Psalms 8, 9 & 10
God Is Above The Universe---Let’s Consider
The Universe
To
the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David
We come to Psalm 8, “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name
in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast
thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the
enemy and the avenger. When I consider
thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast
ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that
thou visiteth him? For thou hast made
him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and
honour. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all
sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the
fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O
LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name
in all the earth!” (verses 8:1-9) This eighth Psalm, it tells us it’s a psalm
of David. It says “upon Gittith”, the
word means “winepress,” and most scholars feel this is one of the great songs
of Israel that was sung at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, that would be
when the wine would be gathered in. It
is to the chief musician, which means it was to be used in public worship, and
it states some very remarkable things. Now look, you’ll notice it doesn’t begin at verse 4, where it says “what is man,” that’s where our world lives
and operates, “what is man?” that’s
what everybody wants to know, ‘Why am I
here? What’s my purpose? How can I get what I need? How can I satisfy my need? How can I do this?’ we’re kind of
man-centric in our thinking. Certainly
before we were saved, we were certainly that way. And what is man? A lot of people defining that for us. Karl Marx defined that for us, and it cost
tens of millions of lives. The Third
Reich defined that and it cost tens of millions of lives. Charles Darwin defined what man was, highest
form of animal, the most evolved, it’s the root of racism, cost millions of
lives, abortion, we’re the highest form of creature, we can decide what
morality is, there’s no accountability. We can look around, we’re on top of the food chain, so we can look down
on every other living, breathing thing and decide what order it has, importance
it has. But the Psalmist never starts
there. He starts at a much different
place. He says “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name
in all the earth!” ‘O Jehovah,’ notice it’s capital L, capital O,
capital R,
capital D,
if you have King James, most of your translations, if it’s all capitals, it’s
YAHWEH, YHVH. With the YH, we do YAH,
the VEH, where we get Jehovah from, from the YHVH, but it’s the Becoming One,
it is the name of the Tetragrammaton, Israel’s, the name for her God which she
couldn’t pronounce YHVH has no
syllables, how do you say that? Jehovah,
the covenant-keeping God, Yahweh, the Becoming One. When God reveals himself to Moses in this
way, Abraham knew El Shaddai, the Almighty, but Yahweh, Jehovah reveals himself
to Moses. We’ll find the word in the
Book of Genesis, because Moses put it to the page when he speaks of the LORD, but he reveals himself to
Moses. But the first time is in Genesis
22 with Abraham, and actually he reveals himself through Moses, but we have
Jehovah-Jira, “the LORD is our Provider.” We have the Lord being our healer, our
Shepherd through the Old Testament. In
all of those things he was “whatever we needed him to be.” He is the “Becoming One,” and that was in
regards to man, he’s not the all-powerful one up there with lightning bolts in
his hand, he’s not the Ever-Smoking One, you know, he’s gonna turn you to dust
One, you know he reveals himself in each of his titles in regards to man’s
needs, stooping down, remarkable. ‘O
Lord, Jehovah,’ and then he says “our
Lord” you’ll see it’s capital L, small o, r, d, Adonai, our Master, our
Sovereign. It’s a remarkable statement,
as David, you know, laying out in the fields no doubt as a boy, many of these
impressions made upon his heart, ‘When I consider the moon and the stars,’ you know, if you’ve ever been somewhere outside of city lights where you can
get a good look at the stars at night, it’s shocking, it’s remarkable. And somehow looking up in all of that, at
some point he says ‘O LORD, Jehovah God, your power,
Master, you stoop down, Adonai, and how excellent, superlative, majestic’ is the idea ‘is
thy name in all the earth.’ Look, it says ‘the heavens declare the glory of the Lord’ he’ll
write later, ‘the earth sheweth forth thy handiwork.’ So the LORD’s name, whether people like it
or not, today, is excellent, is majestic in all the earth (cf. verse 1). The day’s coming in the Kingdom Age where
everyone will acknowledge that. Everyone’s not acknowledging it now, but that doesn’t change anything at
all, the fact that his name is excellent in all the earth. “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name
in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.” (verse 1) not in the heavens, the
heavens declare the glory of the Lord, but they just declare it. His glory he says here, is above the heavens. “who
hast set thy glory above the heavens” plural, the sky, the astral
heavens, the celestial heavens, above all of that, “who hast set thy glory above the heavens.” We look at the universe, I remember
again, when I was in high school, 1964 to 1968, the heavens were 12 billion
light-years wide then. By the time year
2000 came they’re 20 billion light-years wide [as astronomers know, the
universe is still expanding, and has expanded from 1968 to 2000 by 8 billion
light-years, amazing!]. The heavens are
growing quickly, it’s remarkable, and they’re even bigger now. David says ‘You’ve set your glory above all
of that, it’s immeasurable,’ and yet he says, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength” and what a contrast, the heavens to the mouth of babes, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength
because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.”
