's fleeting till i reach the promised land
amen good singing we'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time
and let's go in and bow our heads and have a word of prayer how many father lord we
do love you we thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight lord we pray that you
bless the offering the gift and the giver we pray that you bless the time set aside for prayer
and of course for the preaching of your word in jesus name we pray amen
so
amen all right well let's go and take our prayer sheets tonight we'll go through our prayer list
if you did not get a prayer sheet on your way in just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get
one for you if you need a prayer sheet just put your hand up and we'll get one for you and of
course I want to remind you that the way you add a request to the prayer sheet is through your
communication card on the back of the card there's a place for you to write down a request make sure
you mark whether it's private or public if you mark private only I will see it if you're marked
public we'll put on the prayer sheet if you don't mark it we'll do our best to figure it out but we
usually don't add those requests we do add them in the order that they are received and they are
removed after a couple of weeks so if you'd like for them to be there longer you'll need to make
sure you fill out another communication card and I'm going to ask that you would pray with me I'm
going to pray out loud and I'd like for you to pray in your mind and your heart let's pray
together and take these requests the lord heavenly father lord we come to you tonight asking for
these requests from our church family lord we begin with these requests dealing with health
we pray for brother Darrell praying for his upcoming cataract surgery and for his dad's health
and the help he is receiving through his health care providers and also brother Darrell praying
that he would get closer to his health goals and lord we pray that you would help him we pray for
miss kate and for her health and for complete healing and also we pray for brother warren and
he's praying for the health of his two brothers also miss kimborello praying for her sister april
who is suffering from many health ailments and praying for her health miss ermalisa praying for
an upcoming surgery on september 17th and praying for speedy recovery also we're praying of course
for miss cricket and for her continued and complete healing for her hip miss natalie
praying for complete healing for her husband as he recovers in the hospital brother ron praying
for his upcoming doctor's appointment dealing with his right foot pain and miss tammy praying
for health and complete healing as well brother alan we're praying for his wife's nephews leo
and zander who are recovering from a major car accident a hit and run and these are just two
little boys and lord we're praying that you would help them and help them to get stable and help
them to be able to recover completely and lord we pray of course that you'll be miss patricia
at this time as she's dealing with this accident in her family and other family members as well
we pray for jeffrey love praying for his for recovery from surgery miss maria
praying for healing for peter sveta and natasha also miss christine praying for her health for
the saboteur praying for his health and his treatment this dogma praying for relief of pain
and lord we pray for these individuals we also pray of course for brother edgar and miss elena
praying for little urezi and jonathan to continue to be healthy though they have cystic fibrosis
and we pray for our missionary dave kabuntala for his wife angel who's still dealing with
breast cancer and lord we pray for all of these individuals and lord we ask that you would heal
them we pray that you would miraculously put your hand over them and that you would heal them if
it's your will lord we pray that you would give wisdom to the doctors the nurses dealing with
them we pray that you raise them up give them health and lord we ask that your will be done
in their lives we also pray for the ladies in our church that are expecting miss rebecca miss angel
miss laura beth asking that you give them all healthy pregnancies with no issues no complications
and lord we pray for these that have requests for their friends and family
brother warren praying for his brother's upcoming parole board appointment and brother montel
praying for the upcoming trial for uh isabel and also brother sabato praying for his family and
lord we ask that you would help in these situations that your will would be done in
these situations and that you would be with them then lord we also pray for these that are asking
for spiritual needs brother montel junior praying for his walk with the lord and miss christine and
brother salvador also praying for their faith and their walk with you and lord we ask that you would
help these individuals draw them closer to you help them to draw near to you then lord we pray
for these that have physical and financial needs we're praying for brother montel for the his job
interview on october 1st and also we're praying for evan smith and for just blessings on his new
job at fedex and we're praying for miss christine for finances and brother salvador for his finances
and work as well lord we pray that you would bless these individuals and that you'd open
doors for them and that you'd help them to get the things that that you desire for them
and then lord we pray for these that have requests regarding salvation miss natalie praying for
her husband's not only health but his salvation brother ron praying for his mom
and his family's salvation jeffrey love praying for the salvation of his friend gabriel
and miss maria praying for roma and skylar's salvation miss christine praying for her family's
salvation miss document praying for her daughter and her family's salvation and lord we know that
these individuals have souls and lord we pray that you would help them with your holy spirit
would work in their lives bring them to the place where they'd be willing to hear the gospel and
lord we pray that soul winner would communicate the gospel clearly to them that they might be saved
and then lord we pray for these that have unspoken requests brother nate miss andrea brother george
my dad brother felix miss michelle miss ruby all having unspoken requests miss natalie having an
unspoken request brother salvador miss dogma all having unspoken requests and lord you know what
their petitions are you know what they're asking for we pray lord that you would please answer
according to your will and that you'd make that apparent to them and then lord we pray for our
ministries here we pray for the prison ministry that you would bless this ministry and help us to
be able to minister to many prisoners throughout the country also we pray for the missions work
being done in manila through pastor stuckey and of course also for the missions work being done
subbu through our missionary tape kabuntala lord we pray that you would bless those uh those
missions work and that you would bless these individuals their wives of course their families
then lord we ask for the these upcoming events here at our church we pray for this spanish night
that you would help it lord to be a good time a time to be able to reach out to spanish speakers
and then we pray of course for our family and friend day this weekend lord we ask that you would
bless every aspect of it lord we pray that you would help us to have a good amount of soul
winners going out on thursday and friday saturday help us to see people saved and also invite people
to the service lord we pray that you give us a great attendance on sunday morning we pray lord
that you'd bless the choir the orchestra um the food and the gifts all the things that are going
to go on that day lord and and the preaching of your word lord i pray that you'd help it to be a
day that would help us to reach people see people saved and help us to grow as well and lord we just
pray that you would continue to bless our church here in sacramento we pray that you'd meet with
us tonight as we open up your word as we study another portion of scripture together in jesus
name we pray amen please open up to psalm seven psalm chapter number seven if you do not have a
bible please raise your hand and unless you could bring your bible psalm chapter number seven
psalm seven we'll read the entire chapter as our custom
psalm chapter number seven beginning verse number one oh lord my god indeed do i put my trust
save me from all them that persecute me and deliver me lest he tear my soul like a lion
rending it in pieces while there is none to deliver oh lord my god if i have done this if
there be iniquity in my hands if i rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me
yea i have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy let the enemy persecute my soul and
take it yea let him tread down my life upon the earth lay mine honor up in the dust ceila arise
oh lord and in anger lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies and awake for me to the
judgment that thou has commanded so shall the congregation of the people confess thee about
for their sakes therefore return thou on high the lord shall judge the people judge me oh lord
according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me oh let the wickedness
of the wicked come to an end but establish the just for the righteous god tried the hearts and
reigns my defense is of god which saveth the upright in heart god judgeth the righteous and
