Grace and Judgment Upon A Fallen World - Psalm 119:113-120 (Psalms 119:113-120)

1:15I hate those who are double-minded, but I love your law. You are my hiding place and my shield. I wait for your word. Depart from me, evildoers, that I may observe. Observe the commandments of my God. Sustain me according to your word, that I may live, and do not let me be ashamed of my hope. Uphold me, that I may be safe, that I may have regard for your statutes continually. You have rejected all those who wander from your statutes, for their deceitfulness is useless. You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross.

1:58Therefore, I love your testimonies. My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. Well, I want to look at this this morning at grace and judgment that is upon a fallen world. Grace and judgment upon a fallen world. It's interesting to note that the psalmist in verse 4 and 5 exposes to us his most intense desire or his deepest desire. In verse 4, he said, You have ordained your precepts that we should keep them diligently, oh, that my ways may be established to keep your statutes. So his deepest desire is to keep God's statutes. And as we go through the psalm, we learn, and he learns, or exposes to us what he learned. He learned that affliction.

3:00Is sometimes the best tool that God uses to teach us to keep his word, to drive us to his word. In verse 67, he says, Before I was afflicted, that was, before you humbled me, I went astray, but now I keep your word. And in verse 71, he says, It is good for me that I was afflicted or that I was humbled, that I may learn your statutes. And then in verse 75, he makes the observation, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me, that God was the one behind all this, these humbling circumstances, to bring him to a point to answer his prayer, that I may keep your word. So in verse 4 and 5, the psalmist exposes his most intense desire or his deepest desire. And in verse 10, if you look there, he exposes one of his deepest fears. So he's already shown to us his deepest desire, and in verse 10, he gives us his deepest fear. He says, With all my heart I have sought you. Do not let me wander from your commandments. Do not let me wander from your commandments. His deepest fear is his own inability to faithfully stay on task with God. He sees within himself a proneness. To wander away, a proneness to leave the God he loves. Well, God's remedy for that is seen in our eight verses this morning. And it will shock some of you if you have not seen this truth exposed in Scripture before.

4:51But intense emotion runs through these eight verses, the S, the psalmic stanza. I hate. Wow, that's a way to start your I hate. Then it's followed up, but I love. And then when you get to the end of the psalmist, I fear, my flesh trembles. So you get this hate, this love, and this fear. Intense emotions run through these eight verses. And so I want to look at these eight verses, and I want you to come away loving what he loved, hating what he hated, and fearing what he feared. And I think in doing so, your heart will be in that right soil, will have been prepared to produce the fruit that God wants from his people. So I want to introduce you to two people who think very differently, who live very differently, and the way God relates to them. Two people, once you see two people, Two pillars, two principles of judgment, and how a believer responds. Two people, two pillars of grace, two principles of judgments, and how a believer is to respond. That's where we're going this morning. Two people. First, I want to look at two people. And I want you to meet these two, and they, as I said, they think very differently, they travel very different roads through life, and they have very different destinies. Verse 113, two very different mindsets. I hate those who are double-minded, but I love your law. Double-minded. It's a first group of people. I'll call them the lawless, the lawless, double-minded. They are known by their instability. James 1:8 speaks about a double-minded man who is unstable in all his ways. And a double-mindedness means divided loyalties, a hesitation, or a vacillation, somebody who just is constantly wavering between two opinions. You remember in 1 Kings chapter 18, that big showdown between the prophets of Baal, 450 of them, and one prophet of God, Elijah. You remember that? You remember they have this big showdown, and Elijah comes to the people.

7:30Because they had been wavering between two opinions. And he says to them in verse 21, he came near to all the people and said, How long will you hesitate between two opinions? How long will you vacillate and go back and forth? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him. But ultimately, I love how the ESV translates it. How long will you go limping between two opinions? Kind of gets a little more graphic picture, right? How long are you going to go through life limping between two opinions, never really landing on anything, but constantly in a state of vacillation? If God is God, serve him. If not, serve someone else who you believe is. But don't go back and forth. And that's what Elijah is saying, obviously, serve God. But double-mindedness is actually lawlessness. It's self-will.

8:39It's living as if you're the own authority. So you're constantly in this state of vacillation because you yourself have assumed that you're the final judge in all matters and that you're able to distinguish. And that, come on, candidate A, candidate B, you know, I like what you say, I like what you say. Give me another candidate. And you're just constantly in this state of. Vacillation. That's what God hates. So what the psalmist is saying, I hate that. You know what an autocrat is?

