The Goodness And Justice Of God

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Introduction

Security is a hot issue today. After September 11 last year some countries have been very concerned about their national security. Parents are concerned about the security of their children especially in the wake of the terrible tragedy in Soham. Individually too everybody wants security: physical, financial, personal, social and spiritual. Elvis Presley, who died 25 years ago, wanted personal, social, spiritual and physical security but he trusted wrongly and literally ended up all shook up, drugged and by his own admission incredibly lonely before he died at the age of 42. Others trust in the stock market for long term financial security. A relative of mine inherited some Marconi shares a number of years ago. Two years ago they were worth £12 per share and looking good, last Friday they were worth 3 pence!

Where does our security lie? In whom or in what are we trusting?

This Psalm says:

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and for evermore.

Is there someone here this evening who needs to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time? Perhaps you have been shaken by something and you're feeling insecure. Well put your trust in him, in his death and resurrection and you will receive eternal life, eternal security, peace with God and the gift of the Holy Spirit who makes us more like Jesus and who assures us of our salvation. You will become one of God's people who, to go back to the Psalm, are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. The Lord will surround you both now and for evermore.

If we're Christians do we forget the truths of this psalm? What or who are we trusting in? Our ability to maintain our faith? or in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit? We have no confidence in our performance and our righteousness. We are to trust in Christ. All our righteous acts are as filthy rags says Isaiah 64:6 but as we heard from Romans 3, if we have faith in Christ then 'we have a righteousness that comes from God'.

A minister was visiting an elderly man who'd been a Christian for most of his long life. The minister remarked, "Well sir, after keeping the faith for so long, you must feel pretty confident of holding out to the end." The gentleman replied, "It's not a matter of me holding out; it's the Lord holding on to me…and the Bible assures me that I can trust Him for that."

As Romans 5:9-10 says:

Since we have now been justified by Jesus' blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Our eternal life begins the moment we come to trust in the Lord Jesus. Our sins have been paid for and our salvation has been accomplished, protected and will one day in heaven be completed. Our security is in God. We're like Jerusalem – fortified and secure. We may slip and stumble but God will hold on to us. We're not to be frightened by the wicked of v3 of this psalm or the difficulties of present situations. Listen to v1&2 of Psalm 125 again:

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore.

Yes, as Paul says to the Philippians, we are to be obedient to his Word (indeed a true love for Jesus will be evidenced by obedience to him), we are to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling but we can also be confident of this – 'that he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ'. (Philippians 1:6)

When this 'song of ascents' was written it would have been sung to encourage the pilgrims to trust in the LORD even when the wicked seem to be winning, as they went up to Jerusalem for a religious festival and those who trust in the Lord today can also be greatly encouraged by its message, which brings us to my first of three points.


First,STIRRED NOT SHAKEN v1&2

The security that God provides for those who trust in him is both a present reality and a future certainty. It is not something we will only know in the future. Look again at v1&2:

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.

True believers, those who trust in the Lord, those who through faith in Christ are righteous, upright in heart and good, are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever, and the Lord surrounds them as the mountains surround Jerusalem. What was Mount Zion? Originally Mount Zion was the highest point of the city of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem is in a mountainous region. So the picture here is of an elevated city surrounded by higher immoveable mountains, which illustrates the positional security of God's people, who are surrounded by and protected by an immoveable God. And those who trust in the Lord…cannot be shaken. The reason for that is something even more sure than our faith, something greater and higher (like the mountains around Zion), namely God's grace.

This same theme – the security of God's true people – is also found in the NT. Listen to Jesus' words in John 10:27-28:

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand.

The theme is also reflected in the great questions of Romans 8:

If God is for us, who can be against us?' 'Who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen?' 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

The unspoken answer to all those questions is No-one.

The Lord also enables those who trust in him to stand firm. Therefore we should always stand up for the Lord. We should be stirred to do God's will. We are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. Even if standing up for Christ leads to death – that cannot separate us from his protection and love. We are secure in him forever. And we trust in the Lord who is sovereign. As someone has written:

"Happy and strong and brave we shall be – able to endure all things, and to do all things – if we believe that every day, every hour, every moment of our life is in God's hands."

Those who trust in the Lord are stirred, not shaken.

The security of those who trust in the Lord is both a present reality and a future certainty. True believers, God's people, are secure in him, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you've placed your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will never be safer spiritually than you are right now. You can't be any more secure in him. And the security that the Lord provides reaches beyond this earthly life, beyond death and into eternity. The Lord surrounds his people both now and for evermore. Those who trust in the Lord will be with him in heaven forever.