(verse 2) let Marx say what he will about God, let Darwin say what he will,
it doesn’t matter, there’s lots of voices, “but
out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of
thine enemies, that thou mightest still” or cause to stop “the enemy and the avenger.” i.e. ‘that you might just make them shut
up.’ Now I like what Matthew
does with this verse, ah, Jesus comes into the Temple, he turns over the tables
of the money-changers, all that, but before that the kids are screaming ‘Hosanna, hosanna,’ the kids are
screaming that, the children are screaming ‘Hosanna!’ the blind and the lame come to him. And
he had turned over the tables of the money-changers, and it says when the chief
priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children
crying in the Temple saying ‘Hosanna, to the Son of David, they were
sore displeased,’ you don’t want kids doing that praising Jesus so
publicly. ‘And they said unto him, Hearest
thou what these say? And Jesus said unto
them, Yea, have ye never read Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast
perfected praise?’ I like what
Jesus does with it. It says here in the
Psalm, he says, “thou hast ordained strength” but Jesus said “Out of the mouth of
babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise” ‘that thou mightest shut up the enemy.’ You know, here’s a God who lays out the
heavens, we’re told in Isaiah chapter 40, it says ‘Who
hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and he has meted out the
heavens, measured out the heavens with the span of his hand.’ So the twenty billion light-years,
Jesus said, ‘is about this big, right here.’ [Pastor Joe holding up the
palm of his hand, obviously.] ‘He’s
measured out the heavens with the span of his hand, he set his glory above
that, and yet out of the mouths of babes and sucklings he’s perfected
praise.’ Again, you know I watch
my grandkids, you know, they’re reciting verses now, they’re singing ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible
tells me so,’ and they mean it, more than we do sometimes, they mean
it. Again I ask my one about, her sister
is whining about Christ, I ask why, and he says “She doesn’t understand the love of God.” [loud laughter] “I tried
to tell her, but she doesn’t understand.” So, out of the mouths of sucklings and babes thou hast perfected praise,
Lord, the heavens themselves can’t contain you, you’ve laid it out with the
span of your hand, but you can stoop down to a four-year-old and to a
five-year-old, and you can touch their heart so that they can sing ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible
tells me so,’ and they can close their eyes and they can mean it with all
their hearts. And Lord you can shut up
the mouths of all your adversaries with that, Lord. The heavens in all of their complexity and
all of their expanse are not as complicated, as attended to, as one child, one
babe. Man, we need to remember that in
our culture. We have thrown off the life
of babes and sucklings. It says here he
has perfected praise in their mouths. And David says ‘You know, when I consider, to think about,
when I consider,’ notice, ‘thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the
moon and the stars which thou hast ordained,’ I’ve had the opportunity
several times in my life to either be in the desert, in the Grand Tetons in
Wyoming, Montana, Kathy and I were in the Canadian Rockies last summer, in
places where you don’t have the wash of city lights, and it’s black out at night, and you look up,
and the stars are riotous, they’re screaming, you look up, you’re
staggered. You watch and you’ll see
shooting stars, there’s all this incredible, you think he laid that out with
the span of his hand.
Considering All This, What Is
Man?---Yet God Is Mindful Of Man
He looks at all that, and now
he puts the question where it belongs. “When I consider thy heavens, the work of
thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man,
that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visiteth him?”
(verses 3-4) Now you ask “what is
man?” now things are in proper perspective. Now, “what is man, that thou art
mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visiteth him?” It says “mindful”, you know what “mindful”
means? It means to have your mind
full. He’s mindful of man. It tells us in Psalm 139 around verses 17 and 18 that ‘the
thoughts that God has towards us are more than the grains of sand on the
seashore.’ And you think, ‘Yea, I know he’s thinking ‘I’m gonna squash
that one, he drives me crazy.’ No,
no. No, no, because Jeremiah says that
they [these thoughts God has
about us] are good, continually, only.’ Mindful, his mind is full of you this
evening, each of you as individuals, since you were a babe, he’s been perfecting
praise in your life, since you were a babe. You know, he watches us born, he told Jeremiah he knew him before he was
conceived. He watches us run, carefree
sometimes as toddlers, he sees all the hurt in life, abuse, the sexual abuse,
the things we come through, the brokenness, but he knew us from the time we
were a child, running carefree, playing. He sees the brokenness, he sees the pain, and he’s mindful, more than
the grains of sand, you sit on the beach. I don’t like the grains of sand, I don’t like them, they stick between
my fingers, get in my ears, they go between my toes, I like the mountains [I’m
a beach, ocean and water person, sailor, so I love the beach and sand], but
it’s a great illustration. You just sit
there and think ‘How many grains of sand
are within view?’ It’s his thoughts
towards us are more than the grains of sand, Jeremiah 29:11, and all of those,
immeasurable, his thoughts towards us, they’re good, continually, only. It’s unbelievable. And here we are, what is man? You know, you look at all those grains of
sand, and here you are sitting on the beach, and you look up and you see the
stars, and here you are, this little speck. You think the sand is specky? You’re a little speck sitting here. You know, you look at our sun, 93,000,000 miles away, and it’s a small
star in the galaxy and the universe, one of the small stars. And yet you could take 1,200,000 earths and
put them inside the sun. One million,
two hundred thousand earths would fit inside the sun. Or you could put the earth inside the sun
with the moon rotating around it, and have 100,000 miles of crust left. You think that’s amazing? You want to take a 24 trillion mile journey
to the northeast corner of Orion, and there’s a star there called Betelgeuse,
you’re all familiar with Betelgeuse, 415,000,000 miles in diameter [the ruby in
an Orion ring I want to have made sometime in the future]. You can take Betelgeuse and you can put our
sun inside of it with the earth rotating around it, and have 100,000,000 miles
of crust left. And yet Betelgeuse is
just a speck in the galaxy, which is just a speck in the universe. Lord, you set your glory above the heavens. And yet in these heavens there’s a speck
that’s a galaxy, and in that speck there’s a star that’s a big star, but it’s a
big speck, Betelgeuse, and that’s 24 trillion miles from a little bitty star,
which is our sun, which is 93,000,000 miles from a tiny wincey ridiculously
little speck called earth, and sitting on earth on the beach, there’s a really
itty bitty itty bitty little speck called Joe [or Pete, or Andy, or Brandee, or
Addie, or Michael or Maria, or Joey, or Mandi, or Steff, or Matt, you get my
point]. Now you ask the question, “what is man?”, not some big somebody
saying ‘Well I don’t think we should be
allowed to say, one day is for God.’ Who cares, you’re this little tiny, wincey, speck, you know. “When
I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which
thou hast ordained;” (verse 3) ‘What
is man? What is man, that you’re mindful
of him, Lord?’ ‘What
is it you’ve set your heart, mind, your mind is filled with thoughts of me like
the grains of sand, and good continually, only.’
