3. Traps, Tears & Pits! Psalm 57:6

Text: “They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves.

Psalm 57:6.

Good morning, militant Christian!  For you, and for me, it is not enough that we have been graciously saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, and completely redeemed by the shedding of His own precious Blood – you and I have been saved to militantly SERVE the risen Lord. 

It is, therefore, not enough for us to just sit idly by until death takes us Home to be with Him; we believe we have been saved in order to serve Christ in the preaching/teaching of His glorious Gospel message of Eternal Salvation; to be militant instruments in awaking the elect from sin’s grasp, that they too might seek to serve the Lord Who has saved us.

Dictionary Definition:  Militant – (adjective) fighting, engaged in warfare; actively contending; combative; ...strenuously active in support of a particular cause.  (The Chambers Dictionary, page 1019)

Militant Christians are thus clearly seen to be engaged in warfare – in our case, Spiritual warfare against sin and all evil.  We are actively contending – ‘... earnestly contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints...’  (Jude 3) Militant Christians like thee and me, are combative in the sense of willing to wrestle against all instances of false doctrine, and religious error.  We must be strenuously active in supporting the cause of King Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified for the sins of ‘His people’. 

These are the traits of Christian faith I hereby define as militant, Bible-believing, born again, Christianity – and I openly contend in this lesson that this brand of true Christianity is the only genuine way to live, suffer, and often die in the service of the Living Lord Jesus Christ.  There can be NO SECRET, SILENT, CHRISTIANS!

“Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No man (woman) that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he/she may please Him Who hath chosen him/her to be a soldier.”       (2 Timothy 2:3-4)

The apostle Paul, just prior to his martyrdom under the Roman Caesars, declared his victory as a militant Christian: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.”  (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Now let me point out what should be most obvious to each genuine Christian today – in this increasingly apostate and ‘lukewarm’ Laodicean’ church age: IF “...faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God...’, how then are God’s elect souls going to ever be quickened with faith to believe and receive Christ’s Salvation, if you and I are silent reference our witness for Christ?  Again, I say, there are NO SECRET, PRIVATE, SILENT, CHRISTIANS!

All that glitters is not gold – often it’s just plain YELLOW!

“I’m not ashamed to own my Lord, nor to defend His cause; maintain the honour of His Word, the glory of His Cross!”  (Hymn often sung with the mouth, yet unpractised by the heart of professing Christians.)

Verse 6.  “They have prepared a net for my steps. The militant Christian is, at all times, under the microscope of the world, the flesh, and the Devil.  ‘Cardboard Christians’ have nothing to fear from such ruthless foes, the Devil and the world leave them alone in their Spiritual cowardice, since they are doing Satan’s kingdom no harm at all.  It is the militant Christian who is the focus of Hell and Hell’s children in the world – many traps/nets/snares are set for the feet of those in active service to King Jesus Christ.

“...For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.  We are fools for Christ’s sake...we are weak...we are despised.  Even unto this present hour we doth hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we intreat (pray): we are made the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.”  (1 Corinthians 4:9-13)

I wonder: How many of the ‘right, right, right reverends’ in professing Christianity today are treated, or live, like the apostle Paul did in the early days of Christ’s church?

Verse 6.  “My soul is bowed down.  Militant Christian souls are frequently ‘bowed down’ – bowed down in affliction, grief, frustration, as the enemies of Christ and the Gospel seek to, untiringly, hinder our labours for the Lord Jesus Christ.  Yet, we are also more frequently ‘bowed down’ in militant prayer to the Almighty Lord God, for His help against all foes.  Hallelujah!  We are more than conquerors through Him who hears our prayers and helps us.

Verse 6. “They have digged a pit before me.  I do not believe that unsaved mankind would have the cunning, nor the relentlessness required to continually seek to hinder and thwart Christians in our service to the Lord God. No. I sincerely believe that such hinderers, constant opponents of holiness and Bible standards; are mere putty in the malignant hands of Satan and his vile kingdom of evil angels.  Many are the ‘pits’ digged to trap genuine Christ-serving Christians, but the Lord guides our feet in His paths of safety and peace.

“For a just man (justified man/woman) falleth (falls, and continues to fall) seven times (the perfect number of falls), and riseth (rises, and continues to rise up) again: BUT THE WICKED SHALL FALL INTO MISCHIEF.”  (Proverbs 24:16)

Verse 6.  “...Into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves.  The Devil and his wicked servants in this world, make traps which cause true Christians tears, as we often fall into the Satanic pits dug for our harm.  Yet, by God’s Sovereign grace and power, we always rise back up out of danger, and continue on ‘...contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints.  Furthermore, those hindering, and persecuting true Bible-believing Christians ALWAYS seem to end up in the pits, and suffering the hindrances and pains with which they sought to harm God’s servants.  God is not mocked.  He always avenges ‘His people’.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”  (Galatians 6:7)

Thought:  We cannot be ‘servants of Christ’, without openly, and actively serving Him!  The Lord God only provides armour for Bible-believing soldiers who contend in His service.

