THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

LXIX. Deliverance In Suffering For The Lord

(Psalm 69:1-36)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Many Christians need to know how to respond to suffering for Biblical truth in today’s world:

(1) The political cartoon on the editorial page in the June 15, 2023, Republican-American, p. 8A, showed two men having lunch in a diner, with one of them saying, “It’s not right. We could lose our jobs, simply for being who we are,” with the other man replying, “Yeah, it’s not easy being Christian conservatives in America today.”

(2) The cartoon was responding to the Toronto Blue Jays’ firing of relief pitcher Anthony Bass “for not getting with the LGBTQ program.” It began when “Bass shared a video from a Bible-themed Instagram page supporting the boycotts of Bud Light and Target” for their promotion of the Pride movement, and Bass’s action led to “(f)ans booing him, and sports journalists” being “out for blood . . . The last straw came when he . . . said, ‘I stand by my beliefs,’ adding – very naively, as it turns out – ‘and everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs, right?’” Not really, for “he got fired.” (Rich Lowry, “There should be no ‘woke’ in baseball,” Ibid., June 19, 2023, p. 6A; parentheses ours)

(3) Indeed, “(f)or every case of discrimination against the protected (LGBTQ) class, you can find 50 cases of persecution and prosecution of those who . . . hold different values” (Wayne D. Holt, “Guest commentary: Pride has morphed to a ‘contemptible opposite,’” June 15, 2023; galvnews.com; parentheses ours). Erwin Lutzer’s book, We Will Not Be Silenced, has a promo in the Christian Book Distributors catalogue, claiming: “Current culture considers biblical faith an expression of bigotry and hatred, yet resorts to shaming and pressure tactics to enforce other views.”

(4) Even “the pride flag” that flaunts deviant sexuality in today’s world “is ubiquitous. Its increasingly elaborate jumble of clashing stripes – whether seen shopping, at a ballgame or on U. S. government buildings – is a reminder to get with the program . . . The old, quaint rainbow flag had the virtue of being simpler than its subsequent renditions,” but “there are dozens of separate flags out there for every gender identity and sexual orientation . . . How could they be left out?” (Rich Lowry, “Against the Pride flag,” Ibid., Republican-American, June 14, 2023, p. 6A)

(5) However, even the initial rainbow flag was a massive distortion of Bible truths: God gave man the rainbow in Genesis 9:8-17 as a token of His promise never to destroy the earth again with a universal flood, and that right after He had pledged in Genesis 8:22 to supply a habitable climate for man as long as the earth remained. However, leftists have hijacked the rainbow from God’s promise not to send another world flood, they denied that there ever had been such a flood by holding to evolution, they spurned God’s pledge of a habitable planet for the duration of the earth’s existence to assert climate change catastrophism and pressed the rainbow into service as a symbol of perversion.

(6) Furthermore, the Bible itself was recently “banned” in the “72,000-student Davis School District north of Salt Lake City . . . from its elementary and middle schools” because a “Davis district parent filed a complaint about the Bible, arguing that it is ‘one of the most sex-ridden books around.’” (Tracy O’Shaughnessy, “We’re banning the very books that can help us navigate our battles,” Sunday-Republican, June 18, 2023, p. 2D) “The Board of Education of the Davis School District” has since “reversed its earlier . . . decision to remove the Bible” due to pushback from the public (Heather W. Smith, “Davis School Board reverses decision on Bible ban,” June 20, 2023; abc4.com/news/wasatch-front/), but the incident illustrates the trials that Christians face today.

Need: So, we ask, “What is God’s directive on dealing with suffering for holding to His truths in today’s world?!”

I. In Psalm 69:1-12, David faced intense suffering for taking a stand for righteousness:

A. David lamented that his enemies were many, that they were trying to destroy him, hating him without cause and unfairly forcing him to give up possessions that he had not stolen, Psalm 69:1-4; Ibid., p. 844.

B. Though he acknowledged that he was a sinner, the cause of the current mistreatment that David faced was a just cause, for he was suffering for the Lord’s sake in some way, Psalm 69:5-7.

C. David’s own relatives hated him though he was zealous for God, and though this suffering caused him great grief, even ruling judges at the city gate or outcast drunkards, all levels of society, ridiculed David, v. 8-12.

II. Accordingly, David asked the Lord for deliverance and to administer divine justice, Psalm 69:13-28.

III. In Psalm 69:29-33, David expressed confidence that God would hear his prayer and by doing so, encourage other believers to find deliverance, solace and joy in the Lord’s help over unjust persecutions.

