Psalm 46: God is our Refuge and Strength

Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father, sometimes your word is very shocking and even upsetting.

We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would do a gentle but powerful work within us,

that the gospel would become so real to our hearts,

that we would trust that even when your word is its most shocking or most upsetting,

Father, that these are words that you know that we need for our soul's health,

to become more like Christ and to live with freedom and integrity,

with justice and goodness and beauty in this present age,

until we come to the age to come, the new heaven and the new earth.

We ask, Father, for this gentle but important and powerful work of your Holy Spirit,

and we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So when I get the privilege occasionally to help people speak,

one of the common mistakes that people have to speak make

is they assume that people know the text quite well.

I've probably read Psalm 58 this week.

I wouldn't be surprised if I read it 30 times.

And so it's very present and fresh in my mind, but maybe not to yours.

And if some of you are maybe just watching the sermon and haven't heard anything,

what I'm going to do is I'm going to read all of Psalm 58 again right now,

and then we're going to go back.

I'll make a couple of other comments, and we'll go through it slowly.

But because some of you might say, like, what did that say?

Did Ross say that?

Like, did it say that?

And so let's just hear it so it's fresh.

And then people will understand a little bit some of my comments at the beginning

as we walk towards the text.

And by the way, why are we preaching this text?

I'm preaching this text because our summer series are all the—we were to pick—

the 10 sermons were to pick Psalms between 31 and 60,

and 58 is within 31 to 60.

And I saw the text, and I knew it was one of the main cursing texts in the Bible.

And I don't want to hide it from people.

And I thought part of what it means to be a church

is that we learn to read the Bible together

and that I provide some help with a text that otherwise might really shock you.

And so that's why I'm looking at it.

I wasn't thinking, oh, let's pick the most offensive text I possibly can and preach on them.

No, it was within that, and I think it's important.

Many Christians can go decades, maybe their whole life in church,

and never once hear a sermon on a psalm like this.

And it doesn't help you.

It doesn't help me as a preacher either.

So here's what the psalm says.

To the choir master, according to Do Not Destroy, a mitkam of David,

do you indeed decree what is right, you mighty lords?

Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

No, in your hearts you devise wrongs.

Your hands deal out violence on earth.

The wicked are estranged from the womb.

They go astray from birth, speaking lies.

They have venom like the venom of a serpent,

like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or the cunning enchanter.

Oh God, break the teeth in their mouths.

Tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.

Let them vanish like water that runs away.

When he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.

Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,

like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.

Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze,

may he, that's God, sweep them away.

The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance.

He will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

Mankind will say, surely there is a reward for the righteous.

Surely there is a God who judges on earth.

And I'm going to say, this is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

So, I mean, for many Christians,

to even see that this psalm is in the Bible is a shock.

And for people who are maybe trying to figure out the Christian faith,

this confirms a lot of their worst fears.

They've always suspected that beneath that pleasant,

oh yeah, we all believe in love, you know, God is love.

There is, in fact, an iron fist that will hurt people.

They say, George, didn't this psalm just pray that people will die?

Didn't this psalm ask God to kill people?

And did it really just say that we want to bathe in the blood of the wicked?

George, are you actually saying that we should pray this and live this?

And if you're not, then that confirms what I've always thought,

that you pick and choose.

And so, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you pick the text about sex that you like

and dump on everybody else,

but when you have complicated texts like this that go against you,

you just ignore them.

I've always thought that's what Christians were like,

just picking and choosing,

and it's pure prejudice if you talk about sexuality

or some other types of things.

It's just your prejudice,

because you don't talk about texts like this.

Now, we're going to go through this text

to show that we don't just pick and choose.

I don't want to pick and choose.

I want to have the Bible speak into my heart.

And I'm going to tell you right now,

I mean, when I read this text on Monday,

I thought, whoa, okay,

and I sort of wondered if I should have picked it.

But I've actually now, after studying it a week

and praying about it,

I actually am very pleased that this text is in the Bible.

And I think we should all be pleased that it's in the Bible

and that, in fact, it opens the door

to how helpful and insightful

and real to humans' experience the Bible is,

like for real human beings living their real lives.

