Psalm 11 - God is my refuge

Psalm 11 on page 548 in the Church Bibles.

In the Lord I take refuge.

How then can you say to me,

flee like a bird to your mountain?

For look, the wicked bend their bows.

They set their arrows against the strings

to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.

When the foundations are being destroyed,

what can the righteous do?

The Lord is in his holy temple.

The Lord is on his heavenly throne.

He observes everyone on earth.

His eyes examine them.

The Lord examines the righteous,

but the wicked, those who love violence.

He hates with a passion.

On the wicked, he will rain fiery coals

and burning sulphur.

A scorching wind will be their lot.

For the Lord is righteous.

He loves justice.

The upright will see his face.

What's our brother ready to come and give us our message?

Thank you.

If you'd like to keep your Bibles open to page 548.

We're going to look at this psalm through together

and it would be useful if you could look down to it as we go along.

Let's pray first of all.

I'm very conscious that we need God's help to,

help me to be clear for one,

and help us all, myself and yourselves,

to understand and take to heart what God is saying to us today.

So let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for the blessing it is to read it together.

We thank you, Lord, for the great examples

and teaching that you give us of how to live our Christian lives.

So we do pray that you would speak to us now.

You would enable me, Lord, to be clear.

And, Lord, you would help us all to be obedient to your word.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Here in Psalm 11, we've got two questions

from two different sources.

And each source asking that question

is seeing exactly the same situation

but drawing opposite conclusions.

And each question reveals the questioner's heart.

I don't know whether you caught that,

so I'm going to read it again

because it's quite dense.

I know what I've just read to you.

There are two questions

from two different sources in this psalm.

Each source, each person asking that question

sees exactly the same situation

but draws completely opposite conclusions.

Each question that's asked,

both questions that are asked,

reveal the questioner's heart.

Well, let's see if we can unpack a bit of that

as we go through.

The first question in this psalm

is in verse 3,

and it's a question posed by David's friends,

his advisors,

and it's this.

When the foundations are being destroyed,

what can the righteous do?

So this psalm was written about 3,000 years ago.

So in those times,

God's people were asking that kind of question,

and we still ask that question today,

but we might phrase it in a different way.

Today we might say something like,

when biblical principles,

which underpin our society,

when they're thrown away,

when they're forgotten,

what hope is there?

So whether it's politicians,

or sadly church leaders,

or society in general,

when those principles

of integrity, honesty, justice, fairness,

are no longer the bedrock of their actions,

what hope is there?

Well, David answers that question,

and I need to give you a bit of context here.

So this is the title of the psalm,

as I see it.

It's basically what it's about.

And we see that this question

is being asked by David's friends.

Notice, not his enemies,

being asked by his friends.

Why are they asking this question?

Well, the situation that David finds himself in

is that his enemies, in verse 2,

are trying to destroy him.

They're described as shooting Addo,

shooting arrows from the shadows.

So this is a,

we're not told a specific encounter,

but we know this is deadly opposition to David.

His enemies are out to literally,

physically destroy him,

to kill him.

His advisors then are telling him to give up,

to run.

And if you look down there at verses 1 to verse 3 in your Bibles,

you'll see what they say is in speech marks.

Can you see the speech marks there?

So in short,

what David's friends are saying to him is,

run.

There are people out to kill you.

You cannot cope with this situation.

All is lost.

Run.

And then they use this strange phrase,

flee like a bird to your mountain.

We could see this as saying something like this.

As birds fly up to safer ground when they're frightened,

so you should seek the safety of the mountains.

Escape while you can.

If you don't believe that's a fact,

that birds are scared by sudden noises,

then all the pigeons that sit on our roof,

if you stand in the car park,

and you make a car backfire,

or perhaps you just drop something heavy,

they all fly up,

and they fly up to what they think is safer ground.

Well, that's what David's friends are saying to him.

So a question for you, okay?

Assuming the situation was as bad as the advisors thought,

was this good advice they were giving,

or was it bad advice?

Should he run?

Should he hide?

Or should he stand his ground against an enemy he couldn't combat?