9:10If I said the word aristocrat, you'd probably know, right? An aristocrat is someone who, high society, maybe controls a lot, a lot of influence, whatever. An autocrat is somebody who governs himself or is a self-dictator, right? They dictate their own ways. There's no transcendent principle that drives them. They pick and choose their own standards for life, and they sail through, they sail with whatever wind that seems best to them. That's an autocrat. They're a law unto themselves. And this is the very thing that James chapter 4 and 8 says, Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded, you lawless ones, you vacillators, those who hesitate. So we see the lawless. Another kind of person I want you to meet, and that's the lawful. They are known by what they hate. Back at verse 113, I hate those who are double-minded. Word for hate is extremely strong. It's an internal abhorrence, a very intense dislike. It's used to speak of those who hate God. It's used to speak of things that God hates. You're very familiar with Proverbs 6:16. There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are abomination to him: proudful eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers. God's soul hates. And you remember when he was going into, or when he was sending the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, he says to them in Deuteronomy 12:31, You shall not behave like they did. For every abominable act which the Lord hates, they have done for their gods. They even burned their sons and daughters into the fire to their gods. So as he's sending them in, he's saying, My soul hates these activities. Don't you, Israel, go do the same thing.

11:30And by the way, as a side note, I mean, it's a very strong and tense word. I think we cheapen this word when we use it in a trivial matter. Oh, I hate peanut butter. Okay, making you use another word. You don't hate it. It's a little difference in. But the psalmist here is saying something that is to be hated in humanity. He says, I hate this continual. Vacillation between two opinions, this constant hesitation, as if they're the ones to be pleased. And he's certainly seeing that in others, that characteristic in others, and he's saying, I hate them for it. Very strong language. But it's more geared towards the principle than it is to the individual. I think Augustine comments on this verse very well.

12:28He says, I have hated the unrighteous and I have loved thy law, quoting it. He does not say, I hate the wicked and love the righteous, nor does he say, I hate iniquity and love your law. But after saying, I have hated the unrighteous, he explains why by adding, and thy law I have loved, to show that he did not hate human nature in unrighteous men, but their unrighteousness, whereby they are the foes to the law of God, which he loves. In other words, he's looking at this and it's saying, I hate this characteristic in humanity and those who possess it. That's the idea. Because he also hates this in himself.

13:20Something that God hates, something that he hates. I hate this constant vacillation. In fact, it's something throughout Scripture you see that God just. Hates this wavering. If God is God, serve him. Matthew 13:41, when the Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all the stumbling blocks, and will gather out all those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire. So Christ himself is seen as this one. Get rid of all those lawless ones. Get them away.

13:58Revelation 3:16, you get this idea of because you are neither lukewarm, because you're neither, I mean, because you are neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. There's this exhortation, something to be hated within our own hearts, and that is this constant hesitation between two opinions. If God is God, serve him. If his word is his word, read it with the intention of understanding it, with the intention of obeying it. If the church is the church, join us.

14:47Now, the national prayer, I think, is very well articulated in the song America the Beautiful. America, America, may God thy gold reward. Fine till all success is nobleness, and your liberty is in law. The idea of being lawful. God is creator. I am the creation. I am subject to him, and I am going to live that way. So the lawful are known by what they hate. They hate this indecision, this hesitation. But they are also known by what they love. Look back at verse 113. I hate those who are double-minded, but I love your law. So contrary to being strong dislike, he has a strong affinity for, great affection, a loyal commitment to. I have a loyal commitment to your law. That is your instructions for my life. I am committed to your instructions for my life. That's what I love. And I hate this vacillation and any hint of it in my own heart that would take me off that path.

16:09You know, this last Tuesday night, or last Wednesday, I took one of our beloved missionaries to the plane. He'll be gone for the next several years in his family. And on the eve of his departure, going into a hostile country to the gospel, he said that. This to me. Right by our fireplace, we were sitting there talking about God and His Word, and He said this: The best decision I ever made was to choose to believe what the Bible said. He said, A life of incredible blessing beyond my ability to even articulate has flowed out of this single decision.

16:54It's that decision of, This is your word. I believe it. I choose to believe it. That single decision is what he is saying was the biggest change in his life. And I can articulate the same thing. I mean, I would attest the same thing, that single vision, that paramount watershed point. I choose to believe it. I remember Billy Graham, that was a big point in his life where he was out in the woods and he was praying, and there was a lot of attack coming at the scripture, and he set it up on a stump, and he just said, You know what? Lord, there's a lot I don't understand in here, but I choose to believe it. And that's where I'm going to go.

