The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Surrounded By Bloodthirsty Men ｜ Psalm 59

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00:00:18 All right, this morning we are continuing with our series through the Psalter.

00:00:22 We started this when we first started gathering on the Lord's Day

00:00:26 and worshiping the triune God. 0.67

00:00:28 Our very first gathering, Lord's Day gathering, was the first Lord's Day of April.

00:00:33 And that's when we began this series through the Psalter.

00:00:36 And we are continuing now, Lord willing, we'll continue to the end of the year.

00:00:40 We're not preaching every single chapter in the Psalms.

00:00:43 But we are going in an order, a chronological order from the first Psalm to the last,

00:00:49 but skipping some Psalms as we go along.

00:00:51 So the last Psalm that we did, I believe was, Connor's not here, but it was Psalm 57, correct?

00:00:56 And then before that, we did two weeks on Psalm 51.

00:01:00 Well, today is Psalm 59, Psalm 59.

00:01:04 Now, this chapter is a little bit longer.

00:01:06 So what I've done is I'm taking the verses that I'm going to focus my exegesis on.

00:01:14 And so we're going to be focusing on verse 1, 2, and 3, and also verses 14, 15, 16, and 17.

00:01:23 So that's where the focus of the exegesis will lie with Psalm 59.

00:01:27 And therefore, those are the verses that we're going to read this morning.

00:01:31 So would you go ahead and join me, if you're able to do so, in standing for the reading of God's word?

00:01:36 I'll read our text in its entirety.

00:01:38 When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say, this is the word of the Lord,

00:01:41 at which point I would very much appreciate if you would respond by saying, thanks be to God.

00:01:46 One final time, our text for today is Psalm 59.

00:01:49 The word of God says this,

00:01:50 deliver me from my enemies oh my god protect me from those who rise up against me deliver me from

00:01:58 those who work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men for behold they lie in wait for my life

00:02:05 fierce men stir up strife against me each evening they come back howling like dogs

00:02:11 and prowling about the city they wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill

00:02:18 but I will sing of your strength. I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning,

00:02:24 for you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. Oh, my strength,

00:02:31 I will sing praises to you, for you, oh God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

00:02:38 This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated and we will begin. If you have your notes,

00:02:45 I've written the following. The exact context of this particular psalm is this. Now when it comes

00:02:51 to the psalms, each individual psalm in the Psalter, we don't always know the context of

00:02:56 its authorship, the context for that particular psalm's writing. But in this particular case,

00:03:02 we do. We know this because it's explicitly written at the top of the psalm. I didn't include

00:03:07 it in your notes, but if you open up your Bible to Psalm 59, you will see the context in bold

00:03:12 right above where the psalm begins and the context is to the choir master according to do not destroy

00:03:19 a mictum of david when saul sent his men to watch the house of david in order to kill him so this is

00:03:28 a song that is written by king david he's the author the human author the divine author of

00:03:32 course is the holy spirit of god who inspired the writing but david is the human author and he is

00:03:39 delivering this particular song, this psalm to the choir master. So it's meant to be sung

00:03:45 corporately by the people of Israel, the people of God in praise and worship to the Lord. So this

00:03:51 is something that David wrote as the author, but it's going to be executed. It's going to be

00:03:55 performed, if you will, by the choir master and the company of Israel in worship to the Lord.

00:04:01 It's according to do not destroy. Now that phrase right there, according to do not destroy

00:04:05 means um this is the if you're for the musicians in the room uh this is the time signature and the

00:04:12 key the the tempo right so it's according to it would be the equivalent of according to a waltz

00:04:19 a one two three one two or you know or according to um a four four times or or according to a boom

00:04:26 chuck right for the country folk you know like the the beat is on um on the one and the three

00:04:31 instead of the two and the four.

00:04:32 Boom, bop, boom, bop, boom, bop, boom, bop.

00:04:35 You know, so that's kind of, you know,

00:04:37 it's according to do not destroy.

00:04:38 That language means this is the style of music.

00:04:42 There was a style, we don't know a lot about this,

00:04:44 but we're meant to assume by way of implication

00:04:46 that there was a particular style of worship music

00:04:51 in Israel that was called,

00:04:53 it was categorized underneath do not destroy.

00:04:56 We don't know what it means, but the choir master does.

00:04:59 And so the point is this,

00:05:00 David has specifications as the king of Israel and as the human author of this particular song,

00:05:06 this psalm, he has specific instructions to the choir master.

00:05:10 He doesn't just say, sing this song, these lyrics with this melody,

00:05:14 but he says even more specifically than that, he says, sing it this way.

00:05:18 It's not meant to be saying any way you want.

00:05:22 This is a song with specific lyrics.

00:05:24 And these lyrics show to us a specific theology,

00:05:27 something that is true of God and true of man a specific anthropology the wickedness and depravity

00:05:33 of man that the wicked raises up his fist against the righteous that he rages against those who fear

00:05:39 the Lord so it says something specific it's specific lyrics specific theology it tells us

00:05:44 something about God it tells us a specific anthropology something about man and that's

00:05:49 not even particular enough for David he goes even further and says and it needs to be sung in this

00:05:53 specific manner, in this specific way. It says something about God and the manner in which we

00:06:00 sing this song should be fitting, it should be suitable to what it says about God. Right there,

00:06:06 that'll preach a whole message right there about praise and worship, about our worship of God

00:06:10 through song. That the way in which we worship God, the melody, the tempo, the dynamics and

00:06:17 crescendos and decrescendos, meaning that there is something to be said for musicality.

00:06:22 there is something to be said for for the tone of our singing to match the theology that is

00:06:30 expressly present in the lyrics meaning that when we sing of of something somber it shouldn't be

00:06:37 cheerfully sung like this world is passing away and the righteous are being slaughtered all day

00:06:43 long that just doesn't that's not suitable that's not fitting and so david whatever do not destroy

00:06:49 means we know that it's a particular musicality particular style and we know that whatever it is

00:06:55 it fits the lyrics it fits the the tone fits the substance it fits the theology all right so this

00:07:03 is to the choir master so written by david delivered to be executed by the choir master

00:07:08 with specific instructions about not just what should be sung but how it should be sung according

00:07:14 to do not destroy and it says even furthermore it is a mictum of david again of david meaning

00:07:20 authored by david he is the author of this song this song and it's a mictum that word mictum means

00:07:26 an instructive ode so it is an instructive song a song that that not only praises god but it also

00:07:35 instructs god's people which makes me think that really in our worship all songs i believe

00:07:41 all songs that the church sings especially in our lord's day worship should be a mictum why

00:07:47 because ephesians and colossians say that in our singing that we should not only address god we are

00:07:54 singing to god but there is a horizontal function in addition to the vertical praise of god's people

00:08:00 as we gather on the lord's day the both ephesians and colossians says that we address one another

00:08:05 with spiritual songs and hymns and psalms.

00:08:09 Now we're addressing one another in what sense?

00:08:12 What kind of address are we giving?

00:08:14 Well, it's a charge.

00:08:16 It's an encouragement.

00:08:18 It's a comfort.

00:08:19 It's a consolation.

00:08:20 But what makes it charging, invigorating, challenging,

00:08:25 what makes it comforting and consoling,

00:08:27 what makes it all these things is that there is substance.

00:08:29 It is instructive.

00:08:31 As we sing to the Lord, we are also addressing one another

00:08:35 and what makes it, these songs that we worship the Lord with,

00:08:38 what makes them effective, efficacious in consoling one another,

00:08:43 in comforting one another, in charging and encouraging one another,

00:08:47 is that they have something substantive to say about God and His people.

