Refuge in Christ (Psalm 7)

If you want to go ahead, you can turn to Psalm chapter 7. That's where we'll be today.

Psalms 7 · chapter mention

But as you're turning there, I want you to think about this.

Some of the times that are most frustrating in this life are when we are falsely accused of something that we didn't do.

Can we all agree with that?

Sometimes the most frustrating times in life is when you're accused falsely of something and you know that you didn't do it.

Whether it be at work, at home, my personal favorite is when Catherine wakes up mad at me in the mornings.

And just wakes up and just is already, I can tell something is off.

I'm like, are you okay?

And you know, what's wrong?

And I'm like, I didn't even have time to do anything this morning.

It can't be something that I've done this morning.

We just woke up and come to find out she had a dream that I did something and now she's mad at me.

I'm like, I love it.

I'm like, I didn't do it, sweetie.

I promise I didn't do it.

That wasn't me.

Or Resi and Jacob get accused of things all the time because they have a little sister that will throw them under the bus faster than anything.

If she feels like she's going to be able to get out of something by blaming it on Jacob or Resi, she will say that so quickly.

And it's frustrating.

And it should be because those are things that we didn't do.

And they're justified by being frustrated with it.

But Psalm 7, in part, is about injustice.

David is here.

He's being accused of something that he's saying, look, look, I didn't do this.

God, look at me.

Check my life.

Look at my life.

This is not something that is a part of who I am.

I did not do this.

And so when you look at the heading of this passage, when you look at the superscript that is there above verse 1, you'll see that it says this.

It says,

Now, first of all, what in the world is a shagayan?

I don't even know if I'm saying that right, much less what exactly this is.

This most likely refers to some type of musical reference, but we're not exactly sure what it means.

If you look it up, some of the commentators will suggest that it refers to this.

It says,

When I read that, I was like, I'd love to hear Clay sing that.

This would be a fun song to hear him sing.

But the truth is, we really don't know what it is.

We're not completely sure what this refers to.

But it's some type of song in which David sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush.

Yet again, we're stumped because the historical narratives that we have throughout Scripture,

we really don't know who this Cush is.

It's referred to here, but we really don't know this interaction from other places.

Now, some scholars, James Hamilton in particular, he makes a very strong case

that this Cush here in Psalm chapter 7 is the same Shammai that earlier when David was fleeing from Absalom.

Psalms 7 · chapter mention

He was a relative of Saul.

And so we know from 2 Samuel that this Shammai, when he was talking to David,

David fleeing from Absalom, he began to curse David, saying all kinds of things about David

and accusing him of all kinds of things.

And so when you look at the context of this psalm,

when you look at some of the issues that he's addressing,

it seems most likely that this Cush may be this Shammai.

But again, we really aren't sure.

But those will hopefully give us a little bit of background

as we come into this psalm to help us understand it in a greater way.

And so if you've had time to turn to Psalm chapter 7,

Psalms 7 · chapter mention

I want you to follow along as we read these verses.

Now, this is the longest psalm that we've gotten to so far in the Psalms,

and it's 17 verses.

But I think you'll find that they flow together well to help paint this picture for us.

Starting in verse 1, it says this,

Oh, Lord, my God, in you do I take refuge.

Save me from all my pursuers and deliver me.

Lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,

rending it to pieces with none to deliver.

Oh, Lord, my God, if I have done this,

if there is any wrong in my hands,

if I have repaid my friend with evil

or plundered my enemy without cause,

let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it.

And let him trample my life to the ground

and lay my glory in the dust.

Selah.

Arise, oh Lord, in your anger,

lift up against the fury of my enemies.

Awake for me, for you have appointed a judgment.

Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you.

Over it return on high.

The Lord judges the peoples.

Judge me, oh Lord.

Judge me, oh Lord.

Where did I go?

Judge me, oh Lord.

According to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me.

Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end

and may you establish the righteousness.

You who test the minds and hearts, oh righteous God.

My shield is with God who saves the upright in heart.

God is a righteous judge

and a God who feels indignation every day.

If a man does not repent,

God will wet his sword.

He has bent and readied his bow

and he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.

Behold, the wicked man conceives evil

and is pregnant with mischief

and gives birth to lies.

He makes a pit, digging it out

and falls into the hole that he has made.

His mischief returns upon his own head

and on his own skull his violence descends.

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness

and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high.

And so in this psalm as we read this,

there are going to be several things that we see David calling for,

David calling out for.

And so as we work our way through this,

there's going to be periods where we see something in David's heart

that we should have in our heart.