Jesus Stepped Out Of Eternity
To Become A Little Speck, Grain Of Sand Like Us
“What
is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visiteth
him?” (verse 4) ‘The son of man,’ the first time that phrase is used in the Bible, “the son of man, that thou visitest him.” He’s not detached, he’s not detached, “the son of man, that thou visiteth him” no
doubt looking forward to Jesus, David sitting in the fields of Bethlehem where
he would be born, the Son of man, ‘the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,
we beheld his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth.’ (John 1) He
became an itty bitty, itty bitty little one, the One who laid out the heavens,
a little speck who walked among us, because he’s mindful of us, he visited
us. He says “For thou hast made him a little lower than angels, and hast crowned
him with glory and honour.” (verse 5) “a little lower than the angels” which
Hebrews chapter 2 agrees with, a little lower than the angels. The idea is “to depress or make a little
lower”, “made him a little lower than
the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” The highest achievement in God’s creation is
man, the highest thing in creation [i.e. of living creatures, life] is
mankind. Mankind that we throw out the
window, mankind that we kill, mankind that we disregard, this is, this is the
being, all the rest of it is a stage for mankind. Everything else God did he did for us, and
his heart’s affection is upon us, he can’t stop thinking about you, mindful of
you, constantly. He came down to take on
human flesh, he lowered himself into all of that, to walk alongside of us, to
be Immanuel, God with us. And he lowered
himself down to all of that, made a little lower than the angels, because man
is fallen. Man was not lower than the
angels in God’s creation. The angels are
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. Angels are spirits without bodies. [now here
we go again into a weird Calvary Chapel interpretation. As seen in Quantum mechanics, all matter is a
holographic image coming from a higher reality outside of Space & Time,
which makes what is outside of Space & Time more solid than matter itself,
so spirit, the spirit beings in God’s realm are more solid than matter. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/Hebrews%2011%201-4.html] Human beings are spirits with bodies, and
souls, consciousness. Animals are bodies
with souls without spirits, sorry [again he’s wrong, Solomon has the spirit of
an animal, when it dies, goes back into the ground in Ecclesiastes. Calvary Chapels consciously choose to ignore
parts of the Old Testament in the formulation of their denominational doctrine
about the spirit within man and the spirit within animals. See Ecclesiastes 3:19-21, especially verse 21
and Ecclesiastes 9:5].
Man Is Over Everything On
Earth---But There’s A Problem
And man is fallen [true enough
about that], there’s something wrong. Verses
6-8, “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast
put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of
the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” It says here, ‘you’ve crowned him with glory,’ this is the epitome of creation, ‘you’ve given him dominion over the works of
your hands, you’ve put all things under his feet, all sheep, all oxen, yea, the
beasts of the field, the spotted owl, the blue whale, everything, the fowls of
the air, the fish of the sea, whatsoever passeth over the paths of the seas,’
(verses 6-8) all of that man is to have dominion over, but there’s a
problem, with that God ordained and God-given place. Man is fallen. Man now, you know, is spending his time
trying to figure out why he’s here, what he’s doing. Animals are not doing that. Don’t let people tell you Spotted Owls are
our brother owls, I mean, I love trees, but I don’t talk to trees or hug them,
they don’t know that. In man’s idea with
Darwinism, its effect on our educational system, the missing link is down. Our passage here says the missing link is
up. God has made us a little lower than
the angels, we’re a fallen spiritual being, we’re not the highest form of
monkey on the planet [I thought we were on the
Planet of the Apes, you could have fooled me this all the monkey-business
going on]. Now you can decide, you can
have your own position, I’d just rather be a little lower than the angels than
a little higher than the monkeys, you can choose for yourself. Again, last year on TV they had this show, I
remember this gorilla, they taught her sign language, she knew over a hundred
words, just to get a banana. [Like the
movie I like so much Congo, based on
a Michael Crichton book by the same name, where they give this young female
gorilla named Amy human-like intelligence, which is pure fancy, yet it makes
for a nice story. Personally I think the
gorillas are exhibiting more intelligence right now, at least they are not making
nuclear weapons which can erase all life from off the planet. Sometimes less intelligence equates to having
more.] It’s pretty remarkable, they’re
intelligent. But none of them are
sitting around making circuits for computers. None of them are doing transplant surgery, none of them are using lasers
to fix cataracts. I don’t care how much
you like your monkey, I do not want your monkey working on my eye with a
laser. There’s a VAST difference. We’re
created in the image of our Creator. [And this is shown by the fact that mankind is a race of creators as
well, we create literature, music, and use our knowledge of science and
mathematics to create almost anything we can imagine out of the elements found
on the earth, including, stupidly, weapons of mass destruction that can erase
life from off this planet. We can land
space probes on a comet traveling at 84,000 mph with a gravity only 1/100th of earths gravity and have it send back pictures. We are a race of creators, made in the image
of the One who created us.] The problem
is, man is fallen, all of that research and development is so that we can send
a missile to the other side of the planet and blow up more of what God loves. We can make bombs go off on the marathon in
Boston. We’re the highest form of life,
so we can abort a million babies a year. We scream when somebody messes with our marathon and three people are
killed, and it’s a tragedy, and we turn our blind eye to a million babies that
are slaughtered during the year. A guy
in Philadelphia, whatever in the world he’s doing, and only one news network is
picking it up. Thousands, God puts
unimaginable value on every human life. If Darwin is right, and Darwin said, if you read his writings, that the
white man is superior, and ultimately he’s going to conquer and rule over the
yellow race and the black race, because of survival of the fittest, it’s just
evolution. That makes all of us
nothing. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/Does%20God%20Exist.html] If you understand Biblical origins, every
person in this room is a divine creation of Almighty God, and he loves every
single one of us [loud applause]. And
not a human alive has a right to look down on another human being. It’s all part of the beauty of God’s
creation. ‘Lord, you’ve given him dominion
over all of these things, but there’s a problem. But you’re mindful of them, and you visited
him.’ David somehow saw the
Incarnation, laying in the fields of Bethlehem. And again, he said, “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name
in all the earth!” (verse 9) He ends how he begins, Jehovah,
our Provider, our Banner, our Healer, our Peace, our Shepherd, our
Righteousness, the Ever-Present One, all the compound names of God,
Jehovah-jira…all the names with Jehovah in them, he’s all of those, and finally
in Matthew chapter 1 the angel says ‘you’ll name him Jehovah-shua [or
Yahweh-shua, or shorter, Yeshua in Hebrew], the Lord has become our salvation,
Jesus,’ “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”
Psalm 9
‘Lord, What Do We Do With The
Wicked Outside Our Nation, The Other Nations Of The World?
Now it’s hard to do, we’re
going to move a little bit, because it’s hard to do Psalm 9 without doing Psalm
10, they go together. In the Hebrew
there’s an acrostic, and every other line begins with one of the letters in the
Hebrew alphabet and it moves through alphabetically. Now it skips a few letters, there’s a whole
spiritual reason why that is, but the acrostic runs right into Psalm 10. If you look at the very end of Psalm 9 it
says “Selah”, which is “What do you think
about that?” which then takes you right into Psalm 10. In the Septuagint translation in the Old
Testament this is one psalm [i.e. 9 & 10]. In some of the ancient Targum and so forth, it’s one psalm. There are separate thoughts. Psalm 9 seems to be saying to God’s people, ‘Look,
we have this struggle between the righteous and the wicked, of injustice, of
wicked people flourishing, like Psalm 73, being in powerful positions, ‘Lord,
what do we do then?’ And
particularly for the nation of Israel which has always been persecuted, it
seems to be ‘Lord, what do we do with the wicked outside of our nation, the other
nations of the world?’ Psalm 10
is a bit different, because it seems to be saying ‘What do we do with the wicked
inside of this realm, among us within our nation?’ So application to us today, certainly
the world we look at today, we see the insanity, and we ask these big
questions, ‘Lord, what do we do?’ Every one of our hearts today as God’s
children, in this world, we’re away from home, this is strange territory for
us. And every one of us needs the
encouragement of Psalm 9, you know, ‘God is going to come and he’s going to
straighten everything out,’ that’s what this Psalm says, he’s going to
rule over everything. [Comment: That’s what prophecy shows us, most all the
prophecies in the Bible. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/Prophets_Prophecy.html] We have to take solace in that. And then today the application would be for
the 10th Psalm, ‘Now what
about those in our midst?’ We can
make application if we’re living in compromise, living the way we shouldn’t
live, and there are those who slip into the Church, Paul says, who would lead
disciples after themselves, they’re wolves in sheep’s clothing, they take
advantage. So we can make some
application as we go through. To me, the
wonderful thing is, as I read through everything, ‘Lord, you’re on the throne,
you’re on the throne, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, they’re not on the throne,
Washington is not on the throne, Moscow’s not on the throne, you’re on the
throne, Lord.’ And that’s a
wonderful thing that comes across in these two Psalms. So we have here Psalm 9, again, it means it
was to be sung publicly in Israel’s worship. Muthlabben, the idea is hard
to understand, ‘is the death of a son.’ It’s one of the Psalms of David. Is it written in some context that we don’t
know? Is it just the grieving heart that
happens in the death of a son? How are
we to make application, I don’t have any good answer for you in that, but
that’s the title here, as we move into it. And you’ll notice in the first two verses the phrase “I will” there four
times.
