(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, good morning brethren, please take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 17. Turn to Psalm 17. And we just had the reading of the Bible by one of my sons here. So it's exciting because we're back in church, right? The restriction has been lifted. It's only 10 of us. It's basically my family here right now. And then on Sunday, we're going to have services. So basically, you know, instead of preaching three sermons a week, I'll be preaching six, well, I'll be preaching six times. I'll still be preaching three sermons, but I'll be preaching six times. And so what if you're listening online, what you're getting here is basically what I preach to my family. And this has been broadcast at the same time that we're having church with another group of another congregation at the same time. So look at Psalm 17 and verse 15. Psalm 17 and verse number 15, the Bible reads, As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied. The title for the sermon this morning is I shall be satisfied. And boy, you know, don't we want to be satisfied. The reason we pursue things in life is because we're trying to gain satisfaction, right? The reason we go to work is so we can earn a paycheck to satisfy the needs for our family. The reason, you know, you get out and maybe enjoy a holiday or participate in some hobbies because you're trying to satisfy your interest. We are, you know, the reason you get hungry, right, and you go out and you get something to eat is because you're trying to satisfy your hunger. You know, our lives is driven about satisfaction. And you know what, you're never going to find satisfaction in this world. Okay, you're never going to find satisfaction in sin, hey, maybe for a season, but there will always be a part of you that is lacking fulfillment. And you can see here the Psalmist and the Psalmist here again is David. He says, I shall be satisfied. He's looking for satisfaction, but he's not looking for satisfaction in the world. He's looking for satisfaction that comes from God. Now you keep your finger there. I'll just read a few passages to you. Just in Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes chapter five verse 10. And of course, Ecclesiastes is written by King Solomon. King Solomon who had all the riches, all the power, all the popularity, you know, great kingdom at his fingertips. And yet, if you know the book of Ecclesiastes, he finds it all vain. He finds it all vanity, you know, seeking after the things, you know, that encompass the world. You know, it's never going to satisfy the soul. And in Ecclesiastes 5 10, it says, He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase, this is also vanity. Okay. So what he's saying is referring to silver there, money. Okay. You know, you think that by having a lot of money, you think that by having, you know, riches and be able to buy whatever you want, you know, go on whatever holiday you want, you may feel that that will satisfy you. And that's what people seek, right? They go and they try to make great wealth, great riches, because they think if I just can attain great wealth, I will be satisfied. And King Solomon with all his riches says, nope, I couldn't be satisfied. It was all vanity. Another great definition for the word satisfy is in Psalm 107, maybe you want to turn, they keep your finger there, but go to Psalm 107 and verse number 9. The Bible reads, for he satisfieth the longing soul. Okay. So you see, our soul wants to be satisfied. And I mentioned, you know, when you go and have a meal, you're trying to satisfy the flesh. Okay. And that's what sin usually is. You go and you're seeking satisfaction in the flesh. But you know, your soul also desires to be satisfied. But who is it that satisfies the soul? For he, referring to the Lord there, satisfy the longing soul. Notice the next words, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness, just like you will fill your hungry belly with food. Well, the Lord has spiritual food for us. He can satisfy the hungry soul. Okay. You can be satisfied in the soul. And in 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verse 6, I'll just read it to you. It says, 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verse 6. I'll just read it to you. 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verse 6. You'll notice that the New Testament doesn't refer to the word satisfy all that much. It is referred to a few times. But more often than not, the New Testament refers to contentment. All right. And I've preached on that before. You know, to be satisfied is basically to be content. Content with what you have received. And 1 Timothy 6 says, but godliness with contentment is great gain. Hey, being content, being satisfied, it says that it's great gain. If you can reach that level, man, you're going, you've done something great. But then it says in verse number 7, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. All right. So the Lord wants us to be content. The Lord wants us to be satisfied in this world. But notice where the contentment is. It is not in what you can attain. It is not in how much riches, how powerful you can become, the kind of name that you can make for yourself on this earth. That's not where satisfaction is. You know, you were born into this world, you were born naked without any possessions. As a little baby in this world, you know, you didn't come owning anything. And listen, when you leave this earth, when you pass away, you can't take any of your earthly possessions with you. You've come in empty, you're going to leave this world empty. And so don't seek to be satisfied in the flesh. Don't seek to be satisfied by this world. Seek to satisfy the soul, because the soul is eternal. The soul is what you can take with you into eternity, into heaven. And so you can see the Psalmist desires to be satisfied. He says, I shall be satisfied. It was his goal to be satisfied. So let's start off in verse number one. There's Psalm 17 verse one. You may notice the very first words. It says a prayer of David. All right, and the book of Psalms is a book of songs. But you can see here, this is actually an actual prayer from David to the Lord, and he turned it into a song. All right, a prayer of David. Look, notice what he says. Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry. Give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips. So David begins by praying, Lord, I'm praying to you. Hear me. Hear the rights, right? This is a hear the right. He's saying, I am righteous. I am saved, O Lord. I'm one of your sons. Attend unto my cry. And brethren, the first point that I have for you with being satisfied, the first thing you need to do in your life to be satisfied in the soul, to be content, is that you must have a prayer life. You must be someone that goes to the Lord in prayer. King David, again, you know, like Solomon, a man of great wealth, a man of a great name, many victories, you know, was able to oversee a powerful nation. And yet, his satisfaction, his contentment did not come from the things he possessed. He came seeking the Lord. You can see he has a heart for prayer. He is often communicating. I mean, many, many of the Psalms, I'm not even sure how many there are, most of them are written by David. And again, a lot of those are just prayers, all right? So he has a prayer life. He realizes, if I'm going to be satisfied, I need to be in constant prayer, in constant communication with the Lord. Brethren, when's the last time you've prayed? When's the last time you've bowed your head? I'm not saying you just prayed before dinner. I'm not just saying you said a few words before you went to sleep. I'm saying when's the last time you put your head down, you got on your knees, you closed your eyes, you blocked everything out, and you had a sweet hour of prayer with God? When's the last time? When's the last time you got serious with the Lord and cried unto him and asked him to hear your prayers? Notice at the end of that verse, it says, give me unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips. You know, we can pray with feigned lips. We can just get into the habit of, you know, a prayer of repetition, something that the Lord Jesus Christ warned us about. We just wake up in the morning, Lord, thank you for the day. You pray for the food, Lord, please bless the food to my body, or something along those lines. And you just say the same thing, you just repeat the same thing over and over again. That's okay at the beginning. That's okay as children, as you learn to pray, you learn about the things you need to pray. But don't forget, this is not just vain repetition. It's not just something that's unfeigned, it's something that's fake coming out of your lips. You're having a conversation with the God of the universe. You're having a conversation with the God that saved your soul. How would you like it, brethren, if you had a friend, and they, every time you saw them, they just said the exact same thing over and over again? You think, well, what kind of friendship is this? What kind of communication is this? All right, that is just repeating the same thing. Oh, when you pray, you ought to come, you know, and look at the Psalms. Each Psalm is beautiful. Each Psalm is different. You know, quite often, it's about the same topics, but they're all quite different. You know, David has a great vocabulary with when he speaks to the Lord God. All right, and did I finish? Sorry, and look at verse number six as well in the same Psalm. Psalm 17, look at verse number six. He also says here in verse number six, I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God, incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. And hear my speech. Okay, so you can see there in verse number one and verse number six, David is a man of prayer. He desires for the Lord God to incline his ear to the prayer of David. All right, so he is a praying man, and also at the beginning of verse number one, it said, remember how it said, it said, hear the right. He's saying, Lord, I am righteous. And the only way you can be righteous is not by your good works, of course. Your good works are like filthy rags to the Lord. The only way you can be righteous is of course, by having the imputed righteousness of Christ, by believing in the gospel, believing in his death, burial and resurrection, knowing that salvation is by grace through faith alone and not of works. That's the only way you can be righteous. And the Bible says in James 5 16, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Availeth much. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Brethren, we need to be people of prayer. You know, during these restrictions, during these lockdowns, which, you know, I tried to have, well, we did, we did have these Friday night prayer with people from our church here, church in Sydney and other brethren. And to be honest, I was a little disappointed because we didn't have as many people that are part of our church attending that prayer meeting. Okay, now, of course, there are reasons why some people come, but it seemed like those without the church, those that don't have a good church to go to, were more determined to be there for the prayer night than the actual members of our church. And that's a little disappointing. And of course, you know, when you're somebody that does not have a church, you desire, when you don't have brethren, you desire to pray together, to hear the voice, to hear the prayers of the brethren. And sometimes when we have church, we go to it every week, we start to lose a bit of love for it. We start to lose a bit of love for the brethren. We start to lose a bit of love for prayer. And it can become like something that's coming out of your feigned lips, something that is not true, or true reflection of your heart. And so, you know, I'm glad that we can get back to church. I'm glad that we can get back to Wednesday, because Wednesday for us, of course, is our Wednesday night prayer meeting as well as the service. I'm looking forward to praying, you know, face to face with the brethren. So we must have a prayer life. That's point number one in order for you to be satisfied in the soul, satisfied in the flesh. So in this life, I should say, you need to have a prayer life. Look at verse number two, Psalm 17, verse two. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. Thou has proved mine heart. Thou has visited me in the night. Thou has tried me and shall find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. All right, so what is David asking from God? What's he asking here? Well, look at verse number two, he says, Let my sentence come forth. He's not saying like, I'm praying a sentence, I'm speaking a sentence. This is like the court of law. You know, when you're brought to court, the judge will pass a sentence. Are you guys familiar with that, passing a sentence? That's like passing judgment or passing, you know, if you've done a crime, the kind of punishment that you'll receive, that's your sentence, right? And so what David is asking from God is that, you know, can you pass your sentence? Can you, what he's saying is, can you judge me? Can you look at me and judge me? Look, notice at the end of verse number two, he says, Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. Okay, let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. And you know, when we talk about being equal, I think the term that I tend to use more when it comes to the Christian life is being balanced. So David is asking God, God, can you try me? Can you prove mine heart? And verse number three, prove mine heart. You know, can you, can you, can you find anything in me that's unbalanced, that's not equal? Can you pass your sentence? You see, David was seeking for God to find any sin in him, anything that was wrong, so he could make it right. So he could have a right balance in life, that he wouldn't be unbalanced, right? There'll be equal balances in his life. And what I have for you in point number two is keep a clean account with God. This is so important, brethren. Keep a clean account with God. That means when you sin, go and confess it to the Lord. Children, when you sin against your parents or you sin against your brothers and sisters, don't just ask forgiveness from them that you've done wrong, but then go to God and ask him to forgive you for your sins, to help you not to sin again in the same way. And you can see there in verse number three, he says, thou has visited me in the night, thou has tried me, look at this, and shalt find nothing. David says, you're not going to find any sin, God. You're not going to find any unconfessed sin. Is David a sinner? Absolutely. Did David sin every day of his life? Absolutely. But how can he be so sure that God will find no sin in him? Because he confessed his sins, right? And if we confess our sins to the Lord, the Bible says that God will forgive us. Again, nothing to do with salvation, but he has everything to do with having fellowship with God. He has everything to do with having a satisfied soul. For being satisfied as a believer, you've got to keep a clean or a short account with God. David, for sure, if he's so confident that God would be able to look in his heart and not find any wickedness in him, any sin, it's of course, the reason is because he's someone that would continually confess his sins to God. Hey, he had a good Christian life. He put these things into place. It's one thing for me to preach on these things. It's another thing for you to actively make sure when you pray, you go and you confess those sins and ask God for forgiveness. Christian, can you sit straight, please? Now, notice that in verse number three, it said, sorry, where was it there? Oh yeah, verse number three, thou has proved mine heart. Okay. So he's saying, look, God, you are someone that can know the deep things in my heart. And that's the truth. You can deceive people. You can fool people. You can pretend to be righteous. You can pretend to be someone that loves church. You can pretend to do lots of things. You can look like a genuine Christian. But there can be issues in your heart. And the only one that can look in your heart and find those deep things in you is the Lord God. This is why you need to go to the Lord and ask him from time to time, Lord, can you check me out, please? I know I sin, Lord. I know I've confessed some of these sins to you. But Lord, are there other things? Are there other wicked things in my heart that I need to confess? You know, the Bible says in Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Who can know it? Can you know somebody's heart? Can you know your own heart? Hey, who knows your heart? Who knows the deep things that you think about? The wicked things that you spend time thinking on? Who knows those things? You can't hide it from the Lord. The Lord is the only one that can read your mind or can know your heart. You know, one of these things that I'm hearing because, you know, our nation and other nations across this world is starting to introduce 5G, 5G networks. And, you know, this topic comes up with the coronavirus and all this stuff. And I've heard it said that, well, the reason they're putting in 5G networks is so they can read your minds. Okay. Now, look, I don't believe anybody can read my mind except God. I don't think anybody can. I mean, the Bible tells us who can know it, who can know the heart except the Lord. All right. So I'm not afraid, all right, that some 5G network is going to be able to read my mind or even insert