As we look at these calls that David places,

we'll see how this applies to us.

And so to begin with,

the first call that we see in this passage

is a call for help.

We see a call for help here.

Verses 1 and 2,

Oh Lord my God, in you do I take refuge.

Save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,

lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,

rending it to pieces with none to deliver.

You see, David begins this psalm

by appealing to his strongest relationship.

He begins this psalm by appealing to his strongest thing in his life,

and he's appealing to the Lord

by calling out to the Lord himself.

And I think there's a really simple reminder

that we would probably all agree with,

but it's important for us to consider today.

And it's this,

that when you are in need,

call for help from God.

When you're in need,

call for help from God.

This sounds,

I know this sounds incredibly simple,

but I firmly believe that this is a reminder

that we all must consider today.

We all call for help when we're in need.

The question becomes,

where are we looking for help?

You see, each and every one of us,

when we are in need of something,

when we're in despair,

we're going to call for help from somewhere.

The question becomes,

where are we calling from help from?

Think about your own life.

The last time that you were going through

a difficult time in your life,

where did you turn for help?

Was it God or did you call on something else?

Something else to temporarily fix the problem

or to take your mind off of the problem?

Many times it can be things that aren't bad

or that aren't sinful in themselves,

but in those moments when we turn to them

to provide something to us

that only God can provide,

those things are at best unhealthy,

at worst are sinful in our lives.

When we turn to things that we know

are just going to take our mind off of it,

when we know they can't provide

what they're promising to deliver,

that only God can provide it,

yet we turn to those things

in those moments of need.

When we deal with our stress or anxiety or depression

by spending hours scrolling through social media

to fill a void,

to take our mind off of it,

what we are doing is making that void bigger.

When we mask our problems through alcohol or drugs,

they're not being dealt with.

When we try to take our mind off of our problems

by spending more money than we have,

what we're ultimately doing is

we're not fixing the problem

and we're creating other problems in our life.

And so the question becomes,

in your moments of need,

in your time of need,

where are you looking for help?

And David gives us a strong reminder

that he is looking to the Lord

in this time of need.

And so as we go through this passage,

it's important for us to see

how this points us to Jesus

because he is our ultimate call for help.

To help us see this,

Danny Akin, he provides some helpful insight.

He says,

when it comes to the Lord Jesus,

these words,

talking about here,

these first few verses here in this psalm,

perfectly describe the intent

of the religious leaders who persecuted him,

talking about Jesus.

They tried to arrest him,

insult his death,

yet being in the center of God's will,

he was saved and rescued.

He rested,

in other words,

he found refuge in his father,

as refuge until his hour arrived,

to go to the cross,

the Lamb of God

who takes away the sin of the world.

And it's a reminder,

call on the Lord.

When you are under attack or in danger,

he is available.

He cares.

He hears your cries for help.

Now this doesn't mean that

we always get what we ask for,

but we can take great confidence

in knowing that God hears us

when we cry out to him.

That as believers,

he has already met our greatest need,

our need for a savior.

And he has promised us

eternal life with him.

A life that will one day

be free of those disappointments

and heartache that we face in this life.

But yet this hope

is not just a hope for eternity.

It's not just a hope

for some far off day in the future.

It's a hope for us today.

It's a hope for us for tomorrow.

And yes,

it is a hope for all of eternity.

And so what David is realizing here,

in this moment of great distress,

he calls on the name of the Lord for help.

It's a call for help

to the one and only

who can provide that.

So the next thing that we find

in this passage

is a call for examination.

A call for examination.

Verses 3 through 5.

Oh Lord my God,

if I have done this,

if there is wrong in my hands,

if I repaid my friends with evil

or plundered my enemy without cause,

let the enemy pursue my soul

and overtake it.

And let him trample my life to the ground

and lay my glory in the dust.

Selah.

Now remember from our study of Psalm 3.

When we see this word Selah here,

it's instructing us to pause for a moment

and think about what is just being said.

Again, these verses give credibility

to the argument that the man called Cush here

in the heading is the same person

that we read earlier in 2 Samuel,

that is Shimei.

Back in 2 Samuel 16,

we are told that Shimei cursed David

when he was on the run saying,

he says,

Get out, get out,

you man of blood,

you worthless man.

The Lord has avenged on you

all the blood of the house of Saul

in whose place you have reigned.

And the Lord has given the kingdom

into the hand of your son Absalom.

See, your evil is on you

for you are a man of blood.