00:08:53 You can't charge someone with goopity goo.

00:08:56 You can't console and comfort the downcast with cheap, trite songs.

00:09:03 you need substance you need something real you need something true you need something profound

00:09:11 you need something deep and that's precisely what we are provided with with the holy and

00:09:17 spirit inspired worship book called the psalter 150 inspired divinely inspired psalms that teach

00:09:28 us something about God, something about humanity, something about the people of God that is deep,

00:09:33 it's profound, it is true, it's infallible. And this, I believe, should be the steady diet. I don't

00:09:40 hold to the conviction of exclusive psalm singing, but I do believe that it should be a regular

00:09:45 portion, a regular item. You know, you have your meats and your carbs. It should be on the plate

00:09:50 each Lord's Day for the people of God when we worship through singing. That we should have

00:09:55 holy spirit inspired psalms that we sing i think that a good hymn is permissible i even think that

00:10:03 a good hymn is beneficial let me tell you real quick a little bit of a bunny trail but this is

00:10:07 why i don't hold to exclusive psalm singing i think it's a great position just for the record

00:10:11 so i completely honor and respect those who do hold to that position the reason why i don't hold

00:10:16 to that position is this what is a sermon what i'm doing right now what is a sermon if not an

00:10:23 exposition of a text. So when we come together for the preaching of God's word, we don't merely

00:10:29 have the minister of the gospel stand before the people of God and read verbatim chapters of the

00:10:36 Bible. He reads, he does come before, he doesn't come before the people of God and say, I have a

00:10:40 dream. Don't care. Don't care. I have, I have a vision. I have a strategy. I have an idea. I have

00:10:47 a message. No, don't care. The minister of God comes before the people of God and says, I have

00:10:51 a text. And if he doesn't have a text, then he needs to sit down. I have a text. So there is a

00:10:56 revelation, infallible verbatim revelation from God's word, a text. But then he proceeds to do

00:11:03 what? To unfold the text, to exposit the text, to expound upon the text. It is expositional

00:11:10 preaching. So a good sermon is what? It is always centered around the scripture. It is word

00:11:17 centered but but it's not a mere verbatim reciting of the word or reading of the word but it's an

00:11:23 exposition of the word and so too as far as a hymn or a song is a faithful deep exposition of a text

00:11:32 i think that it's permissible and even good and beneficial for the people of god to use that

00:11:37 in worship so i'm completely fine with hymns and the reason why i prefer older hymns to be frank

00:11:43 is not because we couldn't have a modern-day hymn

00:11:45 and it be a faithful exposition of a text,

00:11:48 a word-centered hymn,

00:11:49 but the reality is we have a lot more older hymns

00:11:52 that are that, a faithful exposition of a text,

00:11:55 than we do modern.

00:11:56 And that's simply because the church,

00:11:59 in decades and really centuries past,

00:12:02 had better theology than the church has today.

00:12:04 We have bad songs today

00:12:06 because we have bad theologians today.

00:12:08 That's why.

00:12:09 R.C. Sproul, he said, everyone's a theologian.

00:12:11 You're either a bad one or a good one.

00:12:12 right and sadly tragically we have many bad theologians and because we have many bad theologians

00:12:18 we have many bad worship song writers and therefore we have many bad worship songs so

00:12:23 all that being said you probably didn't care but that's why i don't hold to exclusive psalm scene

00:12:27 all right so david is very specific it's he's the author it's to the choir master it needs to be done

00:12:34 in this style not just what's going to be sung but how it's going to be sung do not destroy

00:12:38 it's a mictum meaning it's an instructive song and then here's the real the real kicker

00:12:44 this is now providing for us the the actual physical and historical context the frame of

00:12:52 mind that david was in the the circumstances surrounding david's life when he wrote this

00:12:58 song when he wrote this song what is it when saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him

00:13:07 so what what is the mood of david what what are the circumstances surrounding him influencing his

00:13:15 emotions his thoughts what what is it that's going on in the life of david when he sits down to write

00:13:21 this psalm it's it's not like today it's not like hey you know we have a three-bedroom house but we

00:13:26 only use two of them and the third one is we we've designated that as my creative space and i go there

00:13:31 and and i actually have a harp in the corner and i play that for a little bit and i get in the right

00:13:34 frame of mind, you know, and I have my tea, and I usually take a picture of the tea first and post

00:13:38 it on Instagram, and then I begin to, you know, do creative things like write songs. That is not the

00:13:43 circumstances surrounding David's writing of this song. It's not in his creative space. It's not when

00:13:48 everything is at peace and everything is fine. No, this is when David's house is under surveillance

00:13:55 by big brother. This is when the government has overstepped its bounds and its

00:14:03 jurisdiction when they are policing the police state that is going well beyond the jurisdiction

00:14:09 that they have monitoring monitoring david's house and and not just to see what he's up to

00:14:16 but but it says even further than that when soul sent men to watch david's house in order not just

00:14:22 surveillance but in order to kill him to put him to death unjustly david had done nothing wrong

00:14:30 nothing deserving of death so that's the frame of mind that that's his mentality his thoughts his

00:14:36 emotions that's the circumstances surrounding the writing of this particular psalm now david's not

00:14:43 in the house i think is what we're meant to assume i think that's not explicit but that's implicit

00:14:48 that david is it's like he knew that the attack was coming and he's somewhere off in the distance

00:14:55 if he was in the house it seems implied that they would simply break in capture him and put him to

00:15:00 death. So I think we're meant to assume that David is not in the house. He's somewhere else

00:15:04 watching from a distance and imagine, just imagine yourself hiding in some bushes, you know, a quarter

00:15:11 mile away, maybe, maybe even a hundred yards away, watching from some bushes and seeing armed men

00:15:16 surrounding your home and thinking, I can't go there. I can't get any of my belongings. I can't

00:15:21 go and get my toothbrush. I can't, you know, I can't, they're, they're staking out my house. They

00:15:26 have it surrounded and if i go back to my house the place is supposed to be a place of comfort

00:15:30 and safety and security a person's home if i go back there the place of security has become a

00:15:37 place of doom a place of destruction impending doom a place of danger a place of instability

00:15:43 insecurity a place of death that's the frame of mind that is the circumstances the context for

00:15:50 the writing of this psalm all right now according to psalm 59 verse 2 and psalm 59 verses 14 through

00:15:59 15 which we have both of that in bold in your notes king saul and his men were like a pack of

00:16:04 starving wild dogs that surround and trap their prey right before tearing it to shreds this is

00:16:12 what the text says verse 2 deliver me from those who work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men

00:16:18 each evening they come back howling like dogs and prowling about the city. They wander about for food

00:16:26 and growl if they do not get their fill. David's own home had been surrounded by this bloodthirsty

00:16:33 mom. There was no hope of appealing to reason or mercy. Listen to this church. There was no hope of 0.81

00:16:41 an appeal, right? What is the picture that's painted in our text? Verse 2, verse 14, and 15.

00:16:47 the picture that David is painting is that these men that are underneath the command and authority

00:16:53 of this king, King Saul, they are men driven mad. These are not reasonable men. These are not men

00:17:02 that you can appeal to some sense of sympathy or compassion or reason or logic. These are not men

00:17:08 that you can present evidence that proves your innocence and that it will be received and

00:17:13 accept it? No, they're wild dogs. They don't care about what's just. They're not here in order to 0.94

00:17:21 exact justice because I am a wrongdoer and need to be brought to justice. No, that is not their

00:17:27 motivation. That is not what's going on. These men are here because they're bloodthirsty.