thoughts into my mind. Okay. It's not possible for man to know these deep things or some technology. Okay. We have a soul. We're not just some physical manifestation. We have something spiritual in us. We have a soul. We have a spirit. And these things, these thoughts reside in the heart, the Bible says. Okay. Now, I do understand that when we think or we react that our brain will, because of the chemistry in our brain, there are certain elements that will light up for different areas of the brain. I can understand that. And maybe that can be measured somehow. Okay. But will anybody truly know why those chemical reactions in your brain occurred? No way. All right. I mean, even when you think about a lie detector, are you guys familiar with a lie detector where someone will be hooked up with all little things on their body, they'll attach to their body and measure, I guess, their pulse and if they are sweating or reacting, getting anxious. And then a person will ask questions and if that person is lying, apparently it will detect if that person's lying because they're reacting in a different way than if they were telling the truth. Okay. But when I look this up, if you were going to a court of law, let's say you've done something wrong and the only evidence or so-called evidence was a lie detector, that would not be admissible in court. Okay. Because a lie detector is determined on the operator and his interpretation of the results that come from responding to those questions. Okay. So the lie detector is not accurate. It can be fooled apparently, and it's not admissible in court. I don't know how much 5G is going to work out beyond the lie detector, more than that. So I'm personally not worried about it. I know some people worry about it. I don't think anyone needs to worry about that. I mean, I'm not saying that 5G is safe. I'm not trying to say anything like that or it's fine. I'm just saying the whole idea of reading your mind, I don't think that's even possible because the only one that can do that is the Lord. In 1 Samuel 16 verse 7, it says, for the Lord seeeth not as man seeeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. The Lord looketh on the heart. Now, listen, I don't know what you think about your outward appearance. I don't know if you say, I'm ugly or I'm too short or I have curly hair and I wish I had straight hair or whatever. Okay. You know, you may be someone that's concerned about the outward appearance. You know what, God has created you the way you are. Be thankful, be content, be satisfied with what you look like and understand that God is looking on your heart. The Lord can work in you. The Lord can work through you no matter what you look like. Okay. No matter what you sound like. No matter how high or how tall or how short you are. Okay. The Lord can use you. The Lord is looking at your heart. And you know what, many people will look at the outward appearance and say, well, look at that great man. Look at them. That person's surely a leader. Look how they behave. And yet, no, the Lord is looking beyond that. The Lord doesn't care how you appear on the outside. He's concerned what's going on in your heart. Okay. Just let that be a reminder for you that you may sin on the outward. Okay. And people may be able to see that, but the sins that you do on the inward, God knows about that. And you need to make sure you keep that clean account with the Lord. Look at verse number four. It just continues on with the same idea here. It says, concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not. So remember David's asking, Lord, can you judge me? Can you pass sentence on how I'm doing in my life? Well, now he's saying, look, I've kept my past from the destroyer. Now, a lot of people think here in verse number four that that's referring to the devil. That's referring to Satan, the destroyer. I can't find any evidence anywhere else in the Bible that the destroyer is Satan. I can't see that anywhere in the Bible. And yet this term, the destroyer, is used quite often in the Bible. And so I do want you to do a little bit of a study with me. Keep your finger there. Keep your finger there and go to 1 Corinthians 10. Go to 1 Corinthians 10 for me. And let's just understand who the destroyer is. Okay. And I am going to give you a bit of an opinion as well, but I wanted to obviously build that opinion on the word of God. So the destroyer is not Satan or some other devil. Okay. And this is, you know, David is not saying that I've kept myself from the ways of the devil. That's not what he's saying. Okay. The destroyer, as we'll soon see, is someone that God uses to pass judgment. And usually very severe judgment, very severe judgment, it's actually an angel of God. Okay. And so let's have a look at this. You guys are turning there. I'm going to read to you from Exodus 12 23. Exodus 12 23, this has to do with the Israelites leaving Egypt. Remember the plagues that God plagued Egypt with? And what was that final plague? Remember how the firstborn would die? That plague that God delivered and then the people of Israel were permitted to leave Egypt? Well it says in Exodus 12 23, for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians. And when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. Okay. So when God saw the blood on the posts, the doorpost, he would not allow the destroyer to come in and hurt anybody in the house. But the destroyer would strike dead the firstborn of every house in Egypt that did not have the blood. Of course, that blood will represent Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. But the destroyer is being used by God in this occasion. Now you're in 1 Corinthians 10 10. 1 Corinthians 10 10. 