IV. Finally, in Psalm 69:34-36, David “called for universal praise to God in anticipation of His delivering the nation (Israel,), and the people’s settling in the land,” Ibid., p. 845; parentheses ours.

Lesson: In suffering intense persecution for the Lord’s sake from many people at personal material cost and mistreatment even from relatives and from people of all levels of society, David found God to be his Deliverer, what examples for other believers how to find solace from persecution they face for righteousness’ sake.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) May we handle persecution for righteousness’ sake by calling on the Lord for justice, deliverance and solace as exampled by David.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message and provide additional guidance . . .)

Once we believers in Christ handle unjust persecution for the Lord by calling on Him for deliverance, justice and solace, we note that God has more Biblical insight on handling persecution that we face today (as follows):

(1) As for the LGBTQ issue, (a) we note that sexual perversion is not new, for the city of Corinth where the Apostle Paul ministered in the first century was so immoral that “the Greek term Korinthiazomai (literally, to act the Corinthian) came to mean ‘to practice fornication.’” (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1619, “Introduction to the Firsts Letter of Paul to the Corinthians: The City of Corinth”) Some of the people Paul led to Christ at Corinth were once “homosexuals” who let “themselves to be used unnaturally” and others who had been “active homosexuals,” and his first epistle to the Corinthians was “given against the background of incest, homosexuality, pederasty, and other unnatural sexual vices which were prevalent among the Greeks and Romans,” Ibid., ftn. to 1 Cor. 6:9. (b) However, Paul did not publicly demonstrate against the culture, but he taught about victory over sin in Christ in 1 Corinthians 6:11 KJV: He wrote that though some of his readers had been in sexually deviant orientations and had committed decadent deeds, they had been washed, sanctified, and “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” Thus, he focused on the hope of a changed life that could occur in one with a vile background if he trusted in Christ for salvation. (c) Paul then preached the Gospel at Corinth in full reliance on God’s power. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 reports that Paul testified that when he arrived in Corinth with all its vices, he experienced weakness, fear, and much trembling, and his speech was not with enticing words in human wisdom, but he fully relied by faith on God to make his ministry effective. As a result, people with deviant sexual backgrounds actually believed in the Gospel of Christ that he preached! (d) Paul then taught believers to live and to think separate from the bad orientations and deeds of their backgrounds, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20. (e) As a result, God encouraged and protected Paul in his ministry efforts at Corinth, Acts 18:1-18a: (+) In offsetting his weakness, fear and trembling in ministering to sexually distorted people, God gave Paul a vision to encourage him that no one would harm him at Corinth, for the Lord had many people there even in that wicked city who would eventually trust in Christ, Acts 18:9-10. For this reason, Paul kept ministering for 18 more months in Corinth, Acts 18:11. (+) Even when opponents brought Paul before the proconsul Gallio of Achaia, God moved the heart of Gallio to provide protection for Paul’s evangelizing efforts even before Paul could say a word before the judge so that Paul might continue to minister in Corinth “for some time,” Acts 18:18a NIV. (f) Also, Colossians 4:5-6 directs that we must live wisely before unsaved people, letting our speech be gracious, seasoned with penetrating “salt” that we might know how to answer every man who asks us about our faith. (g) In application of all of these truths on the LGBTQ issue, (+) we should live wisely before the unsaved, being gracious in our speech but penetrating with our words so that we do not needlessly stir up hostility from those who oppose our Biblical beliefs. (+) Rather, we should be gentle, kind, thoughtful and focused in offering the hope to the problems people in today’s depraved culture face as being the spiritual new birth that occurs when people put their faith in Christ. (+) We must then teach new converts to live separate from sin while we ourselves rely on the Lord to provide the encouragement we need to keep living righteous lives and discipling others for Him. (h) However, for our own edification, 2 Timothy 2:20-22 directs us not to fellowship with the ungodly, but with believers who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. We need to meet together with other godly believers to offset the evil that we face!

(2) As for the initial banning of the Bible in Utah’s Davis district as a “‘sex-ridden’” book, (a) the Bible does report about acts of sexual sins in history to show how awful they are, but Scripture never condones immorality like LGBTQ books do! The sexual abuses recorded in the Bible serve to reveal God’s goodness in giving us the Seventh Commandment that reads, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (b) In a positive sense, the Bible at Genesis 2:20-25 presents God’s edifying model for expressing human sexuality: He created the first biologically adult male man from the dust of the ground, and from that man’s rib, God made the first biologically adult female woman, and then God brought her to the man to form a permanent, heterosexual, monogamous marital union of adults.

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. May we handle persecution for the Lord’s sake by calling on the Lord for justice, deliverance and solace as exampled by David in his experience and living in victory like the Apostle Paul did at Corinth.