17:41At some point, we all need to come to that point, quit vacillating. Is this God's word or is it not? If it is, let's obey it. Let's love it. Let's love God's instructions for our lives. Get off the fence. And that applies. To us in so many ways, on so many levels. So, the lawful are known by what they hate. They are also known by what they love. They are also known by where they seek refuge, known where they seek refuge. Look at verse 14: You are my hiding place and my shield. I wait for your word. Two metaphors to describe God here: a hiding place and a shield. A hiding place is a place of retreat, a place of stability, a place of rest. A shield is a place of protection, defense. The word is literally used to describe the scales on the Leviathan in Job 41, verse 7, the armor. It's a shield. So God is a shield.

18:54His shield is big. It covers his people totally from every angle. It is impenetrable, that no assault of the enemy can overcome God's protection. We can think of this image as God's hiding place and shield, as an impenetrable dome that covers or encapsulates his people. So when you put it together, the psalm is saying, You, God, are my place of safety. You are my place of rest, my stability, my place of. Rejuvenation to you, I go. You are my sanctuary.

19:37You know, as I was studying this, this is a little bit of a side note, but it's certainly a valid principle, a valid implication of this text. You know, our Father in heaven knows that we need a safe place. I think this is to a large degree what home is supposed to be like, and to a large degree, what the church is supposed to be like. The soul of man needs a place of rest, a place of protection. And those, and listen, fathers, I'm going to speak to you, husbands and fathers, I'm going to speak to all of you who want to be husbands and fathers someday.

20:20Make your home such a place. Make it a place of rest, safety, a place of rejuvenation, a place where all those who come in are feel a welcoming, a restful, a safe, a sanctuary. See, God knows that we need these. And I would say to all of you, wives, make your home such a place. Kids, if you're living at home, do your part. Make the home a sanctuary. We need that. We need that. But the psalmist runs to God. And because he can run to God, he can readily wait for God. Look back at verse 114, second part. I wait for your word. He runs to God. And because he runs to God, he can wait for God. And that wait means he can look forward to, he can hope, he can patiently anticipate God to act.

21:31And see, the opposite is to take matters in your own hands, right? To get impatient or to grumble or to say, I'm not waiting for God anymore. I'm not waiting for your word anymore. I'm not waiting for your promises to be fulfilled or I'm not waiting for your plans for my life. I'm going to grab it and I'm going to take hold and I'm going to act. But when you wait for God's word, you wait for his plans for your life to unfold. And when you run to God, you can readily wait for God.

22:03So God, because God is his hiding place, he has a home base, a place of safety. And it gives him the ability to wait. But as we shall see next, it does something else. It gives him the ability to boldly confront the error of his generation. Not only is it a resting place in his sanctuary, it's a launching pad from which he is able to confront the error. Of his enemies. So I've introduced you to two very different people. There are the lawless, and then there are those lawful. They think differently, they live differently, and they will ultimately be separated from each other. And it has to be this way. There is a necessary separation going to occur. Look in verse 115. Depart from me, evildoers, that I may observe the commandments of my God. Very strong emotion again. Depart from me. It says, quit pursuing me.

23:07It's the same thing that Abner was telling Ashael, stop chasing me down to kill me. Get away from me. Leave me alone. It's very strong terms. Get away. Word for evildoers is a participle. Get away from me, you practitioners of evil, you practitioners of your lawless ways. Get away from me. Do you remember in Genesis 49, Jacob is blessing or he's giving his final prophetic words for his sons. And he says this about Levi and Simeon. You remember they had a horrific event up at Shechem, but they were violent over the. And they took matters in their own hands. And then this is what Jacob says. And let my soul not enter into their counsel. Let not my glory be united with their assembly, because in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they lamed oxen. Get away from me. Jacob's saying, I do not want my glory associated with such self-will.

24:29Get away from me. This is the same thing the psalmist is saying. Depart from me, you lawless. And he gives the reason for this separation and the reason for his strong emotion here: that I may observe the commandments of my God, so that I can observe the commands that my God has given me to carry out. You are in my life with the sole purpose or the express purpose of keeping me from obeying my commands that were given to me by my commander-in-chief. Notice the word my. My God has commanded me to do these things, and now you have inserted yourself into my life and pursuing me for the purpose of keeping me from observing the commandments that I must obey. So, apparently, whatever is going on here, historically.

