The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Being Mistreated To The Glory of God ｜ Psalm 43

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00:00:18.080 This morning, we're continuing with our series through the Psalter.

00:00:21.260 Last Lord's Day, I preached through Psalm chapter 42.

00:00:24.840 this lord's day by god's grace i will seek to preach through psalm 43 again our text is psalm

00:00:33.500 43 would you join me in standing for the reading of god's word i'll read our text for us in its

00:00:40.000 entirety when i finish i will say this is the word of the lord at which point i would appreciate if

00:00:44.420 you would respond by saying thanks be to god one final time our text for this morning is psalm

00:00:49.860 chapter 43 the bible says this vindicate me oh god and defend my cause against an ungodly people

00:00:58.200 from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me for you are the god in whom i take refuge why have

00:01:06.620 you rejected me why do i go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy send out your light

00:01:13.540 and your truth let them lead me let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling then I

00:01:21.060 will go to the altar of God to God my exceeding joy and I will praise you with the liar oh God

00:01:27.740 my God why are you cast down oh my soul and why are you in turmoil within me hope in God for I

00:01:36.020 shall again praise him my salvation and my God this is the word of the Lord all right please be

00:01:43.180 seated and join me as i pray one final time father god i pray that you would equip and empower me by

00:01:49.220 your grace and by your spirit to preach your word faithfully faithfully not carefully and not merely

00:01:59.580 courageously but faithfully for in the faithful preaching of your word we can be sure that the

00:02:05.360 faithful preacher will be a careful preacher and all the ways he ought to be and the faithful

00:02:10.380 preacher will be a courageous preacher in all the ways he ought to be. So Lord, help me to preach

00:02:16.560 your word faithfully. As you said through your prophet Jeremiah, let the one who has a dream

00:02:23.400 tell his dream, but let the one who has my words preach my word faithfully. Father, help me to do

00:02:32.960 that for your glory and for the good of your people. I pray that indeed through the preaching

00:02:39.140 of your word that your people would arrive at a greater better more accurate more biblical more

00:02:46.420 faithful understanding of who you are of what you've done and what it is that you require from

00:02:52.080 us as a right response but lord we pray that this knowledge would not serve as an end in itself but

00:02:58.600 as a necessary means propelling your people into love that our minds would be filled with the right

00:03:05.620 knowledge of you so that our hearts might be propelled with the right love for you. And that

00:03:11.020 in our love for you, that we would fulfill the very thing that Jesus promised of all those who

00:03:16.080 love you. That is that if we love you, we will obey. So Father, I pray that we might know you

00:03:22.860 through the preaching of your word so that we might come to love you by the power of your spirit

00:03:26.980 so that we might come to obey you as a testimony and a witness in this earth that you are the God

00:03:33.880 in heaven, who judges both the living and the dead, and that the nations and the peoples would stand

00:03:39.420 in fear. We pray, Lord, that you would do these things for the good of all those you're saving

00:03:44.960 across the globe, in our city, and even in this room, especially among our children. But we also

00:03:53.160 pray these things, most of all, for your glory. To you be honor and praise and glory forever and

00:04:00.740 ever. Amen. By way of introduction, I've written the following. Psalm chapter 43 is a continuation

00:04:07.500 of Psalm chapter 42. A breath is not even hardly taken in between these two songs. We

00:04:16.440 should understand them as really one singular song or one singular prayer. Psalm 42 and

00:04:24.760 psalm 43 david is continuing to grieve over the fact that he has been effectively cut off

00:04:32.520 from israel the people of god and by proxy or by way of consequence and being cut off of the land

00:04:40.300 of israel and the people of god he has been effectively cut off from the tabernacle the

00:04:45.480 place of the dwelling special presence of god so david naturally or we should say supernaturally

00:04:53.060 as one who is a lover of God, with a man whose heart is after God,

00:04:58.840 he longs for both the people of God and the praise of God.

00:05:03.960 And due to his deprivation of the people and praise of God,

00:05:08.020 David laments and desperately longs for the presence of God.

00:05:14.220 The special presence of God that inhabits the praise of the people of God.

00:05:19.020 This is David's greatest sense of loss that we see in Psalm 42 and Psalm 43.

00:05:26.860 We might say, we should say, that far greater than David's desire to see the downfall of those who've betrayed him,

00:05:36.440 far greater than David's passion and zeal for the Lord to vindicate him in the case of his enemies,

00:05:43.600 to bring those low who have chosen to oppress him,

00:05:47.820 far greater than any of that,

00:05:49.700 David simply longs to be restored to the God he loves.

00:05:55.040 His love for God far exceeds his hatred of his enemies,

00:06:01.940 which is a convicting thing.

00:06:05.240 So too we should love God far more

00:06:08.660 than we feel any sense of frustration or anger

00:06:12.540 towards those who hurt us it's a dangerous thing it's a dangerous thing when your hatred of those

00:06:22.840 who harm you begins to cloud and cover your love of god this never happens in psalm 42 and psalm 43

00:06:35.620 david was a man like you and died a man after god's own heart but also a sinner in need of the

00:06:40.720 grace of God. And so there may have been times, occasions, there likely were in David's life where

00:06:45.800 his bitterness, his rage, his anger towards his enemies did for a moment clouds and inhibit his

00:06:53.480 sight of affection toward God. But in the writing of these Psalms, inspired by the Holy Spirit,

00:07:00.580 that is not the case. There may have been moments where David was contemplating and fixating and

00:07:06.600 obsessing in his thoughts, in his mind, in his emotions and his heart more on his desire to see

00:07:13.140 his enemies fall than his desire to be restored to the God that he loves. But that's not, although

00:07:20.680 that it may be the case and very likely is the case that there were moments like that. Those are

00:07:25.540 not the moments that we see in the text. In this text, in Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, what we see is

00:07:32.200 david at his best and it's funny because because many scholars biblical scholars and commentaries

00:07:38.460 would say that in the psalms one of the beauty of the psalms is that we see david at his worst

00:07:43.180 and i know what they mean by that and i think that's essentially generally true that we don't

00:07:48.660 just see the mountaintops but we we see the psalmist whether it be asaph or king david we

00:07:54.360 see them in the valley the valley of the shadow of death we see them in moments of weakness

00:07:59.100 moments of difficulty moments of great trial and so it is true that that one of the beauties of

00:08:05.940 the psalms is is that we not only see them in those glorious mountaintop moments of life but

00:08:11.760 we do in fact see them at their worst but i think what we should say is that we see them