00:17:32 They're bloodthirsty men. And brothers and sisters, there are men like this in the world

00:17:37 that we live in. And there are men like this in our own nation, men who they're not driven by

00:17:43 morality. They say they are, they're lying. What guides them is not virtue. What guides them is

00:17:49 not morality. And what guides them is certainly not the law of God. What guides them is a blood

00:17:54 thirsty hunger for power and to use that power to domineer over others. That's all that's driving

00:18:01 them. There is no reason to appeal to. There's no logic. There's no compassion. The party of empathy

00:18:07 is anything but empathetic it's a lie these are bloodthirsty men who love violence and they love

00:18:14 to oppress they love to exact tyranny they love to mistreat they love to abuse citizens underneath

00:18:22 their power they get a kick out of it it invigorates them it's their food notice that

00:18:29 language that david used these dogs they come and what are they looking for they're bloodthirsty

00:18:33 but they're also they're hungry they're starving and they come because one they enjoy the kill 0.52

00:18:39 they enjoy the kill have you ever watched i've watched on youtube i'm a sucker so all right on

00:18:45 youtube all i do that's my only purpose anytime i get on youtube is to simply check the comment

00:18:51 section with with right response ministries because sometimes people are just obscene and

00:18:56 you got to delete a comment from time to time or i want to respond blah blah here's the problem

00:19:00 that takes about 20 minutes the problem is i often spend 40 minutes because on youtube they'll be and

00:19:08 youtube knows their algorithm is it's legit they know what they're doing you got to give them you

00:19:12 got to give them props they're they're oppressive too and censoring true information but you got to

00:19:16 give them props with the strategy so they know what i'm a sucker for one thing i'm a sucker for

00:19:21 killer whales and boom so i'll be i'll be going on there to check you know just the comment section

00:19:26 for right response but daggone it there's there's a video of killer whales and here's one thing and

00:19:32 I'm a sucker and I'll click on that it's like 12 minute video and I'm like oh I wish it was three

00:19:36 minutes but I guess I'm watching 12 minutes of killer whales because I don't know what else to

00:19:41 do I'm way too curious about what these killer whales are going to do to pass up on this video

00:19:45 so one thing that killer whales do is they don't just eat they don't just hunt to eat but killer

00:19:52 whales are one of the only animals one of the only predators that will play with their food

00:19:56 you know at the risk of sounding a little bit gruesome they'll take a seal and they'll throw

00:20:01 it around like a bowl while it's still alive and then rip it in half now that is not something

00:20:06 that they have to do instinctually in order to get sustenance or nourishment just eat the seal

00:20:12 you don't have to it's not like they're throwing it in the air because that somehow fills their

00:20:16 bellies no they're bloodthirsty they're violent there's a reason why they're called killer whales

00:20:22 and they are the apex predator in the ocean.

00:20:24 Great white sharks, if you want a good time,

00:20:27 go on YouTube and look up killer whale

00:20:28 versus great white shark.

00:20:31 Spoiler alert, the killer whale wins.

00:20:33 That is the apex predator of the sea.

00:20:35 All right, so killer whales, they're vicious,

00:20:38 they're dangerous, but they don't just kill to eat.

00:20:41 There's this blood lust.

00:20:43 There's this playing, this torture of their prey.

00:20:48 That's the language that David's using.

00:20:50 So it's twofold, all right?

00:20:51 so keep this in your mind to simplify it twofold these men are are starving dogs on the one hand

00:20:57 who growl if they don't get their fill so they're hungry for something and what is it that they're

00:21:02 hungry for they're hungry for the oppression of the righteous they're hungry for the abuse of

00:21:09 god's people they're hungry for power for dominance that's what they're hungry for the dominance over

00:21:16 the righteous, power and tyranny is their food source. It's what sustains them. It's what

00:21:23 nourishes them. This is the food on which they live. Their diet is tyranny. We live in a nation

00:21:30 like that. We have a current administration in our nation like that. Their diet is tyranny.

00:21:38 Tyranny of the righteous. So that's on the one hand, starving dogs. It is their food. It's their 0.77

00:21:44 sustenance. It's their diet. On the other hand, wild dogs, ravaged dogs, bloodthirsty. They not 0.94

00:21:52 only are doing this because it's their sustenance, but they're doing it because it's their joy.

00:21:57 They get a sick, sadistic sense of pleasure out of the persecution of the righteous. They're

00:22:04 bloodthirsty. They have bloodlust. They don't just kill to eat. They do eat. They thrive on tyranny 0.99

00:22:09 As though it were their sustenance. 0.85

00:22:11 But they don't just kill to eat for nourishment.

00:22:14 They also, they kill for pleasure.

00:22:17 There's a bloodlust.

00:22:19 They delight in the oppression of the righteous.

00:22:22 That's what we've seen so far in verse 2, 14, and 15.

00:22:26 Now David's own home, it's surrounded by these bloodthirsty men.

00:22:29 It's a mob.

00:22:31 It's a mob.

00:22:32 It's mob justice.

00:22:34 Now we have that all the time.

00:22:35 We have that in social media.

00:22:36 We have that with corporate America.

00:22:38 We have that with big tech.

00:22:39 we have mob justice. We live in the me too generation, right? Innocent until proven guilty.

00:22:45 Nope. Believe all women. What about when it's Joe Biden? Well, then nevermind due process. 1.00

00:22:52 Okay. Well now he's off the hook and we have a conservative who's in question. Okay. Back to

00:22:57 believe all women, right? So the point is we have mob justice where evidence can't be presented. 1.00

00:23:03 Arguments cannot be made. Reason cannot be appealed to because you're talking about men 0.60

00:23:07 who are without reason they're not reasonable men they're not moral men this mob justice kind

00:23:13 of thing that just cries out where you just destroy someone's life over the internet someone

00:23:18 you don't even know and everybody pitches in and everybody starts to get angry with one another

00:23:23 and this mob justice happens and it brings somebody down who may be innocent that's what

00:23:28 david has but not in the digital virtual sphere david has this happening with flesh and blood

00:23:33 physically literally there are men literally physically surrounding his house driven by

00:23:38 madness without an ounce of reason they have pledged their allegiance to king saul who is a

00:23:44 madman king saul has given up on reason a long time ago the bible says that the lord sent into

00:23:49 him an evil spirit and the lord did it it's an evil spirit from the lord that'll mess with some

00:23:55 of your theology right that god only blesses no the lord actually sends out evil spirits at times

00:24:01 according to what he did with Saul.

00:24:03 So an evil spirit from the Lord comes into Saul

00:24:05 and begins to torment him.

00:24:07 And slowly but surely, as Saul hardens his heart

00:24:09 and rebels against the commands of God,

00:24:12 this evil spirit gains more and more control,

00:24:14 more and more power,

00:24:15 and the reason of Saul begins to dissipate.

00:24:20 The reason, the logic, the sensibleness of Saul

00:24:24 begins to utterly disappear.

00:24:26 And by this point, Saul's driven mad

00:24:28 to the point where he's already tried

00:24:30 to pin David to the wall with a spear for no reason.

00:24:34 He's been hunting him down using all of his resources

00:24:37 to the point where it's actually a detriment to the kingdom,

00:24:40 where resources should be expended in other arenas

00:24:43 and other ways.

00:24:45 And yet Saul's saying, we need hundreds of men

00:24:47 to hunt down one guy who's done nothing wrong.