25:30The evildoers are doing something to inhibit the psalmist from following the orders of God. Whether it's through temptation or whether it's through legislation or whether it's through persecution, they are doing something that would cause him to violate his conscience and his duty before his God. But what's interesting is the one who has not departed from God's word commands those who have departed to depart from him. Two categories of people. There's the one who loves the law of God, who has not departed, now commands the one who has departed from God's law to depart from him.

26:15And so, from this firm home base of security in God, the psalmist can not only patiently wait upon God, but he can boldly confront the error of his adversaries. But the psalmist just isn't interested in relief. If you look back, he's not interested in their, I just want some relief. He is saying, I want the freedom to observe God's word. I want a freedom to worship him as he ought to be worshiped. And you are inhibiting that. So get away. Stop pursuing me.

26:53You see, God is going to separate the lawless from the lawful. And why? Because he has. Promised that glory is going to fill the earth. And it's not going to be according to the self-will of man, but according to his instructions. Psalm in Numbers 14:21, God says, This, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. And I can assure you, it's not going to be tied to the self-will of man. Just like Jacob didn't want his glory tied to the self-will of his children, neither does God want the glory that's going to be in the earth tied to the self-will of man. And that's why we need to turn from that.

27:45Do not waver between two opinions. And I can assure you, in a crowd this large, there are many of you who are on this fence. And maybe this is the characteristic of your life. You waver between two opinions. Stop doing that. If God is God, serve him. So we've looked at two different kinds of people. They think differently. They take very different paths through life. And they must be separated because they have two very different destinies. So we've looked at the two people. Now I want you to see two pillars of grace. Two pillars of grace that secure all those who take risk. Refuge in God and his word. Two pillars of grace. Two pillars of grace. The first one is a pillar of grace, referred to as hope. Hope.

28:42Look at verse 116. Sustain me according to your word, that I may live, and do not let me be ashamed of my hope. Word for sustain. This is a sustaining grace. Sustain me. It's an action that the psalmist needs from God. Sustain me. And it's an imperative. You must sustain me. You can think of this as like a battle unit that needs supplies sent in to be able to sustain their campaign. But it's also, literally, it's lay your hand upon me. Like in Numbers 27, 18, when the Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand upon him and have him stand before Elazar the priest and before all the congregation and commission him in their sight. You shall put some of your authority on him in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey him. In other words, the Lord is saying to Moses, okay, if Joshua is going to succeed you, then you need to put your hand upon him so that the rest of the congregation will see. And you need to strengthen his position with the people. The same is true with us, right? If we're going to be God's witness to the world, we're going to need God's hand upon us, His sustaining grace, in order that we may live according to your word, according to your promise, that we may not see decay.

30:21And let me not be ashamed. Look at that. And let me not be ashamed. That is, sustain me in order that, so that I am not going to be ashamed and cower away in silence. So, why does he need God sustaining? Why does he need God to insert himself so that he doesn't be ashamed? Well, the psalmist needs this so that he would not be ashamed of his hope. You see what he needs? Let me not be ashamed of my hope.

31:01Throughout the psalms, you see the psalmist saying, Let the lawless be ashamed of their hope. Psalm 31, 34, 35, 40. But do not let your people be ashamed of their hope in you. This is what the psalmist is saying: don't let my hope in you decay. Because a person without hope is unstable and will wither away. There is such a danger in departing. Those who lose their hope are in danger of departing, wandering away from the path that God has for them or God's instructions. So we need God's grace to sustain our hope, this pillar, and this is the work of His grace to give us that hope, that living hope.

31:55And sometimes we as believers are tempted to be ashamed of our hope. Hope in His Word, and hope in what I believe is the greatest hope that He's given us is the resurrection of Christ. I mean, why would we be ashamed? Have you ever been in circles where it's kind of like we get to where the resurrection of Christ, you almost feel ashamed because you're in the presence of people who, like, oh, well, that's just a bunch of younger. No, it's not. Why be ashamed of the most secure hope? I'll tell you, no other teacher has risen from the dead, no other rabbi, no other imam, no one has come out of the grave. Why in the world be ashamed of that? He went into death, he went through death, and he came out the other side, and he brings all of his people through the same.

32:54It was this hope that changed the whole world as the Apostles went forth to proclaim two pillars of grace. We need hope, or we're going to wither. And God gives us this hope through his word. Second is we need regard. Second pillar of grace is regard. Look back at 1:17. Uphold me, that I may be safe, that I may have regard for your statutes continually. So, again, he needs action from God. Uphold me, you must uphold me. It's a very similar word to sustain, but it refers to physical refreshing, but also spiritual support, spiritual undergirding. Hold me up, both physically and spiritually. Uphold me, you must sustain me. You must uphold me. And he gives a twofold reason. Look back. That I may be safe.