The Lord Endures Forever, The
Wicked Won’t
To
the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, A Psalm of David
“I
will praise thee, O LORD,
with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most
High.” (verses 1-2) whatever’s going on in the world, God’s on the throne. “I
will praise thee, O LORD,
with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.” Not half-hearted, you know, how many times are
we half-hearted when we’re praising him and worshipping him? David is saying ‘With my whole heart, with
everything I have,’ whatever the context is, whatever the pain of it
is, whatever the idea of the death of his son, whatever that has to do with it,
David is recognizing that there are wicked people in the world, there are
things that should not be going on, it’s hard to wrestle with that, ‘if God’s a God of love and he’s on the
throne how could these things be?’ He’s wrestling with all that. But
he says in the midst of it, “I will
praise thee, O LORD,
with my whole heart”,
not half-heartedly, “I will shew forth
all thy marvellous works.” what a great thing to do with our kids and our
grandkids and the next generation, make sure they know the truth and do that
without compromise. “I will be glad and rejoice in thee:” not
in my surroundings, “I will sing praise
to thy name, O thou most High.” (verse 2) ‘O Lord, O Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.’ “ I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most
High.” Then he talks about what the
Lord will do. “When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy
presence.” (verse 3) ‘Lord,
you’re the one,’ “For” notice,
we’re going to have “thou hast” four times [actually five]. “For thou
hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging
right.” (verse 4) ‘Lord, you’re the one, Lord, whose on the
throne, whatever it seems like is happening around me, you judge correctly,
Lord, you have maintained my cause,’ because his cause was the Lord’s
cause, “Thou hast rebuked the
heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their
name for ever and ever.” (verse 5) He
sees the end here, David as he’s writing. “O thou enemy, destructions are
come to a perpetual end: and thou
hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.” (verse
6) Everything the enemy had done has
come to a perpetual end. “Thou has destroyed cities” I’m afraid
there is more of that ahead of us. “But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.”
(verse 7) When we see this world falling
apart around us, you and I, by the Holy Spirit and by God’s Word will be
reminded, ‘This is not our home.’ When all things are shaken which can be shaken, we’ll be reminded ‘it’s
the Lord who endures forever.’ You know, I believe we will see a wonderful season in front of us with
prodigals returning home [oh I hope so, Pastor Joe]. Because there’s a whole lot of them out
there, and they know too much [my own kids, holding God at arms length, asking
me to pray this or that for them, but never darkening the door of the church,
so far]. And when the world begins to
disintegrate and fall apart, they’re going to run home. They’re not gonna become Buddhist or Hare
Krishna’s, they’re going to run back and say ‘Oh Jesus, Oh Jesus, I’m serious now Jesus, Oh Jesus’ and we’re
going to put out our arms, we’re not going to judge them, we’re going to put
out our arms, and we’re going to welcome them home with all their unsaved
friends [applause]. Because we’re all
going to be reminded that he’s the one.
