Sermons
Vander Kam on Psalm 11:1-3
Sermons
Vander Kam on Psalm 11:1-3Psalm 11:1-3 – "In the Lord
I take refuge;
How can you say to my soul,
'Flee as a bird to your mountain;
For, behold, the wicked bend the bow,
They make ready their arrow upon the string,
To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?'" (New American Standard
Bible)
Beloved in the Lord: this is now the second Sunday evening in a row that we deal with the matters concerning the Reformation of the church, and especially the Reformation that took place in the sixteenth century. And that also is a good reason because of the fact that in recent years the Reformation has not been thought of very much. There was a time as you know, in Reformed circles that Rev. Eldersveld would come to Grand Rapids on Reformation Day, and the Civic Auditorium downtown in Grand Rapids was not able to hold all of the people because of the fact that there was so much interest in these things concerning the Reformation of the church. That is no longer the case. And when it becomes the situation when the Reformed churches are no longer interested in the reformation of the church, then you are indeed falling upon difficult times.
And then it is very difficult to look at those things that are still there, and whether these things are going to last for any length of time at all. Because the reformation of the church and the Reformed churches are spoken of in one breath. The reformation of the church has given rise to the Reformed churches. That is the basis for it, that was its genius; that was its genesis, that's where they came from. These were the ones that were reformed at that particular time and ever since.
And this is the situation in our day beloved, if there is not a reformation of the church, then it is indeed going to be difficult for our young people and our children to come. Because then the next generation is not going to have much left. The way in which we have seen it go downhill in recent years, does not bode well for the future, it does not bode well for the times of our children and grandchildren. But rather this, that by that time, is there going to be a Gospel left! Is it still going to be heard? Or is it merely going to become this, more and more, that it becomes somewhat of a social club. And that is about the only kind of a position that the church will still have. That is the way in which it is already seen in many places today, that is the situation. Not as the people of God, not as the church of the living God, but as somewhat of a social club. And that is the great danger in which we stand today.
And what the church needs is a reformation, a reformation that goes to the roots, that will again realize what is required, that will again realize how necessary is the Word of God, and only the Word of God. And that anything else is to be shunned; anything else is anathema. It is the Word alone that is the only instrument which the church has, the only commodity which it has, and that is the Word that has to be proclaimed, and has to be proclaimed in its fullness. And the church must insist upon, as its Maker insists upon it. And here the Psalmist speaks of the crumbling of foundations, the destruction of foundations. And those are the things that speak to us because those are the things that we have also seen.
We speak to you then tonight on, The Destruction of Foundations. Noticing in the first place, its fact; secondly, its counsel; and finally, its opportunity.
Because that it is a fact beloved, is already taken for granted in the words of our text; the foundations are destroyed. And if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do! These were destroyed already in the days of David. He goes that far and there he already sees it. That the foundations are being destroyed; that the man who is to be upon the throne of Judah, the throne of Israel at that time. That is the one who is a vagabond, who is being chased from the one end of the country to the other, while the godless Saul is king over Israel. The foundations are shaken. It doesn't make any sense; there is no possibility that these things are going to be rectified. How is David ever going to rise to become king of Israel even though he has been chosen to that, when this profligate Saul is now king! And that Saul is seeking to slay him, is seeking to get rid of him, rid of him completely. That is the situation in which he finds himself.
He finds himself in desperate straits, and as a result of that he pens also this Psalm 11, and says there that "if the foundations are destroyed, then what can you do, what can you do!" And that they are destroyed is something that is quite evident. They were destroyed also in the days of Absalom because it is still a question just when this Psalm was penned. It is always difficult to see, to ascertain exactly. There are some times from the body of the text it becomes evident, but not always. It may also have been in the days that he is fleeing from Saul, it may also have been when he was fleeing from Absalom. But either the one or the other, the foundations were being destroyed. Then his son rises against his own father and seeks thereby also to overthrow the throne of Israel.
Foundations were being destroyed on all sides, "and then what can the righteous do!" How come the righteous are not building on the foundations? Because the foundations are destroyed, that's the reason. They can't build the foundations anymore because the foundations have been lifted up, they have been taken away, they have been ruined. And as a result, "what can the righteous do!"
