July 21 Sermon: Awaken to Righteousness
Dive into Psalm 17 as we explore themes of integrity in adversity, the power of prayer, and our eternal hope in God's presence. Discover how these ancient words inspire faithful living today.
Contemplate these questions as you listen to this message from Psalm 17:
How can maintaining integrity during hardships impact our spiritual life and witness to others?
In what ways can prayer serve as a refuge during times of distress?
How does the assurance of God’s eternal vindication influence our perspective on current struggles?
Transcript:
So I've mentioned in the past that I don't really remember dreams. That's not something that I do, where I have a dream and I can come to you and give you every detail about what the color of the bird was flying through the air and which street I was on, but it really wasn't that street. You know how dreams go. I don't have that happen when I dream. What happens to me is that often I wake up from what must have been a very vivid dream, and I can't separate what I experienced while sleeping from the reality of life. I think you know what I'm talking about. There are dreams where you wake up, and you wake up abruptly, and you know it isn't real. You're fully aware it was a dream. Maybe something terrible happened, or you fell off a building. You know how dreams go. You're fully aware that what you woke up from was not reality. Well, the type of dream that I'm thinking of has events that are taking place. They're closer to being in line. They're closer to being in line with how your life is normally lived. But then something happens in the course of that maybe normal experience that dramatically alters your life.
You don't wake up shocked or surprised, but instead you sort of wake up gradually, and your brain seems to tell you that what has been going on in your dream is reality. It's something that you're going to have to get up and deal with, whether it's a tragedy. Or some sort of financial problem, something you're going to have to deal with. But slowly, you come out of the fog, but before that, your brain really is struggling to say, okay, I shut off the lights last night. I went to sleep. There's no way this can be reality. But everything about you is confused and perplexed about what had happened in that dream. And it's really... It's really an awful feeling. When I worked as a chaplain, I noticed that one of the people on my list to visit that day was someone I had known the majority of my life. Knew them from growing up. And when I got to the room, she recognized me. And knew me. And actually, one of her grandsons, he was a few years younger than me in high school, and I was in Boy Scouts with him. He recognized me. I recognized him. We had a conversation. Like I said, she was aware enough. That she knew who I was. But as we were sitting there talking, I noticed a look of distress on her grandson's face. And I realized that something wasn't right. Well, she had experienced a vivid dream like I was just talking about. And in that dream, she had done something that caused her to lose her house, her car, and all her life savings. And the nurse, myself, her grandson, her great-grandchildren that were there with him, could not convince her. That that wasn't reality. Now, we figured out it was probably some medicine that she had been given at the hospital. But even a few days later, I saw this woman's daughter on the street in town, and she told me that she was still struggling to separate that dream from reality. And as we delve into Psalm 17, David finds himself in a situation somewhat similar to a vivid dream that seems like it's reality. That it's never going to happen. That it's never going to go away. He is surrounded by dangers. He's surrounded by adversaries who are very real. And they are threatening him. It could feel like a nightmare that you're never going to wake up from. However, David's response to this dire situation is grounded not in confusion or fear. Instead, he has a deep, deep trust in God. And today, we're going to explore three critical points from this psalm that will illustrate how we, like David, can navigate the challenges of our lives with integrity, with prayer, and with hope that God is ultimately the one who vindicates his people. And at the end, we awake from those terrible things. And we awake to his righteousness. So let's line out our points, and then we'll work through this chapter of the Psalter together. So our first point is honor amidst hardships. And we're going to consider how David, despite unjust accusations and threats, he decides to walk in righteousness with integrity. Second, we find that the psalmist has a haven in the Lord. David's refuge and shield is God in these times of danger and distress. And he seeks God. And he finds solace through prayer, knowing that God is the one who hears him. And then, third, finally, we see that David's ultimate confidence is in the fact that despite what happens in this life, he will be vindicated. He will find true peace in the presence of God. He has a harbor in heaven. So David knows that he will awaken to righteousness from the nightmarish situations that he faces in life. And because of this, he finds refuge in the unshakable promises of God. So let's explore this process through these points I've lined out as we start with the opening verses of this psalm and our first point, honor amidst hardship. As we land in these first few verses, we find David's prayer appealing to his just cause. David is making the statement here that he is being attacked, but he has done nothing wrong. Now David is not making