00:08:16.880 at their worst situations in their worst circumstances in those worst seasons but we

00:08:23.500 do not see, at least in these two Psalms, we do not see David at his worst morally. We see David

00:08:31.780 in one of his worst situations, but we see him thriving as a Christian should in terms of his

00:08:39.240 heart posture in the midst of that difficult situation. So we see David at his worst time,

00:08:47.220 but not his worst heart we see David with a heart truly after God's in a situation

00:08:55.680 that would tempt any of us to despair and yet we see David in these two psalms not giving way

00:09:03.940 to despair and also not giving way to jealousy to envy to rage or to bitterness when it comes

00:09:14.420 to the wickedness of his enemies psalm chapter 22 verse 3 says this yet you are holy enthroned

00:09:24.100 on the praises of israel that's what we read to begin our worship service this morning that

00:09:30.280 is david's greatest desire that is what david longs for most of all david's greatest desire

00:09:38.560 is not for god to set the record straight in the case of his enemies that their wickedness

00:09:44.140 and deceitfulness which is what he explicitly mentions right save me vindicate me from not

00:09:51.180 just the wicked man but specifically the deceitful and unjust unfair man right these are the two

00:09:58.420 qualities that david chooses to highlight to emphasize the man who is oppressing me the man

00:10:04.240 who has committed injustice towards me he has two two characteristics that are most notable he is

00:10:10.780 deceitful and unfair what he's doing isn't fair and he's content to do it because he is

00:10:18.380 deceitful and yet david's greatest desire is not for the deceitful and unfair unjust man

00:10:26.800 who has wronged him to be brought to justice although that is one of his desires most certainly

00:10:32.340 but his greatest desire is that he would be restored to israel the people of god and the

00:10:39.320 praise of the people of God and the presence of God that inhabits the praises of his people

00:10:46.360 David longs to be restored to the special dwelling presence of God this is not merely an old

00:10:53.600 testament principle as I preached last week but to remind you Matthew chapter 18 verse 20 Jesus

00:10:58.980 himself says for where two or three are gathered in my name there I am among them Jesus spiritually

00:11:08.240 present in a special way when two or three followers of Jesus, baptized disciples of

00:11:15.720 Jesus, gather together in his name. Jesus, therefore we might say, the spirit of the

00:11:22.880 risen Christ who is always present with every believer by virtue of the Holy Spirit, right? 0.98

00:11:31.400 If you are in Christ, if you're a Christian, you're a new creation and your body is not 0.97

00:11:36.760 your own it's been bought with a price that's first corinthians chapter six it is a temple now 0.77

00:11:41.560 of the holy spirit whom you have received and the holy spirit one of his chief ministries the

00:11:48.380 indwelling ministry of the spirit is to exude to manifest to to make known the spirit of the risen

00:11:55.940 christ so if you're a christian your body is a temple of the holy spirit you have the holy spirit

00:12:00.820 if you have the holy spirit the spirit exudes the spirit of the risen christ meaning if you are a

00:12:06.100 Christian even if you're in complete isolation with not another Christian in sight you have with

00:12:12.720 you at all times the presence of Jesus so what is Jesus saying then well why say this in Matthew

00:12:19.840 chapter 18 verse 20 where two or three are gathered in my name there I am among them because we know

00:12:25.480 theologically that Jesus could also say where one is by himself in complete isolation in my name so

00:12:33.880 So long as that one has been saved by grace through faith in me, they are a temple of the Holy Spirit.

00:12:40.000 And if they have the Holy Spirit, they have the Spirit of the risen Christ.

00:12:43.400 So Jesus could just as truthfully say, where there is one, there I am among him.

00:12:50.340 So then why? Why does he say, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.

00:12:55.260 What he means is this. He's not saying that if one Christian is in isolation,

00:12:59.360 that the spirit then,

00:13:01.520 the spiritual presence of the risen Christ

00:13:03.340 is now absent.

00:13:04.400 That's not what he's saying.

00:13:05.640 Because we know that Christ is present

00:13:07.880 with every believer,

00:13:09.100 even when that believer is on their own.

00:13:11.380 So what he's saying is,

00:13:12.420 there I am among them,

00:13:14.640 when two or three gather together in my name,

00:13:16.740 in a special way.

00:13:18.840 That there is a unique presence of Christ

00:13:21.260 that is only made available

00:13:23.420 when brothers and sisters in Christ

00:13:25.900 gather together in his name.

00:13:29.160 This is what David longs for.

00:13:31.040 It is not only an Old Testament principle,

00:13:33.060 but a New Testament principle reiterated by Christ himself

00:13:37.200 in Matthew chapter 18.

00:13:38.440 And therefore, this special presence of God,

00:13:43.040 this special spiritual presence of God

00:13:45.320 made available only to the people of God

00:13:47.940 when they gather together corporately and praise him

00:13:51.080 should be not merely the longing of David's heart,

00:13:54.700 but the desperate deep desire of our hearts as well of our hearts as well the purpose of psalm

00:14:05.180 chapter 42 and 43 which are prayers of david which were later used as corporate songs by the sons of

00:14:13.860 cora was to lift david's soul from its downcast state meaning the purpose the intention one of

00:14:23.040 the goals that david was seeking to achieve when he was praying these psalms or singing them as

00:14:29.500 songs to the lord and when he was writing them under the inspiration of the spirit one of the

00:14:34.020 things that he was seeking to achieve is to lift his spirits as it were to bring himself from a

00:14:43.340 state of despair and unbelief doubt and grief to a state of hope a state of confidence these psalms

00:14:56.760 are david's weapons if you will that he uses to wage a war against his own temptation to pity

00:15:05.660 His own temptation to be bitter.

00:15:09.220 His own temptation to be grieved

00:15:12.880 to the point of complete and utter despair.

00:15:20.780 David was grieving the loss of God's special presence

00:15:24.100 because he was separated from the worship of God

00:15:27.160 in the assembly of his people.

00:15:29.200 And David, not only that,

00:15:31.060 but he was enduring the oppression of his enemies

00:15:34.740 who relentlessly taunted him in the midst of his pain.

00:15:38.820 It's like the old expression,

00:15:41.680 you know, don't kick me when I'm down.

00:15:44.280 It's the one-two count.

00:15:46.340 It's a combo, not just a singular pain that's inflicted.

00:15:51.380 The first is that David is severed from the special presence of God

00:15:54.920 that inhabits the praises of his people.

00:15:56.940 So number one, David is cut off from the God that he loves, in a sense.