Now these are the things, beloved, that have happened in the church throughout the ages. These are things, and you could go into various parts of the history of the church, and there also make it very clear, but it is especially in the days of the great Reformation of the 16th century that it becomes very evident. That the foundations have been destroyed; the foundation of the church. That it was no longer a church and that was the only one that was. There was no other, you couldn't pick up and go some other place, there wasn't any other. There was only the one church, and that was being destroyed, they were selling, selling indulgences. It was so crass, that now a price had been put on it, put on the forgiveness of sins. Now, when the foundations are destroyed, what can you do!
What about all the difficulties that they had in the church of that day? That they had virtually gone under, and the people of that day had gone under, there was nothing left. Foundations had been destroyed; they no longer had the Gospel. Until finally again they began to look at it and find that is the only way that we go back to the Word of God.
But that Word of God had virtually gone into eclipse. It was virtually completely gone. Gone from the populace, from the common man, he was no longer able to have it. It was no longer proclaimed, and they were selling indulgences. That was the situation, and then a Luther is being hounded from one end of the country to the other because of the stand that he takes. In danger of his life, so that his old friends kidnap him in order to spare him. A Calvin is hounded out of Geneva because of the stand that he has taken. And it was not a compromising stand, no, no, it was a stand; "Here I stand, everybody knows it, everybody can see it. I don't care what they think of it; I am only subject to that Word, and I don't care what others think. Whether kings or potentates or princes of the church, it makes no difference; here I stand," says Luther, "God help me." And now everybody knows where he stands, and they are seeking to overthrow him.
Now if the foundations are destroyed, and they were, "then what can the righteous do?" And that is the question of course, that is posed by Psalm 11. That is the question that is here posed because it is taken for granted already that the foundations are indeed destroyed. Now what are you going to do in a situation like that! And there are various answers that are going to be given. Now what can you do? And there are ever so many who are tearing out their hair today; they don't know what to do. They realize the foundations are being destroyed. Does it have to be pointed out? Must you point to that and say, "Look, here it's being shaken, and there it is destroyed, and here it's crumbling." Aw, c'mon, open your eyes.
And then you see it ever so clearly. You see it so clearly that on every side the foundations are crumbling. Churches that at one time were strong, a Princeton seminary that at one time was strong as a rock, where many of our best theologians were instructed. Today it is nothing, nothing. Are foundations destroyed? No doubt about it. Now then, what can the righteous do? Then can they complain; but that doesn't help any. What are they to do? They could not go to another church in the days of the Reformation, because there wasn't any. Not until Luther said, "This is it; this is it. We cannot stay in this church!" But that was such a violent answer to it, the kind of an answer that had never been given before, the kind of an answer that no one had expected. But that he would go contrary even to the princes of the church and say, "God is my witness, I am subject to Him and to Him alone, and He says, 'the righteous shall live by faith. He is not going to live by works, but he is going to live by faith.'" And all the works of Catholicism are not going to save him.
All of these works that have been done, and these works were done for ages and ages, millennia, and nothing of it helped. To really draw a stripe through the whole works and say it is of no use, God is my witness. And that is when he lectures on Romans, as I mentioned to you before, and he comes to that magisterial sixth chapter; "We then, being justified by faith, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." That's what none had had before. So simple, yah, but they had lost it, had lost it completely. And no one thought, and still today they do not believe that there is justification by faith.
Foundations are destroyed; because that is fundamental, that is the foundation. The belief in Jesus Christ is the foundation, and not in the church or its potentates. That's the foundation. And they are being destroyed, and on every side yet today.
Now secondly, notice, the counsel that is given. Now the very strange counsel that is given to him is this, "Flee as a bird to your mountain." When you are somewhat acquainted with the topography of Palestine then you know that the mountains have the woods. And that's where the birds would go, into the mountains. So, flee as a bird to your mountains, into the trees in the mountains; that is the place for you to go. But what good is it! When the foundations are destroyed, then what can the righteous do. Well, you could always flee like a bird to your mountain. Um-huh! And then what! It is this, that you would pull away from this earth, that you would pull away from all its problems, from the crumbling foundations, and that you wouldn't see them anymore. "Flee as a bird to your mountain."
That is asceticism, that is the kind of asceticism that was so prominent in the Roman Catholic Church. Those who had drawn away from the world, and now they lived in monasteries, or they lived in nunneries, and they were apart from the world when foundations crumbled; you've got to do something. So then they tell me He says "Flee like a bird to your mountain," flee like the birds do and get away from these crumbling foundations, then you don't see them and you're not bothered by them.