Well, from his advisor's point of view,

and from what they could see,

this was clearly good advice.

And they try and convince David of this,

in the words of this psalm.

In verse 2, they say,

can you see these words?

They say,

for look.

In other words,

look at the situation you are in.

But David could see that,

rather than being good advice,

this looking was the root of their problem.

They were judging the situation by just what they could see,

and no more.

So what was David's response?

His response here is the second question in the psalm,

was,

how can you say this?

He says there in verse 1,

In the Lord I take refuge.

How then can you say to me,

flee like a bird to your mountain?

I'm taking refuge in the Lord,

says David,

therefore I need not worry or fear.

David's response is what,

a similar response to what we read in 2 Corinthians 5, 7,

where it talks about the Christian,

God's person,

living by faith,

not by sight.

I was reading two chronicles in my Bible readings yesterday,

and I came across a really interesting verse,

which is very similar here to what the situation David faced.

But this is King Hezekiah years earlier,

sorry,

years after this,

saying a similar thing,

when the hordes of the Assyrian army were closing in on Jerusalem,

and again,

they were completely outnumbered by the Assyrians,

and people no doubt would have said to Hezekiah,

all is lost.

But Hezekiah said this,

I'll read them to you if you want to look them up,

you can on page 465,

but I'll read this to you.

Be strong and courageous.

This is what Hezekiah is saying to his people.

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid or discouraged,

because the king of Assyria and the vast army with him,

for there is a greater power with us.

Literally,

greater power than us is,

there are more with us.

For there is more with us than with him.

With him is only the arm of flesh,

but with us is the Lord our God,

to help us and to fight our battles.

So those words there,

with him is only the arm of flesh,

but with us is the Lord our God.

That changes the dynamic,

that changes the situation entirely.

David's version of this,

of what Hezekiah said is,

the Lord is my refuge,

why should I fear?

And David spells out there in verses 4 to 7,

why he is not afraid,

why he doesn't think he should fear.

In verse 4,

he says that God is reigning in heaven,

that he sees all.

And in verses 4 and 5,

he sees the righteous and the wicked.

So he sees the situation.

Verse 6,

he will judge the wicked.

And verse 7,

he brings justice to the righteous.

We know that because he says,

they will see his face.

He doesn't say to his friends,

what you are seeing is wrong.

You must change your glasses,

if they had glasses in those days.

What you are seeing is wrong.

No, he can't say that,

because what they are seeing is true.

He can't say,

you are understanding this wrong.

No one is really out to get me,

because they could see it with their eyes.

But he does say,

God is bigger than this situation.

The Lord is in control.

He sees all that is going on.

And he will deliver the righteous.

And he will judge the wicked.

It's not just that he realises

that God is in control

and he need not fear.

But there's another element to this.

He refuses to run

and therefore be deflected

from what purposes God had for him.

whatever the opposition is

he was going to face.

So what does this psalm

have to say to us today?

We see from the title,

if you look back at your Bibles there,

just above verse one,

you see the title

for the director of music of David,

that this was a song,

this was written as a song,

and it's a song to be sung,

sent to the director of music.

And this psalm,

as well as other psalms,

was to be sung

by all of God's people.

This psalm was in the

Israelites' songbook,

if you like.

They used it in worship.

And why was it so important?

Why was it put here in Scripture,

not just for the Israelites to sing,

but for us to reflect on today?

Well, I think there are two truths here,

which is important for believers

of any generation,

for every one of us sitting here this morning.

The first is that whatever our circumstances

look like,

God is fully in control,

so we can fully trust him.

The second thing,

as David was seeing,

we must not be deflected

from God's purposes for us.

We're going to look at these

a little bit closer,

just these two points here.

God is in control.

In particular,

God's control is shown

by verses four to seven.

The fact that he sees,

and he doesn't just see,

but he has the power,

and the will,

and the purpose to act.

We're told that he sees the righteous,

and will save them.

He sees the wicked,

and will judge them.

So,

take time to think right now

that God

sees

and understands

you completely

this morning.