This is what Shimei was calling on.

This is what he was cursing David with.

This is what he was accusing David of.

In the accounts of David's life,

we have no proof of these claims.

And in fact,

the accounts that we have

say just the opposite.

Cush's words truly were false accusations

and David's conscience was clear in this matter.

Now sometimes you can fool other people.

Sometimes you can get your crew in your corner

and say,

I didn't do this.

I had nothing to do with this

when the truth is you did.

Or maybe you can see it

when you watch the NFL on Sundays.

You'll see a player take a cheap shot

and then act like they're the victim

when somebody else retaliates

to try to get the penalty caused on them.

But now we have replays

so we can see it all in just real time

and also in replay.

But yeah,

we can try to fool other people

and say,

hey,

I didn't do anything wrong.

But there's no fooling God.

And so here in this passage,

David is saying,

God,

take a look at my life.

Look at my life.

If I've done any of these things,

if I've done any of these things,

then let it come down on me.

If I have made this bed,

then let me lay in it.

He uses the word if three times

to emphasize his innocence.

He's not claiming complete innocence,

but he's claiming innocence in this matter.

For example,

when a defendant pleads not guilty in a court,

they're not saying that they're not guilty

of any crime that has ever been committed.

They're saying,

I'm not guilty of this crime

that I'm being accused of.

They're not saying I've never speeded.

I've never,

you know,

not buckled up.

I've never looked at my phone

when I'm driving.

They're not saying

I haven't done anything wrong,

but I'm just saying

in this accusation,

I'm not guilty.

And that's what you have David doing here.

He's not saying that he's not,

that he's blameless

in every aspect of his life

because he would later write in Psalm 53

that Romans 3 quotes

where it says,

none is righteous,

no, not one.

No one understands,

no one seeks for God.

We must all understand

that there will be times

when we get falsely accused

of things that we did not do.

Few things in life

are as frustrating

as when that happens.

When we are guilty,

well,

we get the just cause of our guilt.

But when we did nothing wrong

and get accused of it anyway,

it can be frustrating.

This is where David finds himself.

In those moments,

we naturally want to retaliate.

We want to argue.

And oftentimes,

we find ourselves

on the same level

and starting to slander as well,

falsely accusing them,

well,

if they're going to do this to me,

then I'm going to respond here.

David's first response here

was to take a look at his own life,

to examine himself,

to recognize that we all have sinned,

that we are all sinners,

but then David asked God

to examine his life.

He takes these accounts

and he says,

Lord, if I have done this,

look at my life.

If I have done this,

then let it come down on me.

Before we go on the defensive

and play the part of the victim,

let us understand

that we are first all sinners

and only secondly

are we sinned against.

Let us understand

that we all have guilt

and only secondly

are we sinned against.

Before we get on our high horse,

let us humbly come before God

and say,

Lord, examine my life.

Before we start arguing

and trying to justify

everything in our lives,

let us say,

God, examine my life.

Help me to respond to this

in a way that is honoring

and glorifying to you.

Help me respond

to these false accusations

in a way that doesn't lead to sin,

but in a way that honors you

and who you are

because we ultimately know

he is perfect in his justice,

which brings us to the next call

that we see in this passage.

And we're really going to tie in two things

because I wanted to separate them,

but then they went together so well

and so we just have two calls right here

in this next point

that we want to make

and it's this,

a call for action

and a call for justice.

A call for action

and a call for justice

because ultimately

this justice is God acting.

And so what we see

in verses six through nine

says,

Arise, O Lord.

In your anger,

lift up against the fury

of my enemies.

Awake for me.

You have appointed a judgment.

Let the assembly of all the peoples

be gathered about you.

Over at return on high,

the Lord judges the people.

Judge me.

O Lord,

according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity

that is mine,

O let the evil of the wicked

come to an end

and may you establish

the righteous.

You who test the minds

and hearts,

O righteous God.

David uses three strong imperatives

in verse six

to call for action.

He says to the Lord,

he says,

Arise, O Lord.

Lift yourself up.

Awake.

Well, we know that we serve a God

who never sleeps

and never takes time off,

but he's just,

he's emphasizing,

Lord, I need you to act in this.

God has declared

that he is just

and will always do

what is just

and David is confident

that he will.

And so he's calling him

to act

as a part of who

his character is.

He's calling him

to act justly.

In our prayers to God,

the things that we ask God,

especially concerning

other people,

are we asking God

to act in a way

that is consistent

with his character

or are we asking him

to act in a way

that is characteristic

and consistent

with our sinful motivations?