00:24:51 It's bad stewardship.

00:24:53 It makes no sense.

00:24:54 There's no rhyme or reason to what Saul's doing. 0.99

00:24:57 He is a mad king. 0.99

00:24:59 He's a king of madness. 0.99

00:25:01 And this king of madness has soldiers in his platoons, in his ranks, 0.88

00:25:05 that have pledged their allegiance to madness. 0.93

00:25:09 They know the king is mad, and yet they will not stand up to him.

00:25:13 And they have joined him in his bloodlust. 0.69

00:25:17 They have joined him in his quest for power and to do that which is wicked.

00:25:23 That's the scene.

00:25:24 these are men with unrestrained evil driven by sheer rage they delight in the destruction of

00:25:32 the righteous these are not brothers and sisters confused men well they just don't know right

00:25:40 because because because there's so much fake news and and and things that are true is suppressed

00:25:45 no no they are culpable there is a moral culpability they are not innocent by virtue

00:25:53 of ignorance. These are not men who are merely doing wrong things because they've been deceived

00:25:58 and confused. Now that doesn't mean that they're not confused and that doesn't mean they haven't

00:26:02 been deceived. But in biblical terms, in biblical terms, we must remember Romans 1, if it says

00:26:07 nothing else, it says this. Romans 1 says that ignorance stems from rebellion rather than

00:26:15 rebellion stemming from ignorance. There are many, even in the church, followers of Jesus who should

00:26:20 know better. And yet they purport this unbiblical, bad theology that says people rebel against God

00:26:28 because they're ignorant of the truth of God. So if it was a two-step process, it would say

00:26:33 ignorance comes first. And because people are ignorant of the truth of God, they therefore do

00:26:39 rebellious things against God. They rebel because they're ignorant. That's not what Romans 1 teaches. 0.99

00:26:44 It teaches precisely the opposite.

00:26:46 Romans 1 says that God has demonstrated, he has manifest, he has revealed himself to all men,

00:26:53 believers and unbelievers alike, by virtue of what he has made.

00:26:58 And it says that even the nature and character of God, not every attribute of God,

00:27:02 but namely his divine, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived.

00:27:10 Now notice that, it doesn't just say that by what God has made through natural revelation,

00:27:14 That would be the doctrine.

00:27:15 Natural revelation, by creation itself,

00:27:17 it testifies to God.

00:27:18 Romans 1 doesn't merely say

00:27:20 that God has clearly revealed himself

00:27:23 by what he has made.

00:27:25 No, Romans 1 says it's been clearly perceived.

00:27:28 Because if Romans 1 merely said

00:27:29 it's been clearly revealed,

00:27:30 you could still make the argument

00:27:32 that God has clearly shown himself

00:27:34 by virtue of his creation,

00:27:36 but maybe some people didn't catch the message.

00:27:39 See, God revealed it,

00:27:40 but something can be revealed

00:27:42 and you can still miss it.

00:27:43 You were looking the other way.

00:27:44 So just because someone reveals something doesn't mean that you perceive it.

00:27:47 But Romans 1 says,

00:27:48 Not only has God's character been clearly revealed by what He has made,

00:27:53 but that it has been clearly perceived by all men,

00:27:57 so that all men are without an apologia, an apologetic, an argument, an excuse.

00:28:03 Meaning that no man can stand before the throne of God on that final day

00:28:06 and claim innocence on the basis of ignorance.

00:28:09 Because no one is truly ignorant.

00:28:11 And so it is with men who pledged their allegiance to Saul.

00:28:16 These are not merely confused men.

00:28:18 Deception is involved.

00:28:19 But at the end of the day, deception and confusion and ignorance does not ultimately get the final headline.

00:28:27 It's not ultimately something that you can use as an excuse.

00:28:31 There is moral culpability.

00:28:32 There is a willingness to be deceived.

00:28:36 And I say all that to say that in our culture and in our nation, in our time, we see the very same principle at work.

00:28:43 Are there people who are confused because true information is suppressed?

00:28:46 Yes.

00:28:48 But there is a willingness.

00:28:50 There is a culpability.

00:28:52 There is a moral responsibility.

00:28:55 No one at the end of the day can merely claim innocence on the basis of ignorance.

00:29:00 At the end of the day, in the final analysis, everyone believes precisely what they want.

00:29:06 to believe, including you and I. That's the idea. This is the reformed idea of presuppositionalism,

00:29:13 presuppositional apologetics, that everyone's coming to the table with an agenda, with a

00:29:20 leaning, with an allegiance. Christ himself says, a man is either for me or against me.

00:29:26 Neutrality, brothers and sisters, is a myth. It is a myth. There is no morally neutral ground.

00:29:34 everyone has an allegiance it's either to God or to man it is theonomy God's law or autonomy

00:29:43 man's law those are the only options those are the only choices before you the only thing that

00:29:49 you can decide between and so these men although Saul may be lying to them about David although

00:29:58 Saul may be be making up some case against them that's not true there may be an element of

00:30:04 deception. There may be an element of confusion. There may be an element of true information being

00:30:10 suppressed and therefore ignorance. And yet there is also at the end of the day, an element of moral

00:30:16 culpability because man only ever believes what he wants. That's true for the unbeliever. That's true 1.00

00:30:24 for the believer as well. This man, Christ Jesus, the God, man, Christ Jesus is the most polarizing

00:30:31 man in all of human history you will either love him or hate him you will bless him or curse him

00:30:37 you will follow him or rebel against him but everyone does something with the person of Jesus

00:30:42 Christ everyone does something no one is neutral towards Jesus and if they say they are they're

00:30:48 lying and all you have to do is press for a moment and you'll get them quickly to either be converted

00:30:54 and love Jesus or to admit their true hatred towards Jesus. Doug Wilson says it like this,

00:31:01 this presuppositional idea. He says that, you know, Romans 1, all men are lying and suppressing

00:31:06 the truth and deeds of unrighteousness, right? So they do perceive it. They know. And then what

00:31:11 they do is in their rebellion, they begin to suppress the truth. So again, the pattern in

00:31:16 Romans 1 is people are not ignorant. They do know that there is a God in heaven and he demands our

00:31:21 allegiance and then people choose to rebel so the issue is not intellectual the issue is first and

00:31:27 foremost moral and they choose to rebel against christ and in their rebellion by deeds done in 0.93

00:31:32 unrighteousness they suppress the truth and become ignorant so are there ignorant people yes but 0.61

00:31:38 here's the question did they start that way did they start that way according to romans 1 no they

00:31:43 started perceiving they came out of their mother's womb with natural revelation natural law as as

00:31:50 image bearers of the living God they came out of the womb knowing there was a God in heaven

00:31:54 the creator of heaven and earth and he is worthy of worship he has eternal power and a divine nature

00:32:01 so they come out knowing not ignorant but knowing and then in their rebellion because the issue is

00:32:07 not first and foremost intellectual but first and foremost moral in their rebellion then they begin

00:32:12 to lie and suppress the truth and deeds of unrighteousness and they are handed over

00:32:16 progressively by their sin and hardness of heart to ignorance so men become ignorant that's true 0.85

00:32:23 are there a lot of people who are confused and ignorant yes but the question is did they start

00:32:27 there or did they get there the bible says they got there and how did they get there sin by

00:32:35 rebelling against god in deeds of unrighteousness the men in david's day who are surrounding his

00:32:41 house who have pledged their allegiance to saul and against his anointed holy one who was king

00:32:46 David, these men, although they may have been lied to, although there may have been a degree

00:32:51 of deception, confusion, and ignorance, at the end of the day, what first comes, chicken or the egg?

