Falsely Accused

Falsely Accused

Prairie Baptist Church – 10/4/09

P.M. Service

Text: Psalm 7

Key verse: Psalms 7:10 - My defense is of God, Who saves the upright in heart.

Premise: How do we deal with false accusations as we try to live righteously before ungodly and sometimes vindictive people? David gives us five great responses to this type of unfair attack.

The Introduction

John was driving home late one night when he picked up a hitchhiker. As they rode along, he began to be suspicious of his passenger. John checked to see if his wallet was safe in the pocket of his coat that was on the seat between them, but it wasn’t there! So he slammed on the brakes, ordered the hitchhiker out, and said, “Hand over the wallet immediately!”

The frightened hitchhiker handed over a billfold, and John drove off. When he arrived home, he started to tell his wife about the experience, but she interrupted him, saying, “Before I forget, John, do you know that you left your wallet at home this morning?” Our Daily Bread, October 2, 1992

This is a psalm of deliverance. It is deliverance from a different type of persecutor, that of the false accuser.

We notice it is “concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite”

No one knows who this Cush is but there are some suggestions.

A. It could refer to Shimei who cursed David as David was on the run from Absalom (2 Sam. 16:5)

B. It could refer to an actual person name “Cush” from the tribe of Benjamin, or,

C. It could be a coded reference to Saul who persecuted David without cause.

i. “Cush” could be a play on “Kish”

ii. Saul was the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin

Whoever, it might be, there seems to be a accusations made against David that are not true, and David feels oppressed because he knows he has done nothing to deserve this.

Sometimes, we may have the same experience David is having:

A. People may lie about us to get us in trouble

B. People may try and set traps to get us to stumble

C. People may hate us so much as Christians that they gossip and spread rumors about us.

D. People may even invent conspiracy theories about us to make us look bad to others and ruin our testimony.

E. John 15:18-21 - 18“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.

1. Let God Be My Trust – 7:1-5

2. Let God Be My Tower – 7:6-11

3. Let God Be My Triumph - 7:12-17

So, what do we do when we are falsely accused?

Five (5) responses to false accusation:

Body

1. Rely On God – 1-2

A. A small boy riding a bus home from Sunday school was very proud of the card he had received, which had a picture and a caption that read: “Have Faith in God.” Then to his dismay the card slipped from his hand and fluttered out the window. “Stop the bus!” he cried. “I’ve lost my ‘faith in God!’” The driver pulled the bus to a stop, and as the lad climbed out and went to retrieve his card, one of the adult riders smiled and made a comment about the innocence of youth. A more perceptive adult observed, “All of us would be better off if we were that concerned about our faith." David had that concern and reliance on God as well.

B. For David, God is his refuge, his impenetrable protection

i. He knew the power of God to save him from his persecutors

ii. He knew the consequences if God did not intervene for him

C. How many times do we fail to get the protection of God because we fail to ask for the protection of God?

i. It is not that God does not protect His children anyway.

ii. But, He desires to hear that we trust Him

iii. We exercise faith and He responds to that faith – Matt.7:7 - “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

D. God never fails us – Zephaniah 3:5 - The LORD is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails, but the unjust knows no shame.