The one name that I didn't get the first name was Anthony Becknell. That's the friend of, or at least the fellow that Jerome works with. So it's the name right there. You can turn in your Bible with me this evening to the book of Psalms. I passed out or had passed out some Some notes there, that's a little more than notes tonight. As I looked at that, I thought, you know what, I'm just going to, that's pretty much my outline. I'll just give you most of it here. And because I'll give you a little more to go with the verses. You can go back and look at it and study it some more later. Tonight I'm just going to look at part of this psalm. It's fairly lengthy, and so we can't Can't deal with it and just rush through it. So I just want to deal with the first few verses tonight. Tremendous psalm though. Psalm 9. And I just want to read from verse 1 through 8 to begin with tonight. We'll refer to a couple of other verses as we get started here. But let's stand together and read this. Psalm 9 and the beginning in verse 1. 9, beginning in verse 1. I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all Thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in Thee. I will sing praise to Thy name, O Thou Most High. When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at Thy presence. For Thou hast maintained my right and my cause, Thou saddest in the throne, judging right. Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end, and thou hast destroyed cities, their memorial is perished with them. But the Lord hath endured forever, he hath prepared his throne for judgment, and he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people, in uprightness. Let's look to the Lord in prayer this evening. Heavenly Father, we thank you tonight so much for your precious word that you've given to us. We thank you, Lord, that you have preserved it for us today. It's a marvelous thing to think about all that has the ways in which you have used men in various ways. and all the attacks upon your word, the hatred of a lost world against you and against Christ. And yet your truth is absolute, stands forever. It will stand as long as you stand. And Lord, we thank you for that tonight, the great assurance and comfort that it gives to us and confidence. And we ask, Lord, that you'd open our understanding as we look into the scriptures tonight. Lord, and teach us your word. Thank you and praise you for all that you'll do for us, what you'll teach us, and as you apply it to our lives and encourage us with it, we thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Tonight, you'll notice there's a, on your sheet there, it's maybe a little bit of a strange title, but I didn't make it up. It's The Death of the Son. Now that title comes from the text, actually. And it's kind of like a lot of names. People look at them different ways sometimes. But the name, part of the name of this psalm, you'll notice in your Bible there, it says, to the chief musician upon Moth Laban. I'm sure I slaughtered that. Pretty close. Methloven. A psalm of David. Anyway, that's a Hebrew word, and so I don't pretend to speak Hebrew, but Methloven. That word is, it can be the name of an instrument. It says upon this. And so when you see that in the psalms, it sounds like, well, that's always on an instrument, and sometimes it's not. But this could be upon a particular kind of instrument. And what it does, it's like any music. It gives you the perception of the tone or the message of the psalm. Like when you see Selah in the book of Psalms, it means think of this. But it also is the idea of when we hold out a note, when we're singing, We get to a particular part and the songwriter wants you to hold that out because it emphasizes that word and that thought and kind of gives you a few seconds there to hang on to that thought before you go on. Well, that's what that means. When you see that, it means think about that. And it's like, it's literally they would have an instrument that would hold that note out for a long period of time. And what it's saying is, We're holding this out so you'll think about it for a while. And so you should. When you see that in your Bible, you should just go back and look at that again. God wants you to stop and think about that a while and meditate on that. There's a lot there. You'll miss it if you just scan over that quickly. This one, this word means death of the sun. Now, again, it can be the name of the instrument. But even then, it has more meaning than that, even if it is the name of an instrument. And so, it's, it refers to, it can refer to Goliath, and I think it, it, there's several, you know, people have their opinions about some of these things, and I look at some of them and I go, nah. You know, because I look at the, I look at the psalm, I read the psalm, and I go, no, that's not, that's not what this is about. This is like a title to a psalm. It's an introduction to it. It gives us an idea of what's coming. So it has to be related to that. The death of a son. When you look at the rest of this psalm, you'll see that what I'm talking about, of course, it's written by David. So it's taken from an instance in his life or some instances, but I think a particular instance. You'll see that as we get into this tonight. It's talking about a particular instance and a particular person, and I believe it's Goliath. Some think it might be Absalom, but that doesn't really fit either, but Goliath does. He's a man that the Word of God describes as one who stood between the camps. He came down from the camp of the Philistines, the enemy of Israel, stood between the camps, and challenged