Our scripture reading tonight is coming from Psalm 43. Psalm 43, if you'd turn there. It's on page 555, 555 in the Pew Bibles. Let us go to our God once more in prayer and ask that He would illuminate this text for us tonight. Please bow your heads with me.
Heavenly Father, we ask that by Your Spirit who's present with us here, that You would open our eyes to understand Your Word. Please give us clear minds, focused minds, Lord, that we can hear Your Word rightly, soften and open our hearts to receive this Word, Lord. We ask that You would make it clear and give us Your light and Your truth. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
So, Psalm 43: "Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people. From the deceitful and unjust man, deliver me. 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? Send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you at turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."
If you watched the Summer Olympics this summer, perhaps you remember the opening ceremony and the controversy therein. The ceremony began with a troupe of LGBT dancers and drag activists, and they performed something that was supposed to be a mockery of Leonardo da Vinci's The Lord's Supper, or The Last Supper, where they tried to make this scene of Jesus and his apostles look more like the Greek god Dionysus or Bacchus, some sort of debaucherous festival, and they were trying to ultimately mock God and mock Christians.
To do something like that at a global event where the whole world is watching in at the Olympics really confirms that Christendom has ended. I think it really confirms Dr. Godfrey's point that he told us a couple years ago: Christendom is over. To so publicly and openly and shamelessly mock God and Christians, we must be confident we no longer have a position of prestige in this society, in this world.
If you spend any time on social media, you'll see all the hurtful and evil things said about Christians. Especially with the election in just two days, the online rhetoric has descended more and more into cheap insults. Christians are called closed-minded, dogmatic, fools, hateful, ignorant, brainwashed. It's all over. You can't avoid it.
Christians are insulted in the world for their views on basic reality and the nature of things. Christians are crazy because they think God created man and woman and that a man cannot become a woman. Christians are wicked because they think that they can control women and they think that life is valuable at every stage. These lies are spread about Christians, twisting the truth of something and deceiving the world to make Christians and ultimately God look evil.
All the name-calling and insults takes a toll on us, on everyone. Ultimately, the children's rhyme that "sticks and stones may hurt my bones, but words can never hurt me" is not true. Words can hurt. Christians can be mentally, emotionally wounded by all this rhetoric, all this talk. We might even have depressive episodes or be downcast.
I think that's what we're seeing in the psalm today. And it's a wonderful thing that we have the Psalter that expresses the full range of human emotion, that when we're experiencing something in our lives, we can look to the Psalter and see someone before us has felt the same thing. One of God's people has felt the same thing, and we can see what their solution was, see how they dealt with this issue.
Here we see the psalmist oppressed, experiencing injustice, persecuted, tormented, suffering, downcast, mourning, and feeling rejected by God. The psalmist expresses his desperate plea to God in this suffering, crying out for vindication. The psalmist then asks that God would bring him into God's presence, that he might worship him. And in the midst of this suffering, the psalmist is finding hope in the prospect that he will again worship God.
So we see a movement in verses one and two: he's downcast, mourning. Then in verses three and four, he's expressing confidence in God and that he will again praise God in public worship. That leads us to the fifth verse, where now he's chiding himself, thinking, "Why did I ever doubt God? Why did I think that God had rejected me?"
So that's the movement that we'll walk through in this psalm: first looking at the persecution the psalmist is experiencing; then we'll look at the pleas and petitions that he makes to God; and then we'll see how public worship is the resolution of his pain.
So again, the psalmist is experiencing oppression at the hands of the enemy, and this enemy is an ungodly people, a deceitful and unjust man. And he opens the psalm with this judicial language: "Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause." It could be translated, "Judge me, O God, and plead my case." It's courtroom language because the psalmist has had charges brought against him. And he's saying it's coming from a deceitful source. They're lies. And the psalmist seems, maybe he was facing some sort of physical oppression as well, but this psalm seems to focus on the verbal assaults of the enemies of God's people and how verbal assaults can affect us.