However while it is true that the security God provides for his people is both a present reality and a future certainty it doesn't mean that his people are somehow exempt from living and even suffering under those who are wicked. Security doesn't mean your ship will not weather any storms. It does mean that the storms won't sink the ship…which brings us to my second heading and to verse 3, which speaks of the rule of the wicked but which also brings a reassurance. So…


Secondly A REASSURANCE AND A WARNING v3

Look at v3:

The sceptre of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.

What does this verse mean? The first part is clear. The rule of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to God's people. The verse maybe referring to Nehemiah who held the sceptre as governor of Judah having been appointed by the Persian king Artaxerxes I and, more importantly, by God. You see God would not let the 'sceptre of the wicked', in other words, the power of the local rulers who had been upset by Nehemiah's arrival, 'remain over the land allotted to the righteous'. But what about the second part of the verse? - 'for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.' Well nothing would be more likely to corrupt God's people than the prospect of Nehemiah failing and the reasserting of the rule of the ungodly. It won't happen says the psalm. God's chosen one is in charge.

So what does this verse say to us today?

As I've said as Christians we are not to expect immunity from trials because the Lord surrounds us. Often wicked rulers are harsh on God's people as many Christians around the world know better than us. But v3 says that God has set a limit to the woes of his people. Those who trust in the Lord will abide forever, but their troubles will not. The clock is ticking for the wicked. God will not allow them to remain over the righteous forever. Why? The reason given here in v3 is that if they did, the righteous might use their hands to do evil. Oppression and persecution can drive Christians to evil just as it did in Nazi Germany. Therefore the Lord puts a limit to the tyranny of the wicked. This reminds me on a more personal everyday level of 1 Cor 10:13 which says, "God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but will always provide a way out so we can stand up under it."

Charles Spurgeon, the famous nineteenth century preacher, commenting on this verse wrote this regarding the warning in this verse:

"The power and influence of the wicked are often used to try to drive Christians astray. But Christians can't use that as an excuse and give in to the evil pressure – no, instead we must resist until God intervenes to stay the violence of the persecutor and gives his children rest."

We must not compromise or collude with the wicked – we must obey God and not men when there's a clash. And as we do so God will be with us.

One day the wicked will be removed totally as God establishes a new heaven and a new earth but until that final day we are to stand firm, trusting in the Lord.


Thirdly, THE GOODNESS AND JUSTICE OF GOD v4-5

Look at v4&5 which are a prayer:

Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart. But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.

There is a confidence here in God's goodness and in God's justice to deal with people appropriately.

Who are those who are good and upright in heart? Those who trust in the Lord. For faith is the root of righteousness and the evidence of uprightness. To those who are good and upright in heart - to those who have put their faith in Christ, God will do good. The prayer is actually a promise for what the Lord prompts us to ask he virtually promises to give. However God still wants us to ask him to do good to his people – even though he knows our needs before we ask him (Mt 6:8). How often do we pray for God to do good to his people?

But, v5, those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers. Those hypocrites who do not truly trust in the Lord who turn to crooked ways will be banished by the Lord with the evildoers. In Revelation 21:6-8 we read this:

He who overcomes will inherit all this (heaven), and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practise magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.

In the end, for those who are right with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ things will turn out right but for those who turn to crooked ways their future will be in hell.

Yes God is good. Yes God is love. But God is also just.

As I said at the start of this sermon who tonight needs to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time - whatever you've done, whatever you've thought of Jesus in the past. If we come to him there is forgiveness. Jesus said (Mk 1:14): 'Repent and believe the good news' – the good news of Jesus' death on the cross where he took the punishment we deserved for our sins and his resurrection from the dead – bringing peace with God, new and eternal life for those who repent and believe and trust in Him.

Finally the psalmist prays:

Peace be upon Israel.

Peace being the word 'shalom' meaning rightness and well-being rather than an absence of war, a peace that comes only from God. Peace be upon God's people, the church is how we read it for today in the light of the NT. Paul echoes the psalmist in Galatians 6:16 saying:

Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.

In other words - peace and mercy to all those who trust in Christ alone, and to the church.

May we know God's blessing of peace as individuals and as a church as we trust in the Lord.

Jesus says to his disciples in John 14:27:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

To those who trust in him Jesus gives a peace that is real and present, a gift of total well-being and inner rest of spirit, in fellowship with God.

The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26)
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