Now, I'm going to say also,

my sermon's going to be a little bit different

than some of the others.

You know, I can just tell you,

there's three lines in this text

where there's some major, major translation issues.

I'm only going to talk about one.

I'm not going to talk about the other two.

And there's really only one place

where the Hebrew sort of is very helpful

to understand the text,

and I'm going to talk about that.

But, you know, the rest of the text,

I could nuance and stuff,

but it's just as shocking.

Like, it's just as shocking.

Like, the text is good enough as it is in English.

And it, like, you might go and read eight different versions

about the first part of verse one

and get different translations,

but the part about bathing your feet in the blood of the wicked,

it's fundamentally,

you won't see that fundamentally different than any of the text

because that's just very blunt there.

So let's look.

Let's walk towards the text,

and it begins like this.

And in this particular case,

I hope Claire has it up,

the so-called superscriptions,

actually very important to interpreting the text.

And the superscription says,

to the choir master.

So I guess David wrote this so the people could sing it.

And the tune is,

according to Do Not Destroy,

which must have been a tune.

Nobody knows what mitkam really means nowadays,

but it's a mitkam of David.

So King David is the one who wrote this psalm.

And then he continues on like this.

Do you indeed decree what is right,

you mighty lords?

Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

No, in your hearts you devise wrongs.

Your hands deal out violence on earth.

Now,

this text is actually very, very simple

and very, very profound.

It's as if,

with just a couple of very simple lines,

it gives a bit of an outline

about how you live a moral and good life

and the different aspects of it.

The very first line,

and so first of all,

the first verse is rhetorical.

In other words,

it's expected that you say no.

That's the expected answer.

It's rhetorical.

It's not like a real question.

It's no.

The answer is no.

And the other thing about the text,

which is important to know,

is that there's a lot of debate

about how to translate the first part of the line.

And so really,

at the end,

you can go read some commentaries on it

and all that.

The bottom line is,

the first part of the first verse

is contrasting two different ways to do wrong.

Sins of omission

and sins of commission.

And so what that means is,

you know,

let's say somebody comes to me

with some complaints

about things that are going on in the church

and maybe about a particular person

and make some accusations against them.

And one of you

happen to have been a witness of the actual event

and you know that the person who's accused is innocent

and you remain silent.

That's a sin of omission.

It's actually a sin

which isn't really talked about much in our culture.

It could be that you hear about a great financial need

and you have,

and the God puts it on your heart to deal with it,

but you don't do it.

That's a sin of omission.

You could have given that check

that would have helped with that financial need,

but you didn't do it.

And we often don't think of that.

There's times when you can speak out

and you remain silent.

And it's a very,

that's the first type of the sin.

The second type of the sin

where you actually make bad decisions,

wrong decisions,

decisions which are unjust,

corrupt, hurtful.

And that's a way to understand

how to live a very moral life.

You don't fail to act in a good way when you can

because you should.

And you don't do things which are wrong.

And the other part of the psalm,

which is actually very,

very profound,

is that if you look at verse one again,

it says,

do you indeed decree what is right?

Remember I told you there's the implicit,

if you look at all the different translations,

you'll see the words,

they're trying to figure out how to do silence

and how to,

anyway,

we don't go into it.

But the main thing is,

verse one asks about whether you do right,

and verse two talks about you do wrong.

And what the psalmist is doing

is picking actually the very most basic,

simple moral categories,

right and wrong.

We had lots of grandchildren

visiting us over the holidays.

And, you know,

some of them were just two or three.

And you see parents either succeeding or failing

in just some very simple moral instruction.

Don't do that.

That's wrong.

You know, that's wrong.

You should do this.

That's good.

You know, you should share.

That's good.

You don't tell a lie.

That's wrong.

Very, very simple things.

You don't hit your brother in the head

with a metal rod.

That's wrong.

You know,

but very simple right and wrong.

And that's the way that the psalm

sort of phrases the issue.

Now, here's the part,

the one part in the psalm

where the underlying Hebrew

isn't entirely caught in the English.

