PSALM 11:1-7
 

1. WE SEE BAD ADVICE: VV1-3:
1. These people were alarmists. They were guided by panic. Their advice was: "Pack your bags, David! Flee! Hit the high road! Head for the hills! Run for your life! Every man for himself!"
2. Why did they so counsel? What prompted them to advise David to flee?
1. Verse 2: The wicked were at work: "They're out to get you, David!"
1. They armed themselves and wanted to use David for target practice. The wicked still want to harm the righteous.
2. They are sneaky, and "shoot from the shadows" (NIV).
3. We see that in our day:
1. Terrorists crashing planes into buildings (9-11-01, New York, Washington D.C.)
2. Cut-throats attacking bus drivers (10-3-01, Tennessee, Greyhound)
3. Isolated acts of violence and lawlessness
2. Verse 3: Foundations were crumbling. "Your kingdom is falling apart, David!" What foundations are crumbling in our day?
1. The foundation of integrity, truth and honor.
2. The foundation of morality and innocence.
3. The foundation of the work ethic: A day's work for a day's pay.
4. The foundation of personal responsibility; we'd rather blame someone else for our difficulties and failures.
5. The foundation of an illusion of America's non-vulnerability.
3. Verse 3: The righteous were helpless: "Your hands are tied, David!"
1. "What can the righteous do?"
2. That's throwing up one's hands and saying, "It's hopeless! There is nothing we can do but run!"
3. Stuart Briscoe said of the alarmists, "They flee as a bird to their mountain. They quit. They cop out. They decide that they will concentrate on protecting themselves in the midst of inevitable disintegration. They write off their society and yield to their fear and discouragement." (What Works When Life Doesn't, page 47).
4. Beware the "Chicken Little Complex!" You may be too young to know the story, or too old to remember it. Chicken Little was in the woods when an acorn fell onto her head. It frightened her and she cried, "Help! Help! The sky is falling! I must go tell the king!" On the way Chicken Little met Henny Penny. "The sky is falling!" she shouted. "How do you know?" Henny Penny asked. "I saw it with my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!" Chicken Little explained. Henny Penny said, "This is terrible! We'd better run!" On their way, they met, in turn, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey, to each of whom they related the devastating news that the sky was falling! They each joined the panicked bunch to hasten to tell the king. On the way, they came upon Foxy Loxy and, sharing the breaking news, explained to him the tragedy. "Follow me! I'll show you the way to the king!" he lied. They all followed Foxy Loxy across a field and into the woods. He led them to his own den, and they never saw the king to tell him the sky was falling.

2. WE SEE BOLD ASSURANCE: VV4-7:
1. "Flee? Never!" David would trust God, and that for good reasons:
1. Verse 4: "God still reigns. He's still on His throne."
2. Verse 5: "God knows what is going on! He evaluates and searches us all, righteous and wicked alike." Nobody pulls the wool over God's eyes!
3. Verses 5, 6: "God opposes the wicked, so however daunting they may be, I have an even more formidable ally."
1. God hates the violent: I know, I know, "God is love, so how can He hate anyone?"
1. Hate doesn't mean what we often make it mean: "Ooooo! I just despise you!" Or "I loathe you absolutely!"
2. Hate, in this text, means to be an opponent of the wicked and violent. It means to set oneself against the evil worker. It means to be opposed to. It means to disdain, to reject, to hold in contempt those who choose the godless and evil way.
3. How could a holy and righteous God look upon the stubbornly and unrepentant wicked and violent in any other way? He'd save them if they'd repent, but He will serve up wrath if they persist in opposing Him.
2. David says, "They'll get theirs in the end!" Here he mentions Divine Vengeance. Solomon said, in Proverbs 10:28 "The hope of the righteous is gladness, But the expectation of the wicked perishes."
1. Sodom and Gomorrah fell under the fire from heaven.
2. Egypt was doomed to defeat.
3. Babylon went down to ruin.
4. The Roman Empire was shattered.
5. And concerning all who harm God's people, Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 "For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed ..."
6. So it will be with each and every person, system, nation, religion or philosophy that sets up against God and His Christ.
4. Since David had such a God on his side, since such a God still reigned, the implication is: "If I flee, it will be to God's throne, not to the hills!"
2. In time of terror and disaster, many ask, "Where is there justice? Where is there a balancing of the scales? Where is there safety? What can we do? Where in the world can you find hope?" In His time, in His way, God will make things right. God will vindicate the righteous and deal with the wicked. That's His promise. That's our hope.
3. In the meanwhile, let us affirm that Jesus Christ reigns. He knows what is happening. He opposes the wicked and after their brief moment will bring them to their end. You can disbelieve that and face life on your own, or you can believe it and draw hope from it.
4. We need to trust Him, as did David and as did Anthea. She sat in the dark corner of her prison cell. She was roused from her meditations by her mistress, Flavia. "Anthea!" Flavia called. "I have come to have you released, if I can. I have many friends in the palace of Nero, and they will help you flee from here." Flavia continued, "I have full authority to pardon you if you will come at once to the temple of Jupiter and merely burn a little incense at his altar. Come with me at once, Anthea!" Freedom! What an allurement. Flavia continued to persuade; Anthea responded, "I am a Christian, Flavia, and I cannot deny my Lord. Making an offering to an idol is against my faith. I cannot accept freedom at the price of my belief." Flavia responded, "I would almost become a Christian myself. Your strength is so amazing. Would that I knew what upholds you so calmly!" It was faith and trust in the living God. It was the hope she possessed in Jesus.

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