6. Bible Faith: ‘the song of the drunkards’! Psalm 69:10-12

Text: “They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.  But as for me, my prayer is unto Thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of Thy mercy hear me, in the truth of Thy Salvation.”

Psalm 69:12-13

Good morning, constantly ridiculed Christian!  When the unsaved world all around us see us seeking to exercise Christian faith, they are immediately confused: they are confused because they see no sense is our seeking to deny ourselves, our carnal desires, our selfish wants, and greed, and personal preferment.

The unsaved very quickly conclude that we are seeking to follow after God the Spirit, as opposed to following after, catering at all times for, the spirit of the flesh.  Our vocation in Christ is promptly opposed by them, and open ridicule is quickly pressed upon us.

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things off the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit (God the Spirit!) the things of the Spirit.  For (a conclusion) to be carnally minded is death; but to be Spiritually minded is life and peace (with God).  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”  (Romans 8:5-7)

Dictionary Definition: Ridicule – (noun) absurdity; derision; mockery. (verb transitive) to laugh at; to make fun of; to deride; to mock. Etc.(The Chambers Dictionary, page 1419)

Ridicule is heaped upon the Christian who, when being invited by unsaved acquaintances out for a sumptuous meal, defers to attend, ‘Because I am currently fasting to seek to draw closer to my Saviour, Jesus Christ.’  The unsaved do not understand such self-denial, and are very quick to contact unsaved friends to heap ridicule upon that Christian for refusing to waver from his/her dedication to Christ.

Verse 10.  “When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. Our Saviour wept much in secret for our sins, and no doubt His private soul-chastenings on our behalf were very frequent.  Lone mountains and desert places saw repeated agonies, which, if they could disclose them, would astonish us indeed.  The emaciation which these exercises wrought in our Lord made Him appear nearly fifty years old when He was but little over thirty; this which was to His honour was used as a matter of reproach against Him.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 301)

In a similar manner, the Christian - if he/she is genuinely a Bible-believing, born again, Christian – is promised such open oppositions and ridicule for his/her zeal in trying to live life as His Lord Jesus desires him/her to live. 

“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”  (2 Timothy 4:12-13)

This is happening day and daily in this increasingly apostate and sin-sick 21^st Century!  One look all around us will prove the point I am here making.

All things ‘Christian’ and ‘good’, and which have been internationally recognised as ‘NORMAL’, are being ditched, dumped, and ridiculed by an increasingly antichristian world of unbelievers, just as the Scriptures predicted would happen, before that great and terrible day of the Lord Jesus’ return.  We are actually living in the days of the ‘great falling away’ of all things Christian! Praise God!  The Lord Jesus returns real soon!

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)

“Behold here, virtue is accounted vice; truth, blasphemy; wisdom, folly.  Behold, the peace-maker of the world is judged a seditious person; the fulfiller of the law, a breaker of the law; our Saviour, a sinner; our God, a Devil.”  (Sir John Hayward, 1560-1627, in ‘The Sanctuary of a Troubled Soul’)

A brief look at the television channels today will quickly support what I have written in this Bible Lesson thus far: in all my 76 years of life, I have never witnessed such absolute filth, foul language, using the very Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, as a swear word; and ridiculing everything pertaining to Christian holiness, goodness, and sober-living. 

The television screens today are spewing out what is in the blackest hearts of writers who expose themselves as the most perverted soldiers of Satan we have ever encountered – and anything even nominally deemed ‘Christian’, or wholesome, is treated with open scorn and the ever-present ridicule. 

Christians, Christianity, and the Christ Himself, are become ‘the song of the drunkards’.  It frightens me to know the depth of Eternal punishments that awaits the increasing choir of detracting souls singing against the Almighty Lord God Jehovah.  Hell will be hot indeed to receive those that dare shake a puny human fist at the Living Lord God.  They will wail a very different tune when that terrible day comes soon.

“And he (an angel) saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.  He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.  And, behold (look, and fully understand), I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.”   (Revelation 22:10-12)

When the Lord Jesus Christ returns, it will be a sorry day for those who made ‘His people’ their song of ridicule and mockery.  We have God’s own Word on this vital matter.

“The Lord at Thy right hand (King Jesus Christ) shall strike through kings in the day of His wrath.  He shall judge among the heathen, He shall fill the places with the dead bodies; He shall wound the heads over many countries.”  (Psalm 110:5-6)

Verse 12. “And I was the song of the drunkards. The ungodly know no merrier jest that that in which the Name of the Holy is traduced.  The flavour of slander is piquant and gives a relish to the reveller’s wine.  The saints are ever choice subjects for satire…What amazing sin that He Whom seraphs worship with veiled faces should be a scornful proverb among the most abandoned of men!  ‘The by-word of the passing throng, the ruler’s scoff, the drunkard’s song.’”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 301)

Thought: Pray for those deluded worldlings caught up in singing/writing such blasphemies against Christ and His church – that, even at this late stage, they might flee from His most terrible wrath soon to come. (Revelation 22:20)

5. The Pleas of the Persecuted Psalm 69:8-9

Text: “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.  For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon me.”