It's sort of there,

but it's not purely caught.

And the underlying language

of especially verse 2

is that this isn't just something

that you do occasionally,

but that it grows.

And that's part of the main idea

behind the text.

So what it means is

it's very easy for me to tell a lie,

maybe,

or to do some other sin.

And I do that,

and then I repent of it,

and I, you know,

then later on maybe I tell another lie,

and I repent of it.

But it's possible

when you do something which is wrong

that you then do it again,

and then you do it again,

and then you do it again.

And before you know it,

doing that particular wrong act

has become a habit.

And then before you know it,

that habit has grown,

and it now reflects your character.

And then before you know it,

it's not just your character,

it's your identity.

And before you know it,

it's not just your identity,

but it's a fixed part of your identity.

And that's what the psalm is talking about.

So one of the things

which is quite remarkable then

about the psalm

is that,

and it's easy for us

to get it mixed up,

but when we see,

oh, sorry,

I forgot an important part.

The whole psalm

is addressed to wicked tyrants.

That's the insignificance

of mighty lords.

And so the thing

which is very significant

about the psalm

is that what we,

is how do we in our culture

think of great evil

and people who do great evil?

And how does this psalm

speak into how our world

understands great evil?

And you see,

what you can see right off the bat

is that the psalm

is doing something

very different than what we do.

Well, Stalin,

he was a psychopath

and a sociopath.

You know,

and then you fill in the blank.

This tyrant,

they were a psychopath.

They were a sociopath.

And what we tend to do

in our culture

is we psychologize

the evildoer.

We objectify the evildoer.

And what we do

is give ourselves a break.

Well, there's these

really evil guys

like Stalin and Hitler,

psychopaths, sociopaths.

There's them,

and you describe them

in psychological categories,

but we now have

a bit of a break.

And the Bible doesn't do that.

And so when the Bible,

especially in this next little bit

when it's describing the wicked,

what you're not to understand

is it's somehow

trying to just use

biblical language

to objectify

or put a certain class

of people.

And this is very important

because most of the way

modern thought works

is to do this,

you know,

that a person

of a certain race,

they're all bad

or they're all good.

Or a person

of a certain

socioeconomic category,

they're all bad

or they're all good.

and we put people

in boxes,

we put people

in prisons,

and we put people

in prisons

in such a way

that we can flatter ourselves

and give ourselves

a pass

on the evil

that we do.

And the Bible

uses very simple,

nothing more complicated

than you would,

a parent would tell

their two-year-old

about right and wrong.

That's the categories

that the Bible uses.

Very simple.

And it's warning us

that evil can grow.

In fact,

you see,

this is what you see

in the next verses

three to five.

And just as we start

reading the three to five,

you need to keep

in the back of your mind

another biblical image.

And in the biblical image,

in the Bible,

Genesis chapter three

is all about

the serpent

in the garden.

And the serpent

speaks lies,

believable lies

to Adam and Eve.

And Adam and Eve

swallow the lies

and act on them

because they want

to be like God.

And so keeping this in mind,

listen to how

verses three to five goes.

It goes like this.

The wicked

are estranged

from the womb.

I'm going to talk

about that more

in a few minutes.

They go astray

from birth

speaking lies.

And we're going to talk

about this in a moment

because right now

all of it does,

it does sound

a little bit like

there's a separate category

of evil tyrants

that are just bad

from birth.

And so we're now

objectifying them,

putting them off

as if it's all them.

So it does,

but I'm going to explain

why that's not

what the text is saying.

I'll read it again.

The wicked

are estranged

from the womb,

estranged from God,

estranged from the moral

order of the universe

that is based on,

is rooted in God,

comes from God.

They go astray

from birth

speaking lies.

And in the original language

it's actually more

they speak the lie

in a sense.

In other words,

they speak lies

and at some point in time

they become

ones who only speak

a lie.

They only become,

in a sense,

they become the lie.

And that's seen

in verses 4 and 5.

They have venom

like the venom

of a serpent.

All of a sudden,

what is it?

They become like a serpent.