And so when we come

before God

and we call him

to act

and we're calling him

to say,

God,

will you please work

in this situation?

Are what,

is what we're asking God,

is we asking him

to work

and to act

in a way

that is consistent

with who he is

or are we begging him

and asking him

to act in a way

that is consistent

with our sinful motivations?

I think that's the heart

behind what David

is calling God

to do here.

He's calling him

to act in a way

that is consistent

with who he is.

David knows

that God is the judge

of all the world.

His great hope

is that God

will give him justice

in the heavenly courtroom.

Here's the thing,

you may go to your grave

wrongly accused

of something.

The history books

may be wrong about you

and slander your name

to the coming generations,

but there

is a final justice

in this world

and it comes

from God himself,

the great judge

who knows all

without ever having

to call a witness,

who not only knows actions,

but he knows motivations

behind the actions

and what he does

is he acts

in truth.

He knows

not only these actions,

but the motivations.

God is bigger

than lies.

Truth will triumph.

And this is something

that we can count on

so we can call

on the name of God

to take action

and to act justly

and we can rest assured

that he will do this.

So this call for action

is a call for justice

that we see

in verses 10 through 16.

In these verses,

we see a couple examples

of how God's justice

plays out naturally

in this world

many times.

It gives you two images here,

this one image

of conception and birth

and then also digging a pit

and falling into it.

To begin with,

we see it says,

Behold,

the wicked man

conceives evil

and is pregnant

with mischief

and gives birth

to lies.

Because evil

has filled him up,

he eventually

conceives trouble

and gives birth

to deceit.

Is this not how

sin works in our life?

Is this not how

the pattern that sin

takes so many times,

it works its way out

from the inside.

It starts with our hearts

and our minds

when no one else

is around

and works its way out

but God sees

all of it.

Even the private,

even in our minds,

God sees it

and will act justly.

Those things

that start in private

often times come out

in very real ways

and many times

in very public ways.

And so what we're seeing here

is a God

who's acting justly

where those sins

that we try to keep in private,

they will come to light.

They will come out,

they'll give birth

to what we see

coming next.

And we also see

this justice at work

in that sin

never produces

the desired outcome.

I love this next part.

It says,

the psalm tells us,

it says,

he makes a pit.

So there's this man

makes a pit

digging it out

and then he falls

into the hole

that he has made.

His mischief returns

upon his own head

and his own skull

his violence descends.

You see,

part of God's justice

plays out in sin

because it never

delivers on what it promises.

I love how Eugene Peterson

says this,

he says,

mischief backfires

and violence

boomerangs.

Mischief backfires

and violence

boomerangs.

See,

we have high hopes

that sin is going

to give us

our deepest desires,

but part of God's justice

and I would say

part of God's mercy

is showing us

that sin

never delivers

on what it promises.

Part of God's justice

and I would say

at the same time

part of God's mercy

is showing us

that sin

never delivers

on what it promises.

In this passage

we have a call

for God

to act justly.

The call

is for God

to act justly

and this is going

to happen

whether we pray it

or not

because that's

who God is.

But we must then

take this characteristic

of God

and apply it

to our lives.

We must have

this heart

for justice

that God has

in situations.

James Montgomery Boyce

in talking about this

he says

in order for us

to have this justice

talked about here

in Psalm chapter 7

Psalms 7 · chapter mention

there's going to be

several things

at least three ways

in which this plays out.

We must be champions

for the poor

and disadvantaged.

Who will help them?

They are unable

to help themselves

so we must be champions

for the poor

and disadvantaged.

We must be upright

in conduct.

We cannot honestly

pursue justice

for others

if we do not

practice it ourselves.

And finally

we must seek

vindication

of the righteous.

We must see

those who do good

are acknowledged

to be good

and those who are wicked

are identified

as such.

Will we be serious

about this justice

in the world

even if it doesn't

directly affect us?

Will we seek justice

even when it doesn't

affect us

in a way

that is consistent

not with our own

character

but in a way

that is consistent

with God's character?

In other words

will we look

in this world

and will we see

injustices

that are taking place

all over this world

that don't really

necessarily directly

affect us

that we could

turn a blind eye to

and it wouldn't

change anything

about us

are we going

to see those

injustices

and are we going

to act in a way

that is consistent

with who God is?