He sees

maybe your anxiety

about your

present situation,

about work,

family problems,

financial hardships.

Maybe you have

housing issues,

or maybe you suffer

with poor health.

Well,

God sees those things,

and according to this psalm,

he will save you.

Though he may not

take the issue away,

his promise

is to be with you

through it,

and to be

your refuge,

as he was to David.

This word refuge

comes repeatedly

through the psalms.

I wouldn't do

a count of it.

I'd need more fingers

than I could

count on.

It comes time and time again

in the psalms,

this idea of

God being our refuge.

And it's describing

a place

of safety.

If you've trusted

Christ,

then you are

in the safest place

you can possibly be.

You're in his shelter.

You're under

his protection.

A story

in Genesis chapter 6,

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

it's the truth,

it's history,

is Noah's Ark,

where Noah,

you remember

from your Sunday school days,

brought the animals

into the ark.

And

this is an illustration

here,

the ark is an illustration

of what David's

saying,

that in the Lord

he takes refuge.

If you've taken

refuge in God,

you're safe

no matter what

floods,

what trials

you may face.

He faces them

with you.

But if you haven't

taken refuge in Christ,

not only

do you have

to face

life's trials

alone,

but you also

have to face

God's judgment

alone.

But God

has provided

a way

that we can

take refuge

in him.

So God

sees his people,

but God

also sees

those

who are wicked.

In this psalm,

they're described

as those

who love

violence.

That's how

they're typified

there in verse 5.

But the word

wicked

also describes

those who are

quite content

to live their

lives with

little reference

to God

or with no

reference to God.

Those of us

who insist

on living

apart from him.

The warning

to us today

and the fearful

thing is that

God will grant

those people

the desire

of their heart,

but they will

come under

his judgment

as we read

there in

verse 6.

God is in

control.

God is bigger

than our

situation.

He sees

and he acts

to save the

believer

and judge

the unbeliever.

God is bigger

than our

God.

The next thing

that I think

this psalm mainly

says to us is,

don't be deflected

from the purposes

God has for you.

I'll take you back

now to another

Old Testament story,

the story of Jonah.

God had a mission

for him,

didn't he?

Do you remember

what that was?

It was the preach

to the people

of Nineveh.

Jonah.

But instead,

he ran away

to Tarshish

in the opposite

direction.

He did the opposite

to what David

was doing.

David would not

let his circumstances

or those around

him deflect him

from God's

purpose,

but Jonah

did.

David's purpose

here was to

be king

and to lead

his people.

We've been seeing

that through

2 Samuel,

haven't we?

David was God's

anointed.

It was God's

purpose for him

to be a good

king,

to lead his

people.

How can he do

this if he runs

away?

So it's important

that he stands

his ground

and he fulfills

God's purpose

for him.

But for us

sitting here

or standing

here this morning,

what is God's

purpose for us?

What does God

call us to?

Well,

personally,

what has God

called you to?

Maybe you

haven't thought

of this in

quite those terms

that God

has a purpose

for you.

But he does

and he has

called you

to be faithful

to that.

Now,

if you're not

a Christian

this morning,

the Bible

says that the

first thing

that God

calls you

to is

repentance

so that you

may know

his forgiveness

and that you

may come

into his

family.

Jesus said

in Mark

Mark 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1,

the time

has come,

the kingdom

of God

has come

near,

repent

and believe

the good

news.

That's

everyone's

starting point.

It's my

starting point

when I was

a kid of

13,

and God,

I opened

my eyes

to this.

We need

to repent

and put

ourselves

right with

God.

But if you

are a

Christian,

I wonder

what you

think God

has called

you too.

There are

generally

things that

God has

called us

to.

Matthew 5

tells us

that we're

to shine

as lights,

we're to

live a good

life so that

God is

glorified.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

tells us

that if

we're a

Christian,

we're to

be the

aroma of

Christ to

those around

us.

Or chapter

5 of 2

Corinthians,

we're to

be reconcilers,

to call

other people

to be

reconciled

to God.