You're thinking

of Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

It's that they begin

with a lie,

they begin with a lie,

they begin with doing

something wrong,

and before you know it

it's a habit,

and before you know it

it's a character,

before you know it

it's your identity,

and before you know it

you are indistinguishable

from the devil.

And you have power

over others,

and boy do you use it.

They have the venom

like the venom

of a serpent,

like the death adder

that stops its ear

so that it does not hear

the voice of charmers

or the cunning enchanter.

See, it's painting

this picture

that you continue on

and you come to this

point in time

when it not only

becomes your identity

but it becomes

in a sense

a point of your identity

that's completely

and utterly fixed.

You won't hear

anything against it.

You won't hear things

against the sexual sins

you commit,

the lies that you commit,

the greed,

the idols that you pursue.

You won't hear

anything against them.

You become in a sense

a fully devoted follower

of these idols,

these lies,

these sins,

and that's now become

who you are.

So,

you won't repent,

you won't listen,

it's become who you are.

Now, I just want to pause here

and say,

I'm not going to sort of

quote back and forward,

but I have been

remarkably blessed

by Derek Kidner's commentary

on Psalm 58.

And everything I say

this morning

is indebted

to his insights.

Once or twice,

I'm going to quote him,

I'm not going to mention him,

but he was the one,

I think,

who pointed me

in the direction

to understand this Psalm.

So, I just want to give

credit to where credit is due.

Derek Kidner,

a commentary written

over 50 years ago,

but still in print.

And here's the point

before we go any further

in the Psalm.

If you could put up

the first point,

Claire, that would be

very helpful.

This Psalm is a portrait

and a mirror.

This Psalm is a portrait

and a mirror.

This is what Derek Kidner

talks about.

So, it's a portrait.

And we're going to give

some examples

in a moment, actually.

But it's a portrait

of what happens

when you become a lie,

when you become a sexual sin,

when you become greed,

when you become power hungry,

and power hunger consumes you,

when selfishness consumes you.

You become that.

And so, it's a portrait.

But it's also a mirror.

It's something where

to look at and see,

Lord,

oh, I've been giving

my greed a pass.

I've been giving

my lack of forgiveness a pass.

I've been giving my desires

for revenge a pass.

I've been giving

my sins of envy a pass.

I've been giving

my anger a pass.

And are you saying

that I can become like this?

Like, maybe not like a Stalin

that can cause millions of death,

but, you know,

all of us know petty tyrants,

tyrants in families,

tyrants in workplaces,

tyrants in neighborhoods.

You know, the dad

who is a tyrant.

And we all know that.

And is that the direction

of my life?

So, it's both a portrait

and a mirror.

And in fact,

I'm going to show you

why that's the case.

If you turn in your Bibles

to Psalm 51,

Psalm 51,

and I think, Claire,

I'm just going to read

verses 4 and 5.

So, here's the significance

of David being the author.

David also wrote Psalm 51.

And David wrote Psalm 51

after he'd had adultery

with Bathsheba,

and he was caught out

by Nathan the prophet.

And Nathan confronts him,

and David acknowledges

that he is the man.

And after he has done that,

he writes this psalm.

And just listen to verses 4 and 5.

Against you,

talking about God,

you only have I sinned,

and done what is evil

in your sight,

so that you may be justified

in your words

and blameless

in your judgment.

Now, here's the thing.

Behold, I was brought forth

in iniquity,

and in sin

did my mother conceive me.

You see, that's why I said

that when you read the text,

it's exactly the same language

as occurs in Psalm 58

in verse 3

about being born in sin,

about being estranged from God.

So, David is not saying

there's this class of psychopaths

or sociopaths

who are tyrants,

and the rest of us

get a pass.

It's me, it's me,

it's me, oh Lord,

standing in the need

of repentance.

It's me, it's me,

it's me, oh Lord,

standing in the need

of redemption.

That's why we understand

the psalm

not just as a portrait,

but also as a mirror.

Now, we can say,

George, okay,

well, what about the language?