the claim here to be completely free from fault. He's not claiming to be sinless absolutely here. We know from David's own prayer of confession in Psalm 51, we just need to flip forward a few chapters, and we know that David says that he was born in sin. This isn't a claim of perfect righteousness here from David. This isn't him saying that he's never done anything wrong ever. Instead, he is speaking about how he has handled this particular sin. This particular situation that is causing him trouble in this moment. In his calling out to God, we find that he has not spoken deceitfully. And he even says that God has tried his heart. And even God can look at the situation and know that he hasn't done anything wrong in the situation. Now as I read this, my mind immediately goes to the place of, yeah, right David. Because I know how these types of situations go. Something happens to us, somebody wrongs us, and we feel anger, we feel resentment in our hearts, and what happens? It manifests itself in our lives through our tongues. It comes out. That's just how these things work. But clearly in this situation, we see that David has kept his integrity. This is the inspired word of God here. And it tells us that God has tried and tested him, and nothing was found. It could be at fault. And seriously, I'm impressed because as I mentioned a few weeks ago, this is where the major battle for holiness occurs, right? Where holiness really happens is in the little things. In the attitudes we have, and in the words that we speak. I said a few weeks back, most of us aren't going to be tempted to steal our neighbor's car. But you're going to be tempted with harboring hatred, and speaking malice towards someone before you even get home again today.
That's the battleground. That's where the battle for holiness is fought. And here we see in this situation that David has acted with integrity. His honor and the hardship is to live according to God's law, to hold fast to his paths. And again, this is the battle that you and I face. And here we see how he has gone about this. It says that he has, purposed that his mouth will not transgress. And to do this, he has had to be deliberate about what comes out of his mouth. And brothers and sisters, integrity and holiness, they don't happen on accident. We have to seek after it. We have to be intentional. If we believe that the commands of God are a haven for us in the midst of hardship, we need to go after it. We need to seek it out. We need to purpose, purpose to speak well. We need to be deliberately avoiding the ways of the violent. And like we've seen in the Psalms over these past several weeks, in order to do this, you need to go to the refuge that is God. We need to go to His words. This is how we do this. And so the application for us from this first point on the honor that we have amidst hardship is to be deliberate, to align ourselves, with the commands of God. Growing in holiness is not a passive activity. Each day, we actively rise in newness of life, grateful for the grace that God has shown to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we desire to align our lives with the commands of God then. And as we do this, we come to our second point and we see that we have a haven in God. He seeks, David seeks God and not earthly solutions to his troubles. And so verse seven shows us this in very vivid detail. He praised that God would wondrously show His steadfast love to him. The psalmist here trusts in the steadfast love of God. And remember what is expressed with these words, steadfast love, when we read them in the Old Testament. It is the covenant faithfulness of God. It is unending love. It's the belief that God makes a promise to His people and God absolutely keeps that promise. This is where David bases his hope in the promises of God. He knows that Yahweh is the one who is the Savior of those who seek refuge. That's clear language here. God is faithful to His covenant people. When they seek refuge in Him, He is going to save them. They can't rely on their own strength in prevailing against their adversaries. They do not reside in a shelter built with human hands. The haven that the people of God have is the covenant faithfulness of Almighty God. This is how they're spared. God is their rescue. He is their salvation. And as the psalm continues, David lets us, let us know how the covenant people of God are seen by their Savior. We read here that they are the apple of His eye and that they are hidden in the shadows of His wings. In other words, the covenant people of God, the people who He shows unbreakable faithfulness to, are special. They're set apart. They're protected. The people of God are loved. They are rescued from those who would do violence to them and David says here that these are deadly enemies who are surrounding them. God is not merely saving David from people who are just speaking lies about him. He says they are deadly enemies. They can bring him real harm. But what does God do? He expects God to rescue him. He knows that he will be faithful. And we know why this is. We know why this is what is going to be the experience of David. David is the anointed one of God. He is the one in the line to the promised Messiah. The steadfast love that he shows to David is not just steadfast love for David. The steadfast love shown to David is steadfast love shown to all the covenant people of God throughout history. Because God's covenant faithfulness flows to all those who are the people of God. Not just one guy who's going to be a prophet. He's going to be on a throne in Jerusalem. God is the haven of all of his