Psalm 69:8-9.

Good morning, constantly pleading Christian!  Not a day goes by when you and I are not found pleading before God’s throne: for the needs, ills, and Salvation of others; for Christ’s Kingdom to continue to be established upon the earth; for personal strength, leading, and direction with which to serve the risen Christ Jesus, and to bring glory to His Name and not shame.  If we are genuine Bible-believing Christians at all – we are ‘constantly pleading Christians’!  Fact.

“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: that I may make it manifest (plain, easy to understand), as I ought to speak.”  (Colossians 4:2-4)

“Rejoice evermore.  Pray without ceasing.  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  Quench not the Spirit.  Despise not prophesying's (preaching God’s Word).  Prove (test) all things; hold fast that which is good.  Abstain from all appearance of evil.  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:16-23)

If the Christ of God has suffered such open and blatant personal persecutions, then we, ‘His people’, are bound to suffer similar, if not nearly so severe, sufferings and persecutions.  We are delivered from the penalties of gross sin which we deserved, in order to be Christians; LIKE CHRIST, in this vile world.  We are to be witnesses for Him in all we say and do daily.  Therefore, we are necessarily ‘constantly pleading Christians’ – for, to have any good standard of Christlikeness, our needs are indeed great.

“But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.”  (Philippians 4:19)

Constantly pleading Christians have constantly required needs, because we are constantly seeking to actually serve the risen Lord Jesus.  Our Father omnisciently knows what we need, even before we make our pleas to Him – but, like any other human father, loves to hear His children make requests to Him, that He might truly fulfil the Divine role of a generous and loving Father in Heaven.  Ask!

“Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication (pleading with God) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 4:6-7)

“Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring, for His grace and power are such none can ever ask too much.”  (John Newton 1725-1807)

The persecuted church is always right there in the forefront of Almighty Lord God Jehovah – and He is ever listening for our requests for His Divine aid and strength.

“Call upon Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3)

Verse 8.  “I am become a stranger unto My brethren. The Jews, His brethren in race, rejected Him; His family, His brethren by blood, were offended at Him; His disciples, His brethren in spirit, forsook Him and fled; one of them sold Him and another denied Him with oaths and cursings.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 300)

The man/woman who becomes a genuine born-again Christian today, faces, has faced, and shall face – all the alienation circumstances Christ endured from within our own unsaved families.  Light and darkness just will not mix; oil and water will separate and refuse to be at one.  The World and Christianity are unyielding opposites that can never bind together.  Fact.

“Think not that I (Jesus Christ) am come to send peace on earth: I come not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”  (Matthew 10:34-36)  

Emotional heartache often occurs when once the Spirit of God quickens, makes Spiritually alive, a member of an otherwise unsaved, but close-knit, mutually loving, family circle!  It is at times like these that the Christian becomes a ‘constantly pleading Christian’, for his/her personal need is indeed great.

Verse 8. “…And an alien unto my mother’s children.  May none of us ever act as if we were strangers to Him (the Lord Jesus); never may we treat Him as if He were an alien to us: rather let us resolve to be crucified with him, and may grace turn the resolve into fact.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 300)

When the Spirit of God, God the Holy Spirit, quickens us, enlightens us by His written Word; fills us with Himself; and grants us a Holy zeal for Christ and the spreading of His Gospel of Eternal Salvation – we SHALL suffer persecution! Biblical Fact!

“Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me (Paul) at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”  (2 Timothy 3:11-12)

Verse 9.  “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.  Zeal for God is so little understood by men of the world that it always draws down opposition upon those who are inspired with it; they are always sure to be accused of sinister motives, or of hypocrisy, or of being out of their senses.  When zeal eats us up, ungodly men seek to eat us up, too, and this was preeminently the case with our Lord, because His holy jealousy was preeminent.”  (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 300)

“Zeal, reproaches. I remember Moulin, speaking of the French Protestants, saith, ‘When Papists hurt us for reading the Scriptures, we burn with zeal to be reading of them; but now persecution is over, our Bibles are like old almanacs.’  In times of greatest affliction and persecution for holiness sake, a Christian hath first a good Captain to lead and encourage him; secondly, a righteous cause to prompt and embolden him; thirdly, a gracious God to relieve and succour him; fourthly, a glorious Heaven to receive and reward him; and, certainly, these things cannot but mightily raise him and inflame him under the greatest oppositions and persecution.”  (Thomas Brooks1608-1680)

Thought: Pleading with God for help, is ALWAYS answered in power by Him. Pray on constantly, Christian!