Okay, that's, I mean,

sort of interesting, George,

but the fact of the matter is,

George, the fact of the matter is,

it talked about praying

for the death of people

and bathing your feet

in the blood of the wicked.

So, before we go any further,

I want to give you

a couple of things

to think about

when we're going to read

verses six to nine,

and then when we're going

to consider verse 10.

Six to nine are the prayers

about, you know,

have them be defeated,

have their weapons fail,

have them die,

have them be completely

and utterly annihilated

by your judgment.

Those are the prayers.

And before we read them again,

I want you to consider this.

In 1988,

while he was a firm ally

of the United States of America,

Saddam Hussein

used mustard gas

on an innocent population

and killed 5,000 people.

And the American government

did nothing against him.

And Reagan,

of beloved conservative memory,

was the president.

And 10, 15 more thousand people

were permanently hurt

by this mustard gas attack,

purely and utterly

to maintain his power.

A group called,

believe it or not,

the Committee of Union

and Progress,

ruling in the Ottoman Empire,

in around the middle

of the 10s to 19,

like 15 or something

and around there,

forced the mainly Christian

Armenians

on a death march.

And 600,000

to 1.5 million people died.

An atrocity committed

by the Committee

for Union and Progress.

And Armenians

would say that the figure

of 1.5 million

is too low.

In the 1970s,

the Khmer Rouge

killed somewhere

between 1.5

to 3 million people

in their own country,

and their own country

before this

had less than

8 million people.

Less than 8 million people,

and they killed

maybe 3 million of them.

In the 1930s,

the Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics

created a forced famine

in the Ukraine,

an artificial famine

where they stole the food

and killed 3.5

to 5 million Ukrainians.

In Rwanda,

500,000 to 800,000 people

were killed

in the genocide.

In Uganda,

in the 70s,

Idi Amin

killed 300,000

to 500,000

Ugandans.

And then

the National Socialist Party,

of course,

killed 6 million Jews.

How does our system

of thought

handle

such great evil

by such great tyrants?

I want to challenge you

if you're trying

to figure your way

through what's true or not.

A profound question

to ask yourself

is this.

Many people think

that the way

to have enlightenment

is to take on

Hindu

religious practices

and Hindu philosophies

and obviously

there are things

within that

which are admirable.

But Hinduism,

at its very core,

justified the caste system

that oppressed

a significant part

of their population

and did not see it

as evil

but justified.

Does Buddhism

teach you

to be quiet

in the face of evil?

Does Marxism

provide you

the categories

to be able

to see such things

like this

as a great evil?

Does contemporary

secularism

have categories

to describe

such sheer evil

of a massive scale

and if it cannot

handle evil

of such a massive scale,

can it handle

it in a small scale?

Mindful

mindful

of these examples?

Let's listen

to verses

actually no,

before I do that

we'll do this.

So I'll just give you

these examples.

Now imagine

for a second

that you are

one of those

Armenians

on the death march

that will kill

maybe all

of your family

and you will be

one of the few people

who will survive

or

you were a Cambodian

who somehow

manages to survive

all of that

but lost all

your family

or you were

in that village,

those villages

in Iraq

when Hussein,

Saddam Hussein

mustergassed

all those people

and killed them

or just imagine

how do you react

to it?

Most North Americans

want to ignore it

because it's upsetting

and they won't enjoy

their pumpkin latte

and pumpkin scone

if they think about it.

Post-modernism

teaches you to shrug.

Oh well.

Diplomats

like silence.

Fellow travelers

like to apologize

and defend

the evil.

Capitalists

like to accommodate.

If somebody

has to sell them coal

it might as well

be us.

Somebody has to

sell them bullets

it might as well

be us.

Many people

are urged

to surrender

to the inevitable

triumph

of injustice

and evil.

and many

admire it

and join it.

Not recommending

you watch

Peaky Blinders

but if you do

one of the things

which is very

powerful

and quite accurate

is the large

number of people

in England

in the 30s

who admired

Hitler.

So given

those options

given the evil

and given

the options

let's read

verses 6 to 9

maybe with

different ears.

What is 6 to say?