00:16:01.800 But then number two, in that state of loneliness and isolation, a feeling of separation from the special presence of God, David is now being attacked and taunted and mocked relentlessly by his enemies.

00:16:19.360 So one, cut off.

00:16:21.420 Two, mocked by his enemies. 0.90

00:16:24.860 They're kicking him while he's down.

00:16:27.540 In Psalm 42, we see that the enemies of God and the enemies, therefore, of David, they taunted him all day long, all day and all night by saying to him, where is your God?

00:16:40.660 A rhetorical question, to be sure.

00:16:44.100 An insult.

00:16:45.520 Mockery.

00:16:46.460 Where is your God? 1.00

00:16:48.040 Either he doesn't exist or, more likely, he does exist, but he has abandoned you because you are a great and utter failure. 0.93

00:16:57.540 like Job's wife, who says, 0.99

00:17:00.100 Job, curse God and die. 0.99

00:17:03.640 All right, what a spouse. 1.00

00:17:05.540 What a helpmate.

00:17:07.820 Likewise, the enemies of David are doing the same.

00:17:12.640 Except I'm a little bit more sympathetic towards them

00:17:15.860 than the wife of Job,

00:17:18.240 who should have done a better job.

00:17:21.840 So David is not only separated from the presence of God,

00:17:24.440 but he's being taunted and mocked by his enemies.

00:17:26.560 He's being kicked while he's down.

00:17:29.720 And everything in him is tempted to despair.

00:17:32.960 And so he utilizes prayer.

00:17:36.520 He utilizes praise.

00:17:39.160 These songs, these prayers, in order to plead his heart from a clot to a flame, as the Puritans used to say.

00:17:49.380 He's preaching to himself.

00:17:51.540 He's crying out to God.

00:17:52.720 He is praying, certainly to be sure, there are portions of Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 where the audience that the language is directed towards is God.

00:18:02.000 So therefore it is prayer. It is David speaking to God.

00:18:04.680 But there are moments where David is no longer speaking to God, but rather he is speaking to himself.

00:18:10.140 Why so downcast, O my soul?

00:18:14.180 In those moments, David is no longer praying.

00:18:16.660 David goes from praying to preaching.

00:18:18.480 he goes from praying to god requesting and petitioning his help to preaching to his own

00:18:27.880 heart that is combating and contending with the feelings of despair

00:18:33.560 this refrain this particular refrain we might call it the chorus of this song

00:18:41.620 why so downcast oh my soul it's repeated specifically three times the key is found

00:18:49.840 in the word again this word again is profound david says why so downcast oh my soul why are

00:18:58.200 you in turmoil within me hope in god don't despair but hope hope in god why this little word for

00:19:06.940 tells us that he's about to give the reason for his hope why should you hope in God rather than

00:19:12.280 despairing in your circumstances because I shall again praise him my salvation and my God the word

00:19:22.180 again it implies it reveals to us that David had praised God in his special presence before and

00:19:31.900 because, precisely because David had praised God in his presence before, that is the basis

00:19:40.320 of his confidence and hope that he will praise his God in God's presence again. Why? Because

00:19:49.320 if it's ever occurred once, it is promised that it will occur forever. He who began

00:19:58.980 a good work in you will be faithful to carry it to fruition he's the author and the finisher of

00:20:04.860 our faith meaning in moments of despair and doubts one of the tools at our disposal is to look to the

00:20:14.040 past in praise and remembrance of what god has done those sweet moments in the presence of god

00:20:21.400 and know with confidence with hope and assurance that if we have experienced the presence of god

00:20:28.500 before, then we are promised to experience the presence of God forever. Judas didn't have a

00:20:36.680 single moment. I'll use him as a case study. Judas did not have a single moment of the sweetness

00:20:44.680 of fellowship and communion with Christ. Although he was with Christ in his earthly ministry

00:20:53.260 For several years, there was never any moment of real heartfelt union and communion between Christ and Judas.

00:21:06.280 And so when Judas recognizes what he has done, that he has betrayed the Son of God into the hands of evil men for 30 pieces of silver, what is his solution?

00:21:18.920 What does he do?

00:21:19.900 he gives into despair he hangs himself why because there is no hope in god because the basis of

00:21:31.940 david's hope in god and the basis for your hope in god brothers and sisters is that god has met

00:21:39.000 me once so he has promised to be with me forever see judas couldn't look back and remember

00:21:45.920 and remember moments of communion with Christ. 0.61

00:21:50.900 Not in any real spiritual sense.

00:21:53.500 And therefore he had no basis, no promise, no guarantee,

00:21:56.980 no assurance that he would have communion with Christ in the future.

00:22:00.420 But for the people of God, we can look back and remember,

00:22:03.960 we can look back in praise God for those times that he has been near us.

00:22:10.780 And if we can remember even a single time of the special presence of God

00:22:15.900 with us, then we can be confident that we will dwell in his presence forever. Because God doesn't

00:22:22.380 start projects that he doesn't intend to finish. God is not like so many of you.

00:22:31.240 God doesn't do anything at all unless he's going to do all of it. He doesn't start something and

00:22:39.300 then give it up. But God begins, he finishes. In that sense, you might say, I'm a man after

00:22:47.500 God's own heart. A little bit of a brag here, but there's really only two or three things

00:22:52.420 that I do in life. People complain all the time, my wife being the chief example, that

00:22:56.480 I don't have any hobbies. It's like, there's only two or three things you like. Yeah, because

00:23:00.400 whatever I'm going to do, I'm going to do it. So I do two or three things all the way

00:23:05.380 and everything else is utterly and entirely neglected.

00:23:10.440 Exercise would be a great example.

00:23:12.040 So, all right, here we go.

00:23:14.260 Verse one of our text, Psalm 43, verse one,

00:23:18.800 vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause

00:23:21.620 against an ungodly people

00:23:23.200 from the deceitful and unjust man, deliver me.

00:23:26.960 The term vindicate, this is important.

00:23:29.280 And the King James, and I believe that this is

00:23:31.080 the better translation in this particular context,

00:23:33.700 is rendered judge not vindicate but the david actually begins this psalm psalm 43 the very

00:23:41.340 first word by saying judge me oh god in other words david is pleading with god to deliver him

00:23:49.740 from the hands of the ungodly his enemies but not before first submitting himself to god to be

00:23:56.900 examined. So before David calls out for the judgment of his oppressors, he submits himself

00:24:04.560 humbly to his own judgment. Judge me, O God, and then judge them. That's what Job cries out to God.