The Lord Will Judge The World
And Administer Justice
“But
the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared
his throne for judgment. And he shall
judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in
uprightness.” (verses 7-8) That’s the real Supreme Court,
by the way. Whatever decision they [our
supreme court] make in June, it don’t matter. “he shall judge the world” not the United States, the world “in
righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.” “judgment”
i.e. “justice.” Won’t it be wonderful to
finally see justice in the world? Again,
you know, listen, we watch this political experiment, I’m thankful for the
United States, my Dad was in the Naval Department for over 30 years, I love our
country. There’s lots of things wrong
with it, but it’s the best thing afloat. And it’s way different than it was, and when we hear the one side saying,
screaming ‘Well there needs to be more
social justice,’ there does. There
needs to be Medicare, there does. There
needs to be Welfare, there does. This
nation is wealthy enough that poor people should be taken care of. The problem is, because there are sinful poor
people, then everybody that can work that would rather take a hand-out, abuses the hand that is reached out to the genuinely needy. And then they scream, and they yell about the
“fat-cats” that are making too much money, and there’s truth in that---you
think of Fanny Mae and Freddy Mack and what happened on Wall Street, how they
abuse everything. The problem is, this
is a country where people, should be able to, people come here from other
countries, and in ten years they’re millionaires. This still is a remarkable country, but
because there’s sinful people among the fat-cats, that take advantage of that
side of the system, then less fortunate people are taken advantage of by the
guys that are abusive. You know, a
hundred years ago, when people in this country became millionaires, they built
orphanages, they built hospitals, they had a consciousness that they were
blessed, and they could be thankful, and they were able to give back. But sin has ruined, it’s sin, on the poor
end, on the rich end, we can’t point the finger, it’s sin. [What is sin? The apostle John defines it in 1st John 3:4, “sin is the
transgression of the law”, i.e. the laws of God.] We need a revival in this country, not a
monetary fix, we need a revival, we need repentance, we need to come back to
God. And they can legislate whatever they want to legislate. Understand, if we would be who we’re supposed
to be, ‘If my people who are called by my name, would humble themselves and
pray,’ if everybody in the country got saved, there doesn’t have to be
abortion laws, or to decide what marriage is, they don’t have to worry about
alcoholism and drugs. If a revival
sweeps across the country we would see remarkable things happen, no matter what
they legislate. [This happened once, in
Rochester, New York. Charles Finney
started a revival in that city, and for years the people running the courts and
jails had nothing to do, the police sat idle, because crime dropped down to
nothing, everybody was in church and paying attention to God.] So we need to, in this hour, pray. We need to be here on Sunday night praying,
be in each other’s homes praying, we need to get our hearts before the Lord,
because he is on the throne. He’s the
one who is going to judge. He’s the one
who is still in charge. He’s the one who
rules [who will rule the world, technically, after Genesis 3, Satan is ruling
by default due to the fall of Adam, who relinquished control, so the 2nd Adam is needed at the 2nd coming]. “he shall judge the world in righteousness,
he shall minister judgment [justice] to the people in uprightness.” He’s going to minister justice, how
wonderful that will be, to the people in uprightness.
‘For Thou, O LORD, Hast Not Forsaken Them That
Seek Thee’
“The
LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their
trust in thee: for thou, O LORD,
hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” (verses 8-10) That’s
a good bumper sticker “For thou, O LORD,
hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” Even when
we feel forsaken, his Word [right here] stands above our emotions. Even when we feel lonely and we’re
brokenhearted, his Word says “thou, O LORD,
hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” And then
he says “Sing praises to the LORD,
which dwelleth in Zion: declare among
the people his doings. When he maketh
inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.” (verses 11-12) You know, Abraham said he can separate the
just from the unjust. “Have mercy upon me, O LORD;
consider my trouble which I suffer of
them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:” from, we have two gates here,
one in 13, one gate in 14, what a contrast, “from the gates of death” we don’t want to be there, that’s not a
fun place to be, if you’ve ever been close to those gates. When we go through them we go into
glory. But when you’re near the gates of
death, and you realize your mortality, how frail you really are, how quickly
life can be taken, man it changes your perspective, it changes your
perspective. He says “thou liftest me up from the gates of
death: that I may shew forth all thy
praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.” (verses 13-14) ‘the
gates of the city, Jerusalem, I will rejoice in thy salvation, amen.’
‘The Wicked, They’re Snared In
The Work Of Their Own Hands, But The Needy Won’t Always Be Forgotten’
“The
heathen” the
nations “are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot
taken.” (verse 15) They made their
own pit, in the net which they hid, that’s where their feet are caught, they’re
caught in their own trap. “The LORD is known by the judgment which he
executeth: the wicked is snared in the
work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.” (verse 16) “Higgaion,” ok, it means “meditate.” Listen, it says ‘The Lord by the judgment that he
executes, he does what’s right, he does what’s just, he does what’s good, but
the wicked, they’re snared in the work of their own hands, meditate, and when
you’re done that, Selah, what do you think about that?’ It’s obviously more than just Selah,
it’s ‘meditate
about it first and then think about it.’ ‘The Lord is known in his doing, his ways
are obvious, his judgments are good. The
wicked, on the other hand, they’re going to be caught in their own doing,
there’s no way away from that, meditate on that, think about it.’ Because the wicked are not getting
ahead, they’re not getting away with anything, they’re not getting a heads-up
on everybody. It may seem like that,
it’s not happening. You can be envious, ‘I can’t believe this guy down the street,
you know, he’s got a crack-house, he’s making money hand-over-fist, and he wins
the lottery?! on top of that. Lord, I’d
give you half a lottery if I won, I can’t believe this jerk, everything goes
his way.’ They’re not getting away
with anything, that’s temporary, it’s going to flee away. Meditate on this, “The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own
hands.” (verse 16) ‘meditate on that, and
when you meditate on it, what do you think of that? Selah.’ “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
(verse 17) ‘Don’t
say that, that’s offensive.’ [laughter] ‘You
know, you’re not being seeker-friendly, you’re using the H-word,’ “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget
God. For the needy shall not always be
forgotten: the expectation of the poor
shall not perish for ever.” (verses
17-18) How wonderful. How wonderful. “Arise,
O LORD;
let not man prevail:” we
can say that as we watch the news, can’t we, “let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.” (verses 17-20) ‘What
do you think about that? Selah.’ ‘Lord, put things in the right perspective,
so all these high faluting power-mongers, do what you’re going to do Lord, so
they can sit around and realize ‘I’m just a little speck on the beach here, I’m
just a man, I’m just a man.’
Psalm 10
What Do We Do About The Wicked
In Our Midst?
