Title: Salvation and Judgment/Psalm 7
Contents Salvation and Judgment/Psalm 7:
"I take refuge in You, O LORD my God, and deliver me from all who pursue me... Arise, O LORD, in your wrath, and stop the wrath of my enemies; Awake for me; You have commanded judgment... Judge, the God of wrath every day. If a man does not repent, he sharpens his sword; he draws his bow and prepares it.”
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Guys, here's a coin. A coin has two sides. A coin has no value as money if it only has one side. Brothers and sisters, what we must keep in mind is that salvation and judgment coexist like two sides of the same coin. The gospel of salvation is another name for the gospel of judgment. Today's psalm 7 David's psalm clearly reveals the duality of salvation and judgment.
Salvation and Judgment
Verse 1 asks God for salvation. David asks for help because he is surrounded by an enemy who grows angry and roars. How are you? Are you comfortable without needing to be saved? If so, that's the agent..!! But if we think about it again, we see that we are surrounded by the adversary, inside and out. Inside, all kinds of greed, indolence, pride and arrogance are trying to swallow me. rushing to get you into it. In other words, they are surrounded by demons.
The other side of the request for salvation is the request for judgment. It requires God to judge himself first. If he is not righteous, he tells him to give his soul to the wicked (verses 3-5).
object of salvation and judgment
“The LORD brings judgment on all people; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and faithfulness in me. Cut off the wickedness of the wicked and raise up the righteous. A righteous God searches the hearts of men” (verses 8-9). ) The object of salvation and judgment applies to all people. Everyone on this earth is subject to judgment. And as a result of that judgment, God only accepts the righteous. All without righteousness are sinners and are subject to the punishment of wrath.
The psalmist sings that the righteous God raises up the righteous and saves the upright and faithful. On the other hand, the wicked will perish in their iniquities.
How are we now? Can you assert your own righteousness like the psalmist? In any case, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. God will examine and judge all our deeds and even the secret things we hide in the depths of our hearts.
Save those who repent
No matter how much a person claims to be righteous, he cannot say that he is without sin in the sight of God's righteousness and holiness. “There is no one righteous, not even one.” Said. David, who wrote this psalm, also knows that he committed a serious crime of having sex with Bathsheba, Urea's wife, and driving Urea to death by driving her to the battlefield. And he shed a lot of blood in war and politics. In that sense, today's psalm is not a song of David, but a song of Jesus Christ, the perfect righteous man. In other words, it sings the suffering, salvation, and judgment of Christ, the King of kings, through the mouth of David.
If all the people in the world are to be punished according to their secret sins, then not one person will be saved. Therefore, God, who is merciful, has decided to send Jesus Christ, the true righteous man, to this earth to be crucified to punish them and save those who repent in Jesus name. Therefore, whoever honestly repents of his sins will be saved. Even though we cannot stand upright by our own righteousness, we receive forgiveness of sins through the righteousness of Christ.
But those who do not repent will be punished. “God is a righteous judge, a God who is wrathful every day. If a man does not repent, he sharpens his sword, he draws his bow and prepares it. He also prepares a machine to kill, whose flesh is a spear of fire. The wicked bring forth iniquity, and conceives rubble, and gives birth to deceit. He digs a cistern, and falls into the trap I have made. The wreckage will return to his head, and his violence will come down on his head."
Everyone! We pray that all of you will be me and all of you who always look back on yourself, repent and turn back, and cultivate yourself to resemble the character of Christ in order to stand in the ranks of the righteous.