god is angry with the wicked every day if he turn not he will wet his sword he have bent his bow
and made it ready he has also prepared for him the instruments of death he ordaineth his arrows
against the persecutors behold he travaileth with iniquity and hath conceived mischief and brought
forth falsehood he made a pit and digged it and has fallen into the ditch which he made
his mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own
pain well praise the lord according to his righteousness and will sing praise to the name
of the lord most high let's pray heavenly father thank you for this evening god i thank you for
your word and for our church as he please meet with us tonight give us tender heart to the
message and be the pastor please strengthen him and in the spirit we love you in Jesus name pray
amen amen
all right well are we on my own we're there in psalm seven and of course we have been
working our way through the book of psalms on wednesday night and tonight we find ourselves
here in psalm seven and this is actually up to this point now we're only seven psalms into this
study but up up to this point this is the longest psalm that we've we've seen it's 17 verses and of
course there's much longer psalms than this but up to this point this is the longest one we've seen
and what i think is interesting about the book of psalms is that it follows these themes of
course as we've been looking at psalms we know that this is a song book these psalms are put
to music and they were meant to be used in corporate worship but this is more than just
a song book it's more than just a hymn book it is the hymn book of the nation of israel but it's
more than that of course we know that this is the word of god holy men of god spake as they
were moved by the holy ghost these are inspired words but not only not only is it scripture the
psalms and not only are they music and songs and hymns and spiritual songs but also they are
prayers and what we've been seeing and learning is that these are prayers and and they follow themes
and i'll point that out to you here in a minute now as we've been looking at these psalms we've
been looking at these superscriptions that are above the psalms and if you remember the word
superscription means written above and it refers to those little headings that give us
various classifications or titles instructions and information that we find about the psalms and if
you remember we've talked about the fact that those headings that you find there in above the
psalms that they aren't just added by the publisher of the bible but they're actually in the original
language they're translated from the hebrew and here again we find another superscription that
gives us some i think information that helps us to understand the psalm you notice there in psalm
seven verse one it says shigian of david which he's saying unto the lord and then i want you
to notice these this phrase concerning the words of kush the benjamite so what this superscription
tells us is that this psalm the the context of this psalm has to do and is concerning if you
look at the last part there of the superscription concerning the words of kush the benjamite so this
psalm has to do with the words that this individual named kush said and the things that
this individual said now let me just tell you up front we don't know who this kush the benjamite is
this individual doesn't come up anywhere else in scripture it might just be a person named kush
which is a little bit of an odd name but or it might just be some sort of a title that's being
given or some sort of a name that's being given to to hide somebody else's identity maybe but what
we do know is this and we're going to see it in the context of psalm seven is that this individual
is an enemy of david and again we're going to see that in the context so just give me a minute to
prove that to you but what we also know is this whoever this individual is they are a benjamite
they're called here kush the benjamite i'd like you to keep your place there in psalm seven that's our
text for tonight and we're going to walk through the psalm together but just by way of introduction
go with me to the book of first samuel first samuel chapter nine just to give a little context
to the context because the superscription gives us the context that this is a psalm of david uh
which he's saying unto the lord and it's concerning the words of this individual kush kush the benjamite
if you would go to first samuel chapter nine if you can find the one and two books they're all
clustered together uh towards the beginning there of the old testament you got first and second
samuel first second kings first second chronicles and go to first samuel chapter nine and look at
verse number 21 now the first thing i want to just highlight for you and i know you know this
because you're a smart crowd but we've got people that listen online as well and i want to make sure
that i don't want to just take it for granted that people know this information and what we need to
realize when when we see that these are the words that this psalm is concerning the words of kush
the benjamite what we have to remember is that david had a long-standing enemy by the name of
saul and saul was a benjamite are there in first samuel nine look at verse 21 saul answered and
said this is saul speaking and this is when saul was chosen to be king of israel he said am not i
a benjamite of the smallest of the tribes of israel and my family the least of all the families
of the tribes of benjamin so i'm just showing that verse to you to to give you a proof text
that we know that saul was a benjamite he was from the tribe of benjamin go to second samuel
chapter 16 and i'm not going to take the time to go through and give you a ton of verses on this
but if you know the story you know that saul was the first king of israel and because of saul's sin
and rebellion and pride the kingdom was taken from him and he was told that the kingdom was going to
be rent from him taken from him and it was going to be given unto a man that was better than he
and of course david comes on the scene david kills goliath david does all these things
that cause saul to become envious towards david and david never did anything wrong to saul he was
never disloyal to saul but saul becomes envious to david and he begins to persecute him he begins
to come against him so some people think that this kush the benjamite if you guys could help
me in the sound room just i think there's a little bit of an echo if you could help me with that i'd
appreciate it thank you so much some people think that maybe this kush the benjamite is referring
to saul i'm not saying it is or it isn't but what i do believe is this that whether this is referring
to saul or not it's somebody related to saul and the issue or the beef they had with david probably
has to do with saul because saul became very envious towards david and of course we know that
saul eventually was replaced by david so you see that saul is a benjamite go go to second samuel
chapter 16 now do me a favor when you get to second time you'll put a ribbon or a bookmark or
something there because we're going to leave it we're going to come back to it and i'd like to
for you to get to it quickly second samuel chapter 16 now here's the thing some people think this
might be saul but one thing that we need to remember is that yes saul was an enemy of david
and he was a benjamite but there were other enemies of david that were enemies of david
because they were related to saul and they just kind of took up the the mantle of fighting
against david because of saul let me give you a couple of examples second samuel 16 look at verse
5 second samuel 16 verse 5 says this and when king david came to behirim behold thence came out
a man of the family of the house of saul so notice here comes a man of the family of the house of
saul we know that that is the tribe of benjamin because we've already seen that saul is a benjamite
and notice the bible says whose name was shimiai the son of gira he came forth and cursed still
as he came and in fact we won't take the time look at it right now but if you go down to verse number
11 david actually refers to shimiai as this benjamite he calls him this benjamite so we see
that shimiai was someone that came out to curse david this one david is fleeing because of absolom
absolom's rebellion and shimiai is pretty much kicking david when he's down and he's coming
against uh david and so here we see a benjamite that was coming against david so it could be
that this kush the benjamite is referring to saul or it could be that this kush the benjamite is
referring uh to shimiai but that's not it let me give you another example go to second samet
chapter 20 and look at verse 1 second samet chapter 20 if you remember when david comes back
victorious from the rebellion of absolom the bible says in second samet chapter 20 in verse 1 and
there happened to be there a man of belial whose name was shiba now notice so here we have another
man of shiba and this man shiba is again i won't take the time to go to the story you can read this
on your own but he's taking the opportunity of all the chaos of that absolom caused and david
coming back to the kingdom and he's now trying to do the same thing and bring a rebellion and
notice what the bible says and there happened to be there a man of belial whose name was shiba
the son of bikrai look at the words here a benjamite and he blew a trumpet and said we
have no part in david neither have we inheritance in the son of jesse every man to his own tent