the God of Israel, cursed the God of Israel. That's what got under David's spiritual skin more than anything else, is the way he cursed the God of Israel, and he said, is there not a cause? Well, we know David is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the father of the greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the flesh. And so it has its It's antitype. You have a type and then what it's referring to, the antitype. The antitype in the one that the Bible calls the man of sin in his fulfillment. And again, we see God then, even in this, we see a tragic situation. When you look at humanity and God's judgment on the earth and the gullibility of men to fall for the lies of Satan and all that he's done down through the years and he's still going to do. In the midst of all of this, God puts it in a song. God's able to do that and it doesn't lose its meaning. It emphasizes the meaning, but it also points out when you see the one that has the ultimate victory, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. In the midst of the greatest of sorrows in this world, and as you look at the world as a whole, the Lord Jesus Christ is called the man of sorrow, because he bore our sorrows. And so in all of this, it not only points to the man of sin, but more than that, it points to the Lord Jesus Christ, the man of sorrow. who's not just the man of sorrows, but he came to bear our sorrows. And when he came the first time, I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit here, but I'll just go ahead and say this now and lay some groundwork here, but he said, the Father sent him not to judge. And he said, but if I do judge, in other words, if I express the judgments of God, and when he expressed judgments, it was the judgments of God. But he also said, the father hath given all judgment unto the son. So the first time he did not come to judge, but the father had committed all judgment unto the son. As the man of sorrows, he bore our judgment in his own body on the tree. But he's also, the lamb, is going to come back. And then he'll be recognized, he'll be active as the lion of the tribe of Judah. And so he is going to fulfill that also. So the message is one of confidence in the justice of God and the final judgment. There is going to be a final judgment. More than one, as a matter of fact. We can say that in a general way, but it's not all the same thing. Not everybody is going to be at the great white throne. The child of God is going to be at the bema seat, the judgment seat of Christ, judged in relationship to our works for rewards that we can cast at Jesus' feet. The lost will be at the great white throne, but there's also a judgment of the nations that the Bible talks about. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the judge of all of that. He's the one who executes all of that. When you look at verse 16, there's a key verse in this psalm. Verse 16 says, the Lord is known by the judgment which He executes. Now just stop and think about that. One of the most popular themes in the Christian realm, big quotation marks or air quotes if you want to put it on that, You would think the only way God is known is as a loving God. God is a God of love. But the Bible teaches that His primary attribute is His holiness, and co-equal with that, if you will, He's also a God of love. The Bible says He is, God is love, but the Bible in the same at the same time in the same text says God is light. So God is holy and God is love. And those two things are never a contradiction with God. They always work perfectly together. We see it sometimes as two things in conflict. They're not in conflict at all with God. They're just a conflict with us. We have a hard time. God doesn't have to balance them because they operate together. They operate together with God. For God so loved that He gave. That's the satisfaction of the holiness of God motivated by His love. They work perfectly together with God. Never a conflict. Never an imbalance. So this psalm is a message. It's one of confidence for the saint of God in the justice of God and the final judgment. So you have verse 16 that we just read. We read part of it. The Lord is known by the judgment which He executeth. The wicked is snared in the work of His own hands. So now here's one of those words I said. It's Haggion. And I probably slaughtered that too, but it's Hebrew. So you can read it yourself. If you can help me with the reading of it, just help yourself. I'd be glad to get some help. But at any rate, Haggion. And then it says, Selah. So if you're following what I said, what does that mean we're supposed to do? Stop and think about that. Stop and think about that. As a matter of fact, I think you'll find that's the first time it's mentioned in this psalm, and then it ends with it in verse 20. So stop and think about that, especially verse 16. That's really important, not just to the psalm. It's extremely important in the knowledge of God. How is God known? By the judgments that He executes. God is a God of justice. He's a holy God and a God of perfect justice, and He never violates His justice. Now, that's a huge problem for most people in this world. But the Word of God tells us that His commandments are not grievous to the child of God. And so if you look at that verse, verse 16, and you consider Acts chapter 17 and verse 31. Acts chapter 17 and verse 31, it's right there on your page. Because he hath appointed a day, God, hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained." God is known by the judgments that He executed. The Lord Jesus Christ came and He manifested the grace and truth of God. He's going to come again. God is known by the judgments that He executed. Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, that is, that he is going to do that, and that he hath raised him from the dead. How do you like that for a conclusion to a message? That's his invitation, if you will. That's Paul's conclusion of his message on Mars Hill. He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. Now think about that for a while, in light of all that Paul mentioned to these people before that. That's what people need to have left in their minds many times. Don't just blow these things off. God's appointed a day when you're going to stand before this one. He gave His Son. He died on the cross for the sins of His people. But He rose from the dead and He's coming back. And there's evidence of that. God vindicates that fact. Gives you all the evidence you need in that He raised Him from the dead. And I'll chew on that for a while. Now, there's points that are mentioned here Let's speak of a final judgment. Verse 4, For thou hast maintained my right and my cause, thou saddest in the throne, judging right. You say, well, that sounds like that's past tense. Well, we'll get back to that. Verse 7 says, But the Lord shall endure forever. He hath prepared his throne for judgment. Verse 8, And he shall judge the world in righteousness. He shall minister judgment to the people in righteousness. That also sounds like Acts chapter 17 and verse 31, doesn't it? That's the theme of this psalm. It's definitely a messianic psalm. It's a psalm about Christ and the judgments of God. Now, when you notice this psalm, notice how it starts. Of course, we've read a little bit into the into the chapter, or the psalm, it's not a chapter, it's a psalm. We've read a little bit into this psalm, and now you go back and look at how it starts. Of course, the whole thing is a psalm, it's a song, if you will. But he says, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will praise thee. The world in the Christian realm today talks a lot about praising God. We're so full of praise anymore, we have to have a praise leader instead of somebody just leads the singing and then the pastor actually leads the worship. We've got a praise leader take part of the place of the pastor because it's also taking part of the place of the Word of God. There's a lot about praise in churches. This is praise about something you don't hear much about. I will praise Thee, O Lord, Jehovah God, with my whole heart, will I show forth all Thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in Thee. I will sing praise to Thy name, O Thou Most High. First of all, this phrase that we're looking at in verses 1 and 2, this phrase is public in the congregation. That's the tenor of the words that are used here. This isn't just, I'll do this by myself at home, I'll do this out in the trees out on the back 40 of my place or something like that. No, this is congregational phrase, if you will. This is praising God together as God's people together. Today we would say this is in a church context. God's marvelous works. What is He talking about? I will praise Thee, O Lord, and with my whole heart will I show forth all Thy marvelous works. With my whole heart. Wholeheartedness. With all my being. All of my will. All my desire. All that pleases me, my heart completely in it, I will praise thee for thy marvelous works. Now, you hear a lot about, and this is great, not criticizing at all. You hear much about praising God for His creation works. I have, I do. There's many Psalms that talk about the works of God in creation. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Creation tells us many things about God, the attributes of God, in a limited sense. There's a picture. We can look up in the skies at night, and we can see the handiwork of God, especially if we get away from all the lights and stuff and get out where it's really dark and look up, and then you don't really see the stars. And the magnitude and everything about that and the beauty of God's creation is just unimaginable. It's hard to, you can't grasp it all. We don't even know about all of it. But that's not specifically what it's talking about here. Now it says the works of God, but when you look at the context, it's talking about the redemptive works of God more than that. I will praise God for His redemptive works, His election, His predestination. But His works in sending His Son to this earth and humiliation to become a man, humbled Himself and became a man. And the life that He lived, the life of humility, a humble existence upon the creation that He made. And yet He died with one garment. He didn't have possessions on this earth that he made. But he didn't need anything that anybody would offer to give him, really, because he owns it all. But he didn't use it all. It's just an amazing thing to think about. The God of glory came to earth and took on human flesh, and as a man did without, Hardly any of his creation except just the basic necessities of life. Just the very basic necessities of life. That's it. He didn't have a place to lay his head. I do. You do. He didn't have a place to lay his head. And yet he created it all. You talk about living plushly. He could have. But he didn't. He didn't. Why? Because he didn't come for that. He came to serve, He came to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. That's why He came. He stayed with the purpose of the Father for coming to this earth. He didn't live like human beings, just consume His creation upon themselves, like, they own it and it's all for me. He didn't do that. But all the work of creation, the work of redemption that He did, and we could go on with many, many things about that. But more than that, in this text, more than that, the marvelous works of God that He's talking about are the marvelous works of God in His final judgment. If you want to see the final, full revelation of God, you must look at the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you want to see the finality of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, go to the book of Revelation. That's what it's about. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. Say, well, I thought He came the first time and did that. He did. He revealed the grace and truth of God that's in Christ. But He's going to finally reveal all the things of God, all the judgments of God when He comes a second time. And this psalm is talking about that. When you consider David, who wrote this psalm, and the type that's involved in this, David had a great victory over Goliath. I mean, we know the story, you know the story. Took five stones, put them in his bag, took one and put it in the sling, and that thing went right where it was aimed. Because God put it right where it was aimed. I think David was probably pretty good with that sling. I know that he was, but God made sure it hit exactly where God wanted it to hit. And it put him out, not just for the count. It put him out, period. What a great victory. Not only did David have, but took his sword, cut his head off. He made sure he wasn't going anywhere. You look at 2 Samuel. We were looking in our Sunday school lesson this morning, two lessons back, as soon as David was established as king, the Philistines went, boy, David is established, we got to get on him quick. So they came against him twice and were defeated twice. And some of the other enemies of Israel, as soon as he was established, the first thing David had to do was defensive battles and God gave him the victory over all of them. But then after God gave him his covenant, the Davidic covenant, David was encouraged even further. And he went to battle to gain back the land and even what they had not taken advantage of, what God had promised them. He went to work doing what Israel was supposed to have been doing all those years before that. He went about claiming back the land that God had promised to them. Now he went on some offensive battles. He had tremendous battles in that, and the Word of God tells us twice in that chapter, God preserved David. Why? Because he was doing what God wanted him to do. And no one was going to stop him doing what God had for him to do. Now David's just the type. But the Lord Jesus Christ is the antitype. And nobody is going to stop him from doing what the Father has given Him to do and executing judgment in this earth. And this song starts out, this song starts out, I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth Thy marvelous works. I'll show you some verses here. You've got one there in the passage. And I'm going to turn to this. But Zechariah chapter 8. I want to read a little bit of this so you see exactly what the context really is. I don't want you just thinking I'm reading into this. Sometimes people just go through their concordance and go, marvelous, go find another place where it talks about the marvelous works of God. Maybe that's the same thing. No, that's not what this is. In Zechariah chapter 8 and verse 6, it says, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If it, what's it? If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts. Now, what's the context? If it's marvelous in their eyes, should that mean that it's marvelous in my eyes? It's a rhetorical question. The obvious answer is, well, no, he's God and he's the one that's going to do it. It may seem marvelous, it may seem impossible to you, but what's impossible with men is not impossible with God. And so when you look back up a little bit to verse 2, listen to the context. God says, thus saith the Lord of hosts. God says it, it's done. I was jealous for Zion with a great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned. It's an important word right there. I am returned. Then that means he came the first time and he's coming back. I am returned unto Zion. Well, what Zion did he come to the first time? The one that we can find over there on the map. You can spin your globe around and find it there on the map. That's where he came the first time. And he says, I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Which Jerusalem? The one on Zion's hill. And Jerusalem shall be called a city of Christ. Well, it's not today. It wasn't then. The truth was typically displayed in the temple that was there at one time, but that was just a display, and that wasn't the truth. That was a type of the truth. What am I saying? Was there anything wrong with it? No, there was nothing wrong with it at all. It was flawless. It was perfect. God designed it. What am I saying? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the light. That means several things, but one thing it means for sure, everything that was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, He's the truth of the type. He's the reality of it. Those things were real, but they were pictures. He's the reality. He's the fulfillment of all of that. So it says, Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth. Christ is going to be there. And the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, there shall be yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. Life expectancy is going to be really long during that 30,000 year reign of Christ. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. There's going to be peace. like the world's never known. Right now, you don't play, the boys and girls don't play safely in the streets in our cities in America. And we're worse than most places, to be honest about it. I was listening to an interview of a man the other night that's, I'll give you his name and all that. I'm on streaming and all that, but it doesn't matter. He came here, he's got a, Huge company. Came here from another company and he was, came here to visit with another man in the same business out in San Francisco. The only place he ran into, he's been to several countries in the world for the same reason. The only place, when he walked out of there, started walking down the street, three guys jumped him, wanted to steal his cell phone. The only place that that's happened. They said, well, they got a surprise. There was a little bit of blood fluid and then they, and then they ran away, and I kept my phone. But guess where? San Francisco. Yeah, I know, that's one of the worst, but it's in America, and there's a lot just like that. You don't have to go very far from here. Chicago's, you know, less than a day's drive. One of the highest crime rates in our country. We have a lot of vicious people in our country. The Word of God says, the Lord of hosts says, if it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of the people in these days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes. These days, that is when the prophecy came, Jerusalem was nothing in the earth. Just trying to rebuild it, just trying to get the temple built, didn't even have it completed yet, and it was nothing like the first one, nothing like the one that's coming. And yet God said, this is what I'm going to do. Well, you look around at the circumstances, and they go, I don't think so. Humanly speaking, I don't think so. That's why God says, you think it's marvelous in your eyes. And this little remnant that's here, let me tell you something. According to the Book of Romans, God still has a remnant. And it might be marvelous in their eyes now, and it might be marvelous in your eyes to look over there, and you say, I don't think so. But God says, it doesn't mean it's marvelous in my eyes. Nothing's impossible with God. When God says he's going to judge in this world, he's going to judge in this world. What seems incredible and beyond the imagination in the eyes of men, what's impossible with men is not impossible with God. Revelation 15 and verse 3 says, And they sing the song of Moses, servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true. Are thy ways, thou King of saints." Marvelous, the works that are described in the book of Revelation. God says they're marvelous things. They're things hard to be believed, hard to be perceived, maybe, but God says it's going to happen and God's going to do it. Now, verse 3. Verse 2, you notice, it says, I will be glad and rejoice in thee. I will sing praise to thy name almost time. Listen, I shudder at the devastation and the destruction of people's lives, but I also realize the destruction of people's lives because of sin in our world today. And I realize that what the Lord Jesus Christ is going to do is put an end to all of that. He's going to put an end to all of that, and this earth is going to be what God intended it to be. And I rejoice in that. I believe every child of God should look at what the Word of God says that God is going to do. And right now, because we're still in this body, we're still living on this earth, and we know people, we have loved ones, I weep when I pray for my lost grandchildren and children and loved ones and other people that I know. And I'm not exaggerating. Because I know what's coming, not only in eternity, but I know what's coming very possibly even in this life. But I rejoice that God always does what's right. God is just. When I look around and I see the kind of justice system that men have in this earth, I rejoice that God is going to establish real justice in the earth. So now, when you get to verse 3, we can rejoice with Christ. It says now, when mine enemies are turned back, when mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. We can see just a little glimpse of that. David's victories are seen in this antitype of Christ once again. But this is the triumph of our Redeemer. And we can rejoice with Him in the humiliation of His foes. And I do. Those who hate him, Satan, the coming Antichrist, this world system, hate him. I rejoice that he who is humiliated for my sake. And now a lost world hates him still. I rejoice. His foes are going to be humiliated. Those who blaspheme his glorious name today, Their mouth is going to stop. Those who mock all of His righteous judgments, that's going to stop. You think of the great power. People act like God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He's just an old man with a gray beard up in heaven, slobber running down his beard or something. And Jesus is just this wimpy guy they put in their movies. No, He's not. He was a man's man. He was God's man, more importantly. He was a manly man. He was what God expects a man to be. When he was in the garden, all he had to do was say, here I am. They said, who are you looking for? They told him and he said, here I am. Here am I. And they fell back to the ground. The breath of his mouth. People better wake up. God's Son is not the wimpy guy they think He is. By the breath of His mouth, they all fell backward to the ground. What we see described in Revelation when sin and Satan and Antichrist is destroyed, Paul describes it this way. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 8, And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth. He doesn't have to lift a finger. Assume Him with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. This brightness means manifestation. When He is manifest the second time, the first time He was God manifest in the flesh, but He was veiled off by human flesh. But the second time, the flesh, the body He has now is a glorified body. And the glory of God is not going to be veiled the next time. And He will destroy him simply with the brightness of His manifestation of God's presence. The cause in verses 4 and 5. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause. Thou saddest in the throne of judging right. Do you rejoice in that tonight? God judging right. I love that. God never gets it wrong. I'm glad to be able to live life remembering that. Everything God does is right. God's never made a wrong decision. He's never had a wrong judgment. He's always been wrong. And every time you and I happen to think maybe He made a mistake, we're wrong. He's never done anything wrong and he'll never make a wrong judgment. What God did for David in destroying the nations, still inhabiting the land of Israel back in that day, God vindicated his cause. But I want you to notice something here. And so he's using that, but it's talking about much more as we've seen. That made it very clear. When David destroyed those armies, 20,000 of this army, 18,000 of that army. Another 22,000 of the Syrian army. And that's a lot in just a short period of time. That's touching on the high points. But God was simply making it very clear that God was preserving David. And so did He with Christ when He raised him from the dead. You want to know If God was righteous in His judgments and His holiness was satisfied on the cross of Calvary for man's sin, look at the resurrection. Acts chapter 2 and verse 36 says, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, without a doubt, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. He's Lord. That means He is the Mediator. He's the Mediatorial Lord. He's always been Lord of Creation. But when He came and took on human flesh, and now in His glorified body, He's the God-man, glorified. Now, He's the Mediatorial Lord. He's the Lord of Redemption as well. He hath made Him Lord. That is, declared Him to be that. And Christ, well, He was Christ when He was here. But now, by the resurrection, God has vindicated His testimony and declared Him, assuredly, He is Christ. He's both Lord and He's Christ. At Eschidaniah, is He your Lord? God the Father has vindicated that He is Lord. So He'll either be the Lord of your life, Or he's going to be your Lord as your judge. So is he the Lord of your life now? Because if he's not the Lord of your life in this life, he's going to be the Lord who judged you for all eternity. There's only two options. I'm going to further vindicate his cause by establishing Christ on David's throne. God is still on the throne. And He's still going to make it happen. When you look at these verses, I want you to notice something about these verses. Verse 4 says, Thou hast maintained my right and my cause. Ultimately, that's Christ speaking to the Father. You have preserved, as He did with David, Thou hast preserved my right and my cause. Then He says, Thou saddest. That's past tense. Why is it saying past tense? Well, David is saying it is past tense, but it's more than that. It's saying it in past tense because this is what's called a prophetic perfect. That is, something is said, and you see this a lot in the Old Testament, something is said as though it happened in the past. So it's past tense, but it's going to happen in the future. So it says, thou saddest, past tense. It's when God says something is going to happen, it's as sure as if it happened yesterday. He says it's going to happen in the future. Not going to tell you the date and the time or the hour, but it's going to happen. But it's just as sure as if it happened yesterday. It's a done deal. It's already done. Now Christ sits. Now listen, this is talking about David's fall. But now we don't see Christ that way. We see him crucified. And we know from the Scriptures that He's sitting on the throne of grace in heaven. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 6 says, "...let us therefore..." and the verse is there on your sheet. "...let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." That's a throne of mercy. The throne of grace, where mercy, which is a form of God's grace, it's part of mercy. That's where it's found, at the throne where He sits now. But this is a throne of judgment. Verse 7, if you jump down there, says, But the Lord shall endure forever. He hath prepared His throne for judgment. That's a judgment seat that's coming. The saint then can look to the future. Child of God, you can look to the future with confidence as though judgment of our enemies, judgment of your enemies for the sake of Christ has already taken place. You can just look at it like it's as sure as if it happened yesterday. That's how people like William Tyndale could spend the time that he spent in the jail even before he was burned at the stake. He could spend his time in jail with without freezing in the wintertime because he didn't have the clothes he needed. He didn't have the food he needed. I read a letter just yesterday or the day before. A copy was found of a letter signed by him that he wrote to a friend of his to try to get him a coat, his winter coat that he didn't have, and something to write on. And he wanted some of the Hebrew texts Now listen to this. He wanted some Hebrew