4. The Privilege of Persecutions Psalm 69:6-7

Text: “Let not them that wait on Thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for My sake: let not those that seek Thee be confounded for My sake, O God of Israel.  Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered My face.”

Psalm 69:6-7.

Good morning, persecuted Christian!  You and I are well aware of what persecutions – small and great – we suffer, merely for being born again, Bible-believing, Christian followers of Christ Jesus, our Saviour and our Lord. 

No one needs to tell us that we are no longer off this world, for the world around us will not, nor cannot, receive us any longer as one of their own. 

Christ in us shines through us all of the time – and because this is Spiritually so, the sins of the unsaved whom we come in contact with, are exposed to their own hearts, and we become a righteous burden to their entire way of worldly life.  They hate us, because they hate Christ’s Holiness dwelling in us, ‘His people’.  Biblical fact!

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

“Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” (Matthew 5:14)

“And ye shall be hated of all men/women for My Name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)

Verse 6.  “Let not them that wait on Thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake.  Unbelievers are ready enough to catch at anything which may turn humble faith into ridicule; there, O God of all the armies of Israel, let not my case cause the enemy to blaspheme – such is the spirit of this verse.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 300)

I remember well one day, a guy who accused me, ‘You are always preaching at me, McClinton!’.  I was sat beside this guy on a plastic prison chair, so I turned to him, looked him straight in the eye, and asked him, ‘When have I EVER preached to you?’  He sat befuddled for a moment, trying to recall some instance of my preaching the Gospel to him, but after a moment he just could not recall any occasion in which I had ever actually preached to him.

He looked quite sheepishly at me and tried to justify his comment by explaining: ‘It’s just the case that, when you are sitting close to me, I find I cannot say some things I usually say, do some things I usually do comfortably – using foul language; smoking my cigarette; swearing by using the Name of Jesus Christ as an exclamation – I feel that you are preaching at me in some way!’

The Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Holiness, residing in the hearts of ‘His people’, can often be tangibly felt by the unsaved worldlings all around us, without a word being spoken.  In this manner we prove that genuine, Spiritually regenerate Christians, really ARE purifying ‘salt’ and ‘light’, in a world of increased apostasy, Spiritual darkness, and sinful corruption.

If Christ’s light, consistently shining through the eyes of ‘His people’, is the cause of petty, or severe persecutions – happy is the Christian who suffers.  Such persecutions become positive privileges that encourage us to persevere in the “…faith once delivered unto the saints…”  (Jude 3)

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”  (Matthew 5:10)

On another occasion in the prison setting, after I swatted a fly that was pestering me; an unsaved inmate immediately rebuked me with, ‘Huh! You’re some Christian!  Killing a harmless fly!’

I turned to this detractor, and quietly told him, ‘If you would come down to my cell for a moment and sit with me, I would admit to you some very real faults of my old nature that I battle with day by day as a sincere Bible-believing Christian.  But if killing a fly is all that you can find of a negative nature in which to accuse me – I am one happy Christian man.’  He declined the offer.

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”  (Matthew 5:11-12)

Verse 7.  “Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach. Because He undertook to do the Father’s will, and teach His truth, the people were angry; because He declared Himself to be the Son of God, the priesthood raved.  They could find no real fault in Him but were forced to hatch up a lying accusation before they could commence their sham trial of Him.  The bottom of the quarrel was that God was with Him, and He with God, while the Scribes and Pharisees sought only their own honour.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 300)

Living as a committed, Spiritually regenerate, Bible-believing Christian, in a world of increased ungodliness and censure is hard enough.  Being falsely accused, or being accused of very real failures, brings feelings of deep shame to any genuine Christian.  Shame is so hard to bear.  Praise God for His all-sufficient grace, which covers every fault of the true Christian believer.

“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.  And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”  (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Verse 7. “…Shame hath covered my face. There is nothing that a noble nature more abhors than shame, for honour is a spark of God’s image; and the more of God’s image there is in anyone, the more is shame abhorred by him.  What must it be then to Christ, Who because He was to satisfy God in point of honour debased by man’s sin, therefore of all punishments besides, He suffered most of shame; it being also (as was said) one of the greatest punishments in Hell.”  (Thomas Goodwin 1600-1679)

Thought: When persecuted, ridiculed, treated badly, for manifesting personal Christian character – rejoice at the utter privilege.  For persecutions are proof positive of true saving faith in Christ Jesus!  Glory to the risen Lamb!

3. Our Sin: The Cause of Christ’s Crucifixion! Psalm 69:5

Text: “O God, Thou knowest (knows, and continues to know) my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from Thee.”