But of course, it doesn't help a bit for the establishment or the re-establishment of the foundation. That is it. There is nothing that is going to be done for the repair of the foundations that are being destroyed. That goes on, that keeps going, and when you flee as a bird to your mountain, and that asceticism that has always been fatal to the church, and that is also fatal to those who engage in it. These are the ones who are going to seek to escape the world, that's escapism. And that escapism has always been futile, that is utter futility, you can't do it, you can't get away from it, you can't leave the problems that way. Oh, it would be so nice sometime that when you see crumbling foundations, if you could get away from it like a bird and fly to the mountains where there is still the pristine beauty and where the foundations have never been laid and therefore are also not destroyed. You just can't do it.
But they make it even a little bit stronger than that because it is not only that you ought to flee as a bird to your mountain, for behold the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. That is now going to be their goal, and that is, that the archers are going to take their bows and they are directing them at the upright. That is not going to repair foundations, that is going to lead to the destruction of more foundations as the upright are killed. But that is the goal of this, it isn't just that they are innocent bystanders, no, they are the ones who are going to be blamed finally that the foundations are crumbling. And when they are blamed for that then the archers are going to take their bows and they are going to shoot at the righteous. And they have bent the bow; they're ready. And therefore "flee as a bird to your mountain" for your very life. That's the way it is pictured here.
That is the picture that he has, and it is clear, you don't have to come with long commentary on it, no, that is clear to anybody. Get away from it man, get away from it. That's why his friends kidnap Martin Luther. They take him on a lonely stretch of road and they take him captive and they hold him for quite some time, so that he will not fall into the hands of his enemies. Flee as a bird to your mountain; for the archers have their bows ready, and they are shooting, they are going to shoot at the righteous.
The righteous are going to be the object of their hate, of their shooting. They are going to seek to rob them of life itself, and it is always going to be that way, it has always been that way. That in the final analysis, the righteous, the only ones who are going to be able to repair any foundations, who are even aware of the fact that foundations are crumbling; these are the ones who will have to bear the brunt of it. And the archers are using their bows and they are directing them against the righteous. So be careful.
To be a reformer is dangerous stuff. I mentioned it here a couple years ago; Erasmus, the greatest thinker of that day said he did not go along with the Reformation. He said, "I am not made of the stuff of reformers." You've got to made of certain stuff to be a reformer, and otherwise you're going to flee as a bird to your mountain. You're going to be afraid when the archers have their bows bent, and they are directing their arrows at you. A Martin Luther knew it, and John Calvin knew it, and John Hus gave his life for it, and Wycliffe knew it, and all the others. They were indeed hounded from the one end of the earth to the other. The archers were shooting at them, and they were going to seek to overthrow them. So, this is the counsel, "flee as a bird to your mountain and get away, for your life."
Don't be too troubled about the troubles in the church. It might cost you your life. Don't be too troubled about the fact that the foundations are crumbling, because it might be dangerous. You're a whole lot better off if you can make it, to get out to the mountains where nobody knows you, where nobody knows that you are, and there have a place that you can call your own, and be away from life again. Be away from all the dangers. That is the advice. Not good advice, but that is the advice that his counselors give him. And that is the counsel that he spurns, he will not have it.
And finally notice, the opportunity. He begins with that beloved, in the very first verse: "In the Lord I take refuge. Then how can you say to my soul, 'Flee as a bird to your mountain?'" This is something that is impossible, because I have taken my refuge in the Lord. And as a result of that you have no business in telling me to escape this world, you have no business in telling me to engage in ascetitives. Because all of that is simply avoiding the problem; avoiding the issues; and they cannot be avoided. It is, were it not so serious, it would be almost comical today, how some are seeking to avoid the issues, and seek to flee as a bird to their mountain, and they do not know that the utter destruction that awaits them on every side. Their foundations are crumbling. But he says, "I have put my, I take refuge in Jehovah, in the Lord. I have taken refuge in Him." Now as a result of that, I am not dealing here with crumbling foundations, with destroyed foundations. Here is a foundation that is never going to be destroyed. Here is a foundation that is rock solid. Here is a foundation upon which I can always rely. Here is the kind of a foundation on which nobody is ever going to say, "It is crumbling."