00:24:15.540 Will the God of all the earth not be just? And for God to be just means, in the case of

00:24:26.020 vindicating one party exonerating the one and indicting and judging the other it implies it

00:24:33.840 assumes as a necessity that the one person who is calling upon the vindication of god must be

00:24:40.560 innocent and david recognizes this in other words what david is saying is this david is not

00:24:47.520 presumptuous. He's not, he's not pridefully assuming that God would punish his enemies

00:24:55.980 if David himself is just as guilty as his enemies. When we ask for deliverance, when

00:25:04.360 we ask for vindication, when we ask to be exonerated, when we ask for the God of heaven

00:25:10.840 and earth to do justice, we better be certain beforehand, in the first case, that we ourselves

00:25:21.120 are blameless. Now, no one but Christ is blameless in the truest sense, but what I mean is blameless

00:25:29.540 in the circumstance, in the circumstance in question, in the situation at hand. Job used

00:25:39.820 this language. He said, I'm righteous. He said, I'm blameless, God. There are a few figures in

00:25:46.920 scripture that are painted as blameless. No fault, no downfall, no failure is ever described of them.

00:25:58.380 Daniel would be an example. Joseph would be an example. In the case of his brothers, he says,

00:26:06.460 What they meant for evil, God meant for good.

00:26:11.100 Joseph is held up.

00:26:12.420 He's heralded as someone who is blameless.

00:26:14.940 And Job would be another example.

00:26:17.940 So there is a way for you and I who are sinners,

00:26:21.500 only saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ,

00:26:25.160 to be blameless in the sight of God in specific cases.

00:26:32.000 What we're talking about is conflict.

00:26:36.460 conflict there is a way for the christian for the follower of christ in a particular conflict

00:26:43.260 between two parties to be able to say to god with a humble and reverent reverent posture with

00:26:50.740 with the fear of god with fear and trembling to be able to cry out to god for justice and to say

00:26:56.700 judge me first god i want you to judge my oppressors i want you to judge those who have

00:27:03.240 wronged me, I want you to judge my enemy, but I first submit myself, in all fairness,

00:27:08.880 I first submit myself to be judged by you. Judge me first, then judge them. There is

00:27:17.060 a way for the Christian to do this. This is exactly what David is doing. David is saying, 1.00

00:27:22.600 judge me, and then judge them. Now what I want you to understand is that that is a serious

00:27:31.420 request. And it's a request that I think that many of us, including myself, that many of

00:27:39.400 us, including myself, should not make. We should not ask God to judge others unless

00:27:47.640 we are first willing to submit ourselves to his judgment. And we should not ask God

00:27:52.780 to judge us and then judge them unless we have really conducted ourselves in that particular

00:28:01.120 situation in a righteous manner i like what john calvin says in his commentary on this verse he

00:28:12.380 says it is vain for us to expect that god will avenge the injuries and wrongs which are done to

00:28:18.140 us unless our own integrity be so manifest meaning it's so obvious so evident so visible

00:28:25.760 as to induce God to be favorable to us

00:28:31.740 against our adversaries.

00:28:34.600 In other words, to break that down,

00:28:37.440 when we cry out, we petition God,

00:28:40.020 we request his deliverance and his vindication

00:28:42.640 to exonerate us and to condemn our oppressors, our enemies,

00:28:48.300 we need to keep in mind that the Lord of all the earth

00:28:52.620 only ever does that which brings him glory.

00:28:57.900 So you might think about it like this.

00:29:00.120 If God were to give me what I so desperately want,

00:29:03.620 if God were, in fact, to set this particular record straight,

00:29:08.560 this conflict, not all of life,

00:29:11.760 because in all of life, all of us have fallen short of the glory of God and sinned.

00:29:15.880 But in this instance, in this particular case, this situation,

00:29:19.600 between me and my enemies.

00:29:22.980 This conflict, if God were to rip back the veil

00:29:27.640 and to make it evident what actually has taken place,

00:29:32.300 if God were to vindicate me,

00:29:34.400 if God were to grant my pleas for justice

00:29:37.760 and to exonerate me and to indict my enemies,

00:29:42.260 have I conducted myself in this particular situation

00:29:46.320 with enough integrity

00:29:48.560 that God's vindication of me

00:29:52.480 and indictment of them

00:29:54.380 would look like justice

00:29:56.240 to everyone else who is watching?

00:29:59.460 Would it bring him glory?

00:30:02.900 Would it bring him glory?

00:30:04.200 That's what Calvin is saying.

00:30:05.600 It is vain for us.

00:30:07.220 It's pointless.

00:30:09.360 It's futile. 0.92

00:30:10.920 It is foolish for us to think for a moment

00:30:14.180 That God would avenge us for the injuries and wrongs we've received by others if our integrity is not so plain, so manifest, so visible that if God and when God delivers us, when God exonerates us and indicts our opponents, our enemies,

00:30:39.220 that to all those looking on, to the third party watching,

00:30:43.860 that it wouldn't be so plain to them

00:30:46.240 that what God has just done in exalterating us

00:30:49.560 and indicting them, it needs to be

00:30:52.300 that there's so much integrity in our case

00:30:55.060 that if God were to do that, it would be plain to everyone else

00:30:58.320 on the sidelines watching that what God has just done

00:31:01.280 in our vindication was in fact the just thing to do.

00:31:05.840 Did you know one of the reasons that God does not vindicate

00:31:08.420 people in this life is because even though someone was legitimately wronged by someone else

00:31:16.080 they have conducted themselves in that particular conflict so poorly they have so muddied the

00:31:23.480 waters that even though they were actually wronged they have responded to being wronged so poorly

00:31:29.680 and with such shallow character and so muddied the waters by their poor response to being wronged

00:31:36.480 that if God were to vindicate them and indict those who wronged them,

00:31:41.420 it would not be clear enough to everyone who is on looking

00:31:45.100 that what God just did was in fact just.

00:31:48.760 Does that make sense?

00:31:52.840 If you want to be vindicated,

00:31:55.920 and I'm preaching to you and I'm preaching most notably to myself,

00:32:00.480 like most of my sermons, but especially this one.

00:32:03.820 This is something that I've been thinking about a lot,

00:32:05.980 Something that I've been praying about a lot.

00:32:08.680 I've been thinking in the ways that I feel over the course of my life.

00:32:12.520 That I've been wronged.

00:32:14.660 Or perhaps that I've been betrayed.

00:32:17.400 Or that I was mistreated.

00:32:19.920 If God were to set the record straight.