1 Corinthians 10 starts with a list of things that the Old Testament Israelites did that were wicked. You know, when they were wicked toward the Lord. And if you look at 1 Corinthians 10 10, it says, neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the, who? The destroyer. You see that? Destroyed of the destroyer. So we have an occasion here when Israel were murmuring against the Lord and the Lord sends the destroyer to hurt them. Okay. So not only did God use the destroyer to hurt the Egyptians, but he also used it to hurt his own people. Okay. And again, this is an angel. This is someone that God uses to carry out his will. And what this is referring to is the rebellion of Korah. So after the Israelites left Egypt, and obviously Moses was leading the people, well there was a man called Korah and he led a rebellion against Moses. And I'll just read some passages to you here in Acts, sorry, Numbers 16. Numbers 16 reads, Now Korah, the son of Isha, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan, and Abraham, the sons of Eliab, and on the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. So this Korah takes a few men. Verse number two, and they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. Then in verse number three it says this, and they gathered themselves together against Moses. Okay. So they didn't just come to speak to Moses. They came to criticize, to attack Moses. They came out against Moses, the Bible says, and against Aaron, and said unto them, You take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them, wherefore then lift up yourselves above the congregation of the people. So Korah is saying, hey, why are you so prideful? You know, and we know that God has given the authority to Moses and to Aaron to lead the people, to lead the Israelites. And Korah was critical of that authority that God gave. And he wanted to lift himself up as a leader in the church and challenge the leadership in the congregation of the Israelites. Okay. And so that's a very wicked thing to rise up against your pastor. Okay. Now it's one thing if your pastor is absolutely wicked, and you need to even be careful when that happens. When you raise an accusation against an elder, you've got to be very careful. Okay. But in this case, Moses is a great godly man. All right. And you have 150 people here with Korah going up against them. And what was the consequence of Korah? Well, I'll just read to you verse 31. It says, And it came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder, that was under them. So the ground opens up that were under Korah and all these followers of Korah, verse number 32. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods, they and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit that's into hell, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation. Could you imagine that? That God passes judgment, and the ground opens up, and they're swallowed alive into hell. Okay. And of course, as they're passing down into the lower parts of the earth, they perish, and they go to hell. And then it says in verse number 34, And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And they came, look at this, and they came at a fire from the Lord, and consumed the 250 men that offered incense. So there are fires coming out of heaven, and destroying these people. Verse number 32. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. Could you imagine judgment like that? Seeing how God, you know, brought great wrath upon these people. These are Israelites and others. All right. And the Lord says in 1 Corinthians 10, 10, that the Lord used the destroyer. So it was actually an angel that carried this out on behalf of the Lord God, the destroyer. Now please go to Revelation chapter 9. Go to Revelation chapter 9, because I believe that Revelation 9, 11, introduces us to the destroyer. Okay. He actually has a name. All right. It's not just the destroyer. He actually has a name, this angel, in Revelation chapter 9, verse 11. Revelation chapter 9, verse 11. And this is when the Lord pours out his wrath. And if you may remember this, the Lord sends an angel to open up the bottomless pit, where these locusts from hell go out and sting men. And it was this angel that permitted these locusts to come out of hell. And it says here in verse number 11, and they, that's the locusts, had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit. So there's this angel, that's this king over these locusts, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue have his name Apollyon. Okay. So you can see he's got a name, Abaddon, in Hebrew, and in Greek Apollyon. Okay. So Abaddon in Hebrew means destruction and Apollyon in Greek means destroyer. Okay. So you have this angel called destroyer who brings destruction. I believe it's referring to the same angel that God used to kill the first born in Egypt, but also to punish the Israelites when they had done wrong. And there's another reference here. Actually, if you're in Revelation, go to Revelation chapter 20. Go to Revelation chapter 20 in verse number one, because I just want to prove to you that this angel, this destroyer, is not Satan. Because in Revelation chapter 20 verse number one, it says, and I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit. Who was that angel that had the key to the bottomless pit? Abaddon, Apollyon, right? He's the one that had the ability to allow those locusts to come out of the bottomless pit. And it says here, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. So God uses the destroyer here to even bring his wrath upon the devil, to chain up the dragon, Satan, for a thousand years into the bottomless pit. So you can see that this is how we get to know more about the destroyer, that the Lord uses. And one more passage. You can go back to Psalm 17, but one more passage. And remember, this is a prayer of David. And David is concerned that he doesn't want to go the way of the destroyer, right? This is because the Lord dealt with David using this angel as well. And I'll just read to you 2 Samuel 24 verse 15. 