Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleConfidence Over Vain Counsel
Bible TextPsalm 11:1-7
Synopsis What is the believers confidence when the foundations of government are broken up? When wicked men persecute? Listen.
Date13-Sep-2012
Series Psalms 2011
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Confidence Over Vain Counsel (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: Confidence Over Vain Counsel (128 kbps)
Length 46 min.
 

Series: Psalms

Title: Confidence over Vain Counsel

Text: Psalm 11: 1-7

Date: September 13, 2012

Place: SGBC, New Jersey

 

Psalm 11: 1: «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.» In the LORD put I my trust:

 

This is the theme of Psalm 11.  In the LORD put I my trust.  There are three things we see in this Psalm.  First, those with God-given faith heed one Counselor—Christ our Counselor.  Any counsel that goes against the word of the Lord is vain counsel.  Secondly, the certainty of our confidence is because “thy God reigneth!” (Is 52: 7) Thirdly, the believers triumph over all our enemies is certain because of Christ—though we are “accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through HIM that loved us.” (Rom 8: 36-37) These are the three things we will focus on in our text tonight in Psalm 11.

 

Divisions: 1) Vain Counsel; 2) The Believer’s Confidence; 3) Why Triumph is Certain

 

Title: Confidence over Vain Counsel

 

Proposition: Heed no other counsel but Christ for those who believe on Christ till the end shall triumph by Christ.

 

I. THE VAIN COUNSEL

 

Psalm 11: 1: In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

 

The time this counsel was given to David is difficult to determine because many times he was urged to flee Saul and even in the day when his son Absalom was rebelling.  And many times David fled.  But David fled in faith.  So David seems to be making sure those who counseled him understood that his trust was in the LORD even when he fled.  David appears to be asking, “How is it—what is your reason, or your motive—for telling me to flee.” He intimates that their counsel was for vain for two reasons.

 

First, if the reason they gave him this counsel was for or because of the craftiness of his enemies then it was vain.  Is this the reason you tell me to flee—because:

 

Psalm 11: 2: For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.

 

Secondly, if it was that since the foundations of law and justice appeared broken up by Saul’s wicked rule that they felt it was useless to do anything else but flee then it was vain.  Are you throwing up your hands in defeat, saying…

 

Psalm 11: 3: If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

 

Applications:  Saul was wicked.  His government was unrighteous. He was pursuing David intent on killing him.  But it was not in unbelief that David was fleeing.  He did flee, but he did so trusting the Lord.  (David had to flee in order not to die so that he might take the throne later as king over Israel and establish righteousness.  Christ had to die in order to establish righteousness and take the throne as king over spiritual Israel.)

We live in a day where it appears the foundations are destroyed.  What can the believer—the sinner made righteous in Christ—what can he do when it appears that the foundations of just government in the land is broken up? We can trust the Lord Jesus Christ!

 

Our enemies are wicked.  Their arrows are described as “the fiery darts of the wicked.” 

 

Our enemies operate “privily”—wolves in sheeps clothing are described as those “who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.  (Gal 2: 4)  False teachers work privily, as Peter says, “there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” (2 Pet 2: 1)  But brethren, the foundations—the government of Christ our King, our Head—standeth sure.

 

What are all these things to the man whose trust is in God alone?  The fearful, doubting, unbelieving heart may ask, "What can the righteous do?" But the answer of faith is "What can we not do?"  True faith, faith which trusts in God, erases the word “impossible” from our vocabulary.

 

Mark 10: 27:…With men it is impossible, but no with God: for with God all things are possible.

 

Philippians 4: 13: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

 

So any counsel that would turn us from trusting the LORD—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit—is vain counsel.

 

II. GOD OUR SAVIOR IS THE BELIEVER’S CONFIDENCE

 

First, the believer’s confidence is the constant presence of God—Psalm 11: 4: The Lord is in his holy temple. 

 

Many said to David, “Flee as a bird to your mountain?”—many times David did have to flee—but he makes sure they understand God is with him wherever he goes—v4: The Lord is in his holy temple

 

The believer is the Lord’s holy temple—having been born of the Spirit of God—the believer is the temple in which Christ dwells—whereever the persecuted believer goes—v4: v4: The Lord is in his holy temple—Christ in you the hope of glory.

 

His church is the Lord’s holy temple.  David fled Saul’s persecution, David had a host of the Lord’s people travelling with him—the Lord’s people is his church, not the stone in which we gather—where his people are is where the Lord is.

 

2 Corinthians 6: 16:…ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

 

When this earth melts with a fervent heat—and all false refuge—all earthly mountains are dissolved--our LORD will still be in his holy temple. So our refuge is not any earthly mountain--

 

Proverbs 18: 10: The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

 

Secondly, the believer’s confidence is that our LORD is absolutely sovereign. Psalm 11: 4:… the LORD’s throne is in heaven.

 

Carnal sight says, “lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string,”—faith answers, v4:…“the LORD’S throne is in heaven.”  Let the enemy bend his bow; let the enemy shoot his arrows. Faith rests in the LORD who rules our enemies and their arrows.  He can turn the enemy and the arrow another way, and cause it to miss the mark.

 

Psalm 115: 3: But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

 

Psalm 2: 1: Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

 

Thirdly, the believer’s confidence is the omniscenice—the all-knowing--of our God. While those looking at the enemy say “but the enemy works in secret, they privily shoot at the upright in heart.”  Faith says, v4: “his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.”

