Sermon(Ps 10): The silence of God

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025251357

 

 

>> 1 Why dost thou stand afar off, O Lord? Why dost thou hide thyself in times of trouble? 2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes which they have devised. ... 4 In the pride of his countenance the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” .... 8 He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the hapless, .... 11 He thinks in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.” ... 14 Thou dost see; yea, thou dost note trouble and vexation, that thou mayest take it into thy hands; the hapless commits himself to thee; thou hast been the helper of the fatherless. .... (Ps 10) <<

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There was a man named Paul. He was so intelligent that his writings and logic formed the framework of Christian doctrines. But at first, he was the forerunner of the persecution of the early church. There were three types of Christians in the persecuted church then. one type of people prayed, "Our God, this man Saul is a servant of Devil persecuting the church, so let him be struck dead by lightning at once!" Another type of people prayed to God, "Oh God, we give thanks to thee that we are persecuted by the evil man Paul as disciples of Jesus." The other type of people prayed, "Oh God, Paul behaves like that because he hasn't known the gospel. Please change him, and let him be a great worker of the church!" Paul was so enthusiastic in persecuting the church that he even went to neighboring country to arrest those who believed in Jesus. However, he, on the way, met the risen Jesus surrounded by strong light, and after that honor of meeting Jesus directly, he changed into a new man, went around the world to preach the risen Savior Jesus, without being married until death. Remembering that he had persecuted the church, Paul said later that he was the worst of sinners. Nevertheless he went around the world, praising God and giving thanks to God among people and confessing that God by his great love and mercy had changed him and made him a preacher of the gospel to the world.

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There are people of such kind as Paul in the world. My brethren, was Paul an evil man when he persecuted the church? No! He was an ignorant man not an evil man then. He was ignorant, so he committed a sin; however he was rather an ignorant man. He tried to do God's work hard, but the result was persecution of the church. Later he said that he was pardoned by God because he had ignorantly persecuted the church. Paul couldn't understand that the God of Israel came into the world as an Israelite named Jesus, for he hadn't met the risen Jesus. So he persecuted very much the Christians who believed in Jesus as the God. Paul supported those who would stone Stephen to death. Therefore there can be persecutors of churches and believers who will convert to Christianity and be useful workers of the church later like Paul. Therefore we must pray to God patiently that God change those who persecute us. It is worth while to see who vehemently opposes Christianity, and to preach the gospel to him. Who knows? Maybe such a man, once converted to Christianity, may work for God and church with such passion as he showed when he opposed the Christianity.

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But how can we find someone like Paul? Above all, a man of good personality is possibly that kind of man as well. Certainly a son of Devil is he who does not honor his parents, always lies, behaves crookedly with cunning heart. If you see a man with such character persecute Christianity, it is still more advantageous to the church for you to evangelize others rather than to waste your time making him a Christian. Paul had a sound religious personality as a Judaist then. He really loved God. He was not a dirty man to the neighbors. Next, a man like Paul is he who seeks the true truth. Paul was a student of Gamaliel, a prominent scholar of the time. He was a seeker of truth. Why has he changed? Because he met Jesus who is the truth. My brethren, only he who subjects himself to the truth is a true scholar, a man of conscience and a really wise man. Paul had a sense of truth, so recognized the truth. He met the truth of Christianity, that is, an extended truth of Judaism, so bet all his life on it and succeeded. If we see a man who, like Paul, has a good character and seeks the true truth, but misunderstands Christianity and persecutes Christians, we must pray to God for him that he be given wisdom to know Jesus who is the truth, and may open his mind for Jesus. As Jesus instructed us, we should, with patience and love, deal with those who misunderstand Christianity and persecute Christians for a while.

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But the persecutor of Ps 10, today's text, are wicked men. Ordinary wicked men, not believing in God, commit sins. We can have a little hope about them, for they may change their mind and live aright if they realize that there is God. But the wicked men of Ps 10 are those who know that there is God (v. 11), who nevertheless boldly keep committing sins because their punishments do not befall them immediately. In short, they are the worst of all evildoers. This kind of man has the worst character. He cheats the weak and the poor out of their money. If no one sees, he even murders. There are two kinds of (dirty) evildoers today: one who are not Christians and commit sins with a dirty character, the other who are Christians, but secretly commit sins with a dirty character, and even persecute good Christians.