So, who is this enemy that's coming against the psalmist? It's an ungodly people. In the Hebrew, it says "a people without hesed," which is God's covenant love. So a people without God's covenant love, it means that they don't know God. They don't know and love God, and they are not loved by God. This is a deceitful enemy. They're liars, spreading falsehoods about God's people, disseminating lies; the truth is not in them. It's also an unjust people, having no regard for God's law and for the justice of society.
We can see how relatable the struggle of the psalmist is that we too experience in our daily lives people who are unjust. We interact with ungodly people, people that are not Christians; they don't know God. We also constantly deal with liars. And given that Christians no longer have a position of prestige or power or authority in this world, at the end of Christendom, now we're derided and mocked in media, in the culture.
But it's not just out there; it's in our personal lives. Perhaps your co-workers, your friends, perhaps even in your own family, you receive this mockery, and lies are told about who Christians are and what they believe. Christians are called hateful for speaking the truth in love. It's said that we hate homosexuals because we believe marriage is between a man and a woman, or that we despise transgenders because we believe God made male and female. We believe that there's a natural order to the world. Those are lies. We do not hate homosexuals and transgenders.
They say that we indoctrinate our children for raising them up in the Christian faith, teaching them the truth about God's Word and who He is. Is that indoctrination, or giving them the truth? They say we're closed-minded in our religion because we believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. That's simply the truth. That's what the Bible teaches. That's why we believe it.
Christians in daily life are called prudish for not participating in the debauchery of the world. There's an emotional toll that this takes. There's a mental toll. And the psalmist is experiencing real suffering because of these unjust lies.
There's an intellectual suffering that Christians experience, perhaps if you ever went to public school or to public university. I did, and I remember Christianity being constantly mocked as a foolish thing to believe, almost a joke amongst the intellectuals, that Christian philosophy and worldview is to be pushed aside without any real examination because it's religious, dogmatic, silly, and outdated.
Some folks at the Gospel Coalition actually documented some of the discrimination Christians face in the world. Interestingly, in academia, Christian scholars can't get jobs and can't get published because of their religious beliefs. There's documented discrimination for Christian medical students. There's documented discrimination towards Christian business owners. You've heard about all the court cases where Christians have been dragged through the mud just for their beliefs.
We also see ungodly, deceitful, and unjust accusations all over in our day-to-day lives and personal conversations and water cooler talk, and it takes a toll on us. It has real tangible consequences as well as emotional and mental consequences for us.
But before we might turn around and say, "Well, that's unjust," and then hate or be angry with our neighbor, the non-Christian who might say these lies about us, we must always remember that we have a spiritual enemy. And in Ephesians, Paul tells us that "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
Ultimately, we have a spiritual enemy, the devil and his demons, that are working against the church through humans. But we aren't to turn and hate towards those people, but rather love even our enemies.
Now, the devil works through people, but also maybe even directly with us, bringing before us deceit and lies because he's the father of lies. He'll try to get you to think that God doesn't love you, that you are not justified before God, that your sins are too much, that Jesus' blood could not pay for those sins, that God is far away from you because of your sins. The devil is constantly in our ear trying to deceive us and twist God's Word and twist the truth that we would flee from God.
We must remember that we face a spiritual enemy, and this informs the type of solution we might seek. The psalmist facing an enemy doesn't ask for power to destroy his enemy. The psalmist doesn't in turn spread lies and falsehood about his enemy, but rather he goes directly to God, and he pleads to God for vindication, deliverance, and to be with God in public worship.
So let us look at the pleas of the psalmist. He's facing unjust oppression. He asks for vindication and deliverance. Deception and lies are spread about him. He asks for God's light and truth. An impious, ungodly persecutor comes against him, and he pleased that in piety he could worship God on the holy hill.
In these first two petitions, the psalmist goes to God first, goes to the righteous judge and asks that God would judge and God would vindicate him. To be vindicated, he's asking for exoneration. He wants the charges against him cleared, proven that they're false. "God, vindicate me and deliver me." He asked to be delivered from this suffering. And the psalmist comes to God on the grounds of God being his refuge.
Look at verse 2: "This is the ground, the reason he can come to God: for you are the God in whom I take refuge. Why have you rejected me? He's oppressed by the enemy, and he comes to God and says, "You are my protection. You are my refuge, my stronghold, and my strength. Lord, the world is beating me up. I cannot do it on my own." He comes before God asking for help.
And as he's asking God for help, he wants to meet with God. And then we see in verses 3 and 4, he's pondering when he will meet with God in public worship. And then we see this movement: from mourning? He says, why do I go about mourning? Because of the oppression of my enemy. He feels rejected by God, but in verses 3 and 4, he moves into confidence about what God's light and truth will do, about what will happen at God's holy hill, and about where he will meet God. We see he's moving to confidence and ultimately to praise.
So in verses 3 and 4, we see he expresses his trust in the means of grace found in public worship. We see that he expresses this in old covenant terms, talking about God's holy hill, the altar, lyre, sacrifices. This is old covenant terms, but let's look at it with new covenant eyes and understand what he's saying.
He asks that God will send out His light and truth and bring Him to the holy hill. We sang Psalm 122 and Psalm 48 describing Jerusalem, God's house, God's holy hill. The language of the Psalter is constantly using all these terms interchangeably. So when we see "holy hill," we ought to think Mount Zion. He's using it as a part for the whole. In the same way we might say "the crown" and refer to the British monarchy or the royal family, he's saying "the holy hill," and he's referring to Mount Zion and Jerusalem and the temple because the holy hill is Mount Zion, and on Mount Zion is Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem is the temple and the altar and the priest and the sacrifices and the holy of holies. And ultimately, that is where God in the old covenant promised to especially dwell with his people, in Jerusalem, in the temple. That's why the psalmist says, "Send out your light and truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling."
Ultimately, he wants to be in the temple because God is there. God has exceeding joy. He wants to participate in the public worship of God, to experience him, to offer sacrifices at the altar and to joyfully praise God. So we see the psalmist is looking to public worship as the resolution for his turmoil. That's where his confidence is being built up. That's where he sees his petitions will be answered.
So, let's look at how public worship answers the pleas of the psalmist. Our covenant God has promised to meet us in public worship in word, sacrament, and prayer because it is in public worship that we receive vindication. That's what the psalmist wants, right? He pleases, "God, vindicate me." Here is where we hear the forgiveness of sins. It's where we hear the minister go up and give us the declaration of pardon, saying, "Your sins are forgiven. You stand justified before God's throne." No matter what insults are thrown at us during the week, we might feel condemned, feel rejected by God, but here in public worship, we hear that we're saved by grace.
He says, "God, defend my cause, plead my case." Here we hear that Jesus is before the throne of God. He is our only mediator. And he says, "Lord, Father, do not look upon this sins of my people. Do not look upon his sins or her sins. Look upon my righteousness. Look upon my perfect life. Look upon my perfect sacrifice. They are washed and cleansed and covered in my righteousness." The ultimate lawyer, the mediator pleading our case, is Jesus Christ, and we hear about that here in public worship.
It's here in public worship that we hear the message of deliverance, that Jesus Christ has delivered us from all the enemies of the world, that He has freed us from the tyranny of the devil and from the condemnation of our sin, that by His perfect life, He has earned a complete deliverance for His people, and nothing can take that away from us.
Here in public worship, we receive the light and truth of God's Word, the light to illuminate our path, the truth to learn about ourselves, to learn the truth about the world, about who God is, about Jesus Christ, and the gospel of grace. In that very gospel, we hear about Jesus Christ, who says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of life." That same Jesus says, "I am the truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life."