Psalm 69:5.

Good morning, sin-repentant Christian!  By the Sovereign grace of a truly loving and gracious Lord God Almighty, you and I have, first, been Spiritually enlightened reference mankind’s vile sin and disobedience to our Creator Lord God; and God’s infinite detestation of all sin. 

“And the Lord God commanded the man (Adam), saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Spiritual death).”     (Genesis 2:16-17)

Secondly: You and I have been clearly convinced by God the Spirit of our personal sin, and Christ’s perfect and Holy righteousness in contrast.

“And when He (God the Spirit) is come, He will reprove the world of sin (our sin), and of righteousness (Christ’s righteousness), and of judgement (Eternal judgement)” (John 16:8)

We have been Spiritually quickened by the Lord God to be absolutely certain of the fearful judgement that is, in the Lord’s decreed timing, to come upon all who are unredeemed, all who have been ‘passed over’ in God the Father’s election of souls; all who want nothing to do with Christ or Christianity, and indeed, who cannot even ‘receive the things of God, for they are Spiritually discerned'.

“But the natural man (the unregenerate) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him/her: neither can he/she know them, because they are Spiritually discerned.”  (1 Corinthians 2:14)

God decides whom He will Spiritually quicken (make alive, Spiritually), and whom He will ‘pass over’, or refuse to Spiritually quicken.  The Lord God is God, and an Almighty Lord God does exactly what He desires to do, otherwise He would not be a Supreme Being Lord God.

“Therefore, hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth (makes stubborn, hardens their hearts, passes over for Salvation).”        (Romans 9:18)

Salvation from our sins through Christ’s full Atonement on Calvary’s Cross, is only made available to those whom God the Father has predestined to ‘elect’ in Eternity to give to His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Who saves us in time, and keeps us for Eternity.  “Salvation is of the Lord!”  (Jonah 2:9)

“And YOU (His elected souls) hath He quickened (made Spiritually aware and alive), who were DEAD in trespasses and sins…Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  (Ephesians 2:1-5)

Without a doubt, it is God’s grace alone, on the full merits of His only dear Son, Jesus Christ alone, that causes God to quicken us, make even aware that we are lost, and that we are sinners against His Holiness. 

If He does not quicken us, grant us His gifts of repentance from sin, and FAITH, His Divine gift, to believe the Gospel of Christ, and Him Crucified for sinners – who would ever even realise that we needed to be saved at all?

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that (faith) not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works (good deeds), lest any man/woman should boast.  For (a conclusion) we are His workmanship, CREATED in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”  (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Verse 5. “O God, Thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from Thee.  David might well say this, but not David’s Lord; unless it be understood as an appeal to God as to His freedom from the folly which men imputed to Him when they said He was mad.  That which was foolishness to men was superlative wisdom before God.  How often might we use these words in their natural sense, and if we were not such fools as to be blind to our own folly, this confession would be frequently on our lips.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 299)

Verse 5. “…My sins are not hid from Thee. Yet it seems to be the intention of the Spirit, while He gives us personal TYPES and so shows the likeness to the Firstborn which exists in the heirs of Salvation, to set forth also the disparities between the best of the sons of men and the Son of God, for there are verses here (in Psalm 69) which we dare not apply to our Lord; we almost shudder when we see our brethren attempting to do so, as for instance verse 5.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 298)

Christ Jesus had no sin, and therefore, verse 5 of Psalm 69 cannot be attributed to Him speaking, but only to the Psalmist David, and you and I as natural born sinners.

“For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, YET WITHOUT SIN.  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  (Hebrews 4: 15-16)

With this new look at Calvary, and Christ bearing our sins upon the Cross, refreshed in our minds; the cause of Christ’s Crucifixion becomes more clear to our too often dull Christian minds: IT WAS OUR VILE SIN THAT CAUSED CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION!

“For He (God the Father) hath made Him (God the Son) to be sin for us (His chosen people), Who knew no sin (Jesus Christ); that we (Hell-deserving sinners) might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”      (2 Corinthians 5:21)

“Therefore (a conclusion to the sin question) IF any man/woman be in Christ (born again), he/she is a new creature: old things are passed (or gradually passing) away; behold (look, and fully understand), all things are become new (or are gradually becoming new). And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation (the Gospel); to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the Word of reconciliation.”           (2 Corinthians 5:17) Hallelujah! Glory…

Thought: We are sin-repentant Christians whenever we fully and completely turn from our sins to fully follow the Lord Jesus Christ – and from that time forth, determine to detest our sins, and turn from them continually ever after.  We still sin. But we confess that sin and turn from it, as the Holy Spirit of God empowers us to do so.  Our sin was the cause of Christ’s cruel Crucifixion.  Glory to His Name!