00:32:56 Well, what first comes in this instance is the moral issue, not the intellectual issue. What

00:33:00 first comes is their rebellion, their willful rebellion, and from that comes ignorance. And

00:33:06 that is precisely the same situation that we have, not just in the days of David, but we have in all

00:33:11 places in all times throughout human history including our culture and our situations today

00:33:16 today we have people who are confused but they are confused because they want to be

00:33:22 they believe whatever narrative they desire to believe and they have arrived at this state of

00:33:29 confusion and ignorance because first and foremost they're rebellious against not republicans that's

00:33:37 not the main issue not against no first and foremost they are rebellious against the lord

00:33:42 jesus christ and because they hate jesus they have suppressed the truth and deeds of unrighteousness

00:33:49 and they have progressively been handed over more and more to an ignorance but that ignorance stems

00:33:54 first from rebellion they're not capable these men they're not merely confused these are not

00:34:02 merely confused men. They are not innocent or merely lacking accurate information. They are

00:34:07 not capable of being persuaded by reason. If only someone would provide to them the facts

00:34:12 in an honest, compelling manner, right? This isn't someone that if you just listened to Ben Shapiro,

00:34:17 you would be a conservative. No, because it's not merely about the facts. The problem is not

00:34:24 merely an intellectual problem. It's moral. People believe what they want to believe. It was true

00:34:30 in the times of David it is true in our times today they're not capable being persuaded by

00:34:35 reason if only someone would provide the facts in an honest and charitable manner right this person

00:34:41 really would be a Calvinist if only Calvinists weren't so arrogant if Calvinists could just

00:34:45 present the doctrines of grace in a humble manner this person would be reformed probably not

00:34:50 now that doesn't mean that that as Christians and as reformed Christians that we shouldn't seek to

00:34:56 have a gentle tone but but the point is we should seek to have a gentle tone out of obedience

00:35:02 not not because of effectiveness god and his sovereignty and providence may cause it to be

00:35:08 effective but the reason why we want to have a gentle tone a respectful tone is because god

00:35:12 commands us to so we want to do that because we want to be obedient but the idea that we if we

00:35:18 only did that we could somehow shape the course of redemptive history and certain people would

00:35:23 come into the kingdom of god that otherwise won't no see that number one that undercuts first and

00:35:28 foremost the sovereign election of god but secondarily it also undercuts the severity of

00:35:33 the depravity of man man's rebellion toward the lord jesus christ is not so is not so insignificant

00:35:42 that if only we had compelling factual charitable arguments it would be able to overcome their

00:35:48 rebellion see the picture that that paints right it's not just bad theology that's a bad anthropology

00:35:53 the picture that that illustration paints is that man has a rebellion towards god but his man

00:35:58 his rebellion is small that's not what the scripture teaches the scripture teaches that

00:36:04 his rebellion against god is insurmountable it cannot be overcome by facts or truth or gentleness

00:36:12 or charitableness or winsomeness if i had a dollar every time somebody in the evangelical church said

00:36:17 that I should be more winsome, I wouldn't need a salary. I'd be a very rich man, sick and tired of

00:36:22 the word winsome, just done with that. I want to have a polemic. I want to have a polemic that

00:36:29 Jesus had. Was John the Baptist being winsome when he called the Pharisees a brood of vipers?

00:36:34 I think so, but it's a different kind of winsomeness. That's a winsomeness I want to display,

00:36:39 right? I like what Phil Johnson said. He said, yeah, I want to engage culture, but the question

00:36:43 is how he said i want to engage culture the way that david engaged goliath we're here to win

00:36:49 all right that's all conservatives ever do christian unbelieving or believing that's all

00:36:55 all we ever do is we start things and then we start a time clock for okay we'll enjoy this for

00:37:02 about 10 years until it gets infiltrated and taken over by the left i i if if conservatives

00:37:08 disappeared the left would have no institutions because they never started one all they do is

00:37:14 take over the institutions that we start but that's an indictment to us why why why why do

00:37:20 they always win why do they always infiltrate why do they always take over because we surrender

00:37:25 because we always surrender and we surrender because of cowardice and fear when the bible

00:37:31 commands us to be strong courageous but we also surrender not just because of cowardice and fear

00:37:36 We also surrender because of the 11th commandment of niceness.

00:37:41 And I'll be honest, that's not really a second reason.

00:37:43 That's just a thin veil for the first.

00:37:46 Be nice. 0.93

00:37:48 Spoke every coward ever. 0.84

00:37:52 Every coward ever. Be nice. 0.91

00:37:54 But what you're really saying is, I'm afraid.

00:37:56 Please don't cause trouble.

00:37:57 It'll be uncomfortable.

00:37:58 It'll make a mess for me.

00:38:00 And then I'll be forced to two sides.

00:38:01 And I know, I know how squishy and spineless I am.

00:38:06 I'll choose their side over you.

00:38:08 And I don't want to lose this relationship with you.

00:38:10 And I don't want, I don't want the gospel of Jesus that separates mother from daughter and father.

00:38:16 I have not come to bring peace, but a sword dividing.

00:38:19 I don't want Jesus.

00:38:21 See, here's the, at the end of the day, people don't want Jesus.

00:38:24 Because Jesus divides.

00:38:26 He did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

00:38:28 They don't want Jesus because they know he's polarized.

00:38:30 So what they ultimately want to do is they want to strip Jesus of every ounce of power, profundity.

00:38:37 They want to emasculate the Son of God.

00:38:40 But he is the God-man, Christ Jesus.

00:38:44 They want to strip him of his masculinity.

00:38:46 They want to, give me more nuance.

00:38:48 Good Lord, winsome and nuance.

00:38:50 If you gave me nuance, a dollar every time that word was used,

00:38:53 in addition to winsomeness, I'd have a $67 million jet plane.

00:38:57 I'd begin the same kind of criticism that Benny Hinn gets.

00:39:00 I'd be so rich, right?

00:39:01 Give me nuance.

00:39:02 But what they do is they ultimately nuance their way

00:39:05 out of the masculinity of Jesus Christ.

00:39:09 John chapter two, Jesus fashions a whip

00:39:11 and clears out the temple. 0.96

00:39:14 This is what I would say.

00:39:15 Gentleness is a fruit of the spirit.

00:39:16 But here's the question.

00:39:18 How do we define it?

00:39:19 Let me submit to you that the church,

00:39:23 followers of Jesus, right?

00:39:24 The student's not above the teacher.

00:39:25 The servant's not above the master.

00:39:27 So if we claim to be followers of Jesus,

00:39:28 perhaps it's unwise for us to define gentleness in such a way that it's narrower than the son of

00:39:35 God himself when you define gentleness in such a way that Jesus doesn't even fit into the boundaries

00:39:41 that you've established for what it is to be gentle then you've made a mistake you are misdefining

00:39:46 gentleness if your definition of gentleness precludes Christ Jesus that's another misconception

00:39:53 we have we think that the fruit of the spirit is like a toolbox right I'm going to grab a hammer

00:39:57 for this particular task, then I'll put it back

00:39:59 in. I'll grab a screwdriver

00:40:02 for this particular task, and then I'll

00:40:03 put it back in. No, the fruit of the Spirit

00:40:05 is collective. The

00:40:07 better way to describe

00:40:09 the fruit of the Spirit, just for the record, the fruit, we always

00:40:11 say apple, banana. And I'm going to use that illustration.

00:40:14 But what it really means, fruit just means evidence

00:40:16 of the Spirit. Manifestation

00:40:17 of the Spirit. Visible,

00:40:20 external, witnessable

00:40:21 attributes of the Holy Spirit. And what

00:40:23 does it look like? It looks like this. Love,

00:40:25 joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness and self-control now this is what

00:40:30 we need to understand number one it's a package deal right so so this meant it's a false it is a

00:40:36 it is a misconception to think this person really has love but but they don't have faithfulness

00:40:41 no here's here's the deal back to the well back to our confession god is the most pure spirit

00:40:47 without body hearts and passions what does that mean parts it means in philosophical terms god

00:40:52 is a simple being. He's the most complex being in the universe. But in philosophical terms,

00:40:57 he's a simple being, which means he is indivisible. So for you, you could sever your right arm and

00:41:02 still be you. You take away my right arm, I don't lose my identity, my personality. I'm still Joel

00:41:08 Webbin. I'm just Joel Webbin with one arm instead of two. But there is nothing that is in God, any

00:41:12 of his perfections as a Puritan. They didn't even like the term attributes. It was the perfections

00:41:17 of God. There is no perfection of God that you could subtract or sever from God and him still

00:41:22 be God, which means God without body parts and passions, which means that the manifestations

00:41:28 of the Holy Spirit, who is God, by the way, the third member of the Trinity, Holy Spirit,

00:41:34 who is God, if you have the Spirit, and if you're a Christian, you do, right? First Corinthians

00:41:38 chapter six, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is, you have received from

00:41:43 God, you're not your own, you're bought with a price, therefore honor God with your body.

00:41:46 So the Holy Spirit, if you have the Holy Spirit, guess what?

00:41:49 You don't get 30% of the Holy Spirit.

00:41:53 You don't get 70% of the Holy Spirit.

00:41:55 If you get the Holy Spirit, who is God, you get the whole God.

00:41:59 Because he is a most pure spirit without body, parts, and passions.

00:42:03 He does not have parts.

00:42:04 He can't be dissected.

00:42:05 Which means this.

00:42:06 If you have the Holy Spirit, you do have the fruit of the Spirit.

00:42:10 The visible manifestations and evidence of one who possesses the Holy Spirit.

00:42:16 And if you have the fruit of the Spirit,

00:42:19 then you have all of the fruit of the Spirit.

00:42:21 So the better way to think of it is,

00:42:23 instead of now using a literal fruit analogy,

00:42:25 instead of nine fruits, an apple, banana, an orange, a watermelon,

00:42:28 instead of nine fruits,

00:42:29 well, you should think of it as one fruit.

00:42:31 Let's take an apple with nine characteristics.

00:42:33 It's crisp, it's sweet, it's crunchy.

00:42:37 That's what the fruit of the Spirit is much more likened to

00:42:39 than the former analogy of nine different fruits.

00:42:42 No, it's one fruit because it's one spirit without body, parts, and passions, who is indivisible.

00:42:49 So it's one fruit, namely one God, one spirit, who has multiple characteristics.

00:42:56 So if someone has a spirit of God, what are the characteristics of the spirit of God?

00:43:01 He's loving.

00:43:02 He's joyful.

00:43:04 He's gentle.

00:43:05 I say all that to say there's only one person in his earthly human life here on earth who embodied

00:43:11 the fullness without measure the spirit without measure is what the scripture says and therefore

00:43:16 had the fruit the manifestations the visible expressions of the spirit without measure

00:43:21 Jesus Christ Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry had the spirit without measure and therefore

00:43:28 had the manifestations the visible signs of the spirit without measure which means all this

00:43:33 theology platform to make this argument which means there was never a moment in the life of

00:43:39 Jesus Christ here on earth where he was not embodying and displaying for us manifesting

00:43:45 gentleness in its fullness everything he said everything he did was a perfect embodiment a

00:43:53 perfect example that we should emulate of love joy peace all of them including gentleness which

00:44:01 means in John chapter two, when Jesus makes a whip and begins to beat people and throw over

00:44:06 their tables and tell them to get the hell out of God's house. When that happens, when Jesus does

00:44:11 that, he is setting for us an example of what it means to be gentle. That's gentleness. That's

00:44:18 what it looks like to be gentle in that context with those people, with that sin. So that doesn't

00:44:26 mean we build a whip and, and, and that's what we bring to a funeral, right? Jesus didn't bring

00:44:30 his whip with him to Lazarus tomb. People are weeping, Jesus weeps. But when people are

00:44:36 desecrating the house of God, Jesus gets mad. And it's not like he had gentleness, pulled that out

00:44:41 of his toolkit in this instance, and then put gentleness away and pulled out courage in this

00:44:46 other instance. That is bad theology. So I just want to, Christian myth busters, I want to go

00:44:51 ahead and bust that myth right now once and for all for all of us to understand. So all that being 0.97

00:44:57 said, John Piper, he says this, if no shepherd kings were ever surrounded by bloodthirsty mobs,

00:45:03 if no missionaries were ever beheaded, if no pastors were ever hated and driven from their

00:45:07 churches, if no nations ever tottered on the brink of oppression, if no daughters were ever drowned

00:45:12 at sea, then the songbook of the Bible and the hymne of the church would be very thin and the

00:45:19 singing of the church would not be capable of reaching to the bottom of the hearts of men.

00:45:24 Charles Spurgeon, same kind of concept, same principle.

00:45:27 He says, the music of the sanctuary is in no small degree indebted to the trials of the saints.

00:45:34 And so I say all that to say, David's house is surrounded by men driven mad.

00:45:40 Not just deceived, but willingly handing themselves over to madness.

00:45:45 Bloodthirsty men who they thrive on oppressing the righteous.

00:45:51 They thrive on exacting tyranny.

00:45:54 And these kinds of instances, these moments in the life of the Christian, this is the source of inspiration that writes for us the types of psalms, the types of hymns that ultimately plumb to the furthest depths of the human soul, that actually reach down into tragedy, that reach down into depression, that reach down into despair. 0.90

00:46:18 And so God in his providence, God in his sovereignty, he allows the righteous to be afflicted

00:46:22 so that we might search the full depths of the human soul and know that at the bottom of the

00:46:27 ninth, at the bottom of the barrel, when everything seems to be lost, that God, our God, is our

00:46:34 strength. And as David says in the end of this psalm, our mighty fortress, our mighty fortress.

00:46:41 In Psalm 59, verse 16 through 17,

00:46:44 David sings praises to the God of might and mercy.

00:46:47 This is the final point I want to make.

00:46:49 He says this,

00:46:50 But I will sing of your strength.

00:46:52 I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

00:46:55 For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.

00:46:59 Oh, my strength.

00:47:00 Notice, this is not exact, not verbatim,

00:47:03 but this is a repetition of what he's already said.

00:47:06 So he's already said,

00:47:07 You've been a fortress, but I will sing of your strength.