00:32:23.740 If he were to bring my opponents low and exalt me.

00:32:27.900 As the Proverbs say.

00:32:28.880 that he brings low the proud,

00:32:33.120 but he exalts the humble at the proper time.

00:32:37.800 Have I conducted myself

00:32:40.180 in moments of unfair, unmerited conflict,

00:32:45.560 have I conducted myself with enough integrity,

00:32:48.520 enough honor, enough character,

00:32:50.880 to if God were to shine his light of truth

00:32:55.300 and expose that situation,

00:32:58.040 would it be clear to everyone else looking on

00:33:00.520 that if God were to exonerate me and indict them

00:33:04.020 that what God just did was in fact the right thing to do?

00:33:09.060 Or have I so muddied the waters

00:33:11.900 by my own poor response to being wronged

00:33:16.540 that for everyone looking on,

00:33:19.160 if I were exalted,

00:33:20.360 if I were the humble who is exalted

00:33:22.420 and they were the proud who were brought low,

00:33:24.740 that even though I was legitimately right on the whole,

00:33:31.320 on the surface, with a particular conflict in question,

00:33:34.700 my response to that conflict has been so poor

00:33:37.600 that if I were to be exalted by the Lord

00:33:39.700 and they were to be demoted by the Lord,

00:33:42.140 because my response has been so poor and so muddy the water

00:33:45.080 that people looking on would say,

00:33:47.000 I don't know if this is God's doing.

00:33:52.200 This party is being exonerated.

00:33:53.880 and exalted, and this party's being

00:33:55.800 indicted and brought low, but I

00:33:58.000 don't know if God's actually doing this because it doesn't

00:34:00.220 look just. Because this guy

00:34:02.000 who's being exalted right now

00:34:04.100 doesn't really look any

00:34:05.880 more morally righteous

00:34:08.180 than this party that's being

00:34:09.580 indicted.

00:34:12.440 In other words, we might say

00:34:13.940 it like this. If you want to

00:34:15.900 tempt the Lord, as it were,

00:34:18.240 but to tempt the Lord

00:34:19.720 into answering your

00:34:21.960 pleads for vindication and justice respond to that injustice righteously the more you uphold

00:34:32.140 yourself with integrity in the midst of being mistreated the more tempting of a case you become

00:34:40.000 for god to set the record straight david was a tempting case and that's why david can say in

00:34:47.420 beginning of the psalm before saying judge my enemies david with confidence and a clear conscience

00:34:54.520 can say and first feel free to judge me how about it i'm blameless judge me oh god you decide

00:35:05.440 you oh great judge of heaven and earth you judge me first start with me and then you determine oh

00:35:13.620 God, whether or not my case is conducive to glorifying your name.

00:35:26.820 Look at me, look at the situation, but look at me and the way I've conducted myself in

00:35:32.560 the midst of this situation, in the midst of mistreatment, in the midst of oppression.

00:35:36.900 Look at me, judge me, and then you determine that if you were to vindicate me, if you were

00:35:42.340 to do justice with this particular situation if it would not clearly manifest your just glory 0.82

00:35:50.440 and David is confident that he has conducted himself righteously enough although a sinner

00:35:57.180 saved by the grace of God so not truly blameless as Christ is but blameless like Job blameless like

00:36:04.560 Joseph David is convinced I've been blameless enough I've conducted myself in this situation

00:36:11.680 with enough integrity, enough character

00:36:14.900 to where if God vindicates me

00:36:17.760 to all those on looking,

00:36:21.360 it'll be clear that God is the one

00:36:23.820 who is actually doing it

00:36:25.100 and that what he is doing is actually fair.

00:36:28.420 It is just.

00:36:31.700 If you want to be vindicated,

00:36:33.600 I really believe one of the best ways to do it

00:36:36.240 is to conduct yourself in such a way

00:36:40.300 that God cannot resist, as it were,

00:36:45.140 that God cannot resist vindicating you

00:36:47.580 because you have conducted yourself with such integrity

00:36:51.540 that if God does vindicate you,

00:36:54.160 it'll be one of the clearest examples of his justice.

00:36:58.340 Your oppressors have been so clearly wrong

00:37:00.700 and you have been so clearly righteous

00:37:03.660 that for God to rip off the veil and reveal that,

00:37:08.360 to set the record straight

00:37:11.220 will be a clear example

00:37:13.100 of his deliverance

00:37:14.580 and his justice

00:37:15.980 his vindication of the righteous

00:37:17.980 one of the reasons God doesn't vindicate his people

00:37:20.440 is because God vindicates the righteous

00:37:22.320 and sadly

00:37:24.040 God's people are not always righteous

00:37:27.380 that doesn't mean they're not righteous

00:37:29.420 in the positional sense of justification

00:37:31.980 the righteousness of Christ

00:37:33.400 that we spoke of earlier

00:37:34.820 that's received by grace through faith alone

00:37:37.060 But what I mean is that in the instance in question, in the particular conflict, they have not conducted themselves with sufficient progressive righteousness to where God's deliverance would be seen as the God who delivers the righteous.

00:37:57.560 It's not clear.

00:37:59.960 That's not God's fault.

00:38:01.860 That's not God's failure.

00:38:03.560 That's ours.

00:38:05.480 Verse 2 says this,

00:38:06.640 For you are the God in whom I take refuge. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

00:38:14.200 David clearly demonstrates his awareness of the reality that the enemy was only able, only capable of afflicting him if the Lord allowed it.

00:38:23.840 Although David has been faithful to seek refuge in God, his enemies continue to prevail over him.

00:38:29.060 However, David recognizes that the chief problem is not God's allowance of the oppression of his enemy to continue.

00:38:36.640 But the real problem is David's own allowance of his heart to go about mourning, to continue mourning.

00:38:44.700 The problem is not the continuing oppression of his enemies.

00:38:47.720 The problem is the continual mourning of his own heart.

00:38:51.300 David begins in Psalm 43 by pleading for God's vindication from the cruelty of his enemies.

00:38:56.440 But in the verses which immediately follow, David reveals that his deepest desire is simply to be near to the God that he loves.

00:39:02.920 If his enemies continue to prevail, but God's presence is restored, that will be enough.

00:39:10.220 Let me read the verse once more.

00:39:11.640 Psalm 43, verse 2.

00:39:13.880 For you are the God in whom I take refuge.

00:39:17.080 So then why have you rejected me?

00:39:19.440 Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

00:39:24.060 Essentially, what David is saying is this.