The psalmist is confident that if someone is reading God's Word and following Jesus, they will find themselves here in public worship. This is where God's Word tells us to meet. This is what Jesus wants for his people: is to be here in public worship because it is here, here in public worship right now, that we ascend God's holy hill.
In Hebrews 12:22, the author is writing to new covenant Christians like you and I, and this is what he says: "You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, even here in Escondido, we've come to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels in festal gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel."
Here, right now, that's happening. We are ascending in worship to the heavenly Jerusalem. We're now, right now, surrounded by myriads of angels in festal gatherings, singing praise to our God. When your voices cry out, they're blending with those angels, with the saints of ages gone by, and we are praising our God together, lifted by the Holy Spirit into that heavenly Jerusalem. We are at the mount of this assembly. Our triune God is here with us. We have come to God, the judge of all. We've come to Jesus Christ. This is where we meet him every week.
The psalmist is asking that he can have an altar to praise God. He wants to go to Jerusalem and to the altar. But here in the New Covenant, we no longer have an altar in here with us. There's no altar because Jesus Christ, the sacrificial lamb and our great high priest, has sacrificed himself upon the heavenly altar, that no more sacrifices can be offered. He offered it once and for all, that now all we can do is offer a sacrifice of praise and say, "Thank you, Jesus, for such a complete and perfect salvation."
It is here in worship every Sunday that we meet with God our exceeding joy. The psalmist in verse 4 says, oh God, my God." He's expressing that trust in God because it is here that he's claiming, "You are my God." It is here that he hears that he is God's covenant people. In worship, here on Sundays, we get the comfort and strength to face all the troubles of the weak, all the evils of the world, because Yahweh is our covenant God. And you can leave here saying, "My God."
So, in verse 5, we see the psalmist chiding himself. After he ponders public worship in the glories of what happens in Jerusalem, he says, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you at turmoil within me?" How could he have ever felt cast down? How could he have ever felt that God had rejected him? How could he go about mourning? He says, "Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."
He's reminding himself, "My covenant God cares for me and loves me. And though I suffer in this world, my God has prepared for me an ultimate vindication. Before the judgment throne, you will hear justified, well done, my good and faithful servant. He will have Jesus pleading his case. He will be delivered ultimately from all his enemies in this world, as will we, brothers and sisters, in heaven. No more enemies, no more lies, no more deceit.
In that heavenly Jerusalem, we will get to be with Jesus face to face. We will finally and fully enter that heavenly Jerusalem forever and bask in the light and truth of Jesus Christ. There we can sing with the angels and the saints, and our voices will never tire. But God, our covenant God, loves us so much that he holds out that truth before us and gives us a foretaste of that eternal Sabbath rest.
Every Sunday, every Lord's Day, we can come here and get a foretaste of that Sabbath rest and get a proclamation of that vindication, deliverance, justice, peace, and comfort as we hear the gospel of grace and about our Lord Jesus Christ.
So no matter what is before us each week, God wants His people to start their week here in public worship where He's promised to meet us, where we come to God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and get all that we need to go throughout this week. So no matter what's before us in this election, whatever happens this week, we can trust in God. No matter how the devil might try to destroy our confidence, we can hear the truth here each Sunday where we meet with Jesus and find rest for our souls.
Let's pray together.
Lord, no matter what comes upon us, we can trust You, our covenant God, for you are our refuge. You give us rest and peace here on the Lord's day as we hear your promises and praise your name. No matter what happens this week, we will keep our eyes fixed on heaven, knowing that we will again praise your name, Lord, our God, our salvation.
Each week, help us to realize what's happening here in worship. Help our minds and our hearts ascend to the heavenly Jerusalem. Help us come to worship with excitement and wonder, knowing that we're coming to meet the living God. Help us realize the spiritual realities that are happening around us. Give us hearts of true worship as we would give you wholehearted praise in spirit and truth.
We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.