2. Beset by Lions! Psalm 57:4-5

Text: “My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.”

Psalm 57:4.

Good morning, distraught and weary Christian!  Having sought to be faithful to your calling in Christ, you have gone forth robed in His righteousness, and spread the Gospel news of Salvation in Christ Jesus alone, and through His full Atonement Sacrifice at Calvary’s Cross.  You have been buffeted by an unbelieving world, let down often by your own weak and puny flesh; and roared at mercilessly by that old lion, the Devil himself.  Praise God for your faithfulness – when the Master returns, will He find such faithfulness on planet earth?

“And shall God not avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?  I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on earth?”  (Luke 18:7-8)

Having endured such an unholy onslaught, you have sought Heavenly advice as to how you might fight all Spiritual foes in the service of your Captain, Jesus Christ – and found in the pages of your Bible, how to put on the whole armour of God.  You have therefore, armed yourself well with God’s recommended armour.  You have done well, my friend.

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore (a conclusion to the advice!) take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, STAND.”  (Ephesians 6:11-13)

It amazes me personally, when I see so many professing to be true Christians, seeking to put on the whole armour of God – yet failing, miserably, to actually take a STAND!

The Devil has his ‘lions’ out there every day labouring to devour the souls of the ignorant and the beguiled.  False doctrine is one of Satan’s mightiest ‘lions’; social-gospel practitioners are ‘lions’ that seeks to make unbelievers comfortable on their way to a Christ-rejecter’s Hell; churchianty, a most religious, legalist, ‘lion’, dupes souls to believe that regular attendance at a ‘church-building’ will be enough to get the unsaved into Heaven!

Roman Catholicism is NOT Christianity!  You cannot be truly Christian, yet teach ‘another gospel’, a different way to go to Heaven than what God’s Holy Word teaches.

Ecumenism, is NOT obedient Christianity!  Merely the thin end of the religious wedge that accepts fully, or partially, what God’s Word rejects, and leads unlearned souls back in under the darkness of Rome in disobedience to 2^nd Corinthians, chapter 6, which teaches clearly the doctrine of Spiritual Separation. 

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness (having the righteousness of Christ imputed by grace through faith in Christ’s Sacrifice.) with unrighteousness?  And what communion hath light with darkness? … Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord.”  (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) Thus, we take our STAND.

“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto ANOTHER GOSPEL (teaching other ways of Salvation): which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.  But though we, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”  (Galatians 1:6-9)

“Neither is there Salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby ye must be saved.”  (Acts 1:12)

“Jesus saith unto him (Thomas), I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but my Me.”  (John 14:6)

Mass-sacrificing priests; Popes; ‘very very very right reverends’; ritualistic meetings, no matter how ‘religiously’ they are attended; ‘vain repetition’ prayers, novenas, nor walking up mountains on broken glass on one’s knees – cannot save a sinner’s soul.  Only Christ can!

Faith, God-given, in the onetime Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s Cross, is the only means of Eternal Salvation for sinful mankind.  ‘Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!’

Verse 4. “My soul is among lions.  Eleven Popes had that name (Leo), whereof all, excepting for two or three, were roaring lions in their bulls, and ravening lions in seeking after their prey.”  (John Boys 1560-1643)

Verse 4. “And I lie even among them that are set on fire. Like the bush in Horeb, the believer is often in the midst of flames, but never consumed.  It is a mighty triumph of faith when we can lie down even among firebrands and find rest, because God is our defence.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 257)

So often today, in this year of 2022, when so many are turning away from Bible truth and steadfast Bible doctrine, I have sound Christians who love the Lord Jesus, all coming to my home with the same complaint: ‘I can find no Scripturally sound place of local worship!’

 They, like myself, are soul-sick of trying to attend ‘places of worship’, where, due to our knowledge of KJV Bible beliefs, we can no longer sit and listen to what is being preached and taught from pulpits – without going home filled with a critical spirit and a righteous anger at the preached error, or lack of Scriptural depth, of what we have just heard.  

So many genuine, Bible-believing, Spiritually regenerate Christians, find ourselves battling with the ‘lions’ of easy-believism; doctrinal ignorance and error; and an insipid spirit of luke-warm churchianity.  Surely, we are in the ‘end times’, the times of the Laodicean church?

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the Creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot (i.e., one or the other).  So then because thou art luke-warm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue you out of My mouth...be zealous therefore (a conclusion), and repent.”  (Revelation 3:14-22)

“The horrors of the lion’s den, the burning of a fiery furnace, and the cruel onset of war, are the striking images by which David here describes the peril and wretchedness of his present condition.”  (John Morison, 1929) 

Thought:  No matter what ‘lion’ you and I face today, beloved Christian – in Christ, we have the victory over it!  “...In all these things we are more than conquerors though Him that loved us.” (Romans 8.37) Glory to the risen Christ Jesus!