00:39:26.620 He's saying, I am taking refuge in you.

00:39:29.200 I'm not failing to take refuge in you.

00:39:30.940 I am running to you as my only salvation, my only refuge, my only shelter.

00:39:35.640 I'm doing that, God.

00:39:37.580 And another thing that David's assuming here, what this text implies,

00:39:41.780 is that he is implying, he's assuming that David is being faithful to run to God as refuge.

00:39:47.180 And he's also assuming that God is sufficient to be a refuge.

00:39:51.260 So he's saying, I know that you are a strong tower.

00:39:55.960 I know that you are an impenetrable fortress.

00:39:59.040 fortress. I know that you, oh God, are a sufficient refuge and that you are such a secure refuge

00:40:06.820 that if anyone runs to you, they cannot be harmed. So I know that the problem is not your ability to

00:40:14.460 defend, your ability to be a refuge, but I also know the problem is not my, my lack of willingness

00:40:21.000 to run to you, to go to you as a refuge. I have gone to you as a refuge and you are a sufficient

00:40:27.200 and capable refuge so then david concludes you must have rejected me i i know that you are a

00:40:35.880 refuge and i know that i am going to you as a refuge the problem must be it can't be that you're

00:40:41.420 not a strong enough shelter and it also cannot be that i haven't gone to you as my shelter i know

00:40:47.280 i'm going to you and i know that you are capable so it must be that i have run to the god who is

00:40:53.620 the refuge and the door has been closed and that you won't let me in. It must be that you've

00:41:01.340 rejected me. It can't be that you are not a sufficient refuge and it can't be that I'm not

00:41:05.740 running to you as refuge. It must be that you are unwilling, not unable, but unwilling to be my

00:41:11.440 refuge. Why? He continues, because I'm still mourning. And I'm still mourning, he says, he puts the

00:41:18.940 onus on the enemy. He says, I'm still mourning because I'm still being oppressed. I am still

00:41:25.140 experiencing the oppression of my enemy. So I know that you could be a refuge. You're able if you

00:41:30.820 are willing. And I know that I want you to be my refuge. I am going to you. And yet I'm still

00:41:37.220 miserable. I'm still grieving. I'm still mourning all day and all night because I'm still being

00:41:44.260 oppressed by my enemy. I am obviously not secure. I am obviously not safe. I am obviously not within

00:41:50.780 the boundaries of your refuge because the enemy is still harming me. The enemy is still oppressing

00:41:57.380 me and I'm still mourning. And that's the surface level meaning of verse two, what David's getting

00:42:04.800 at. God is a refuge. I am running to him. I want him to be my refuge, but he has rejected me. It's

00:42:13.440 Not that he's unable to protect me from the harm of my enemies.

00:42:17.320 He is unwilling to protect me.

00:42:18.960 He has cast me out.

00:42:21.020 He has closed the door on this fortress and won't let me in to safety.

00:42:26.680 And I know this because I'm still grieving.

00:42:29.860 I'm still hurt.

00:42:30.920 And my enemies are still oppressing me.

00:42:35.260 And in essence, what David is saying is this.

00:42:38.200 I'm trying to move past this.

00:42:41.360 I don't want to mourn all the time.

00:42:43.440 I don't want to grieve all the time.

00:42:44.840 I don't want to be bitter.

00:42:45.860 I don't want to be angry about this anymore.

00:42:47.760 I want to get over it.

00:42:50.080 But I'm still mourning because they're still oppressing me.

00:42:54.420 I've moved on.

00:42:55.720 I'm trying not to think about it.

00:42:57.680 But then I hear another development in the story.

00:43:00.600 Another slander, another lie, another mocking, another taunting.

00:43:05.060 They keep doing it.

00:43:06.900 And I keep mourning.

00:43:08.760 And you could make it stop.

00:43:11.620 Like that.

00:43:13.440 So it must be that you've rejected me.

00:43:16.780 It cannot be that you're unable to protect me from this onslaught.

00:43:23.040 Therefore, it must be that you are unwilling.

00:43:26.380 You must have rejected me.

00:43:31.760 But what I want to point out, in addition to all that, is that David's real problem,

00:43:36.860 If there is any failure on David's part that he confesses, that he allows us to see into in this particular psalm,

00:43:46.280 it's not that he doesn't go to God as refuge, and it's not certainly that he doesn't believe and trust that God is able to be a refuge.

00:43:55.620 And it's not even the sense that God has rejected him.

00:43:58.060 You might say, well, that's David's fault. That's his failure.

00:44:00.760 His failure is that he perceives that God has rejected him, but God doesn't reject his people.

00:44:06.420 But David actually perceives correctly in the sense that he really has been cut off from Israel 0.51

00:44:10.800 and therefore really has been cut off from the people of God, the praise of God,

00:44:15.220 and the tabernacle with the special presence of God.

00:44:18.760 So David's actually not wrong in his perception of this feeling of rejection.

00:44:22.880 He has not been rejected in the utter sense, the ultimate sense, the eternal sense.

00:44:27.780 But there is a sense in which David has been rejected.

00:44:30.780 So his failure is not that he doesn't trust God as refuge.

00:44:34.100 If he didn't trust God as refuge, he wouldn't go to him as refuge.

00:44:37.240 And David clearly in the text is going to God as refuge.

00:44:39.860 So he properly sees God as refuge.

00:44:42.900 And he's properly running to God, wanting God to be his refuge.

00:44:47.420 And he's not even wrong about this perception of a sense of being rejected by God.

00:44:52.580 And he's also not wrong when he says that my enemies are still attacking me.

00:44:56.520 They're still oppressing me.

00:44:58.100 David's not being dramatic.

00:44:59.760 He's not being emotional or extreme.

00:45:01.540 his enemies really were oppressing him and taunting him and continuing in their mistreatment of him.

00:45:07.820 So where is the flaw in verse 2?

00:45:09.660 If there's any moral flaw, any failure on David's part, the failure is this.

00:45:14.360 Not that his enemies go on oppressing him because that was true.

00:45:17.640 That's a true statement.

00:45:18.940 The flaw is when he says, I go on mourning.

00:45:21.840 It's not that his enemies go on mistreating.

00:45:25.000 The failure is that David goes on mourning.

00:45:28.000 And that's the very failure that David quickly remedies, he quickly corrects in verse 5 of our text, where he says, stop mourning David. Stop being so downcast, oh my soul. Stop throwing a pity party. Stop grieving. Stop despairing.