00:47:10 now he says oh my strength he's saying strength is your name notice it's capitalized there so

00:47:16 instead of oh my god he says oh my strength meaning my god whose name is strength so he says

00:47:21 oh my strength i will sing praises to you for you oh god are my fortress the god who shows me here

00:47:27 he goes he repeats again steadfast love david says the same thing twice he praises god for his

00:47:33 strength that is God's might his power and he praises God for his steadfast love that is God's

00:47:40 mercy the might and mercy of God have come together in order to form a fortress for David

00:47:49 I believe verses 16 and 17 if there's nothing else that they say it's this

00:47:53 David says God be to me a fortress be to me a strong tower be to me a rock where I can hide

00:48:03 myself from my enemies. Be to me a shelter. And if you will, visualize for a moment a shelter that's

00:48:10 an A-frame, if you will. There are two sides of the roof. And David, it's as though he's saying

00:48:16 this, you are a strong shelter to me. You guard me. You keep me safe. And these two sides of the

00:48:23 roof, this A-frame shelter that you have developed, that you are being for me, the two sides of the

00:48:28 roof, if they had a name, it would be might on the one hand and mercy on the other. It is the might

00:48:34 and the mercy of God that provides for us, that becomes for us a shelter, a fortress, a hiding

00:48:42 place in times of trouble. Why is the final question? Why particularly is the might of God

00:48:50 and the mercy of God required to protect the people of God? I'll tell you why. God in his might,

00:48:57 He must, in order to protect us, in order to be able to protect us from bloodthirsty...

00:49:03 Remember, the enemy is not described as puny.

00:49:07 They're described as bloodthirsty dogs surrounding the house of David.

00:49:11 They're armed to the teeth.

00:49:13 He doesn't stand a chance.

00:49:14 David is on the run, one, because he honors the office of the king that God had anointed Saul.

00:49:19 And he doesn't want to defy that.

00:49:21 But two, David's on the run because he does not possess the resources, the ability to mount up an opposition that would stand a chance.

00:49:30 So David's on the run because his enemies are stronger than him.

00:49:33 Therefore, in order for God to be our shelter, because our enemies are bloodthirsty men,

00:49:38 and because our enemies often, they often fill places of power and influence,

00:49:43 because this is the case, because the enemies of God are the ones who right now have power over virtually every institution in our culture,

00:49:51 in our nation because that is true because they have might the only way we can be spared the only

00:49:57 way that God can be to us a fortress a refuge is if God has even greater might so on the one hand

00:50:04 for God to be our fortress for him to be our refuge he must have might because our enemies

00:50:09 are not puny our enemies are strong they're strong and they and they have no reservations

00:50:15 about doing heinous and wicked things towards the righteous.

00:50:19 But our God is stronger.

00:50:21 And in comparison to us, our enemy is strong.

00:50:24 But in comparison with God, they're puny.

00:50:27 He holds them in derision.

00:50:28 He sits in the heavens and mocks.

00:50:30 He laughs.

00:50:32 God laughs.

00:50:32 So they're weak compared to him.

00:50:34 But we need to be humble.

00:50:35 Remember, they're strong compared to us.

00:50:37 It doesn't look good right now.

00:50:39 It didn't look good for David.

00:50:40 And it doesn't look great for us.

00:50:42 I'd say we're in a better situation than David was.

00:50:44 But it still doesn't look great for us.

00:50:46 Our enemies are not puning.

00:50:48 Our enemies have authority.

00:50:49 They have influence.

00:50:50 They have power.

00:50:52 Right?

00:50:53 But I mean, having big tech basically be a government faction is a lot of power.

00:50:59 You can do a lot of stuff if you own YouTube and Instagram and Twitter and Facebook.

00:51:04 That's the situation we're in right now.

00:51:05 That's big.

00:51:06 And then you throw in there Hollywood and every single movie your children are going to be watching.

00:51:09 And then the entire school system.

00:51:11 and then you add to that the white house and everything else,

00:51:14 then yeah, that's not a great situation.

00:51:17 I think David's situation was worse, but we're not far from it.

00:51:20 It feels like bloodthirsty men have surrounded our house.

00:51:23 That's what it looks like.

00:51:25 Wild dogs, they're not puny.

00:51:26 We need to be humbled, church.

00:51:28 Little flock, that's what John, he writes to the church, he says,

00:51:30 little flock, Jesus said, like sheep sent out among wolves.

00:51:35 So we need to have, you know, a moment of humility.

00:51:38 And remember, in comparison to us, they're not puny.

00:51:42 In comparison to God, they are.

00:51:44 So God, on the one hand, in order to be our salvation, our deliverance, our fortress, he must have might.

00:51:51 Here's the final piece.

00:51:53 He also must be merciful.

00:51:55 The might of God is completely, well, I was going to say it's completely irrelevant if not for his mercy.

00:52:02 But that's not true.

00:52:03 It's not irrelevant.

00:52:04 The might of God is our terror and our doom.

00:52:08 if he's not merciful.

00:52:10 If this God who is omnipotent, all-powerful,

00:52:13 is not also omnibenevolent, all-loving,

00:52:16 then he's our doom.

00:52:18 And see, this is one of the most beautiful things.

00:52:21 All right, so Sigmund Freud,

00:52:23 one of the arguments that he made towards atheism,

00:52:25 against theism, against the existence of a God,

00:52:28 is he said God was just the creation

00:52:31 of the imagination of primitive men.

00:52:33 So primitive men, there were certain things

00:52:35 that they could not explain with science, right?

00:52:38 they couldn't explain these things so like a storm for instance so Sigmund Freud his his whole

00:52:44 argument was this there are certain threats that a man can reason with right so if somebody stops

00:52:49 you in a back alley and they're trying to rob you you may at least have the opportunity they're

00:52:54 holding you at gunpoint give me your wallet you may have the opportunity to say hey you can take

00:52:58 my wallet but please don't hurt me right what are you doing you're appealing or you know there's

00:53:03 even training you know for if you're ever in this kind of situation say your name because

00:53:07 it helps the victimizer to have to be forced to recognize your identity, your humanity. It

00:53:13 humanizes you, right? It makes it more difficult for them to inflict harm upon you. Meaning this,

00:53:19 there are certain threats in life that there is some sense of either compassion or some sense of

00:53:25 reason that we can appeal to. But there are other threats in life like a hurricane. You can't reason

00:53:30 with a hurricane. And so Sigmund Freud, his argument, whether it be a hurricane or a plague,

00:53:36 He argued that primitive people with lots of death, right,

00:53:40 without modern medicine and these kinds of things, 0.89

00:53:41 with plagues, with storms, with all these kinds of things,

00:53:43 with lots of dangers, lots of threats,

00:53:45 and many of these threats not being personified,

00:53:50 many of them being inanimate, like a storm or like a disease.

00:53:53 There was no reason to appeal to,

00:53:56 no personhood, no compassion that they could play against.

00:54:00 And so what they needed was,

00:54:03 they needed someone who had power over the storm and so they created God and so that was his

00:54:09 argument Sigmund Freud an atheist saying men manufactured God out of their own imagination

00:54:15 to help them deal with the terrors of life that could not be appealed to and this is why he's

00:54:22 wrong he's wrong because the disciples this is just one example there's dozens in scripture

00:54:27 But the disciples, when Jesus is sleeping under the boat,

00:54:32 and a great storm arises on the Sea of Galilee,

00:54:35 it says that the disciples, it says they were very afraid.

00:54:41 And they go and they wake Jesus and they say,

00:54:44 Master, Master, do you not care?

00:54:45 Teacher, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

00:54:48 And Jesus awakes and it says he rebukes the wind and the waves.

00:54:51 He tells them to be still and to be silent.

00:54:55 And they cease.