“Why
standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest
thou thyself in times of trouble?”
(verse 1) ‘why does it seem sometimes
you’re watching things happen?’ “The
wicked in his pride doth persecute
the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s
desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhoreth.” (verses 1-3) It says in the Book of Proverbs, ‘cursed
is the one who blesses the covetous.’ It says the wicked do that, they bless the covetous, because, you know,
one hand washes the other, one rich person, ‘you
know, if you pass some legislation for me I’ll do this for you, if you do this
here, I’ll do that.’ It says “the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire” his own intentions and his own heart’s desire, “and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhoreth. The wicked through the pride
of his countenance, will not seek after
God: God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he
puffeth at them.” (verses 3-5) he thinks he’s invincible.
‘He Hath Said In His Heart’
Now three times it’s going to
tell us here, in verse 6, and in verse 11 and in verse 13 “he hath said in his heart” and he’s going to tell us now, this is
the rationale of people that don’t know the Lord [i.e. non-believers]. This is how they think. What we need to do is make sure we don’t get
caught up in this. ok? “He
hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in
adversity.” (verse 6) Listen,
Christians in compromise, and they start to get themselves into sin, that
doesn’t happen like that snap! no Christian’s on fire, read
the Word every day, pray, and fast and think in the Lord, and the next thing
you know falls into sin. Doesn’t happen,
it doesn’t happen. All sin has a
history. [he appears to be going off
course here, this verse seems to apply to the unbeliever more than the
believer.] What happens is the Christian
starts to doubt God for some reason, doubt that God’s going to provide
something he’s longing for in his life. Starts to think ‘If I just wait
around to marry a Christian man I’m going to be an old maid, because all
Christian men are weird.’ Hey, come
on, we do 30 weddings a year, somebody’s finding somebody around here. Or ‘All
Christian girls are weird, I’m a part of
date-an-unbeliever-evangelistic-association, you know, that’s the only way I’m
going to get,’ and what you’re saying is, ‘If I obey God he’s gonna rip me off. If I do it God’s way I’m going to get left out, if I can do it God’s way
it’s not going to work out,’ ‘God’s Word
is not God’s Word’ is what you’re saying. [I don’t see this explanation in this verse, think he’s way off course,
but that’s just me.] He says here, ‘Don’t rationalize like that,’ because I
watch people build a whole house of cards, it becomes an illusion, they
convince themselves to step over some line, and an hour after they do it
they’re saying ‘My God, what did I
do? I would give my right arm if I could
turn this around.’ “He hath said in his heart, I shall not be
moved: for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and
fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the
villages: in the secret places doth he
murder the innocent: his eyes are privily
set against the poor.” (verses 6-8) I’m not sure what they are, but don’t
go there, stay out of the lurking places and the villages. Right? “He lieth in wait secretly as a
lion in his den: he lieth in wait to
catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.” (verse 9) As a lion in his den, he’s planning, he’s
scheming, he’s going to make his move. Again, second time, “he lieth in
wait to catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.”
(verse 10) He perceives him like a
beast here. Here’s the next thing he says about the wicked [He’s still applying this to a fallen believer, but I
think this is not about believers. Pastor Joe must have had a problem he was trying to address by slipping
this reasoning, interpretatin into verse 6.] “He hath said in his heart, God
hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he
will never see it.” (verse 11) David had done that, David knows as he
writes, you know with Bathsheba, you know. He had fallen into sin, he had sent her husband into battle to be
murdered, and he waited a whole year, trying to hide it. And he admits in Psalm 32 and 51, ‘my
bones were dried up, as long as I kept my mouth shut, I didn’t confess my sin,
I was dry, I was parched, it was terrible.’ But he convinced himself, in verse 11, “He hath said in
his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth
his face; he will never see it.” Then
he’s finally going to say it, ‘before thee and thee only have I sinned and
done this great evil in thy sight.’ Somehow before them, you know, we’re embarrassed, ‘What if people find out? What if my wife finds out, what if my husband
finds out? What if my boss finds
out?’ Wait a minute. If that’s how we’re measuring our behavior,
you’re gonna blow it. It has to be,
what’s the one, it says ‘Before him all things are open and naked,
before the One whom we have to do. His
eyes go to and fro about the earth, but Lord, what are you thinking of
this? Am I pleasing you in this, Lord,
I’m going to stand before you one day and hear Well done thou good and faithful
servant?’ And we can get in this
mindset. And this is what happens,
backsliders find backsliders to hang out with. [He’s misapplying this set of Scriptures to address a problem he has in
his congregation. Now what he’s saying
is true. But I wouldn’t try to be
hanging it on this set of Scriptures, it’s a stretch here to do that.] Backsliders don’t like to hang out with
people who are on fire. And then they
have their own vocabulary, ‘They’re going
to worship the Lord, they’re going to sing the same song over and over again,’ they find this little puss-pocket to be a part of…and they convince each other,
because the one whose compromised wants somebody else to compromise with so
they can feel good about themselves being compromised, so they can drag
everybody down with them. They say ‘God has forgotten, he’s never gonna see
it.’ David says, “Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine
hand: forget not the humble. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not
require it.” (verses 12-13) ‘I’m gonna get away with it, you’re not
going to require this Lord, I’m gonna get away with it, nobody’s seeing it, I’m
not going to get called into account for it, it’s not a big deal, I believe in
your grace, Lord I’ll blow it and then I’ll confess tomorrow and you’ll forgive
me, and there won’t be a problem.’ Listen, that’s why Martin Luther broke away from the Catholic Church,
because he saw them selling indulgences, and he saw the rich people, you had to
buy indulgences so you wouldn’t spend a lot of time in purgatory. So he saw the rich people, on Friday morning,
they went out and bought indulgences, because they thought ‘I’m gonna get drunk tonight, I’ll probably get in a fist fight, I’ll
probably sleep with a prostitute, let me get enough indulgences to cover all of
my behavior,’ and he would go out Friday morning, the rich person, and buy
all of that, you know, they were prophetic indulgences for the sin he was going
to commit, and he probably covered all the extras too, where the poor person
couldn’t afford to do that. And Luther,
who was a Catholic priest, looking at that thinking ‘This isn’t right! This isn’t
how it works, it shouldn’t be this way.’