33:54Literally, that I may be delivered, that I may be saved, that I may be escorted to a state of safety. Insert yourself, uphold me, that I may be saved. So there's probably something going on in the psalmist's life here, and it's probably something to do with circumstantial restraints put upon him by these enemies. His enemies have put some sort of circumstantial restraints, and he is saying, uphold me, because I am not going to follow them. I'm going to follow you. And Uphold me. I'm going out on a limb so that I may be safe. Second reason, twofold. Second aspect of this reason, that I may be safe, and two, that I may regard your statutes continually. Deliver me so that I can be dedicated to you.

34:49What he's saying is, make me safe so that I may have regard for your statutes continually. There is safety in regarding God's words continually. There's a safety in continual regard. So, two of the greatest threats to the stability, if you go back to like there are those who go constantly go back and forth, the instability of the lawless, well, the stability of the lawful have two great threats. One is losing their hope, and the second is disregarding God's Word. No one is safe who is ashamed or disregards. No one is safe who is ashamed of their hope or who disregards God's Word. And these are the two great threats to the Christian, to the believer, from veering off or wandering away from God's path. See, God knows you need sustaining, He knows you need upholding. It's what we call preserving grace. And His grace manifests itself. By giving us this living hope and by giving us a lasting regard for his word, we need a living hope and a lasting regard. And these are the pillars of grace that strengthen and secure his people.

36:15I want you to see what he does now in order to make this happen. He gives us a living hope and he gives us a lasting regard. I'm going to show you how he develops this lasting regard. And it is a bit shocking. So we've looked at two people. We've looked at two pillars of grace. Now I want you to see two principles of judgment, two principles of judgment. Look at verse 118. The first principle is rejection. Rejection.

36:48Verse 118, you have rejected all those who wander from your statutes, for their deceitfulness is useless. Rejected is the word thrown off, stamped out, very strong word. It's you have utterly despised, or you have despised with the intent to cast away, stomped out the vintage, you know, where that kind of idea. It's rejection. It's very similar to that exclamation of the psalmist in 115, where he says, Depart from me. That's the very strong emotion. You have rejected all those who wander, those who stagger away. It's a picture of a staggering drunk in Isaiah 28, 7. Those who are constantly going astray, those in their double-mindedness, in their constant vacillation, are people who constantly go astray. And they wander. And you have rejected all those. Look at that principle of judgment. God has rejected all those who wander away from His statutes. That is, from your written prescriptions for mankind.

38:01So those who reject God's statutes are rejected are rejected themselves. The autocrat is rejected. God is not going to tie His glory to the self-will of man. And He will not tie His glory to your self-will either. And that is the fundamental thing that we need, all of us need to repent and turn away from our own self-will and say, God, you are God, and I will serve you. Are you God, or is He God? That's the question.

38:37Stop vacillating between two opinions. If He is God, serve him. And He gives a reason for the rejection. He rejects those who wander from His statutes, for their deceitfulness is useless. Sorry, their deceitfulness is useless. Is useless. You see, the end of all deceit is vanity. It's empty. It's useless. So God rejects it. He's a God of substance, not of emptiness. Second principle I want you to see of judgment is removal. Removal. First, he's rejected them, and in verse 119, he removes them. You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross.

39:27And the word dross, it's at the end in the English, but it's actually at the very first in the Hebrew. And it's the emphasis. And the dross is that residue that's left over from a refining process. The impurities that come up to the surface, they are scraped off and separated from the pure metal, and they are disregarded or discarded with no intention of ever bringing back or using again. So that stuff goes and it's not coming back.

39:59But it describes a very close connection between the lawless and the lawful as this intimate connection that's like an alloy that through persecution, through heat, through God's work, have to be separated. In fact, Malachi 3:2 speaks of the coming of the Lord, but who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, separating. But look at the language. He says, you have removed. You have taken away, you've separated, you've put an end to these, all the wicked. And it's translated as a past tense, though it's actually a perfect tense, but it's something has happened in the psalmist's life. Some event that the psalmist is now saying, Wow, you have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross. Something that God did, something obviously God will do again and complete in a perfect sense, completes it all. But the psalmist experienced some sort of deliverance.