00:45:52.000 despairing. Soul, get it together. Snap out of it. Hope in God. And notice David's solution,

00:46:02.720 his remedy to the problem of his continual mourning is not, it is not merely the exclusive

00:46:09.100 solution of saying, God, I cannot stop mourning unless you first stop the oppression, right? If

00:46:16.400 you want me to stop mourning, God, you got to stop my enemy's mistreatment of me. So if you want

00:46:21.920 need to stop mourning, stop grieving, make them stop mistreating.

00:46:28.400 See, that is the problem.

00:46:32.020 That's the tension of verse 2.

00:46:34.220 The solution is laid out for us in verse 5.

00:46:37.400 And notice, in verse 5, it's different than verse 1,

00:46:40.060 where he's calling out for God to vindicate him.

00:46:42.400 But he concludes that the psalm, the prayer, it climaxes in,

00:46:47.100 No longer David calling out and pleading for vindication, exoneration, and deliverance from his enemies.

00:46:54.300 No, David, he starts with saying, God, deliver me.

00:46:57.140 Vindicate me.

00:46:58.360 Do justice.

00:47:00.280 And then he says, you're not doing that.

00:47:03.860 You're not being my refuge.

00:47:06.280 I feel as though I've been rejected.

00:47:08.880 And I'm still mourning because they're still oppressing and mistreating me.

00:47:13.600 And then in verse 5, David finally comes to the conclusion.

00:47:16.780 He says, so if you won't set the record straight, I know eventually one day, if not in this life, then in the life to come.

00:47:24.140 I know eventually everything will be laid bare.

00:47:27.860 All the truth will be revealed.

00:47:29.660 So one day you'll set the record straight.

00:47:31.840 One day you will vindicate me, if not in this life, then in the life to come.

00:47:35.500 But David essentially, his conclusion in verse 5 is this.

00:47:37.900 But if you're not going to vindicate me now, then the solution ultimately isn't for you to stop the oppression of my enemies.

00:47:46.780 The solution is for me to get control over my emotions and to stop my grieving.

00:47:53.240 And I do that.

00:47:55.620 The antidote to a despairing soul is hoping in God.

00:48:03.360 Hope in God.

00:48:05.580 For I will, not just I will praise him.

00:48:08.660 And you've got to see, and this is why I've labored the point,

00:48:11.020 you've got to connect people of God and praise of God with presence of God.

00:48:15.500 So when David says, I will praise him,

00:48:17.020 what he's talking about is, I will be near to him.

00:48:19.920 I will be with him.

00:48:21.580 I will be in his presence.

00:48:24.180 So David says, all right,

00:48:25.240 if you're not going to stop the oppression of the enemies,

00:48:27.540 if you're going to vindicate me one day,

00:48:30.420 because I really have been blameless in this situation,

00:48:32.860 that's why he has enough confidence

00:48:34.360 in the beginning of verse one to say,

00:48:35.740 before you judge them, go ahead and first judge me.

00:48:39.080 So David's saying, I've been blameless,

00:48:40.880 and therefore I will be vindicated.

00:48:42.820 It's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when.

00:48:45.060 But it appears as though you're not willing to vindicate me now.

00:48:49.140 You're not willing to protect me from the onslaught of my enemies as a refuge now.

00:48:54.840 They're still oppressing me.

00:48:56.620 The man of deceitfulness, the man of injustice, the one who is unjust, unfair.

00:49:02.740 What he's doing is unfair.

00:49:04.040 It's mistreatment, unfair treatment of me.

00:49:06.660 And he is deceitful, meaning he's getting away with it in the sight of the general population.

00:49:12.980 The masses are looking on, and they don't see that what this guy is doing is absolutely unfair.

00:49:20.560 They have no clue.

00:49:22.320 They think he's the hero.

00:49:24.980 They think Absalom is a good guy.

00:49:28.540 They think Absalom is the man of the people, the faithful one, the hero who stayed with them,

00:49:33.540 loves Israel, is going to care for Israel,

00:49:36.160 and that I'm somehow the old king who really always was a problem

00:49:41.040 and always really wasn't for the people

00:49:43.220 and the real narrative has finally surfaced and I've been banished and exiled.

00:49:48.100 That's how David feels.

00:49:50.980 And he's saying, that's not true.

00:49:53.620 I'm not a sinless man. No one is sinless but Christ.

00:49:56.120 But in this particular conflict in question, I have been blameless enough.

00:50:00.660 Enough to where I can go to God with confidence.

00:50:03.040 And it takes confidence to go to a thrice holy God and say, judge me.

00:50:09.380 David has that much confidence.

00:50:12.140 He has been, therefore, that innocent in this particular matter.

00:50:18.360 And so, therefore, because he truly believes that he has been blameless enough to call down the judgment of God on himself.

00:50:24.920 because of all that

00:50:27.380 then we know that David has confidence

00:50:29.520 because God is just

00:50:31.140 and always will do justice

00:50:33.120 we know that David must have confidence

00:50:35.260 therefore that it's not a matter of

00:50:36.880 if God will vindicate him

00:50:38.240 it is simply a matter of timing

00:50:40.060 simply a matter of when

00:50:41.740 but then David is still left with this issue

00:50:47.280 what am I going to do in the meantime

00:50:49.780 I know I was blameless

00:50:53.140 I know they have been unfair, unjust, and deceitful.

00:50:57.300 And I know that God is just, and he will not allow injustice under the guise of deceit to fly under the radar indefinitely.

00:51:08.180 He is the just God who will bring all unjust things to light eventually.

00:51:15.120 So David's like, I know that I'm the innocent party in this situation.

00:51:19.300 And I have enough confidence of that to where I can say God judged me first before judging my enemies.

00:51:23.560 And I know that God is just.

00:51:25.140 So I know that my enemy is evil.

00:51:26.780 I know that I am innocent.

00:51:28.220 And I know that God is just and will bring this to light.

00:51:32.220 And yet, my mourning continues because the oppression of my enemies continues.

00:51:37.820 And so I know by providence, right, by the natural surrounding situations that God has sovereignly allowed,

00:51:45.740 that is his providence, God has answered my prayer for vindication.

00:51:50.260 My first prayer was, judge me and judge them.

00:51:52.720 Vindicate me, deliver me, exonerate me and condemn my oppressors.

00:51:57.420 That's my first prayer.

00:51:58.820 But through providence, God has given me an answer to that prayer.

00:52:03.520 The fact that the oppression of my enemies continues

00:52:06.760 is God's providential answer to my prayer for deliverance.

00:52:11.200 And what is that answer?