Psalm 57: Like Christ – Like Christian!

                             1. In Calamities!                                       Psalm 57:1-3

Text:  “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in Thee: yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.”

Psalm 57:1.

Good morning, Christian faced with calamities!  At the time of reading this expositional teaching, you may well be faced with grave and sore afflictions, a time of deep dreading; a time of icy fear and gloomy discouragement.  However, look up, beloved friend in Christ, the Lord God is still sat upon His throne and He is in full control of all that concerns you.

 Hear what the Almighty Jehovah Lord God has to say to your born again heart, soul, and mind:  “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.  Behold (look, and fully understand), all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.  Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.  For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” (Isaiah 41:10-13)

Dictionary Definition: Calamity (noun) a great misfortune; a disaster, especially a sudden one; affliction...disastrous; tragic; dreadful...  (The Chambers Dictionary, page 227)

In times of grave and fearful calamities, you and I as Bible-believing, Spiritually regenerate Christians, must seek to exercise the faith that the Lord God has seen fit to grant us as His free gift of Sovereign grace.  This is what the Psalmist, David, is teaching us in Psalm 57 – in times of fearful calamities, cry out to the Living Lord God for His ever-given help!

Verse 1.  “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me.  It is in cases such as this, while studying God’s inspired Word, that I seek to apply what has been called ‘the law of the double mention’ i.e. if God the Spirit, the inspiration of all written Bible Scripture, sees fit to mention something twice in close proximty, then we hearers must seek to pay the passage double attention.  The Psalmist repeats his cry for God’s mercy in order to reveal unto you and I the vital importance of instant prayer in times of danger and affliction.  ‘Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me!’

Verse 1.  “Be merciful unto me, O God.  This excellent Psalm was composed by David when there was enough to discompose the best man in the world.”  (John Flavel, 1627-1691)

Verse 1.  “For my soul trusteth in Thee.  Words ending in ‘eth’ in our King James Version Bible, denotes the word as a continuous verb.  The Psalmist is declaring the fact that his soul is not only trusting in the Lord God because of his present calamity, he is declaring his continuous trust in the Living Lord God; he not only trusts in God, but continually trusts Him.

“He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good; and whoso trusteth (trusts, and continually trusts!) in the Lord, happy is he.”  (Proverbs 16:20)

Verse 1. “In the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge.  Not in the cave alone would he hide, but in the cleft of the Rock of Ages.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 256)

“He/she that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God, in Him will I trust.  Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.  He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth (Christ Jesus?) shall be thy shield and buckler.”  (Psalm 91:1-4)

When you and I as Bible-believing Christians - in this 21^st Century of blatant apostasy and gross disobedience to God – are faced with vile and powerful oppositions, slandering, ridicule, and sorrows – we must immediately flee to the Rock of our refuge – Jesus, the risen Lord.  He will never leave us, nor forsake us.  Nothing can change His love for us.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”  (Psalm 46:1-2)

Verse 2.  “I will cry.  Taken out of context, this phrase of God’s Word reads to me as a promise to those who would live godly, in Christ Jesus.  We are promised times of suffering and persecution, it comes with the territory for any saved soul who would dare to actually serve the risen Lord.  We will cry, but we shall always have a Divinely compassionate, and loving; and comforting Father; a blessed and loving Saviour; and a Supernatural Comforter indeed to bind up our sorrows and heal our every Spiritual wound.  Praise His Name!

“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 3:12-13)

Verse 2.  “I will cry unto God.  He is quite safe but yet he prays, for faith is never dumb.  We pray because we believe.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 256)

How often would you and I, as genuine Christians, cry out unto the Lord, in the words of another Psalm, “Oh that I had wings like a dove!  For then would I fly away, and be at rest.” (Psalm 55:6) Our troubles, heartaches, afflictions all seem just too much for us to bear, and we would fly away from them, had we the wings to do so.  Sound like something you might have experienced, or are presently going through?  Had we the wings, we would often seek to fly away from the wrath of the world, the flesh, and that old dog, the Devil.

Verse 3. “And save me from the wrath of him that would swallow me up. O dog of Hell, I am not only delivered from thy bite but even from thy bark.  Our foes shall not have the power to sneer at us, their cruel jests and taunting gibes shall be ended by the message from Heaven, which shall forever save us.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 256)

Hallelujah!  He is risen!  Up from the grave our Saviour, King Jesus Christ arose!  We have the Victory in Him, beloved and besieged Christian!  Glory to the Lamb that was slain, but Who now lives forever!  Hallelujah!  Shout the Victory aloud – our God reigns Supreme!

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  (Philippians 2:9-11)

Thought:  God’s Promise to you and I:  Verse 3. “God shall send forth His mercy and His truth. He asked for mercy, and truth came with it.  Thus, evermore doth God give us more than we ask or think.  His attributes, like angels on the wing, are ever ready to come to the rescue of His chosen.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 257) Hallelujah!