00:54:55 and then it says the disciples response is this who is this who has authority to command even the

00:55:01 wind and waves and then they were exceedingly afraid see the reason why sigmund freud is wrong

00:55:09 when it comes to the christian god is because the disciples look at the storm that threat

00:55:14 that impending doom and they're afraid but then they look at jesus who has authority over the

00:55:20 storm and they become even more afraid, exceedingly afraid. So the Christian God is not the author of 0.88

00:55:26 sugar and spice and everything nice. He's not the Jewish version of Mr. Rogers. He is the thrice 0.92

00:55:32 holy God who commands in his right hand power over stars and galaxies and the cosmos. He is

00:55:40 the God of might. And the only reason, the only reason the existence of a God like this is a

00:55:47 comfort to sinners like you and me is because the God of might is also the God of mercy.

00:55:54 He keeps steadfast love. Notice David, he doesn't use the word mercy, but it means mercy.

00:55:59 He uses the word steadfast love. I think that's one of the best definitions of mercy

00:56:03 because steadfast love means what? A love that continues. What's the implication? A love that

00:56:09 continues when your faithfulness doesn't. When your obedience doesn't continue, his steadfast

00:56:16 love does when your obedience when your faithfulness when your righteousness when your

00:56:20 allegiance to him does not remain steadfast it does not continue you falter you fail his love

00:56:28 remains steadfast he does not deny us for he will not deny himself even when we're faithless he

00:56:36 remains faithful for he cannot deny himself it is the steadfast love of god meaning what it's the

00:56:42 love of God that continues even when the obedience of man fails. I'll say it again. The steadfast love

00:56:48 of God, the covenantal, we might say, love of God is a love of God that continues even when the

00:56:54 obedience and faithfulness of men fail. What better word to describe that than mercy? So it is the

00:57:01 power of God and the steadfast continuing love of God, even in the midst of human weakness, aka the

00:57:07 mercy of God the might and mercy of God like two sides of the roof of the shelter that become for

00:57:13 David a fortress and that fortress is a mighty fortress and it is available for all those who

00:57:19 hope in Christ today put your hope in Jesus will we overcome yes will we overcome in the next 10

00:57:26 years I don't know that's not promised but the church will overcome I will build my church and

00:57:31 the gates of hell will not will not prevail against it remember church that language the

00:57:37 gates of hell the gates are a defensive weapon the church is not on the ropes getting pummeled

00:57:42 by hell but hell and all of its offense ultimately will not prevail because the church the church

00:57:48 jesus will hold it up and it ultimately will not fall no it's reversed the gates of hell describe

00:57:54 that hell is on the defense and jesus says i will build not just i not just survive not just

00:58:00 sustain my church. No, I will build it. It will advance. It will grow. So the church is growing.

00:58:05 It's expanding. It's on the offense. Jesus says, my church is on the offense. My church is

00:58:10 wailing on hell. Hell is in the corner. Hell is on the ropes and hell won't be able, 0.93

00:58:17 its defense, its gates will not be able ultimately in the final day to withstand the battering ram

00:58:24 of the church that's being hoisted by christ himself who is the head of the church so we win

00:58:30 and it's not just we went a lot of christians think that we win because we lose but then christ

00:58:36 comes in in the bottom of the ninth and as a pinch hitter and make so it's like the team is

00:58:40 just going to get slaughtered but then christ comes in at the very end and hits you know a

00:58:44 grand slam and we end up winning no no christ wins it's his glory but the question is how christ

00:58:50 wins, the pre-mill thinks

00:58:52 Christ wins despite the church

00:58:53 to the benefit of the church.

00:58:56 The post-mill thinks Christ wins 0.84

00:58:58 through his church. 0.99

00:59:00 That's our belief. So it's still Christ.

00:59:02 It's still his glory. But is Christ

00:59:04 going to win despite the church sucking? 0.99

00:59:06 Or is Christ going to win 0.93

00:59:08 through the church?

00:59:10 Is Christ's weapon that he wields

00:59:12 to overcome the enemies of darkness

00:59:13 the battering ram of the church itself?

00:59:16 I believe that's the language of Scripture.

00:59:18 So we will win, and

00:59:20 not just Christ winning for us but Christ winning through us and there is a difference and we will

00:59:25 win the question is when will we win we're not promised that America will win America could fall

00:59:32 and the church still thrive so America may not win and if we win even the church winning the

00:59:38 church may not win in the next 10 years just like Gideon's army it was whittled down first

00:59:45 and then a great victory.

00:59:47 So even the church may seemingly shrink

00:59:49 with God's providential pruning.

00:59:52 America is not promised to win 0.91

00:59:53 and the church is promised to win,

00:59:55 but we don't know when we're going to win.

00:59:57 And it may look like subtraction first before addition,

01:00:01 but we do win.

01:00:02 We do win.

01:00:04 And for all those who hope in Christ,

01:00:06 even with bloodthirsty dogs that surround us

01:00:08 that hate Christ, hate his rule,

01:00:11 hate his kingship, hate his glory,

01:00:13 even in a situation like that,

01:00:15 God is our fortress.

01:00:17 Little flock, have no fear.

01:00:19 How many times does the Bible say again and again,

01:00:22 don't be afraid, don't be afraid.

01:00:23 Have no fear.

01:00:24 He is our fortress and he is sufficient for the task

01:00:27 because he is mighty and merciful.

01:00:31 Let's pray.

01:00:32 Father God, thank you for your word.

01:00:33 Thank you for Jesus Christ, your son.

01:00:35 Thank you that you are our fortress,

01:00:37 our strong tower, our defense, our shelter, our protection.

01:00:41 Thank you for your power and your might.

01:00:44 But Lord, we thank you.

01:00:46 We shudder at your might.

01:00:48 And we remember and take heart because of your mercy.

01:00:52 It's almost like a small child seeing his dad for the first time,

01:00:57 lifting some heavy object and feeling a sense of fear.

01:01:00 I never knew my dad who's so gentle and tender towards me.

01:01:03 I never realized he was so strong.

01:01:06 But I'm shuddering in one sense, but at the same time I'm not afraid

01:01:10 because the one that I'm witnessing right now,

01:01:12 such a feat of strength, is also my daddy.

01:01:16 So the one who is so strong,

01:01:18 all of that strength is being channeled for me

01:01:21 because the one who is strong is the one who is for me.

01:01:24 If God is for us, who can be against us?

01:01:28 Lord, help us to trust in you

01:01:29 and to be strong and courageous,

01:01:33 not boasting in the flesh,

01:01:34 but boasting in our mighty and merciful God.

01:01:37 We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

01:01:40 Oh, hi. I didn't see you there. Thanks for sticking around. I've got an important announcement

01:01:45 to make. That's the Theonomy and Postmillennialism Conference. 2023, May 5th, 6th, and 7th,

01:01:52 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Theonomy and Postmillennialism. We've got the speakers that

01:01:57 we've already had lined up. That's Dr. James White, Dr. Joseph Boot, Dr. Gary DeMar, non-doctor

01:02:03 Pastor Joel Webin, but we also have a bonus speaker, and that is Dale Partridge from Real

01:02:08 Christianity. Perhaps you've heard of him. If not, you should start listening to his podcast.

01:02:12 It's fantastic. Dale Partridge is going to be joining our team. We're going to have live panels

01:02:18 on Friday night and Saturday night where you'll be able to write in questions and get them answered.

01:02:22 We're also going to have a catered barbecue, Texas-style barbecue meal on Friday that's a

01:02:28 part of your registration fee. All that is covered, so you need to get there. This is how you do it.

01:02:33 Go and register right now at rightresponseconference.com.

01:02:37 Again, that's rightresponseconference.com.

01:02:41 God bless.

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The NXR Podcast - December 11, 2022

SUNDAY SERMON - Surrounded By Bloodthirsty Men ｜ Psalm 59

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