oh israel and of course shiba tries to bring a rebellion but notice shiba was a benjamite
an enemy of david why was he an enemy of david because of saul because he thought that his family
should still be in the kingdom and david replaced saul and we see that shimmy i same thing a
benjamite we see that saul of course was an enemy so maybe this kush the benjamite is referring to
saul maybe it's referring to shimmy i maybe it's referring to shiba or maybe it's just referring
to some other benjamite that like saul like shimmy i like shiba came against david so keep
your place in second samuel go back to psalm seven i just want you to understand the context
here this is about this psalm is concerning the words of a benjamite the words of kush the
benjamite and what we see is that historically the benjamites not the the entire tribe but
individuals of the family of saul that were benjamites would come against david because
they felt that david did something wrong by replacing saul and by uh becoming the king after
saul was removed so with that in mind and with that understanding let's look at psalm seven
and what i'd like to do is give you uh four different headings for this psalm and as as we
break it up and outline it and maybe you can jot these things down and take some notes hopefully
have a notebook with you or on the back of your course of the week of course there's a place to
write down jot down some things i'd like you to notice number one david's persecution david's
persecution we see this in verses one and two and notice again verse uh one the bible says
oh lord my god in thee do i put my trust save me from all them that persecute me and deliver me now
we already saw uh in the in the the superscription there that this is shegi on of david which is
saying unto the lord concerning the words of kush the benjamite but now we see that the words of kush
are an attack on david because david begins by saying oh lord my god indeed do i put my trust
save me david again remember this is a song which the bible says there which he's saying unto the
lord but there's also a prayer of david and he's praying to the lord he's saying i put my trust
uh he says indeed do i put my trust save me from all them that persecute me and the them there
is referring to kush the benjamite and probably also shimmy i and shiba and anyone else that's
coming up against david and he says save me from all them that persecute me and deliver me
and what we see here as we begin this psalm is this that this man kush whoever he was whether
that's just some sort of a second name or surname for one of these men that we know was a benjamite
that came against david or maybe was just another random guy what we know is this that this was a
human adversary a human enemy of david and one thing that we need to remember as bible believing
christians is this and this should not be surprising i'm always surprised by how surprised
people are by these things but persecution should not surprise us i understand that we live in 2024
america and we think that you know we've kind of given into this prosperity gospel even though
we're not charismatic pentecostals we have this idea that you know god's going to make us healthy
and wealthy and rich and prosperous but we have to remember that in the bible the people of god
have always suffered persecution now you don't have to turn here i'll just read this verse for you
but if you'd like to jot it down the bible says in second in second timothy chapter three
in verse 12 second timothy 312 it says this yay and all that will live godly in christ jesus
shall suffer persecution the bible here gives us a promise you know we like to talk about the
promises of god standing on the promises and when we when we sing that song standing on the
promises of god my king or whatever when we sing those songs we're usually talking about the good
promises you know like the nice promises that god gives us but here's a promise in the bible
and it is this that if you live godly in christ jesus the bible says ye shall suffer persecution
yay all and all that will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution that's a promise
of god and obviously we're all going to suffer persecution in different ways and and in different
levels and in different heights but the bible promises that if you live godly you're going to
suffer persecution and you know the reason that today most christians are just shocked when they
see a christian going through persecution and they're just shocked because today when somebody
sees somebody else going through persecution they just assume like oh they must have done something
wrong but here's why they think that way is because the average christian today suffers no
persecution and the reason for that is because the average christian is living a worldly life
they're not living godly in christ jesus so no one ever comes against them no one ever fights them
and we need to remember the fact that jesus said to his disciples he says look if the world hate
you he says remember that it hated me before it hated you and he says look if you were of the
world the world would love his own but if you're living godly in christ jesus if you're actually
doing something for god accomplishing something for god doing great work for god then people are
going to come against you and here david has this man kush the words of kush and he says oh lord my
god indeed i put my trust save me from all them that persecute me and deliver me was his prayer
so we see that this man kush whoever he is was a human adversary of david but then i want you
to notice verse two here's what david says about this man he says lest he now he's talking about
kush but he says lest he tear my soul like a lion rending it in pieces while there is none to deliver
so david is praying to god he's saying oh lord my god he says save me from all them that persecute
me and deliver me and then in that prayer he says lest he the word less means unless he unless who
unless kush tear my soul like a lion now when we're talking about persecution and then david
brings up this uh illustration of a lion that is going to tear his soul by rending it in pieces
i can't help but think of the verse in first peter where the bible says be sober be vigilant
because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour
and what we can learn from this passage is this that though there was a human being we may not
know who he is we know he has a weird name his name is kush kush the vengeance though there was
a human being that was attacking and persecuting david what we can learn from that is this is that
all our human adversaries are actually just agents of our real adversary the devil
and we've got human beings all over the place that are attacking us and fighting against us and and
and trying to stop us and hinder us but the truth is this that the they're they're tearing our soul
they're attempting to tear our soul like a lion because really these human adversaries are just
surrogates they're just proxies of our real enemy which is the devil the reason the reason that
we have persecution look if you're running in the same direction as the devil you're never
going to come and confront him do you understand what i'm saying if you're heading down the same
road as a devil he's he's fine the devil doesn't care about you the devil doesn't care he doesn't
care about the average christian why because the average christian is doing nothing to hinder him
to hurt him to harm him to stop him he's the ruler of the darkness of this world and the average
christian is just on the same course running the same course running the same direction as the
devil and when christians are just going down the same direction the devil no problem but the minute
that a christian starts hurting the devil starts affecting the devil starts hindering the devil or
hurting his kingdom or hurting his work now he's going to get his sights on you and look the bible
teaches this this is why when those devils uh were attacking in the first century in the book
of ax they what they say they they said jesus i know and paul i know but who are you and that's
what the devils would say about the average christian they would say well look i know who
jesus is and i know who paul is because paul's been causing us a lot of problems but who are you
and the truth is this that when you start living godly in christ jesus and you start doing something
and accomplishing something for god what that's going to do is that's going to put you in the
in the sights of the devil and some guy named kush might raise his head against you
but he's really just a surrogate and a proxy for a real adversary which is the devil he
he says david says lest he tear my soul like a lion and who we need to be worried about is our
we need to be sober and vigilant because our adversary the devil as a roaring lion walking
about seeking whom he may devour so we see in verses one and two david's persecution and i
would say the big takeaway is this don't be surprised don't be surprised when someone who's
living for god gets persecuted and and by the way obviously nobody's perfect none of us are
perfect none of us are the lord jesus christ nobody's sinless but when somebody's genuinely
trying to do something and accomplish something for god the devil is going to get his sights on
that individual and that should not surprise us so we see david's persecution verses one and two but
then i'd like you to notice david's plea in verses three through eight david's plea and let me define
that word for you plea because when i'm using that word it has several definitions i'm using