But in

Psalm 11,

I think

what God

is primarily

calling us

to is

to persevere,

to endure,

to keep

the faith,

not to

give up.

If you

have your

Bibles,

if you'd

like to

turn to

page

1180,

you'll

find that

that's

Philippians

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3

and there's

four verses

there that

I'd like

us to

read.

I'll read

it to

you.

And this

is key

to this

idea of

endurance,

perseverance.

Philippians

Philippians 3:12

chapter 3

verse 12

and this

is the

apostle Paul

speaking.

verse 13

verse 13

I press

on to

take hold

of that

for which

Christ

Jesus

took hold

of me.

Brothers

and sisters,

I do not

consider myself

yet to have

taken hold

of it,

but one

thing I do,

forgetting what

is behind

and straining

forward to

what is

ahead,

I press

on toward

the goal

to win

the prize

for which

God has

called me

heavenward

in Christ

Jesus.

So what's

the goal

that Paul

is talking

about here

in Philippians

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3?

Well the

earlier part

of the

chapter,

Paul describes

it as

knowing Christ

better and

better in

this life.

That was

his goal,

that was

his aim,

that was

his great

purpose.

So even

more than

being the

great apostle

that he

was and

preaching to

the Gentiles,

his greatest

goal was to

know Christ

better.

Now if

anyone knew

Christ,

you would

think it

was the

apostle Paul.

Jesus had

revealed himself

to him on

the road to

Damascus,

as we know,

and he was

the foremost

of the

apostles as

we see him

now.

But his

goal,

he wasn't

satisfied

until he

could know

Christ

better and

better.

I wonder

whether that

is our

goal this

morning.

What is

this heavenly

prize Paul

is looking

forward to

in Philippians

3?

Well it's

Christ.

There's no

other,

more than

wanting the

goal of

heaven,

more than

wanting

anything he

could hope

for.

It was to

have Christ,

to see

him face

to face.

David says

a similar

thing at

the end

of Psalm

Psalms 11:7

11,

verse 7.

He says,

for the

Lord is

righteous,

he loves

justice,

the upright

will see

his face.

death.

So if

Jesus is

the centre

of all

this,

we ask

ourselves

a question,

how was

Jesus the

fulfilment

of this

psalm?

We've seen

in the

psalm that

God saves

his people

and he

brings

judgment

on the

wicked.

When we

look at

the death

and the

resurrection

of Jesus,

we see

there both

God saving

people and

God bringing

his judgment.

This time,

not on the

wicked,

but on the

perfect son

of God.

You're

probably

familiar with

Isaiah chapter

Isaiah 53:5

53,

verse 5

says this,

he was

pierced for

our transgressions,

he was

crushed for

our iniquities,

the punishment

that brought

us peace

was on

him,

and by

his wounds

we are

healed.

So the

cross wasn't

a dreadful

accident,

it wasn't

that Jesus

couldn't help

himself,

but as he

was hanging

there on

the cross,

he was in

our place,

bearing the

judgment of

God on

our sin,

so that

we can be

forgiven and

saved from

the judgment

that we

deserve

ourselves.

So his

death and

resurrection

shows us

the salvation

and the

judgment of

God,

both at the

same time.

But secondly,

Jesus is the

fulfillment of

this psalm

because we

see in

Jesus the

perfect example

of one who

would not be

deflected from

God's purpose

for him,

his father's

calling on

his life.

And we

see what

that was

exactly in

Matthew

Matthew 20:28

chapter 20

verse 28,

the son of

man did

not come to

be served,

but to

serve and

to give his

life as a

ransom for

many.

That was

Christ's

calling,

man,

that was

to do

his father's

will and

to give

his life

a ransom

for many.

And we

see in

the life

of Jesus

that he

was tempted

and he

suffered far

more than

we are

to give

up.

It's

strange to

think that

in a way,

isn't it?

Because Jesus

the perfect

God-man,

we know

he was

tempted,

but he

was also

tempted to

give up

the cross.

When the

devil tempted

him in

Matthew

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4,

he was

given three

temptations,

wasn't he?