people. And as the psalm continues, we get a contrast here between the integrity of this one who is faithful to God, who has integrity in the midst of the hardships, and then we see the contrast with the ones who are evil and oppose him. So, David's heart has been found to be pure by God. But what do we see? Their hearts are closed to showing pity. David has not spoken evil, but their mouths speak arrogantly. And worst of all, they are oppressing one who has done no violence to them. They are surrounding them. They desire to cast them to the ground. And they do so by planning to ambush them and tear them to pieces. You see the contrast here. Integrity. Righteousness. Versus evil to the point of ambushing somebody. And killing them. And so the contrast can't be any more clear for us. There is a difference between the refuge of the wicked and the righteous. Those whose haven is in the Lord, they live in purity. They live in integrity and righteousness. And those whose only haven is the things of this world, they will stop at nothing to enrich themselves and to be They will destroy others. And so knowing the savagery that they are capable of, David continues this prayer to Yahweh here. He asks him to arise and to subdue this oppressor. And we see that David's haven is in God. From this fact that he asks God to do the subduing. He is asking to be delivered from the wicked by the hand of the Almighty. And notice here how the oppressor is described by the psalmist. He prays from safety from those whose portion is in this life. The only good life they will have is in this life. And he says, hey, they've got it pretty good. He sees that God has given them children. This is a sign of great abundance and blessing. But what do we see? We see that these earthly things are the only thing that they have. They have. They're going to leave their abundance to their infants. They have the things of this life, but they will have nothing in the next. They're going to pass the good stuff they have onto somebody else.
Now, doesn't that sound like what most people hope to have? Have a prosperous, good, long life and then pass it on to those who come after you to have a good inheritance to give your children? Doesn't that sound like what we're after? Doesn't that? Isn't that what we want to do? And because we have this natural view and because that is a good thing, we can easily miss what the big picture the psalmist is driving at here. Essentially, what David is saying is, yes, they'll have the good life because they oppress other people. They'll accumulate stuff. Even though they reject God, they're going to have a pretty good life with an inheritance to give their children. They reject God. They reject his commands. They'll even have the blessings of children and their material riches will be passed on to them. But that's all they have. That's the end. The blessings terminate when their lives expire.
They have no hope of eternal blessings. They have no hope of perpetual abundance. Their haven is in the things of this life. But those who are in the shadow of the wing of Yahweh, they will know, they will know His blessing for eternity. It doesn't cease when they expire. And while His enemies will go down to the grave and their children will be enriched with the things of this life, David knows that he shall behold the face of the Almighty. He has a hope beyond what he is experiencing here. He knows where he's going. He sees the destination in the distance. He has a confidence a complete confidence that he is going to arrive at that destination as well. And this is a beautiful ending to this psalm here. As David is experiencing persecution, he knows that the steadfast love and faithfulness of God is going to bring him all the way home. He may not have what the oppressor has in this life. He may experience hardship continually, but he knows that his blessing doesn't cease when he breathes his last. He trusts that he shall behold the face of God in righteousness. And that's confidence. Confidence in the steadfast love of Almighty God. Most of us would think that because we're facing continual difficulty that we must be doing something wrong. We must not be following God correctly if we're having all this stuff go wrong in our lives. Our minds go to the idea that because something is bad in our lives, God is against us, or we're being punished by God. But look at what David says here. Instead, David knows that God is faithful. He looks to the covenant faithfulness of God to know that he has hope beyond not only this situation that he's experiencing in that moment, but even beyond this life. He will awaken to righteousness. The nightmare that he might be experiencing now, there is no hope. There is a confidence that he will awaken to God. And God is his reward. And he will be satisfied with the likeness of God. And there's so much that can be said about this final verse. We often hear that there isn't much hope of eternal life in the Old Testament. And that the hope of the resurrection is not really a New Testament, or is a New Testament idea. That the resurrection, that eternal life wasn't a prominent theme in the Old Testament at all. But we see statements like this one. And we see it in other places. This idea of having a hope that we will see the face of God in righteousness. A belief that David will experience the likeness of God. And yes, the discussion of eternal life, of heaven, of the resurrection is limited in the Old Testament. But we have to understand and we have to remember we have to remember where important statements like this are found. They're in the Psalter. They're in