the legal definition a plea is a defendant's answer to a legal declaration or charge
when someone is charged i've never been charged with a crime but some of you have
so you're very familiar with this someone is charged with a crime you know they they're
brought before in a courtroom before a judge and they're asked the question what do you plea
and and you'll say guilty or not guilty or whatever well here kush is saying
some things about david the words of kush he's persecuting david i want you to notice
that in verses three through eight we get david's plea now before that i want you to notice what
they said what they said he did i want you to notice what what are the words of kush now
we're not specifically told this is what kush is saying but in the context i think it's very clear
because he's talking about the words of kush the persecution of kush he's saying deliver me from
these words and then david gives his plea where's what's his plea look at it verse three he says oh
lord my god he says if i have done this now kush is saying that david has done something
but david's response is if i have done this if there be iniquity in my hands if i have rewarded
evil unto him that was at peace with me now right there we get a clue as to what it is that kush is
saying about david because david is saying look god if i've done this if there's iniquity in my
hands if i have here's the accusation rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me so david
says if i've done this if somebody was at peace with me they weren't messing with me but i just
started messing with them i started fighting them if i rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with
me yay i have delivered him that without causes my enemy we'll come back that to that phrase in
a second look at verse five then david says let the enemy persecute my soul and take it now
get the context he just got done saying lord my god indeed i put my trust save me from all them
that persecute me and deliver me why are you praying that david lest he tear my soul like a
lion rending it in pieces but then in verse four he says if i actually did this verse three if i
have done this if there be iniquity in my hands if i rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me
verse five he says let the enemy persecute my soul and take it yay let him tread down my life
upon the earth and lay mine honor in the dust sila the word lay mine honor in the dust is let him
tread down my honor tread down my name here's what david is saying god if i've done this then don't
stop him then don't do anything but he but he's saying i haven't done this and what david's plea
is is a plea of innocence look down at verse number eight he says the lord shall judge the
people and then he says this judge me oh lord according to my righteousness and according to
mine integrity that is in me now here's what i want you to notice about this psalm
is that this is a psalm of a prayer and it is a prayer of innocence david is saying
i haven't done these things that they're saying i have but i want you to look at the themes and
look at the context in fact just real quickly flip back to psalm six because if we wanted to
give these psalms titles we could say that psalm seven is a prayer of innocence but psalm six was
a prayer of guilt look at psalm six psalm six verse one to the chief musician of neganath
upon shimonith a psalm of david notice how psalm six begins oh lord rebuke me not in thine anger
neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure now in psalm six we've already preached through psalm
six and we learned about it but if you remember psalm six david had done wrong and psalm six is
a psalm where god is where david is coming to god and he's saying rebuke me not in thine anger
he says chasten me not in thine hot displeasure he wasn't saying don't rebuke me he just says don't
he was saying don't kill me god don't take it too far so psalm six was david saying i messed up i
sin lord you're going to rebuke me you're going to punish me but i'm pleading for mercy that's
what he says in psalm six in psalm seven he's saying i didn't do this god and this is what i
like about the book of psalms because in reality isn't this all of our lives sometimes we do wrong
and we need to just confess our sins to god if we can confess our sins he's faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteous that's psalm six but sometimes people
accuse you of things and you're like i didn't do that well that's psalm seven and i think what's
beautiful about these psalms is that god allows us to see in david's life these different highs and
lows these different situations because the truth matter is this sometimes we've done wrong and we
need to just get right and we should not be these people that aren't willing to confess our sins to
admit our sins and to say hey god rebuke me not in thine anger chasing me not in thine hot
displeasure but but here in psalm seven he's saying i didn't do these things and i and i and
i bring that up to say this david is not saying in psalm seven i'm perfect i'm without sin he's
not saying that because he just got done in psalm six saying lord i did it i'm sorry please forgive
me what david is saying in psalm seven is not i'm perfect i'm innocent i don't do wrong what
david is saying i've done lots of things god but i didn't do what kush that i did you understand that
kush is attacking me kush is coming against me and i haven't done those things so we see
in psalm six a prayer of guilt because when we're wrong when we've done wrong when we sin against
god we should confess it forsake it and move on but sometimes there's false accusations there's
accusations that come against us and here we see david's plea and in this instance now look did
david mess up other times absolutely but in this specific situation david is saying judge me oh
lord according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me so what are they
saying that david did what they're saying is that he rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with
him and that's what kush the benjamite is saying now what we can learn go back to second samuel if
you would in verse 16 is that shimmy i and i'm not saying that kush is shimmy i it could be shimmy i
it could be saul could be shiba could just be some other benjamite but what's interesting is that
shimmy i actually said this exact same thing shimmy i brings this accusation against david
look at second samuel 16 verse 7 second samuel 16 verse 7 and thus said shimmy i remember shimmy
is a benjamite of the family of saul of the tribe of benjamin and thus said shimmy i when he cursed
come out this is shimmy i cursing david he says come out come out thou bloody man so i want you
to notice that shimmy i is accusing david and he says thou bloody man now let me ask you a question
was david a bloody man it's not a trick question you guys are going to answer because you think
it's a trick question i'm going to you're going to say something you're going to be wrong here's
the answer the question yes david was a bloody man because david was a warrior and he was a man
of war and if you remember david was actually not allowed to build the temple do you remember
david wasn't allowed to build the temple you have to turn here in first chronicles 28 3
god said that david could not build the temple because thou has been a man of war and has shed
blood so shimmy i says to david come out come out thou bloody man and you know that's true david
you could make the argument that he was a bloody man because he was a warrior
he was a soldier he was a mighty man he was a man of war so he was a bloody man but then notice what
shimmy i says and thou man of belial so being a man of belial and i don't have time to go through
this you can study this out on your own but belial is the devil and to be a man of belial
or in other passages they're called the sons of belial this is what we call in the new testament
a reprobate a son of the devil and so shimmy i he comes out with this accusation and he says
thou bloody man he says that man so let's just look at it was david could you say that david
was a bloody man i think you could because even god said hey you're a man of war and you have
shed blood that's why you can't build the temple david was a man of war and a warrior so you could
have made the argument he was a bloody man was was david a man of belial the answer is no
the bible says that david was a man after god's own heart the bible says that david spake through
the holy ghost the bible says that he was anointed with the spirit of god so absolutely not david was
not a son of belial look at verse eight notice what shimmy i says he says the lord because remember
the context and again i don't have time to develop the whole context but the context in which shimmy
is cursing david is that absalom has risen against david and david is fleeing jerusalem
because of absalom's rebellion and now here comes shimmy i to kick david while he's down and he says
come out come out and when he's saying come out he's saying like get out of jerusalem get out of
the kingdom thou bloody man okay you can make an argument he was a bloody man thou son uh thou man
of belial that's not true he's not a son of belial verse eight then here's what shimmy i says
he says the lord has returned upon thee all the blood of the house of saul so now we get the
context as to what is it that shimmy i meant by thou bloody man because david has killed a lot of
people so when somebody says that david like you're a bloody man they'd be like yeah what's
your point like what do you mean i mean are you talking about goliath because i killed goliath