Oh God

break the teeth

of their mouths

tear out the fangs

of the young lions

oh Lord

in other words

that these

young lions

aggressive

and powerful

and ravenous

tear out their fangs

break their teeth

let them vanish

like water

that runs away

when they

my enemies

when these tyrants

aim their arrows

let them be blunted

in fact

God

let them be

like the snail

that dissolves

into slime

like the stillborn

child who never

sees the sun

let them be dead

sooner than your

pots can feel

the heat of thorns

whether green

or ablaze

God

may you sweep

them away

in your wind

which one of those

options would you

prefer to be

describing a view

in the face

of horrendous

tyranny

and why is it

that our default

position when we

hear psalms like

this as Canadians

is one of the

different things

which I mentioned

like being an

ostrich

or a postmodern

shrug

or diplomatic

silence

or accommodation

to evil

what about the

language of blood

well here's the

problem with

prayer

here's the

problem with

prayer

you know I

pray into a

need for

you know maybe

to support more

missionaries

or I pray into

the need

to see

some things

done in the

church

or maybe I pray

into the need

to deal with

to help the

poor

and the next

thing that happens

is that while I'm

praying about how

there needs to be

something done to

help the poor

and God whispers

into my voice

you should donate

$500 to the

food bank

or you're praying

that something

needs to be done

in the church

which there's a

gap and the

next thing that

the Lord is

putting on your

heart is that

you need to

volunteer to

step up and

take that on

or you're

praying that

there has to

be something to

do to help

this the

missionary outreach

to a place

like Iran

and the next

thing you know

is that God

is putting on

your heart

that you have

to give

$1,000

or $2,000

towards the

missionaries

every year

that they can

support and

do that

that's how

prayer works

and so God

is saying

you're praying

against injustice

we're going

to topple

them

come along

now here's

the thing to

understand about

this psalm

it's a

scream

it's a

scream

against

injustice

it is

a

visceral

scream

that means

you don't

necessarily

take every

single word

exactly

literal

it is a

scream

against

injustice

and the

problem we

have with

the Bible

is the

Bible

never

surrenders

or pardons

injustice

and it

never

justifies

doing

evil

it is

implacable

unfailingly

opposed

to the

reality

of human

wrongdoing

whether it

starts with

the two

year old

who decides

they want

to hit

their brother

on the

head

with a

metal

rod

or whether

it's

Stalin

planning

to kill

five million

or more

Ukrainians

it's an

unbroken

line

a moral

line

so

just in

closing

so what

do we

do

George

are you

saying

we just

pray

Psalm

58

like

are you

just

saying

that

that's

what we

should

do

no

I'm

not

and

if you

could

put up

there

if you

follow

in your

Bibles

Romans

Romans 3:10–26

chapter 3

verses

10

to 26

as we

draw the

sermon

to a

close

Romans

Romans 3:10–26

chapter 3

verses

10

to 26

and the

way the

book of

Romans

is structured

is you

have like

the first

15 verses

are sort

of just

some

you know

this is

who I

am

and this

is a few

things I've

been doing

in my

plans

and then

it's almost

like in

verse 16

and 17

Paul gives

a quote

from the

book of

Habakkuk

and he

sort of

gives

his

pracy

that describes

what the

whole book

is going

to be

about

and then

from

chapter 1

verse 18

to this

part that

I'm about

to read

it's sort

of what's

the problem

that the

gospel is

going to

solve

and then

from chapter

3

beginning

in verse

21

to the

end of

11

it's

how the

gospel

the good

news of

Jesus

dying on

the cross

in your

place

how that

solves

the problem

and then

chapter 12

13

14

15

is how

do you

live

given that

Jesus

is the

gospel

is true

that's

how the

book of

Romans

is

so this

what I'm

about to

read you

is the

end of

solving the

problem

and remember

how the

first part

of Psalm

51

about the

wicked

being

astray

from their

birth

and all