00:52:13.200 No.

00:52:14.620 God's answer is no.

00:52:15.740 and not an indefinite, eternal no.

00:52:18.740 No, I will never vindicate you.

00:52:20.340 No, I will never give you justice.

00:52:22.180 No, I will never set the record straight.

00:52:23.860 But we should say more particularly,

00:52:25.900 rather than the answer being no,

00:52:27.400 the answer is not yet.

00:52:29.800 Not yet.

00:52:32.460 So then David has one thing left to do.

00:52:37.140 He needs to get a hold of himself

00:52:39.340 for the present.

00:52:41.980 While he waits for the vindication of the Lord,

00:52:45.020 He needs to get his emotions in check.

00:52:48.220 He needs to get a hold of his heart,

00:52:50.620 get a hold of his soul,

00:52:53.880 plead his heart from a clot to a flame.

00:52:57.100 See, David realizes, okay, the prayer is done.

00:53:01.120 There's only five verses in our text.

00:53:03.060 It starts with a prayer.

00:53:04.660 God, vindicate me.

00:53:06.180 God's answer that we see in verse two is not yet.

00:53:11.180 So then David, properly, theologically, accurately concludes,

00:53:16.460 okay, then I've made my request.

00:53:20.840 I have received God's answer, at least for the present,

00:53:24.480 for this season, for this time.

00:53:26.740 So then now what do I do?

00:53:28.680 I don't need to talk to God anymore.

00:53:31.880 It's time for me to stop praying to God and start preaching to myself.

00:53:37.000 Stop it.

00:53:38.960 Stop it, Joel.

00:53:41.300 Stop it, heart.

00:53:43.120 Stop it, soul.

00:53:44.640 Stop being bitter.

00:53:46.640 Stop being angry.

00:53:48.460 Stop despairing.

00:53:50.400 Stop being downcast because all those emotions,

00:53:54.280 all those feelings,

00:53:57.340 actually make a statement

00:53:59.020 about what I believe to be true of God.

00:54:04.220 If I despair what I am essentially saying about God,

00:54:08.740 I'm making a statement about the God of heaven and earth.

00:54:12.440 If I despair, what I'm saying about God is that he is not a faithful God.

00:54:19.880 But he is.

00:54:22.280 And if he is, and if he eventually sets all records straight,

00:54:28.680 then what would a person who really believes that to be true act like in the meantime?

00:54:35.580 Hopeful.

00:54:36.220 not despairing

00:54:38.940 not downcast

00:54:40.420 hopeful

00:54:41.880 that's the text

00:54:44.040 let's go ahead and pray

00:54:45.260 Father God we thank you for your word

00:54:47.600 we thank you that you give us

00:54:51.320 clear answers in your word

00:54:53.340 if we're willing to do the work

00:54:54.640 to diligently study your word

00:54:56.800 to exegete the text

00:54:59.220 to draw out of the word

00:55:01.940 the riches that are placed there like a mind

00:55:03.920 your word is like a mind

00:55:06.180 that's filled with diamonds and gold.

00:55:10.040 And if we're willing to do the work,

00:55:11.540 it's not always easy,

00:55:12.440 but to go down deep into the mine

00:55:14.500 and chip away at the rock

00:55:16.300 and to bring out,

00:55:17.440 to excavate the truth and the meaning,

00:55:21.640 by doing that, by your grace,

00:55:25.440 by the revelation

00:55:26.340 and the illumination

00:55:30.200 that your spirit mercifully provides,

00:55:32.920 we can find answers to all of life's most difficult seasons, trials, situations.

00:55:42.600 And so even the trial, the difficult challenge of mistreatment, oppression, betrayal,

00:55:53.560 you provide answers.

00:55:57.240 And I believe that by your grace and the preaching of your word

00:55:59.900 that you've provided an answer for us today.

00:56:02.920 The answer is to know that you are just, that you will eventually set the record straight, and that in the meantime, our chief problem is not that the oppression of our enemy continues, but that our heart mourning and despairing is continuing.

00:56:21.080 And that what we need to do to combat a despairing soul, a downcast heart, is to hope in God.

00:56:30.640 If we've praised you once, if we've been near you, communed with you and your presence once, then we are promised and guaranteed that it will happen again.

00:56:44.960 So the reality is that all of our heart's longing, chiefly for your presence and secondarily for justice, all of those longings will be fulfilled.

00:57:00.640 It's not a matter of if.

00:57:02.180 It's only a matter of when.

00:57:06.220 So the question is, how will we conduct ourselves in the meantime?

00:57:10.980 Let us, Lord, through the eyes of faith, look back and remember your faithfulness,

00:57:17.380 the sweetness of your presence.

00:57:19.620 And with the eyes of faith, look forward and hope, Christian hope, confidence,

00:57:27.480 that you will restore all those things and more.

00:57:30.640 We praise you because you are worthy.

00:57:32.840 It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

00:57:35.100 Amen.

00:57:37.260 Oh, hi.

00:57:38.120 I didn't see you there.

00:57:39.120 Thanks for sticking around.

00:57:40.160 I've got an important announcement to make.

00:57:42.140 That's the Theonomy and Post-Millennialism Conference.

00:57:45.320 2023, May 5th, 6th, and 7th,

00:57:48.720 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,

00:57:51.020 Theonomy and Post-Millennialism.

00:57:52.960 We've got the speakers that we've already had lined up.

00:57:55.120 That's Dr. James White, Dr. Joseph Boot,

00:57:57.600 Dr. Gary DeMar, non-doctor, Pastor Joel Webin.

00:58:00.120 but we also have a bonus speaker, and that is Dale Partridge from Real Christianity.

00:58:05.660 Perhaps you've heard of him.

00:58:06.580 If not, you should start listening to his podcast.

00:58:08.940 It's fantastic.

00:58:10.420 Dale Partridge is going to be joining our team.

00:58:13.080 We're going to have live panels on Friday night and Saturday night

00:58:16.580 where you'll be able to write in questions and get them answered.

00:58:19.280 We're also going to have a catered barbecue, Texas-style barbecue meal on Friday

00:58:24.000 that's a part of your registration fee.

00:58:26.160 All that is covered, so you need to get there.

00:58:28.520 This is how you do it.

00:58:29.360 Go and register right now at rightresponseconference.com.

00:58:34.220 Again, that's rightresponseconference.com.

00:58:37.880 God bless.

The NXR Podcast - November 13, 2022

SUNDAY SERMON - Being Mistreated To The Glory of God ｜ Psalm 43

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