Because if we

love justice

then we must

act in a way

that is consistent

with how God

calls for this

finally very quickly

we see a call

for praise

verse 17

I will give to the

Lord the thanks

due to his righteousness

and I will sing praise

to the name of the

Lord the most high

all of this

should cause us

to praise God

the fact that we

can come to him

in our most difficult

times

and that he hears us

how wonderful

is it to know

that before God

we will never be

wrongly accused

because God is

perfect in his

justice

but this also

means that he

will act justly

against our sin

he'll act justly

against sinners

because it tells us

if a man does not

repent

God will wet

his sword

he has bent

and readied his bow

he has prepared

for him deadly

weapons

making his arrows

fiery shafts

this is a picture

of God's justice

justice and wrath

against sin

we as sinners

are objects of this

wrath and justice

but this is also

a cause to praise

because God made a way

for Jesus' death

to count as ours

the penalty

the just penalty

for sin

is death

and so death

is going to be

present

some of you may have

seen the movie

National Treasure

before

anybody seen

National Treasure

it's kind of an

older one now

but many of you

have seen it

at the end

Benjamin Gates

he's already stolen

the Declaration

of Independence

broken all of these

laws

and he's sitting

next to the FBI

agent that's been

pursuing him

and the FBI

agent asks him

what do you want

to get out of

all of this

and he says

well I just

really don't want

to go to jail

I mean if I

could not go to jail

that would be great

and the FBI agent

looks at him

and says

well somebody

has to go to jail

there's been crimes

that have been

committed

there's been crimes

that have been

committed

and somebody's

going to have

to pay the penalty

for those crimes

so somebody

is going to have

to go to jail

when we

we all want

forgiveness and mercy

but in order for

there to be

forgiveness

a payment

must be made

God's justice

cannot be

compromised

the penalty

for sin

is death

and that can

either be

your death

or Jesus's

death

but a penalty

is going to be

made

and God's

justice

is what now

gives us

assurance

because God's

perfect in his

justice

he can never

punish us

for what he's

already punished

Jesus for

he can never

punish us

for our sin

because he's

already emptied

that he's poured

out that punishment

on Jesus

and so that gives

us assurance

that as believers

as those who've

placed our faith

and our trust

in Jesus

when God

looks at us

he doesn't see

our sin

and our shame

he sees his

son's holy

and perfect

life

and so we can

take assurance

that God's

justice has

been satisfied

and it is my

prayer

that as we've

studied this

psalm today

that it will

be clearly

a reminder

of where we

turn for help

in this life

that we will

see our sin

and that when

we are wronged

it won't produce

more sin

in our life

but it will

produce thankfulness

for the joy

of God's

perfect justice

but more than

anything I hope

that this psalm

points us

to Jesus

the one and only

truly innocent

God man

that laid down

his life

so that we can

experience new life

the only one

that will

can and will

take your sin

shame and regret

if you place

your faith

and your trust

in him

will take that

on himself

pay for it

and full

on the cross

and give you

his perfect

and righteous

life

and so that

when God

looks at you

we can clearly

say we can

confidently say

God look at

my life

because it's

no longer

my life

that is counted

but it's

Christ's life

that is counted

in my place

and so we can

stand confidently

before God

and say

I am righteous

not because of

what I've done

but because of

what Jesus

has done

and God

is perfectly

just

to look at

us

because that

payment has

been satisfied

and call us

his son

or his daughter

that's the

beauty of this

that's the

the hopefulness

of this psalm

that even in

those false

accusations

may point to

us and realize

that we really

are sinners

and that even

though we are

falsely accused

of things

we really do

have sin in

our life

but Jesus

is the only

truly perfect

innocent

that was slain

for us

so may it

produce in us

joy

that nothing

else can

father thank you

so much

for your word

thank you for

what it teaches

us about you

thank you for

for for

placing these

psalms like this

in scripture

that are real

that are authentic

that we can

identify with

and we can

resonate with

that even

King David

was struggling

with many of

the things

that we struggle

with but God

you were there

with him

and we know

that you'll be

here with us

and so Lord

help us to

look at this

passage

help us to

see our sin

and help us

to see you

as the only

truly perfect

the only

truly righteous

one who

paid our

sin debt

so that we

could have

a relationship

with you

and so Lord

help us

to act in

ways that

bring honor

and glory

to your name

and act in

a way that

truly shows

our gratitude

for all that

you've done

for us

we love you

and we thank

you for Jesus

and it's in

his name we

pray

amen

I'm going

to invite

you to

stand

we're going

to sing

a song

of invitation

here this

morning

if God

is speaking

to you

this morning

won't you

respond as

we stand

together

and sing