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:
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doing no injustice
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not harming a friend
-
not taking advantage of someone
B. We need protection against those who would:
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pursue my soul
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overtake it
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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”