of that

type of

thing

and listen

as Paul

is bringing

his whole

argument

to a

conclusion

he quotes

from a

variety

of Old

Testament

verses

beginning

at verse

10

none

is

righteous

no not

one

no one

understands

no one

seeks

for God

all have

turned aside

together

they have

become

worthless

no one

does

good

not even

one

their throat

is an

open grave

they use

their tongues

to deceive

the venom

of asps

is under

their lips

their mouth

is full

of curses

and bitterness

their feet

are swift

to shed

blood

and their

paths

are ruin

and misery

and the

way of

peace

they have

not known

and there

is no

fear of

God

before their

eyes

and as

we see

later

Paul knows

that this

is describing

him

especially

in verse

chapter

7

verse

19

now we

know

that

whatever

the law

that's

the

Old

Testament

says

it

speaks

to

those

who

are

under

the

law

so

that

every

mouth

may

be

stopped

in other

words

those

who

know

what's

right

and

wrong

and

the

whole

world

may

be

held

accountable

to

God

for

by

works

of

the

law

in other

words

by

our

own

moral

actions

no

human

being

will

be

justified

made

right

with

God

in

his

sight

since

here listen

to verse

21

but

now the

righteousness

of God

has been

manifested

apart

from the

moral

law

although

the

law

and the

prophets

bear

witness

to

it

this

thing

which

is

separate

from

the

moral

order

the

righteousness

of

God

through

faith

in

Jesus

Christ

for

all

who

believe

for

there

is

no

distinction

for

all

have

sinned

and

fall

short

of

the

glory

of

God

and

are

justified

made

right

with

God

by

his

grace

purely

and utterly

unmerited

as a

gift

how

through

the

redemption

that is

in

Christ

Jesus

whom

God

put

forward

as a

propitiation

by his

blood

in other

words

as he

took

our

place

and

turned

aside

he

he

he

bore

in his

body

the wrong

that we

had done

the

the

good

that we

failed

to do

and

all

anger

that might

be

directed

against

that

all

was

on

him

and

we

receive

what

he's

to be

done

by

faith

and

this

was

to

show

God's

righteousness

because

in

his

divine

forbearance

he

had

passed

over

it's

an

image

of

the

book

of

Exodus

in

other

words

he's

dealt

with

former

sins

it

was

to

show

his

righteousness

at

the

present

time

so

that

he

might

be

just

just

as

is

maintained

and

the

justifier

of the

one

who

has

faith

in

Jesus

if

you

could

put up

the

gospel

changes

everything

you

and

I

who

are

Christians

cannot

simply

pray

psalm

58

and

you

and

I

cannot

simply

ignore

it

since

the

gospel

changes

everything

you

cannot

simply

pray

psalm

58

and

you

simply

cannot

simply

ignore

it

see

the

gospel

tells

us

that

God

wants

to

maintain

the

moral

order

and

the

just

order

and

while

that

is

only

going

to

lead

to

our

being

eternally

separate

from

him

Jesus

dies

in

our

place

because

he

it's

a whole

other

thing

but

he

can

he

dies

in

our

place

out

of

love

for

you

and

me

and

the

punishment

that

I

deserve

fell

on

him

and

the

destiny

that

he

deserved

is

given

to

me

and

he

does

it

out

of

love

and

it

tells

us

that

there

will

be

a

killing

maybe

500,000

Ugandans

fled

Uganda

and

lived

a

luxurious

life

until

his

natural

death

in

Saudi

Arabia

but

the

gospel

tells

us

he

does

not

evade

God's

justice

no

human

being

will

we

can

take

that

to

the

bank

we

can

base

our

life

on

it

doesn't

mean

that

we

can

be

indifferent

to

evil

at

all

but

it

relativizes

the

claims

of

tyrants

to

know

that

they

will

meet

the

triune

God

and

they

will

be

judged

you

see

in a

sense

what

happens

in

salvation

is

it's

not

that

I

appear

before

God

and

I

say

well

you

know

I

was

a

pretty

good

guy

you

know

at

least

a

B

minus

in

terms

of

as

a

husband

or

something

like

that

and

that's

a

passing

mark

won't

get me

into

graduate

school

but

it

you

know

it's

at

least

a

passing

mark

you

know

and