No, this is the kind of a foundation that is going to stand. "In the Lord I take refuge." I have put my confidence in Him; I have taken refuge in Him. Oh, then you are able to understand Luther's great hymn that we are going to sing at the close of this service. Then you are able to understand the Psalmist of Psalm 46 of our call to worship tonight. "That God is my refuge and my strength, an ever present help. God is in the midst of His people." And David says, "I have made the Lord my refuge." And seeing that he has made the Lord his refuge; now all these other things fall into proper perspective; now he is able to see it. That does not mean that now he does not see crumbling foundations; he sees them better than anybody else. Those who have not made the Lord their refuge are not even aware of this; that the foundations here in this world are crumbling. They do not realize that they are being destroyed. It is only the one who has made God his refuge; that is the one who realizes that, outside of God, everything is crumbling, everything is being destroyed, there is nothing there that is going to stand, nothing is going to stand for any time, certainly not for eternity.
But how dare you then say to me, when I have made the Lord my refuge; why, how dare you say to me, as my counselors, "Flee as a bird to your mountain!" That would be utter folly. I spurn it. I cast it as far away as I can. I will not listen to this. Luther also had advice from various people that meant to his welfare; that meant well for him, that advised him to go easy. You know, this is dangerous; those who are against you are a whole lot more than those who are in favor of you. Those who are against you are tremendously powerful. Luther says, "I know that, and I don't fear anybody because God is on my side, then whom shall I fear!"
Whom shall I fear in a time such as this? This is David's portion; this is David's view. He is not able to see it yet, how he is going to be able to ascend the throne as long as that Saul is doing the things that he is. He may well lose his life. He is in danger of that. The archers are aiming at him, they have aimed at him so clearly, there's no doubt about it. Several times that he escapes by the skin of his teeth. And so also in the days of Absalom, but nevertheless, "I have made the Lord my refuge." My refuge is in the Lord my God, and then I'm safe. Then I don't care what kind of foundations they have laid in this world, none of them are going to stand anyway. No, none of these foundations here stay, whether they are of the government or the church. See, in the days of the Reformation at that time, church and government were alike. They were virtually united, they were both corrupt, and the foundations were destroyed, government and church, both sides.
Yah, then what can the righteous do! Then the righteous can still do this, that they make the Lord God their refuge, and that is the only one. And in such days as those of 1995, we still make the Lord God our refuge, and the Word that He has spoken. And we don't let anybody take one word away from that, not one iota. That Word shall stand! That Word you are going to let stand, says Luther, no doubt about it. "I have made a covenant with the Holy One," says William of Orange. Made a covenant with the Potentate of Potentates, and then I can't go back on it. Then I'm going to stand. And David puts it in these beautiful words, "I have made the Lord my refuge." And then don't come to me with this, "Flee, flee as a bird, flee to your mountain for your safety." There is no safety, except under the shadow of the Almighty.
The Psalmist has a far better outlook on it in Psalm 91, a Psalm which was read so many times when our boys went into service, the last meal that they had at home, and then usually Psalm 91 was read. "He 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 shield, my fortress and my buckler." That's it. I have made the Lord my refuge. And then foundations may crumble on every side; this one won't, this one stands. This is the solid rock, "and on that rock," says David, "I stand, and nothing is going to move me." And nothing did. "On that rock," says Martin Luther, "I stand, and nothing is going to move me." And nothing did. And that man did more for the church than any of the Popes, who thought they had all the power in his day. Martin Luther's name is going down through the ages as being the hero of faith, theirs in infamy. But they had the strength, the archers are pulling the bows, they're pulling the bowstring, they're aiming at you. Let them aim, says Martin Luther. I have made the Lord my refuge, and then we are safe. At this Reformation time, and then we must realize whether that is really so, whether we have made Him our refuge, the Lord our refuge. The only refuge we have, the only place to flee, and if not, doom. Amen.
Father, we give Thee thanks for the blessings given us. Thank Thee for the Word wherein Thou hast spoken. We thank Thee for that Word of instruction and that Word of admonition, that Word wherein Thou dost speak to us concerning our relationship to Thyself. Bless this Word unto our every heart and life. Grant, O Lord, that we may live by it in the days of the week to come. And pardon our sins, in Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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