are you talking about philistines because i've killed a whole lot of philistines the enemies of
the lord but now we see the context in which shimmy uh shimmy i says that david is a bloody man
he says the lord has returned upon thee so here's what he's saying to david he's saying
this is happening to you because you're getting what you deserve because of all the blood of the
house of saul in whose stead thou has right so what is the accusation that shimmy i is saying
the accusation that he's saying is this that david the only reason you're king
is because you killed the house of saul you shed blood in the house of saul and that's why
you're the king because you he's either accusing him of killing saul or killing the descendants
of saul and he's saying that's why you are reigning he says in whose stead thou has reign
so here's the question had david shed the blood of of the house of saul in order to take the kingdom
the answer is no absolutely not in fact there's major stories in the bible we'll look at them in
a minute that say otherwise so here shimmy i is accusing david falsely accusing the lord has
returned upon me all the blood of the house of saul in whose stead thou has reign and the lord
had delivered the kingdom into the hand of absalom thy son and behold notice what he says thou art
taken in thy mischief so he's saying david you did something wrong you killed and you persecuted
the house of saul they were at peace with you and you did evil against them that's why you're
the king now and that's the accusation not only shimmy i the benjamite makes but that kush the
benjamite makes look at the last part of verse eight because thou art a bloody man and again
in the context he's talking about the fact he's saying that david was bloody that he had he had
shed the blood of the house of saul keep your place there in second samuel go back to psalm
seven look at verse four this is the accusation if i have rewarded evil unto him that was at
peace with me they're saying saul was at peace with you and you did him evil that's why you're
the king now that's the accusation but notice that's what they said he did now let's look at
what david actually did because david actually corrects it even in this psalm i want you to
look at it he says if i have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me that's what they
said he did but then david in these parentheses he says yay i have delivered him that without
cause is mine enemy so david says they're saying that i did evil unto him that was at peace with
me but david says here's what i actually did i delivered him and i believe that david is
referring to saul that without cause is mine enemy so david said not only did i not do evil
to someone that was at peace with me i actually delivered him that he was the one that without a
cause was mine enemy and i delivered him well when did david do that these are famous stories
but let's just look at them real quickly go back to first samuel uh go to chapter 24
first samuel chapter 24 if you kept your place there in second samuel or first sam you go to
first samuel 24 first samuel 24 look at verse 11 notice what the bible says moreover this is david
speaking to saul moreover my father now just so you get the context and i don't have time to go
through the whole story but just so you get the context david is speaking to saul after david had
an opportunity to kill saul in a cave david's hiding in a cave from saul saul comes into the
cave by himself david has an opportunity to kill saul doesn't do it saul walks out the cave david
walks out the cave and then david has this conversation with saul first time in 24 11
moreover my father
he says see yea see the skirt of thy robe in my hand because david did not kill saul but he did
cut off a piece of his robe just to prove to him this is how close i was to you i was close enough
to cut off a piece of your uh robe and if i'm close enough to cut off this piece of your robe
with a knife i could have done other things with a knife he says yea see the skirt of thy robe in my
hand for in that i cut off the skirt of thy robe and notice what he says kill thee not now thou
has now thou he says excuse me know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression
in mine hand and i have not sinned against thee yet thou huntest my soul to take it
that's what david's talking about in saul 74 when he says not only have i not rewarded evil
unto him that was at peace with me he says i actually delivered him that without cause is
mine enemy he says i've never done saul wrong i've never done anything against saul saul is
just envious and petty and he's he's hunting me like a dog like a flea david says but david says
i had the opportunity to kill you and kill thee not he said there is neither evil nor transgression
in my hand and i have not sinned against thee he says yet thou huntest my soul to take it
go to first samuel 26 first samuel 26 look at verse 8 not only does this happen once it happens
twice david has the opportunity to kill saul two different times first samuel 26 verse 8 then said
abishai to david god had delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day now therefore let me
smite him i pray thee with the spear even to the earth at once and i will not smite him the second
time here david has another opportunity to kill saul and abishai is even offering and saying let
me smite him i pray thee what does david do look verse nine and david said to abishai destroy him
not for who can stretch forth his hand against the lord's anointed and be guiltless i want you
to notice what david says here about about saul and people make a big to-do about this and i and
i think that they're just either stupid or they're evil people but when david says here
that he was not going to stretch forth his hand against the lord's anointed people try to
spiritualize that like david's talking about or or they'll try to act like we're saying that
david's saying that saul was some sort of a godly guide he's the lord's anointed so even if he's
doing wrong we can't call him out but but that's not what david is saying when david is saying
that i'm not going to stretch forth my hand against the lord's anointed what does that mean
the lord's anointed literally what it means is not that saul is special not that saul was some
great man of god that you could never say something about what david is saying is that
saul is the guy that god anointed as king he's saying saul is the guy that god chose to be the
king what is david talking about he's talking about authority within our lives he's saying
saul is the king i god anointed him and until and even we won't take the time to read the verses but
in both instances he says david says his day is coming when god's going to judge him and he's
going to die out in some field somewhere his day is coming but what david is saying is this saul is
the king he is the one that god chose to be king and i'm not going to stretch my hand against the
person that god chose he said but saul was wrong saul was backslidden saul did things that were
wrong david says i understand all that i'm just not going to stretch forth my hand against the
person that god has placed as the authority in my life he says who can stretch forth his hand
against the lord's anointed and be guiltless now here's what's interesting is that david actually
does the opposite he doesn't he doesn't shed the blood of saul the benjamin but then this guy kush
steps out and says you've done evil against people that were at peace with you then shimmy i says
the lord is returning this upon your head you bloody man you shed the blood of saul
all of that is a lie those are false accusations and they're not true
and you know what we need to remember is this go to matthew matthew chapter five
not not not only do we need to remember that if you live godly in christ use are going to
have persecutions but we also need to remember that people are going to attack us and persecute
us now look sometimes are we wrong sometimes yeah that's what psalm six was about rebuke me not in
anger chasing me not in thine hot displeasure but you know sometimes people just accuse you falsely
and again i always think it's interesting to me how christians seem to be oblivious to this look
you it's in the most famous sermon in the bible i mean the sermon on the mount is the most famous
sermon in all of scripture and it's in the end you say well i didn't get that far into the
sermon of mount it's in the introduction in the introduction of the most famous sermon
you say well i didn't get that far into into bible reading i didn't get that far into the
new testament it's in the book of matthew you say well math is pretty big i didn't get that far
it's in chapter five i mean how far do you how lame you have to be to like you've not even read
up to samuel uh matthew chapter five matthew chapter five look at verse 10 here's what jesus
said in his introduction of the most famous so-called christians you know they have this
in their walls and they have the most famous sermon in the bible blessed are they which are
persecuted for righteousness sake now why are they persecuted for righteousness sake
but he's not righteous he's done wrong david's done wrong everyone's done wrong but why do they
persecute us you know why for righteous not necessarily because we're righteous and we're
sinless but because we're doing righteous things we're pursuing the kingdom of god the righteousness
of god because remember they don't actually hate us they hate god and just like they are proxies
