Integrity Ensures Protection

BIG IDEA:

INTEGRITY ENSURES PROTECTION FROM FIERCE ADVERSARIES

SINCE THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE WILL VINDICATE THE INNOCENT

AND EXECUTE THE WICKED

I. (:1-2) THE RIGHTEOUS TAKE REFUGE IN GOD FROM FIERCE ADVERSARIES

A. The Role of Protector

1. Our Responsibility = Take Refuge

‘O Lord my God, in Thee I have taken refuge”

2. God’s Responsibility = Deliver Me

“Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me”

B. The Role of Attacker

(cf. 1 Peter 5:8 -- the attacks of Lion #1 = Satan)

1. The enemy pursues

“who pursue me”

2. The enemy cripples

“Lest he tear my soul like a lion”

3. The enemy devours

“Dragging me away, while there is none to deliver”

II. (:3-5) INTEGRITY ENSURES PROTECTION

A. Integrity means:

doing no injustice

not harming a friend

not taking advantage of someone

B. We need protection against those who would:

pursue my soul

overtake it

trample my life

“lay my glory in the dust”

III. (:6-11) THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE WILL VINDICATE THE INNOCENT

A. (:6) Provoking the Appointed Judge to Action

1. “Arise, O Lord, in Thine anger”.

2. “Lift up thyself against the rage of my adversaries”

3. “And arouse thyself for me”

Why? Because “Thou hast appointed judgment”

B. (:7) Preparing the People to Receive the Verdict

“And let the assembly of the peoples encompass Thee;

And over them return Thou on high”

C. (:8-11) Promising Vindication for the Men of Integrity

1. Explaining How God Judges

a. Universal Judgment

“The Lord judges the peoples”

b. Searching Judgment – Nothing Hidden from the Judge

“For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds”

c. Righteous Judgment from a Righteous Judge

d. Righteous Indignation

“a God who has indignation every day”

2. Expecting Vindication for the Righteous

Key Verse: “Vindicate me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me”

“Establish the righteous”

“My shield is with God,

Who saves the upright in heart”

IV. (:12-13) THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE HAS PREPARED

WEAPONS OF EXECUTION

“sharpen His sword”

“bent His bow and made it ready”

“prepared for Himself deadly weapons”

“makes His arrows fiery shafts”

Response to this threat should be Repentance

V. (:14-16) THE WICKED WILL GET WHAT THEY DESERVE.

A. (:14) They Traffic in Wickedness

“Behold, he travails with wickedness,

And he conceives mischief, and brings forth falsehood”

B. (:15-16) They Will be Trapped in Their Own Traps

1. The Pit

“He has dug a pit and hollowed it out,

And has fallen into the hole which he made”

2. The Pate

“His mischief will return upon his own head,

And his violence will descend upon his own pate”

VI. (:17) PRAISE THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE

“I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness,

And I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High”

* * * * * * * * * *

DEVOTIONAL QUESTIONS:

1) To what extent can we rely on our conscience to determine whether we are living a life of integrity? If we have done injustice to another, will we even be aware of it? Are we actively asking the Lord to try our hearts and minds and search us?

2) What type of a judge is God? What is revealed in this psalm about God as Judge? Are we comfortable having God as our Judge?

3) Contrast how powerful the wicked looks to us when they are attacking us (vs.1-2) vs. How helpless and futile the wicked are proven to be when they get what they deserve (vs. 15-16). Look at the weapons the Lord uses against the wicked.

4) What should determine the measure and nature of our praise to God who both delivers us and vindicates us?

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