41:09Notice you have removed all the wicked of the earth. The phrase of the earth speaks to their characteristic. Those who are by nature of the earth, self-willed, earthly-minded, these he has removed like dross. Now, how does a believer respond to this? Looked at two principles, looked at two people, two pillars of grace, and two principles of judgment. Now, how are we to respond to this? Let's respond like he did. Look at verse 2 part of 119. Now, first, he responds in love, responds in love. Therefore, I love your testimonies, I love your Testimonies.

42:03That is, I have great affection for. I have great affection for your sworn witness to the truth. And he loves them probably because they are right, they are just, and they are good, and they brought him relief. But there's a second emotion here, and that is fear. Fear. Look at verse 120. My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. First of all, I want you to see there's a fear of God Himself. My flesh trembles for fear of you. Word for trembles, it bristles up. Some commentators think it's the idea of goosebumps or your hair standing on in, or it could be literally shaking. I'm literally trembling because of you. But whatever it is, it's a physiological response to what God has done. He has seen, he has witnessed his judgments, he has seen God act, and it frightened him. It caused him to tremble. So he is fearful of the judge, of God. But second, he is fearful of his judgments. Look at again, and I am afraid of your judgments. I am afraid, that is, I am trembling with terror of your judgments, of your judicial decision.

43:30I don't know what this, what took place here, but I think we can picture in our mind's eye, think about Daniel. Think about how he felt when he was lifted out of the lion's den. Okay, he had had these adversaries who tried to bring him down, and then he was lifted out, and then his enemies and their entire families were then put in the lion's den and dropped down. And before they even got to the bottom, they were overpowered and crushed by the lions. He could hear the scream, he could most likely hear and see the judgment.

44:11Now, picture yourself being there, and if you were Daniel, I don't think he went away skipping, going, yahoo, you know, none of that stuff, right? What did he do? I bet it scared the daylights out of him. Think about the harsh reality of hearing the screams, the noise. So there are reasons to be terrified. Number one, God's judgments are final. There is no higher court of appeals. Number two, I think what scared this psalmist is that he realized he could come under them as well.

44:56Because what was the psalmist's deepest fear? Wandering away from God. It's what he said in verse 10: With all my heart I have sought you, do not let me wander from your commandments. But he said, All those you have removed, you have rejected all those who wander from your statutes. He's saying, This could be me, and this can be you, because we all have a propensity to wander away. But what God does is he gives this disciple of his a fear of his judgment, a fear of the judge. See, God uses even the judgment of the lawless for the benefit of the righteous. Do you get that? God is doing something in the hearts of the righteous, and as they witness the judgment of the unrighteous, it does something in the heart of the righteous that makes them not wander away. Do you see that?

46:12We read it earlier: Psalm 91. Eric did, you will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day, or of the pestilent that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand. And at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. God wants His people to see the recompense of the wicked for our sake.

46:47Certainly, we can learn from past judgments what have been written. We'll see this in the future in a complete sense. But God's intense emotions, or just this intent, just going back to this psalm, the intense emotions open up this psalm, hate and love. And the intense emotions close this psalm: love and fear. Hate, love, and fear. You need to hate double-mindedness, hate the indecision in your own heart, hate the hesitation, and the vacillation. Hate these things within your own heart. Love God's instructions and His refuge. Love God's instructions for your life. Love the message of hope that is for all those who are now lawless, for such were some of us.

47:46Love God's instructions. Hate the double-mindedness. Love God's instructions and fear. Fear God and His judgments. And if you hate what this psalmist says, Hated, and you love what this psalmist loved, and you fear what this psalmist feared, you will have that healthy mixture of soil within the heart that will produce a heart of obedience. Hate plus love plus fear yields a fruit of obedience, and it is the remedy for a heart that wonders. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are so mindful as we look at your judgments, Father. We are so mindful that the very things that this world will be judged for, Father, and that you lay out the end that the unrighteous will be judged for, Father, we see in our hearts the guilt of all of this. And Father, it's because we know we're guilty and that we know you're judged, and we know that you're righteous, that we can run to you, Father, because we know that you are also a refuge, you're a sanctuary, that you welcome all those who will come to you. And Father, we thank you for that. Father, help us to hate the indecision in our own hearts, the unbelief, Father, that even as we read these words and listen, Father, we are tempted to just set them aside and say, I'll get back to that. Father, help us now to choose to serve you. And Father, do this by the work of your grace. Father, help us to hate. Hate the double-mindedness. Help us to love your instructions and help us to fear you as you ought to be feared. And we thank you, seeing all this is a gift from you and a work of your grace. In Jesus' name, amen.