2 Samuel 24 verse 15. You may remember the story where David numbers the Israelites, which was in disobedience to what the Lord asked of him to do. And so the Lord chastises David, and by doing this, he actually harms the nation. I'll just read to you what happened. 2 Samuel 24 verse 15. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba 70,000 men. Now notice verse number 16. And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it. So you can see how when God's pouring out his wrath here on his people, he's actually using this angel. And he says that when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed the people. Notice how this angel has been referred to as one that destroys the people. It is enough. Stay now thine hand, and the angel of the Lord was by the fresh in place of Aranuah the Jebusites. All right, so here's what I, you know, by putting all these passages together, here's what I see. I see that David has seen the kind of damage that the destroyer can do. This angel of the Lord. And the Lord will use this angel when he is angry, right? When the Lord wants severe punishment to fall upon the unsaved, the wicked, or even the saved. The Lord may very well use the destroyer to bring that punishment. And so when we go back to Psalm 17 and verse number four, he says, concerning the works of men by the word of thy lips, I have kept me from the path of the destroyer. He's saying, Lord, I know, okay, you've checked me, passed your sentence. I believe I'm fine. I believe I'm right with you, Lord. But if I'm not, if you find something wicked, if you find some sin in me, I don't want to go down the way of the destroyer. Please don't use the destroyer to chastise me. I believe that's what's going on in this passage. Okay, so I don't believe this is a reference to Satan. I think he's asking the Lord for mercy. Okay, don't chastise me with a destroyer. You know, please have a more loving hand. And you'll notice this as we go through the rest of the Psalm that the Lord is, sorry, David is asking for mercy. You know, look at verse number seven. He says, show thy marvelous loving kindness, all right? O thou that savest by thy right hand, them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. So he appeals to God's mercy, right? He says, show thy marvelous loving kindness. Lord, be gentle with me if I've done wrong. Don't send the destroyer. All right, I had to face that guy before. No, Lord, please bring your marvelous loving kindness in the way that you handle or treat me. Look at verse number eight. Keep me as the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings. From the wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies who come past me about. So this is point number three that I have for you. Point number three, in order for you to have satisfaction in your soul, satisfaction in your life, you need to seek God's protection. Seek God's protection. Don't be so prideful. Don't be so proud where you think you can go through this life without asking God to defend you, to protect you. What did David say in verse number eight? Keep me as the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings. Now David was a strong man. He was a powerful man. He was a mighty general, mighty king. He was able to win great wars, was able to defeat Goliath and the bear and the lion. Man, this was a powerful man. I think, you know, he could pretty much defend himself to some extent, but he realises I need more than just myself. I need the protection of the Lord. And in verse number eight it says, keep me as the apple of the eye. I'm not sure if you've ever thought about what this means, the apple of the eye. What it means is the apple there refers to your pupil, the pupil of your eye, okay. It's just an old English way of saying the pupil, okay. You won't find the word pupil in your Bible, okay. So when it refers to the apple of the eye, referring to that part, like if you look at somebody's pupil and you look at someone's eyes and you can see your own reflection, that's what it's referring to, okay. And so he's asking, Lord, can you keep your eye on me? You know, can you make sure, and you know, we still use this term today, the apple of the eye, and it's often talking about the thing that you cherish. You know, if you cherish something, maybe a child of yours, you say, well, that child is the apple of your eye, you know. And so it's about, you know, having your eye, you know, being watchful, protective of somebody. And David is asking, Lord, can you be protective? Can you be watchful for me? Okay. Against to, verse number nine, from the wicked that oppress me. So David, of course, had his enemies, those that sought to persecute him. And I'll just read some other references to you just to show you this, how the Bible refers to the apple of God's eye. In Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse nine, it says, for the Lord's portion is his people. Hey, are you the people of God? Are you saved? If you're saved, you are the people of God, okay. It says, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land. And in the waste howling wilderness, he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. You know, there's a time you're going through the wilderness unsaved, not knowing what the future held, not knowing about eternity, not being right with God, having great burdens on your soul. But the Lord's come through, he saved you, if you're a believer, he saved you, and he's made you the apple of his eye. The Lord is ever watching. The Lord is watching you to protect you, okay. The Lord is watching, not just so, you know, when you do wrongs, when you do wrongs, the Lord's hand of chastisement can fall upon you. He's watching so that you will be safe. And I've said this in previous sermons, we have no idea how many times we could have been