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Occasionally abominable affairs happen in the church. Pastors committing adultery, believers who ran away with church money, believers who borrowed a lot of money from other believers of the church and disappeared, these belong to the type of evildoers of Ps 10. My brethren, these were not children of God from the beginning. They are children of Devil. Those who secretly commit sins with dirty personality in the holy Christianity are the most corrupt who can not be more corrupted. Pray for 100 years for them having such dirty personality. Maybe you'll fail to change them. Devil also has his pride. We can see from the Bible that Jesus prayed to God for Peter lest he should fall into temptation, but not for Judas Iscariot because he was a man of Devil. But we do not know who is a man of Devil, so we must pray diligently even for him who looks like Judas, for he may have been chosen by the God of mercy.

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The problem is why God keeps silent when the righteous are suffering from those who are wicked not by misunderstanding of God or Christianity but by their nature. But it is the teaching of the Bible that even a sparrow is killed in God's permission, so the children of God do not have to fear the persecution of the wicked. V. 14, " Thou dost see; yea, thou dost note trouble and vexation, that thou mayest take it into thy hands; the hapless commits himself to thee; thou hast been the helper of the fatherless." My brethren, can't the God who made human eyes see? He who created ears can hear all human voices, and he who created human spirit can know all the secret thoughts of man. The important thing is whether we complain or we pray to God with thanksgiving, gain his help and defeat our enemies. If we pray to God for a long time to solve a problem and at last the problem is settled, there we can experience 'the profound personality of God'. Looking back, I see that God kept me like the apple of his eye the moment a wicked man would harm me, and that the wicked man was punished by God with the most just punishment at the most appropriate time and disappeared from my sight. And I realize that God was listening to my sigh as well as my prayers at that time, and that all my prayers were answered at the best times. Yes, my brethren! God is merciful and sincere to the righteous. Maybe God seems to patiently keep silent in order to hear from us the devout confession of complete trust and deep thanks first. If everything is for our good and for our mature faith, and if, therefore, we trust in God and give thanks to him about difficult problems with great faith from the beginning, there is no reason why God should keep silent long. As soon as the choir of the army of Israel sang praises to God, Elisha, the servant of God, opened his mouth and gave them the words of God.

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What do we learn from above cases? We are children of God, nevertheless we can live an evil life without realizing it. We know God exists, however, we sometimes tell lies to other saints, gossip behind their backs, do not offer up full tithe, and commit various minor sins. God puts up with the wicked long and destroys them in a single day to warn you that you, too, will utterly perish in a day as the wicked were punished by God if you, believing that God is very generous, keep committing sins for a long time. So you must take it as the warning of God for you that the wicked have lived in comfort and wealth for a long time but suddenly perish in a day. We must not foolishly live like the wicked. If you are not punished by God and he keeps silent though you sin, you must not think then that God unconditionally condones your life. You must be awakened then as soon as possible, thinking that you will go to ruin suddenly someday if God's silence continues long though you keep sinning.

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God wants to see our faith. Can you love and trust in God when the wicked live long and well, but you as a Christian suffer from them? The wicked are those who let you know how your faith is. Can you unconditionally love, trust in and give thanks to God if you suffer from the wicked for no reason and if they committed perfect crimes and are unpunished? Our faith must be so perfect that we can give unconditional thanks to God even in the suffering without reason. This is the completion of the faith. Would we deserve the eternal life for nothing if we make complaints with reason about the suffering without reason? So the Bible tells us to rejoice and be grateful always in all circumstances. The unprovoked pain that the wicked inflict on us makes us beautiful in God. If we bear it well and thank God for all things, can there be a mind more beautiful than that? Where can you find a mind more precious than that? We believers are rough diamonds, and the wicked cut us into beautiful diamonds by the knife of persecution. As the period of the work upon us is prolonged, we become a flawless excellent gem.

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Today's biblical text says that those who persecute the poor are proud. V. 2, "In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor." Then, we can say that he who helps and loves the poor is humble. It is a kind of service to help and love others, and it is true humility to serve others lower than us. Yes, my brethren! Jesus came to this world to serve us poor men. He is truly a humble man. The Bible tells us to imitate the humble heart of Jesus Christ. He who has believed in Jesus and obtained eternal life imitates his heart and helps the weak, gives the poor what he has, and loves and serves them. But the haughty Devil, who envied God his glory and rebelled against him, seeks hard to destroy God's creatures whom God created and into whom he breathed the life. You evildoers persecuting the weak! You are so haughty that you are persecuting the weak and the children of God.

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Let's love and serve our neighbors in humble heart. Let's endure all the unprovoked hardships in the love of God. Let's do this with Jesus. Let's do this by the strength he gives us. And let us at last overcome all evil and triumph like Jesus. May the Lord Jesus Christ give you faith, hope and love for God, and perseverance to overcome the suffering from the world, and may he make you a victor.

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                                   - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -