Sermon: Psalm 43

John Bunyan’s famous allegory, Pilgrim Progress, begins with a man who reads

the scriptures and becomes convicted of his sin and his need to repent and be

forgiven so that he can have peace with God and escape the judgment that is

coming upon him and everyone that lives in his city, the city of destruction. He

lives among a people that are alienated from God and when he comes to terms

with this he flees from there to find peace at the cross of Christ.

When he encounters the cross, the heavy burden of sin on his back is released

and rolls away from him. This is how Bunyan describes it “He ran thus till he

came to a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a

little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as

Christian came up to the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell

from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to

the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.

Then Christian was glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, “He hath

given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death.” Then he stood still a while, to

look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross

should thus ease him of his burden.”

And that’s how Pilgrim’s Progress end. Christian is at peace with God, the

burden of sin is lifted from his back and he stands in wonder and gladness…

If you’ve read the story then you know that that isn’t in fact how it ends. In my

copy of the book, that event takes place on just page 36 of a 190 page story.

After encountering the cross, Christian still has over 80% of his journey to go

before he experiences the fullness of joy and final rest in the celestial city.

And much of that journey is through dangerous enemy territories, fighting evil

opponents, wrestling against doubt and fear, straying from the narrow way at

times and many other challenging encounters.That’s the reality of the Christian life.

If you’ve been walking with Christ for any length of time, then you know this personally.

Life after coming to Christ is full of blessing and deep joy, but in many ways it becomes a more difficult life than before we came to know Jesus. We face outward pressures and circumstances as well as inward weaknesses and blindness that would seek to deter us from

continuing to follow the Lord, and yet the scriptures call us to remain steadfast and immovable in the midst of them all.

The Psalm we are looking at today, Psalm 43, is instructive for us as we seek to navigate those outward battles and inward weaknesses as disciples of Christ.

We will see in this Psalm a man in need of God’s intervention as he faces the

oppressive actions of unbelievers, a man in need of God’s leadership to lead him

once again into God’s presence that he might be reminded of the greatness of

the one He serves, and a man in need of reminding himself of the great hope

that he has in God.

Psalm 43 begins with a cry to the Lord for intervention. The Psalmist asks God to

“vindicate” him and “defend his cause”. The word “vindicate” is such an

important theological term. It literally means “show me to be in the right”, and

we often use it when referring to our relationship with God. For God to vindicate

us in that sense, means for him to show us to be free from guilt or wrongdoing.

This is what happens when we come to know God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Our record of wrongdoing is erased and replaced with the perfect record of

Jesus Christ, and therefore in the eyes of God we are innocent, we are

vindicated. That is true for every person here that is a disciple of Christ- before

God you are vindicated.But here, the Psalmist is using the term in a horizontal way.

There’s no indication about what specific circumstances he's facing, but what we do know is that, as he says in verse 2, he is being oppressed by his enemies. And he describes

these enemies in verse 1 as “ungodly”, “deceitful” and “unjust”. What’s important about these three descriptors is that they all have God as their point of reference. Do you see that?

These people are ungodly, meaning they do not embody the character of God,

they are deceitful, meaning they do not speak the truth of God, and they are

unjust, meaning they do not carry out the justice of God. And the fact that the

writer is pleading with God for vindication means that he is seeking to live in a

godly, honest and just way and is asking God demonstrate that the way he has

chosen is indeed the right way. He has committed to honour God with his life

and do what is pleasing in His sight, he has, as he says in verse 2 taken “refuge

in God”, but at the moment it seems like those who are at odds with God have

the upper hand over him.

Have you ever felt like that? You have committed to following Christ and doing

the right thing in His sight, and yet there are those around you who couldn’t care

less about God and his ways and they seem to be prospering beyond you. Or to

make it more personal, have there ever been those in your life who oppose you

directly with ungodly, deceitful and unjust tactics that seem to have the upper

hand in the circumstance? Maybe a scheming co-worker? Or a vindictive ex-

husband or wife? A mean sibling or friend? A contentious neighbour?

All of us are promised by Jesus himself that “in this world you will face trouble”,

because just like Christian from Pilgrims Progress, even though we ourselves

have fled from the city of destruction and found refuge in the cross of Christ, we

still live in a world full of those that oppose God and therefore will oppose us aswe seek to live for God. But what we learn from the Psalmist here in verse 1 is

that in such situations, our first response should to be to lash out against our

oppressor and seek retaliation. Oh wait, no, that’s not what we learn. Instead, we

see the Psalmist turn his attention heavenward and make his appeal to God to

be vindicated and defended.

He has, after all, chosen the path in life that he’s on for the glory of God. He has

sought refuge in God to show that God is a shelter for his people. He has

sought to live godly and upright in order to show that God’s way is best. And so,

it is with the confidence that the very reputation of God is at stake in the lives of

His people, that the Psalmist appeals to God to be vindicated and defended,

since it is ultimately the honour of God’s name that is being defended when

God defends His people.

And that is the confidence that we must have when we encounter evil people

who would seek to do us harm- that God has so invested in us that we bear his

name and his reputation is at stake in us. He will vindicate us and defend our

cause because He is eager to vindicate and defend His own cause that is at work

in our lives. That is the connection that anchors the heart of this Psalmist. Look at

the word “for” at the beginning of verse 2. “Vindicate me, O God, and defend

my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver

me! For (because) you are the God in whom I take refuge.”

The reason that the writer can confidently appeal to God for His intervention is

because He has lived in such a way to demonstrate that the God of the Bible is a

safe refuge for His people. He has banked everything on the conviction that the

word and promises of God are true and so He appeals to God to fulfill his word

and uphold his reputation as the trustworthy one whom people can confidently

obey.

That is why the Pilgrims Progress story doesn’t end on page 36, because once

you encounter God at the cross and are forgiven of your sin and given life in

Christ, you then become a testimony, or a “living epistle” as the Apostle Paul

calls it, and your very life of faith and obedience testify to the world around you

that the God of scripture is truly alive and worthy to be served.

And his worthiness is made most clear through our lives when we experience

trials, tribulations and persecutions. It is in those moments that it becomes clear

to the watching world and clearer even to us, that it is GOD who is our

exceeding treasure, and not the temporal blessings that may come to us in this

life as we walk with him. When we are living for God and all outward

appearances seem to indicate that the favour of God is not upon us…when even

inwardly we may feel a sense of rejection from God due to our current

circumstances like the Psalmist does in verse 2, it is THEN that it is shown more

clearly than ever that our deepest need and the greatest treasure is God

Himself.

And that is what The Psalmist needed to be reminded of. He has made his

appeal to God for intervention and now we see him in verse 3 and 4 make his

request to God to lead him into His presence.

Here in these verses, we see the heart and desire of the Psalmist more fully

displayed. Though he has appealed to God to intervene and defend him, here

he shows that more than a change in his circumstances and more even than

relief from his oppressors, his desire is to draw near to God. Those are mere

means, but this is the end goal he’s after. He desires to be in God’s dwelling

place. God is his exceeding joy and his ultimate object of desire, not peace orfreedom from trials, but just to be in the presence of His God. And so he asks

the Lord to lead him into His presence.

In the Old Testament, the worship of God was very geographically oriented, and

the people of God would gather to the temple in Jerusalem, where the altar

was, and express their praise and adoration to God. This is the reason for the

location specific language in verse 3 and 4. “your holy hill”, “your dwelling”

“the altar of God”. It seems that whatever oppression the Psalmist is

experiencing, it has forced him away from Jerusalem and made him unable to

go to the temple.

His longing was to return to Jerusalem, not in order to resume the comforts and

routines of his life, but so that He can gather in the congregation of worshippers

and praise his God. He could not, in his own wisdom, overcome the hinderances

and circumstances that are keeping Him from there and so he asks God to send

out His light and truth to lead him there.

God’s light and His truth, often throughout scripture representing His Spirit and

His Word. The Psalmist knows he is in need of both, he needs God’s truth as his

road map giving him instruction and God’s Spirit as His guide giving him

wisdom. In his case it was a very physical journey to a specific geographic

location that He desired to reach. But this physical temple in Jerusalem was just

a foreshadow of the true temple of God, the true dwelling place of God where

God would meet with man. Jesus, in John 1 made a statement that was

somewhat cryptic at the time but when understood reveals a glorious reality for

us who are Christians. When asked for a sign to substantiate his claims of

authority and sonship, he said “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise

it up.”

Those listening thought he was referring to the physical temple in Jerusalem so

Johns gospel continues “the jews then said “it has taken forty-six years to build

this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about

the temple of his body.” Jesus, the incarnate God came to bring the

unmediated presence of God to the world, and once and for all do away with

the sacrificial systems needed to cleanse those who would draw near to God by

sacrificing himself as the perfect offering to cover our sin, to vindicate us in the

sight of God.

By his death and resurrection three days later, he closed the chasm that

separated man from God and thereby became the meeting place where sinful

man could draw near to a holy God and dwell in His presence. This is why Jesus,

in John 4 said “the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in

Jerusalem will you worship the Father…But the hour is coming and is now here,

when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the

Father is seeking such people to worship Him.”

God, through the preaching of the good news of Jesus’ victory over sin and

death, sends out his light and his truth to lead people to Himself. He is not

calling them to a physical temple, but to a spiritual union with Christ through

repentance and faith. This union brings us into the very presence of God, and

opens our spiritual eyes to behold His glory and know Him as our exceeding joy.

But even this union we have with God in this life, is itself, like the temple of the

Old Testament, still a foreshadow of the full and experience of God’s presence

that we will one day know in His immediate presence in the new heavens and

new earth.

And as we make our pilgrimage to that great day, we will, like the Psalmist and

like Christian in Bunyans book, encounter many trial and difficulties, and come

face to face with many who would oppress us or persuade to turn from thenarrow way, but in this we can be confident, that if God was willing to send His

light and His truth in the form of dear His Son Jesus Christ to call us to Himself

and make us His very own, then He will not withhold from us anything we need

to continue pressing forward through our greatest challenges and deepest

valleys. That is the glorious hope that we see unfolded in Romans chapter 8:

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not

also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against

God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one

who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God,

who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger,

or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him

who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor

things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor

anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in

Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Apostle Paul is SURE of these things. That is the essence of faith. “Faith is

the assurance of things hoped for” it says in Hebrews 11. And so, anchored in

the love of God demonstrated throughout history and most clearly in Christ, we

have hope that God will see us through every dessert, every mountain range,

every rushing river, and every dangerous wilderness along the way.

And now, returning to Psalm 43:5 we find a transformed man. The one who’s

soul just 3 verses earlier was mourning and feeling rejected by God, has now

been lead by the light and truth of God and given new confidence that God will

indeed give him victory. And so instead of listening to his heart, he speaks to it.

“Why are you cast down, o my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope

in God! For I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

The Spirit and the word of God have re-oriented and re-stablished this mans

confidence. He see’s his cast down, turmoiled state as incongruent with God’s

truth. And so he calls his soul to lift its gaze, to look ahead to the deliverance of

God that is surely coming. Notice the future tense in this verse. “Hope in God;

for I shall again praise Him”. He is, as far as we can tell, still in the same

circumstances that he was in verse 1 and 2, this is why he calls himself to

“hope”. “hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if

we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” the Bible says in

Romans 8. And so it is not a change in circumstance that has brought out this

change in tune and this heart of praise, but rather it is a rehearsal of God’s truth

and an encounter with God’s Spirit.

And that is what we need, brothers and sister, everyday. As the winds of the

world blow in our face, as the challenges of life seek to discourage us, as the

opposition of the ungodly would derail us and as the weakness and sinfulness of

our own hearts would betray us, we need to be anchored every day in the truth

of God’s word and the power of God’s spirit to remain a hopeful people,

confident in the loving God who causes all things to work for our good and all

circumstances to lead us to His eternal dwelling place. We need as Paul prays in

Ephesians 1 to “know what is the hope to which God has called us, what are the

riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable

greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

I’ll finish by reading how John Bunyans allegory actually ends. This is an excerpt

from the last scene when Christian finally reaches the celestial city and is being

told what he is about experience:

You are going now, said they, to the paradise of God, wherein you shall see the

tree of life, and eat of the never-fading fruits thereof: and when you come there

you shall have white robes given you, and your walk and talk shall be every day

with the King, even all the days of eternity. There you shall not see again such

things as you saw when you were in the lower region upon earth; sorrow,

sickness, affliction, and death; “For the former things are passed away.” …The

men then asked, What must we do in the holy place? To whom it was answered,

You must there receive the comfort of all your toil, and have joy for all your

sorrow; you must reap what you have sown, even the fruit of all your prayers,

and tears, and sufferings for the King. In that place you must wear crowns of

gold, and enjoy the perpetual sight and vision of the Holy One; for “there you

shall see him as he is.” There also you shall serve him continually with praise,

with shouting and thanksgiving, whom you desired to serve in the world, though

with much difficulty, because of the infirmity of your flesh. There your eyes shall

be delighted with seeing, and your ears with hearing the pleasant voice of the

Mighty One…There also you shall be clothed with glory and majesty, and put

into equipment fit to ride out with the King of Glory. When he shall come with

sound of trumpet in the clouds, as upon the wings of the wind, you shall come

with him; and when he shall sit upon the throne of judgment, you shall sit by

him; yea, and when he shall pass sentence upon all the workers of iniquity, let

them be angels or men, you also shall have a voice in that judgment, because

they were his and your enemies. Also, when he shall again return to the city, you

shall go too with sound of trumpet, and be ever with him.

That is what awaits us. Let us hope in God until our hope becomes our

experience, until our faith becomes sight and we are ever with Him.

Let’s pray.