and surrogates of the devil they're attacking us because they can't attack god they're just
attacking us because we're proxies and surrogates of god to them so jesus said blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are ye when men
shall revile you revile means like they look at you like disgusting and persecute you and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake so this is what's happening to david
they're just reviling him they're persecuting him they're saying all manner of evil against him for
the sake of god against you falsely for my sake so look it shouldn't surprise us when we as
christians get persecuted it shouldn't surprise you if you live god in christ jesus when you get
pretty don't don't be the person who because of tribulation and persecution you quit the things
of the lord it shouldn't surprise you when we're persecuted for righteous sake that doesn't mean
that we're righteous and we're perfect and we do it all right but when we're doing and trying to
accomplish something good for god they're going to persecute us not because of us because of god
because of his righteousness sake their proxies for the devil and we're proxies for god so they're
attacking us it shouldn't take you by surprise let me just say this go to matthew you're there
matthew chapter 5 go to matthew chapter 10 not only should it not surprise you when we're
persecuted but it shouldn't surprise you when your own family persecutes you and again I'm
always kind of surprised because people are like well what if like your own family persecutes you
I mean what if someone from your family persecutes you and I'm just think myself like you do or not
knowing the scriptures well I didn't put this in your Bible Matthew 10 35 are you there look at
it if the letters are read in your Bible I didn't paint them red this is what Jesus said for I am
come to set a man at variance what does variance mean at disagreement at quarreling for I am come
to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter
in law against her mother-in-law and a man's foes shall be they of his own household and people be
like well this person's there that's their song and he's attacking them and I'm doing so that's
what it says I mean literally Jesus says hey don't be surprised when a man is at variance against his
father or a daughter against her mother or the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and
don't be surprised when a man's foes shall be they of his own household and people get surprised
let me tell you something there's no new thing under the Sun I mean Absalom was a long-haired
rebel in the Old Testament who rebelled against his father and you know I know about a long-haired
Absalom rebelling against his dad right now and people were like well I mean that's his son he
has to be right was Absalom right look at the story of Absalom and David and tell me who was
the man of God in that story who was right in that story and you say well there's this little
pebble of truth that Absalom might have had well listen to me Absalom might have had a little
pebble of truth to begin with but he took it too far he went too far and in the story Absalom's a
bad guy David's a good guy no one's saying David's perfect I'm not perfect you're not perfect but
it's real clear who God stands with and today people get this ideas and they're like well I'm
just shocked that well do you read the Bible because you have Absalom coming up against his
dad you Jesus is saying a man's foes shall be they of his own household go to 1st Peter chapter 2
1st Peter chapter 2 look at verse 18 real quickly and this stuff really pisses me off well you know
let me just let me just explain something to you okay it's always interesting to me how somebody
gets some beef against the pastor and they're like I need to go expose a pastor I need to go
tell all these stories about how they're so wicked and then they're just like let me find
the most faggot transvestite disgusting person and let me tell them their story do you know why
to me why do you have to find some tranny to tell your story to when you decide oh okay my ally
needs to be a filthy faggot you've told me everything I need to know I know everything
I need to know about you because you think if I got in a beef with some of my pastor's friends
and and I just had some problem my pastor's right I felt like I this really needs to be dealt with
I need to expose this you think pastor man is gonna go find some man dressed like a woman a
man with makeup on and and and and fingernails that are painted some filthy faggot let me go
tell him the story cuz that's all we're gonna that tells me everything I need to know about you
you're finding the enemies of God you're finding reprobates wicked atheists to bring your story out
when then I don't I've heard enough I know what I need to know first Peter chapter 2 first Peter
chapter 2 and then these whiny babies they're just like my mom's really mean my dad's mean
you know what the Bible says the Bible says that you should not raise your hand against the Lord's
anointed and you can take that clip and take a lot of contact oh you're saying that there's some
guy no here's what I'm saying is that God has chosen some authority figures in your life and
until God removes authority figures that's your authority until Saul was removed by God David
says whether we like it or not that's the king and you know you men need to stop talking crap
about your boss because that's the Lord's anointed in your life as far as your work is concerned you
say well he's lazy he's stupid I don't like him then get another job and get another boss and get
another Lord's anointed but until you do so stop putting your hand against them you're a wife and
you're like I'm just I'm gonna rebel against my because my husband's an idiot my husband's lazy
well nobody made you marry him and until he's dead and you can go marry somebody else he's the
Lord's anointed that doesn't mean he's godly or special it just means that's who God chose and let
me let you know a little secret that's what you chose you say my mom you know that God you see
you can make the argument you can make the argument no God didn't choose my spouse I chose
my spouse okay idiots you didn't listen to your pastor that's why you made that mistake whatever
but can anybody make the argument that's not the the father and the mother that God chose for you
and here's the thing about authority you know what God says God says that you need to submit
to your authority and here's what he doesn't say and look I'm gonna give you an example this isn't
about parents but it doesn't matter because it's just about authority in general first Peter 2 18
servants be subject that word subject means submit to your masters with all fear only to the good
and gentle is that what it says servants submit to your masters with all fear only to the good
and gentle that's not what it says you know what it says not only to the good and gentle but also
to the forward the forward means they're difficult to work with they're not nice whatever you know if
you're gonna sit here say my mom wasn't nice to me my dad wasn't nice to me you know the Bible
says that you're supposed to just submit to your authority whether they're whether you think they're
nice or not and the fact that you go talk to some transvestite tells me that you're a little bit of
a pansy and you don't even know you know anyway go to Ephesians Ephesians chapter 6 well this stuff
pisses me off because then people get this idea like well no I mean I would I would submit to my
boss if he was smart but he's an idiot no you're an idiot you're rebellious you're not right with
God well I would submit to my husband if he was mad nobody made you marry him I'm not saying your
husband's not an idiot but you're a bigger idiot for marrying them and you should submit to it
doesn't say wives submit to your husband's if they're good if they take you on dates if they
buy you stuff on Valentine's Day it doesn't say that it says wife submit to your husband's period
end of story and of course it says husbands love your wives of course it tells masters to be good
to their to to their servants of course it says father's rebuked not your children or is it
provoked out your children's right of course it says those things but it doesn't say this is what
upsets me is that I get up and I preach hey that's provoked out your children to wrath and then you
got a little teenager saying well I don't have to submit cuz pastor said that you're provoking me
the Bible says you're supposed to submit period end of story Ephesians 6 look at verse 1 children
obey your parents in the Lord if they're nice to you is that what it says children obey your
parents in the Lord for this is right honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment
with promise that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth and here's
why it really pisses me off because I know people in fact I'm thinking of an individual right now
that I know extremely well and they've actually lived in an actual abusive home I mean they if
you heard their story like they actually have not trauma like well if you you know not everybody
would agree that what I went through some I know if you heard this and everyone agree that's trauma
that's traumatic while I can't believe you grew up in that home but you know this individual is
a good Christian you know what this individual does forgives loves honors their parent and then
some stupid little punk gets up and says I got spanked a little too hard well you know what I
got spanked pretty hard too and both my mom and dad are here and I got spanked pretty hard and you
know what I'll even say God bless them I got spanked sometimes and I didn't deserve it easy
what do you say about that you know what I say about that I love my mom I love my dad I praise
God for my parents I praise God that I had parents that love me enough to speak me and here's what
the Bible says honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment with promise I want you
young people to look at this verse is the first commandment which promise what's the promise
here's the promise that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth you
know that God literally says if you do not honor your parents he says if you honor your parents I'm
gonna bless you and it's gonna go well with you and you're gonna live long on the earth and look
you take us for whatever you want I actually believe the Bible and don't be surprised if you
see these punks that rebel against their parents with their long hair and their little videos if
you see them die or worse because let me tell you something there's worse things than death because
God said that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth and nowhere in
the Bible does it say honor your parents if they're nice to you honor your parent just you
know obey your boss if he's good and gentle no not only to the good gentle but also to the forward
and Saul was a really bad King and David said I'm not gonna touch the Lord's anointed and what he
meant by that is that's who God chose that's who God chose as a king go back to Psalm Psalm 7 so
we see David's persecution verses 1 & 2 and we see David's plea verses 3 through 8 then we see
David's petition verses 9 to 12 notices petitions verse 6 arise o Lord in thine anger lift up thy
self because of the rage of mine enemies and awake for me to the judgment that thou has commanded the
first petition by God is this defend me Lord defend me in Psalm 94 in verse 1 you can turn there if
you'd like it says o Lord God to whom vengeance belongeth o God to whom vengeance belongeth show
thyself lift up thyself now judge of the earth render a reward so proud you know as Christians
we need to remember that God said vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord and vengeance
belongs to the Lord and we need to just plead a God to defend us and arise o Lord in thine anger
lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies and awake for me to the judgment that
thou has commanded look at verse 7 he says so shall the congregation of the people compass
thee about now what is it that David is saying here and I believe that what David is saying
here is this I think that when people see the attacks that we as preachers go through for the
cause of Christ again not because we're perfect not because we're sinless but why are they
attacking us because we're leading these churches because we're the Lord's anointed not in the sense
that we're perfect or just man of God that never doing the wrong but just we're the ones that are
ordained into this ministry but you know what I think is that when people just see us get attacked
and attacked and attacked and David is the king and he's being attacked in fact it scares the
followers and the fine and the guy and the followers are like I don't want to go in the
ministry forget that and what David is saying he's saying look Lord if you defend me so shall
the congregation of the people compass thee about he says for their sakes therefore return thou and
I so what David is saying he's saying Lord can you defend me for their sakes for the congregation
so they'll see and they'll compass thee about they won't be afraid to stand for you in verse
10 he says my defense is of God look you're always in a good place when you can say my defense is God
so he says defend me and then he says judge me look at verse 8 the Lord shall judge the people
judge me O Lord according to my righteousness and according to my integrity that is in me and
Psalm 18 to 20 if you want to turn there he says the Lord reward me according to my righteousness
according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompense me and again David isn't saying David
isn't saying I'm perfect I'm sinless he's saying in this case God I didn't do what Cush was saying
I did and and so God so David is saying judge me according to my righteousness according to
the integrity of my heart verse 9 oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end Psalm 7
verse 9 but establish the just for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reigns my defense is God
which save at the upright in heart verse 11 God judges the righteous and God is angry with the
wicked every day that's it that's just a good verse for us to remember you're like God is angry
with the wicked every day and this is good for us to know because here's the thing when we pray Lord
vengeance you said vengeance is mine I shall repay saith the Lord you know we have to be patient
because God is a patient God and we're praying these imprecatory prayers and we're praying that
God would just do it tomorrow you know can you just do it tomorrow but you know it's in God's
timing and sometimes the judgment of God may not come for months and years it may come and we're
not even aware of it because God doesn't feel the need to have to explain anything to us you
understand that so even though you might be saying Lord you know I'm not perfect I've sinned but I
didn't do that and Lord take care of that and defend me we might feel like that takes a long
time or we might not ever see God's judgment but we can have this confidence that God is angry with
the wicked every day and that God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every
day and you know what at the end God is the righteous judge and he's going to even it all
out he's gonna he's gonna make it all work out so we see David's persecution versus one and two
we see David's plea versus three through eight we see David's petition versus nine to twelve
and then let me just give you the last section here verses 13 through 17 we see David's protection
David's protection here's what he says Psalm 7 verse 12 if he turned not he will wet his sword
he had bent his bow and made it ready he this is David speaking and he's talking about God he's
says he God have also prepared for him and the him is referring to the persecutors the instruments
of death he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors so here's what David is saying their
judgment is coming when I don't know I know that God is angry with the wicked every day but I know
this that God has prepared for him the instruments of death he ordaineth his arrows against the
persecutors so David is saying God's judgment will come for them but then David also says this
in verse 14 behold he travaileth with iniquity and hath conceived mischief and brought forth
falsehood and I I just want you to notice the terminology here he's using terminologies of
birth travaileth has to do with giving birth conceiving has to do with giving birth brought
forth has to do with giving birth and he's saying in the same way that a woman conceives and travails
and brings forth a child these wicked reprobates he's talking about these individuals that are
attacking him falsely and he says they travail with iniquity they conceive mischief they brought
forth falsehood so he's talking about the wickedness of these individuals and then here's
what he says about the wickedness of these individuals I think this is really interesting
verse 17 David says he made a pit and digged it and has fallen into the ditch which he made and
what he's saying is this not only will God's judgment God's judgment will come for them but
he says their wickedness will come around onto them their wickedness will come around to them
he says he made a pit and digged it and has fallen into the ditch now I don't have time to go through
a lot of verses but this is this concept is brought up throughout the Bible let me just
give you one example Proverbs 26 and verse 27 Psalms and then the book of Proverbs Proverbs
26 verse 27 this is also an Ecclesiastes but I won't take the time to go there for sake of time
Proverbs 26 27 the Bible says this who so dig at the pit shall fall therein and he that roll of
the stone it will return upon him that's what David is talking about in Psalm 7 15 he talking
about his enemy Koosh made a pit and digged it and has fallen into the ditch when he made here's
what he's saying the enemy they'll dig a ditch hoping that we fall into it but then they fall
into it or they'll roll a stone hoping to roll it on top of us but then it will roll on them and
what he's saying is this the evil that they attempt to do to us will actually come back
on to them and when I read this verse I think of there's a pastor several years ago that was
attacking me and attacking a lot of my pastor friends and what he was doing is just preaching
all these sermons where he was pretty much just giving instruction because he was hoping that
like our my church people or other of our new IP churches people were listening to his preaching
and he was pretty much preaching these sermons where he was just giving step-by-step instructions
on how to split a church and what he was hoping is that all our church people would be listening
to sermons and then they would like split our church and they would cause all sorts of divisions
so he preached this all these sermons about and and just like here's how you split a church here's
how you go about it here's explain it what's what's funny I'm gonna say funny I don't even
know if funny is the right word but what's interesting is that a couple years later I
heard that his church split and I'm like well yeah when you spend multiple weeks teaching people how
to split a church let me let you hoping that they'll split our church and then your church
gets split you know what that is that's this who so dig at the pit shall fall therein and he that
roll of the stone it will return upon him and you preach all these sermons hoping that very
Baptist Church will split or some of the churches play and then your church splits because you know
your wickedness will come back around you the Bible says that we reap what we sow look at verse
16 Psalm 7 16 his mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent dealings shall come down
upon his own pate the word pate means his own head just a different way of saying head and here's
what God promises is that your mischief and your wickedness will come upon your own head it's a
promise of God it will return upon you this is why and look I've preached this a lot over the
years but this is one of the reasons why I'm constantly to I'm telling these young men who
are getting married because young young men who are getting married they have this tendency to
want to go to war with their future in-laws and they just want to talk crap about their in-laws
and they just want to fight and of course it's these girls talking crap about their own parents
and then they're too stupid to realize like I'm just getting one side of the story here maybe this
is being embellished maybe the but this is what I'm currently telling young men look your girlfriend
is saying all these things about your her parents and you're just like God a war with them well let
me let you know a little secret one day you're gonna have a daughter and you're gonna have a
son-in-law and he's gonna come to war against you you know why because your mischief shall return
upon your own head and maybe mate nobody's saying those people are perfect this is people are like
well they're not perfect but they're a sinner and you're not but they're bad parents you're probably
gonna not be the greatest parent no one's a perfect parent but you need to get it in your
head that authority is authority period end of story God ordains the the the the authorities
that are he puts them in their place and if God gave you a mom and dad you say well my mom is that
my mom is that shut your mouth and honor your mom and love your mom and be respectful to your mom
that's who God gave you shut your mouth about your dad you say well my pastor is this then go find a
pastor you can respect but until you do don't talk crap about this pastor he's the ordained of the
Lord again that doesn't mean I'm special or some superhuman or whatever it just means you're a
member here I'm the pastor you don't like it find another pastor you go to work honor your boss don't
talk crap about your boss be faithful and loyal to your boss don't steal from your boss you say
but he's stupid and he's this and he's that don't honor those words out loud go find a boss you can
respect and and go there but until you do see people want to talk crap about their boss then
they're too lazy to go get another boss or go get another job or they don't have the skills or the
value to go get another job my boss at McDonald's sucks well you suck so just be just honored look
just decide this in your mind you need to just decide this God given authority is God given
authority period end of story and you say I don't like this preaching then let that wickedness come
upon your head then let your punk teenager come up against you because you're gonna reap what
you sow because when you dig a ditch you're gonna fall in it and you roll a stone it's gonna roll
upon you and nobody's saying I my wife and I do counseling with all sorts of people and we never
sit there and say your husband's perfect we're like yeah we get it your husband's an idiot but
submit your wife is a bad person but love her your boss doesn't know what he's doing and why
is he the boss and you're the boy just obey him but he's not good and gentle he didn't say only
to the good and gentle my dad called me a name one shot just shot your stinking mouth because
one day it's gonna come upon your own head and you should not help people in their rebellion
now notice how the psalm and Psalm 7 verse 17 I will praise the Lord and look I preach a lot
on the subject of justice and judgment don't forget these verses the Bible says that you
should not receive an accusation against an elder but before two or three witnesses and then what
people call witnesses is silly to me if you're like well here are two witnesses and it's like
they're not saying the same thing so how are they witnesses I will praise the Lord so this
ends Psalm 7 verse 17 I will praise the Lord according to his righteous and by the way let
me just say I preach this before but just because there's two witnesses doesn't mean a you know let
me let you know a little secret there was two witnesses against Jesus too well there's two
witnesses so it must be true okay so Jesus was a sinner whatever read the Bible Psalm 7 verse 17
I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and will sing praise to the
name of the Lord most high you say that's kind of a random way to end this chapter and you know when
I was studying this psalm I thought that was a random way of ending the the the psalm too but
then it just kind of clicked with me that you know sometimes we go through really difficult
things and we get attacked our church gets attacked our families get attacked whatever
and you know honestly sometimes I was talking to my wife about this recently and and I was
thinking myself like man sometimes I think it'd just be nice to just be be like be a church member
so or just just be an employee somewhere like were you just like clock in and you clock out you go
home you have your day off and you just do your fun things or whatever like for some of us it
never ends it's just attack after attack or whatever drama after drama you can't sit down
to do anything cuz somebody's calling you about some issue or some problem you say well what do
you do here's what you do you just praise the Lord I will praise the Lord according to his
righteousness I will sing praises to the name of the Lord most high you know what the Bible says
the Bible says in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you
you know what it doesn't say it doesn't say give thanks for everything it says give thanks in
everything there are some things that I can't be thankful for but I can be thankful in everything
and no matter what's going on we can all praise the Lord and sing praises to the name of the Lord
most high that's by our heads and have a word of prayer Heavenly Father Lord we love you we thank
you for this psalm and just for these teachings Lord help us to be people that are just and in no
way shape or form am I getting up here and saying that as a pastor I do everything right and don't
sin or other pastors are perfect nobody's saying that but what we are saying is that when you have
a God-given authority like a husband or a father or a boss then you need to not come against that
authority period and Lord I pray you'd help us to learn these things I pray you'd help us to get
these things especially young people because I don't want to see them so a bunch of discord in
their lives and then reap it later and then find out oh I jumped on bandwagons and attacked people
that I had no business attacking and now this is coming back on my head help us Lord to just try
to be just people try to be neutral people if it doesn't concern us if it doesn't matter to us then
just move on in Jesus name we pray amen all right we're gonna have brother Moses come up and lead us
in a final song just want to remind you of course that this weekend is our big family and friend day
weekend so just don't forget about that and the big thing is on Thursday tomorrow at 6 p.m. Friday
at 6 p.m. and then on Sunday at 10 a.m. we have our big soul winning rally so just make sure you're
here for that if you can be here try to come to all three times and appreciate your help with that
and of course we'll have a big family and friend a special music from the choir orchestra the gifts
the food all that stuff and we'd love for you to be here of course bring somebody with you all those
things there's anything we can do for you please let us know we'll have brother Moses come up and
lead us in a final song turn in your song books page number 319 page number 319 we're gonna sing
just a closer walk with the page three one nine just a closer walk with thee and let's go ahead
and sing it out on the first I am weak but thou art strong
Jesus keep me from all wrong
Oh be satisfied as long as I walk let me walk close to thee
just a closer walk with thee
granted Jesus is my plea
daily walking close to thee
let it be dear Lord let it be
through this world of toil and snares
if I falter Lord who cares
who with me my burden shares
none but thee dear Lord none but thee
just a closer walk with thee
granted Jesus is my plea
daily walking close to thee
let it be dear Lord let it be
page 319 let's go ahead and sing it out on the last
when my feeble life is over
time for me will be no more
guide me gently safely o'er
to thy kingdom shore to thy shore
just a closer walk with thee
granted Jesus is my plea
daily walking close to thee
let it be dear Lord let it be
great singing if you're a guest and if you have any questions about salvation
church membership or baptism you can see pastor in the front and can I please
brother Johnny closes in word prayer
you