texts. Why did he want some Hebrew texts? Because after he finished the New Testament, he started working on the Old Testament. He got the first five books done, the Pentateuch. He was still trying to translate it into English while he was in prison in those conditions. It's hard to concentrate on translation when you're shivering that bad. So he wanted a coat so he could continue his work of translation just before he died. Now that's commitment to the cause of Christ. That's commitment to the cause of Christ. You wonder why the Word of God says God is going to vindicate his people. You stand for Christ, your testimony is going to be vindicated. You deny the Lord Jesus Christ, he'll deny you. Why? Not because you aren't anything, but because when a person's a born-again child of God, it doesn't mean we're always perfect. But there comes times when we open our mouth and say something. These men would not deny the Lord Jesus Christ, and they would not deny the work that he gave them to do. Their life did not revolve around pleasing themselves. It revolved around pleasing God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved them and gave Himself for them. And their life was truly committed to Him and His cause. Now God speaks in verse 5 of the judgment of the Gentile nations. We'll close with this verse tonight. We won't get through verse 6. God speaks of the judgment of the Gentile nations. as though that is already accomplished as well. Notice what he says in verse 5. Thou hast, past tense. Thou hast rebuked the heathen. You say, well, that means he's put it in his word. He's told them what he thinks about and what he thinks of their sin. No, because he goes on to say, Thou hast destroyed the wicked. Thou hast put out their name forever and ever. You know, there's some big names in this world that are spending their life because they hate God. They're doing everything they can. Everything they do is because they hate God. They hate the cause of God. They hate Christ. They hate anything that has any semblance of it, anything that has his name attached to it, anything that even has his moral goodness attached to it. They're nations. that are set against the Lord and against His Christ. But Isaiah 2 and verse 4 says, "...and He shall judge among the nations and rebuke many people. He shall beat their swords into plowshares." Now remember, when we were in Joel, we saw it was just the opposite. He calls them there to beat their plowshares into swords. Here, he says, beat your swords into plowshares. That means what he says in the first part of that verse, he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people. He's not going to stop until he's done and peace has been established on the earth and righteousness reigning. And then he'll say, beat those swords into plowshares. Now, if you're not going to need those swords, you're sure going to need to plow some ground. And it's going to produce for you. Because there's going to be peace established in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because there's going to be 1,000 years of peace on this earth. Why? Because Christ is going to judge, and then he's going to reign in righteousness. The basis of peace is righteousness. It's not, let's just all go along to get along even if none of us believe the truth or not. No, peace is established based on righteousness. That's why every lost sinner does not have peace. You have to have Christ, the Prince of Peace. You have to have His righteousness. It's another evidence then of what we saw back in Joel. Again, in Micah chapter 4 and verse 3, you'll see there that verse, and we'll close with this, and he shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations afar off. I heard a world leader talking to a man being interviewed about a couple of months ago, and boy, it's amazing how egotistical these people are. They act like they got the world under control. And all the other nations that are opposed to them just don't know anything, don't know how to run their nation, don't know anything. But boy, they got it figured out. And so you've got huge nations becoming Confederate with other huge nations because they hate other nations that have opposed them over the years. They infiltrate us and do everything they can to get things set up so they can shut us down. And they might. Our nation's certainly not anything pleasing to God right now. It has been, but it's not now. But I will tell you this, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back and put them all down. He's going to reign. The Bible says He will overturn, overturn, overturn. The diadem of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be set up. Now, I can sing about that. That's something to sing about. My Savior is going to sit on His throne, and He's going to reign in righteousness. If you have it in your heart that you want His righteousness to reign in your life, you'll feel the same way. You see, there really is going to be Three judgments. One of the lost, the great white throne. One of the saved for our works, what we've done with our life for the Lord Jesus Christ, and what counts for his glory, what he has motivated us to do according to the word of God. And the nations are also going to be judged. And where will you be found? Where will you be found? There isn't any what if. Forget that part. There's no what if. What if it doesn't? Well, no, it is. God said it's already done. It's been done. A long time ago, God said He saddest past tense. He made manifest past tense. It's done. And so when it comes to past, where will you stand? Let's stand and have a word of prayer.