The first

was to

turn stone

into bread,

but all

three

temptations

was temptation

to go

against what

God wanted

for him.

And therefore

to sin.

If Jesus

had sinned,

his substitution

on the cross

would be no

use for us

because he

wouldn't be

the perfect

man.

So the

devil tried

to deflect

him from

this by

making him

sin,

but he

would not

yield to

those

temptations.

The temptation

to jump

off the

temple roof.

What would

have happened

if Jesus

would have

said,

well,

sure,

I will

be safe,

let me

just do

this one

thing.

What would

have happened

if he had

done that?

Well,

he probably

would have

had the

adulation

of the

crowd.

He would

have been

put forward

as some

kind of

the true

Messiah,

the true

one sent

from God.

Of course

he was,

but he

wouldn't have

been allowed

to go to

the cross.

He wouldn't

have suffered

in our

place.

So

throughout

Jesus'

life,

there were

things that

would throw

him off

his mission

to the

cross.

Even his

close friend

and disciple

Peter,

Matthew

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16,

when Jesus

told him

that he

was going

to suffer

and be

killed,

what did

Peter say?

Never,

Lord,

this shall

never happen

to you.

Do you

remember

what Jesus

said to

Peter?

Get behind

me,

Satan,

you are a

stumbling

block to

me.

Peter was

a stumbling

block because

he was

inadvertently,

he didn't

really understand

the full

impact of

this,

but he

was distracting

Jesus,

he was

deflecting

him off

of God's

path for

him.

Jesus had

to go

through to

the cross.

Luke 9

51,

and this

is the

last verse

in this

section,

and we're

coming to

a close

now.

We read

this,

as the

time approached

for him

to be

taken up

to heaven,

Jesus

resolutely

set out

for Jerusalem.

So when

he knew

his death

was imminent,

he didn't

run,

he set

out to

the place

of his

execution.

Why was

he resolute?

Why would

he not be

deflected?

Well,

because he

was doing

his father's

will,

and in

doing that

he could

bear the

judgment

that the

wicked

deserve,

as it's

set out

there in

verse 6

of Psalm

11.

So just

in conclusion

now,

God sees

and understands

whatever

difficulties

we're

facing,

whatever

difficulties

you're

facing

at the

moment,

and he

also sees

those

difficulties

that you

can't see

that are

going to

happen to

us in

2025.

But as

we step

into that

new year

very soon,

let's

remember

that everything

is in

his care

and under

his control.

No matter

how frightening

it may seem

to us,

no matter

how out

of control

we may

seem,

everything

is under

his care

and under

his control.

We need

not fear.

walk that

road with

Christ,

press on

to trust

him more

and more

and to

know him

better.

In other

words,

persevere.

if you

have your

Bibles,

the last

reading we're

going to

have is

on page

1210,

1210.

It's

Hebrews

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12

and I'm

just going

to read

to you

two verses

and the

reason we're

closing with

this is

because it

speaks of

perseverance

on the

journey

and it

tells us

that our

encouragement

won't be

from things

going well

for us

but our

encouragement

will be

from looking

to Christ.

Verse 1

Hebrews 12

Therefore,

since we are

surrounded by

such a great

cloud of

witnesses,

let us

throw off

everything

that hinders

and the

sin so

easily

entangles

and let us

run with

perseverance

the race

marked out

for us.

Fixing

our eyes

on Jesus

the pioneer

and perfecter

of faith

for the joy

set before

him

he endured

the cross

scorning

in shame

and sat

down at the

right hand

of the throne

of God

consider him

who endured

such opposition

from sinners

so that you

will not

grow weary

and lose

heart

let's pray

father we do

thank you for

our lord

jesus christ

we thank you

that he's

made a way

for us

to be right

with you

thank you

father that

you have

called us

to look

to him

to persevere

to keep

going

and we

pray that

as we

face this

coming week

and as we

face 2025

that lord

you would

help us

to persevere

to keep

looking to

jesus

the author

and perfecter

of our

faith

in his

name we

pray

amen