 

Brethren, our sovereign, all-knowing King is not ignorant of what is going on, nor is He a mere spectator.  He knows the motives of every actor in the scene. He rules over all.

 

Jeremiah 23:24: Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

 

Psalm 66:7: He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

 

Fourthly, the believer’s confidence is that we have the heart of our Savior in all our affairs. Note these words of feeling—“hateth” and “loveth.”  Psalm 11: 5: The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul HATEH. 6: Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. 7: For the righteous LORD LOVETH righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

 

Has an enemy come upon you believer?  It is not by accident—the LORD trieth the righteous.  By doing so, the LORD expresses his love to his child.  By suffering Saul to come upon David, the LORD caused David to flee to the LORD.  David would be the king—God was sending him to kings school.  He was teaching David that no matter how the LORD exalted him and entrusted him with his saints—David was to look nowhere else but the Lord our King and our Savior.

 

And the LORD is not making the wicked do something they do not want to do.  Saul was doing exactly what he wanted to do in persecuting David.  Vengeance belongs to the LORD.  He will recompense the wicked—v5: the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. 6: Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

 

Psalm 76: 10: Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.

 

Application: Therefore, brethren, if the LORD suffers the wicked to go great lengths in persecuting and distressing us, it is not to weaken, but to strengthen our confidence in the LORD.  The LORD made that lesson effectual in David’s heart. He always does. David said to those who advised him to flee that “In the LORD put I my trust.” Though David fled—he had several opportunities to destroy Saul—but David trusted the Lord.  David trusted that the foundations—the government—is on Christ’s shoulder—our sure Foundation. And David’s confidence through the whole trial was: 4: The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men—his own children and the wicked—the Lord will uphold his children.

 

III. LET’S SEE WHY OUR TRIUMPH IS CERTAIN.

 

Psalm 11: 7: For the righteous LORD LOVETH righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

 

The truly Upright One is Jesus Christ, God’s own Son.  Our Mediator. He is the Righteous one. The LORD beholds Christ and he beholds all his elect in Christ. (Mark 8)

 

David is a type of Christ.

·         David faced many of the trials we face, Christ faced every trial we face. 

·         David, like you and I, often stumbled in the trial, Christ never did—he shall not fail.

·         David was hunted by wicked men—Christ was hunted by wicked men.

·         David was given advice to flee and David fled—Christ was given the same advice but he never fled.

 

First, when Christ spoke of going to the cross, Peter told him to flee to the mountains as they did David.

 

Mark 8: 31: And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32: And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. 33: But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

 

Luke 4: 8: Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

 

He said this because in perfect faithfulness, in perfect love, Christ as the Representative Man was establishing righteousness for his people—Our faith is faulty, our service to God is faulty, but God receives our worship and service as perfect because Christ worshipped and served God and his Father perfectly.

 

Secondly, the Upright One did the same in another place when warned by the Pharisees.

 

Luke 13: 31: The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. 32: And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 33: Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.

 

The great sanhedrim only sat at Jerusalem.  In Jerusalem is where they tried and judged and slaughtered the prophets.  The Lord said, “I am not alarmed at Herod’s threats.  I have two more days of work to do.  On the third day I will be here in Jerusalem where I am to die. My life is safe until I arrive at Jerusalem. Go and tell him, therefore, that I fear him not. I shall work here as long as it is proper, and shall then go up to Jerusalem to die.”  That is where David received his faith, that is the one in whom David trusted.

 

Findally, on the cross the Lord was mocked.  When David’s enemies spoke, they reviled him when they said, “Flee as a bird to your mountain.” It was like Christ’s enemies when he bore our sin on the cross.

 

Matthew 27: 39: And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40  And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. [Flee as a bird to your mountain] 41: Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42: He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. [Flee as a bird to your mountain] 43  He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. [Flee as a bird to your mountain.]

 

Yet, Christ Jesus the Upright One, trusted God, no less when his enemies reviled him. God turned his back in justice—darkness covered the earth—Christ yelled, “It is finished.”

 

Luke 23: 46: And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

 

The veil in the temple rent in two:

·         Perfection of holiness

·         Perfection of righteousness

·         Complete atonement made for every elect child of God

All by the holy faith and love of the Upright One Jesus Christ the Lord our Righteousness.

 

Now Christ is King on his Throne and our Foundations Are Sure. 

 

David was suffering the attack of wicked Saul that God might make him King over Israel.  Christ the Upright One suffered the attack of Satan and wicked hands and is now King of kings and Lord of lords over his spiritual Israel.

 

Acts 2: 23: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. 25: For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: 26  Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 27: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 28: Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

 

So in our text in Psalm 11, in the face of his enemies, David looked to Christ, and said, “In the LORD put I my trust.”  The government is on his shoulder—it is not possible that the foundations shall be destroyed! The mountain I flee to is v4: The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold.  David said this is all my hope and all my salvation, v7: For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

 

Let’s go home with this: However great our enemies be; whomever counsels us to put far from us this trust, resist every whisper of retreat and cleave to the Lord our Righteousness by faith.  Remember the LORD’s faithfulness to David--Christ set David on a throne over Israel over all his enemies and David is now with him in glory. And Christ promises us…

 

Revelation 3: 21: To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

 

Amen!