injured, hurt by some enemy, and the Lord's come in and delivered us. We may have no idea how many times we may have gotten into some type of car accident, some disaster, and the Lord has delivered us. And we don't know until we get to heaven and the Lord can show us a bigger picture of our lives, right. We will have no idea about that. We are the apple of his eye, as long as you are the people of God. In Zechariah chapter 2 verse 8, it says, For thus saith the Lord of hosts, After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you, for he that toucheth you, and it's referring to the touch in here, is someone that attacks you, that hurts you. For he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye. So if someone hurts you, you know what that's referring to? As though someone has touched the apple of God's eye. Have you ever been poked in the eye? How's it feel? Not very good, right? It hurts and you know you're in pain, you can't see. Well when someone, an ungodly, wicked person seeks to hurt the children of God, it's as though that person just went up to God and poked him in the eye. Don't you think God's going to retaliate? God's going to bring some swift judgment on the people that hurt his children. And in Lamentations chapter 2 verse 18, Lamentations, remember, is the book where Jeremiah is weeping about the fact that the southern kingdom has been taken into captivity by the Babylonians. And it says here about the people of Judah, it says, their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river, day and night. Give thyself no rest, nor let the apple of thine eye cease. See the reason Judah was taken into captivity is because they had turned against the Lord, they had turned their hearts against the Lord. And when they're being taken into captivity, they finally realize once again, oh man, Lord, don't forget us, we're supposed to be the apple of your eye. And so listen, you know, it's such a great thing to know that the Lord is watching us. Let's not get to a point where we forget that we are the people of God. Let's not forget that we are the apple of God's eye, okay? And just like the, you know, the southern kingdom had forgotten and because of their wickedness they were taken into captivity, well you know, make sure you remember the Lord is watching you. And if you just keep that in mind, you are the apple of God's eye, he cherishes you, he wants to protect you, it's going to help you change the way you live your life, okay? When you remember, should I commit this sin? Should I do this wicked act? Actually the Lord is watching me, I better make sure I can keep clean, right? Are you still in Psalm 17? Go back to Psalm 17, look at verse number 10, referring to the wicked that oppress David, verse number 10, they are enclosed in their own fat, with their mouth they speak proudly. So David's saying, hey, you know what, those people, the wicked people that are persecuting me, they're fat, you know? And you'll notice soon later that, you know, David compares them with him. So when it says here that they're fat, it's like referring to the fact they are fat, okay? What does that mean? That they're seeking satisfaction in carnal things, they're seeking satisfaction in food, in carnal pleasure, all right? And because these people that are persecuting David, looks like they have great possessions, and when you're someone with great possessions, it says here, with their mouth they speak proudly, they're full of pride, they think that they're satisfied, they think they're somebody, they think they've reached a certain status, you know, they're seeking that satisfaction in the world, and David says, look, these people are prideful. Listen, when you desire wealth and possessions, you will become prideful, okay? And you can eat yourself silly and become extremely overweight and fat and, you know, just be seeking to satisfy the flesh. Now we ought to be seeking to satisfy our soul, look at verse number 11, they have now compassed us in our steps, they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth, what does that mean? So their eyes are down, notice why, verse number 12, like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places, all right? So the wicked here, the worldly, those that seek satisfaction, carnal satisfaction in the flesh, they're being compared to a lion that's going after its prey. Why is a lion going after its prey? Because it's hungry, all right? Wants to be satisfied. And the way the lion goes for its prey, it's deceptive, right? It bows down, it tries to hide, it tries to find moments of weakness to attack its prey so it can be satisfied. You know the wicked that hate God's people, that want to persecute us, are looking at God's people, looking for a point of weakness so they can go and hurt us, they can go and attack us? Listen, if the wicked, if those that want to harm the people of God are looking for a weakness to tear us down, then what should that tell you about yourself? Don't be weak, gain strength, and when you are weak, like David, run to the Lord and ask him for his protection. Okay, that was point number three, seek God's protection. God, you are the apple of God's eye. If they hurt you, like I said, it's like they're poking God in his eye. So be careful of people that are very cunning, very deceptive, seeking to cause you to sin, seeking you to have a bad testimony, okay? This can be wicked friends, okay? This can be wicked people you come across that you seek to be friendly, kind toward them, can be someone in your school, if you go to, you know, a public or private school, it can be someone in your workplace for the adults. You know, it's easy for people to be influenced by wickedness. And so we should not be like that. Look at verse number 13. Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword, from men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life. So look, they're seeking this life, right? They're seeking the temporary. Look at this, and verse number 14 keeps going. And whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure, they are full of children, and leave the rest of the substance to their babes. Okay? So these are people that are seeking to leave an inheritance to their children and to their children's children. Nothing wrong with leaving an inheritance. Nothing wrong with working hard and saying, well, I'm going to set aside for my children, so they can have a little bit easier as they try to live a life in this world. Nothing wrong with that. But these people find satisfaction in those possessions. These people find honor in themselves pridefully. Look what I've left my children. My children couldn't do it without me. Okay? And you know the difference with someone that seeks to help you for you because they love you and they care about you, or someone that helps you just so they can boast about themselves. They can boast about how satisfied, how many riches they had. Oh, you couldn't accomplish that if it wasn't for me. Okay? That's what the world is like. They're seeking satisfaction to have a name for themselves, to be able to pass on these possessions and boast of what they've done. Okay? But look at verse number 15. And David compares himself to these wicked people. He compares himself to the worldly. And once again, did David have wealth? Absolutely. He had great riches. He had great power. He had great authority. But look at verse number 15. He says, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. He says, Lord, yes, I have riches as a king. I have power. That's not what I'm satisfied with. I'm seeking your satisfaction. Okay? And the last point that David speaks about here, he says, look, when I awake with thy likeness, point number four is if you want to be satisfied in your soul, you need to be more like Jesus Christ. Be more like Christ. David desired to be more like his God, to be more like his Lord. Okay? So we can take verse number 15 in two different ways. Notice he says, when I awake with thy likeness. There are two ways to look at that. And if you can go to 1 John, this is the last passage that I'll get you to turn to. Go to 1 John chapter two. Actually, the second last passage I'll get you to turn to. Go to 1 John chapter two. And while you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from Romans 13. Because we should be more Christ-like as we mature and grow in the Lord. Right? As we mature and grow, we should be more like Jesus Christ. And in Romans 13, verse 11, it says, and that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. Hey, it's time to wake up, the Bible says. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is fast spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Hey, we're called to be more like Christ. We're called to walk in his ways and to put off the darkness, put off the weakness, put off the sins that we have in our lives. We are called to do that and to awake out of our sleep. What did David want? He said, when I awake, I want to have that likeness. I want to be more like you, Lord. Okay? And so there's a reality today that we're seeking every day of our lives to be more like Jesus Christ. And I hope that's the truth for you as you grow. I hope, you know, as you mature, you get older, you realize, hey, I'm a bit more like Christ. I'm less childish. I'm less sinful. I'm less worldly. I'm more like Jesus Christ. I hope that's your heart. But also, it's not just that. And actually, I think what David's referring to here is his resurrection. Because it's the same when I awake, right? And of course, the Bible speaks about those that have passed away in Jesus to be asleep in Jesus, right? Asleep in Jesus. And then one day when those bodies are awake once again, that's the resurrection. That's the rapture. Okay, look at 1 John 2 verse 3. 1 John 2 and verse number 3. It says, And hereby we do that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. Hear that sayeth, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments as a liar, and the truth is not in Him. But whoso keepeth His word in Him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we, that we are in Him. And actually, this is not about the rapture. This is about your life. Okay? That we are to keep His word. We are to keep His commandments. If we can keep His word, we can keep His commandments, then we can be in Christ. We can abide in Christ. We can be more like Christ. But now go to chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 and verse number 2. 1 John chapter 3 and verse number 2. The Bible reads, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. You see, at the rapture, we're going to be like Jesus. Okay? We're going to be without sin. Those bodies, that sinful flesh, that sin nature is gone, and we'll be able to be caught up together in the clouds of Jesus Christ. Those dead bodies will be awake in a new resurrected bodies. And I believe this is what David is pointing to at the end there in verse number 15. He says, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. So brethren, in conclusion, if you want to be satisfied, you want to be content. Okay? From this Psalm, what are the four things we can gather? Number one, you must have a prayer life. Make that a priority in your life. Make sure when you wake up in the morning, the first thing you do is thank God for the new day that is given you. Ask God to help you to be productive in the day that God's given you. Verse number two, keep a, sorry, point number two, keep a clean account with God. Confess your sins. Number three, seek God's protection. Okay? Don't be so prideful and think you can look after yourself. Make sure you run to the Lord when you need help. And number four, be more like Jesus Christ. God bless you.