their hymn book. These were songs that they are singing to God. And they're singing them in hope. And they're singing them in expectation. And they are remembering these themes more than anything else. That they will awaken to the righteousness of God. That despite what is happening in their lives, they have a hope of eternal life. These are hopes that they sing. Or songs and hopes that they sing out. And they would have felt them with all their being. Like those songs that you go to when things aren't so great and you need a pick-me-up. This would have been that for them. It was deeply embedded in them. It would have been their cry. The cry of their hearts. And it would have embedded in them this belief in the steadfastness and steadfast love of God that He is going to deliver them from death, their greatest enemy. They were a people on a journey over the sea. And they couldn't see the horizon. But they knew they were headed towards a harbor. And they would have longed to arrive at that harbor. They would have sang about it. And as we read in the book of Hebrews, they longed for that city that was to come. They put their hope in the faithfulness of God knowing that only He could bring them to that harbor of heaven. And these people sang this song in great expectation as they traveled through the journeys of life. And now we sing. And we pray these words with the knowledge that God is the one who brings us home. Only He can bring us to this harbor. And this is how the Lord Jesus Christ unlocks this psalm for us. Because He's the one. Who gives His people this salvation. The good news of His life, death, resurrection, and ascension for us, His people, shows us the fullness of this steadfast love. It shows us that He has covenant faithfulness to His people. He will deliver us to the harbor. And we will awaken to His righteousness. And as we close up, I want us to reflect on what we see here in Psalm 17. It's a testimony of faithfulness of God. It's a testimony of faithfulness. It's a testimony of faithfulness. It's a testimony of trust and of hope. And as we do this, we not only admire the faith of the psalmist, but we're called to emulate what we see here in this psalm in our own lives. So first, in order to do this, we embrace honor and hardship. Like David, we face trials and we face difficulties that are going to test not only our faith, but they will test our integrity as well. And these are the moments where we must hold fast to the path of righteousness. And this faithfulness is seen and it's valued by God. Even if it goes unnoticed by the world. And as we go into the world, we may see how each decision reflects our commitment to God. And we don't do this out of a sense of duty, but out of a sense of gratitude for the deep love that God has first shown to us in Christ. So the second thing that we do to emulate David's faith, David, here, is we find refuge in prayer. We see in the psalms that prayer isn't our last resort, but it should be our first response. Whether what we are facing is a minor annoyance or an overwhelming challenge, our instinct should be to turn to God in prayer with a trust in this steadfast love, in His covenant faithfulness, in His sovereign protection. And so, this week, I want to encourage you, when a hardship comes your way, and you know it will, seek the faithfulness, the grace of God in prayer. Not just to ask for help, but to cultivate a relationship of trusting in His care and in His steadfast love in every moment of your life. And lastly, as we do this, remember the eternal harbor of heaven, that this is our destination. In our culture, it's so easy to become distracted and ensnared by what's in front of our faces. It's what we know. It's what we're after. It's what we work 40 hours a week for. But we see in this psalm that our true hope is in the promise of God's eternal presence. We know that this hope not only sustained David in hardships, but it allowed him to face those hardships with peace and assurance. So when you are anxious in the coming week, be comforted in the truth that while the journey may be turbulent at times, not only is it a journey, it is the harbor of heaven, but our ship is the Lord Jesus Christ who never leaves us or forsakes us. He is the one who ensures that we will arrive at the harbor of heaven. So as we close up today, carry these truths with you from this place. Be comforted that God is not a distant observer. He is our refuge. He is our vindicator. And as the people of God in Christ Jesus, we are in the shadow of His wing. He is protecting us. Live in confidence knowing that the steadfast love that we read of in the Psalms is the same steadfast love and covenant faithfulness that God has for you. This isn't just David's Psalm. These aren't just David's words. They're your words as well. So may we have deeply embedded in us these words. May we have confidence that we will awaken to righteousness. And may we actually awaken each day, to righteousness. Aware of God's loving and transforming presence in our lives. Amen. Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, we are blessed to know Your covenant faithfulness. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we see how You work all things to save Your people. So as we face the difficulties of this life, may we do so in prayer knowing that regardless of what occurs, we can look to the harbor of heaven and we know that Jesus will bring us there. Grant us this faith that our lives might be a witness and a testimony to who You are and what You have done to give us hope, joy, and peace. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