‘Thou Art The Helper Of The
Fatherless’
David says, ‘He
hath said in his heart, thou wilt not require it, I’m going to get away with
this, there’s a way around it, there’s an angle.’ “Thou
hast seen it; for thou beholdest
mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth
himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.” (verse 14) You look through the Bible, look at the Old
Testament, all the places where God says ‘You mess with the widow, you mess with the
orphan, you’re messing with me.’ [Look up the words “fatherless” and “widow” in a Strongs concordance to
see what God has to say on this subject, he says quite a lot, especially in the
Old Testament.] “Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.” (verse 15) I told you. You mess with the fatherless, his prayer is “break the arm of the wicked and the evil man” I don’t think we should pray that, we’re in the New
Testament now [why not, might clean up society and make things right]. I’m glad he prays this, I kind of like
that. “Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none. The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.” (verse 16) By the way, that’s our Lord, he is King for
ever and ever, “the heathen” nations “are perished out of his land. LORD, thou hast heard the desire of
the humble: thou wilt prepare their
heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:” (verse 17) Lord, you’re going to work,
you’re going to establish their heart, you’re going to be gracious because of
who you are, “thou wilt cause thine ear
to hear:” how wonderful he ends all of this, “to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth
may no more oppress.” (verse 18) on behalf of the orphan and the oppressed
[that includes orphans or fatherless by divorce, single moms struggling to
raise a son or daughter, we have plenty of those in our nation today], “that the man of the earth may no more
oppress” that the earthly man no longer have the upper hand and hurt
everybody.
In
Closing
So look, you go through these,
obviously we’re not going to jump into chapter 11. Great Psalms, great songs in Israel, I love
the A Psalm, when we do get to Bethlehem when we’re in Israel it’s a great
study to do out there in the shepherds fields, you think of what David was
seeing, what was in his heart, you know, twenty-seven hundred years ago,
remarkable. If you’re discouraged about
the world we’re living in today, you need encouragement, you read Psalm 9. It’s gonna be made right, there’s one God,
he’s on the throne, he’s going to make it all right, nobody’s getting away with
anything. You read Psalm 10, and we can
exhort one another while it’s day, we should help one another to faith and to
good works. It isn’t wrong to challenge
somebody, it says if you see a brother overtaken in a fault, with a spirit of
meekness, you should seek to restore that one, it isn’t just the pastor’s job,
this is your family too, look around. It’s the best dysfunctional family going. And we’re all adult children of sinning
parents, and so will your kids be. And
it’s incumbent upon all of us, if you see someone, you know they’re
compromising, it’s a detriment to them, you don’t go on a whisper campaign, ‘Hey, you know what? Guess what so and so’s doing?’ no, get on
your knees and pray for them. Don’t go
to a prayer-meeting and say ‘Lord, we
know what so and so is doing,’ it’s just a way of gossiping in the name of
prayer. You pray, and when the Lord
tells you, you go to your brother or your sister privately, and you say ‘Come on, man, you’re blowing it, what’s
going on in your life? be honest with me. I’m going to pray for you.’ and it says to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, that word
“restore” is the word used for restoring a broken bone, it may take six weeks,
it’s not gonna happen in one conversation, it’s not going to happen through one
prayer. Sometimes you need to come along
side of someone for a month, a month and a half and hold them accountable and
pray with them and talk to them, and to help them get back on their feet
again. That’s incumbent upon all of
us. Look, look around the room, these
are God’s kids, they’re blood-bought. [there had to have been something specific he was addressing for his
congregation here. This advice is true,
but how he’s applying Psalm 10 in this regards is somewhat out of context,
where Psalm 10 is specifically talking about “the wicked,” which is not the
backslidden believer by any stretch of the imagination.] He set his glory above the heavens, and yet
he’s mindful of everybody in this room. And there may be people here that are bugging you, but his thoughts
toward them are more than the grains of the sand on the seashore, and good
continually, only. I don’t think that
way. I think things I shouldn’t think
about people that get under my skin. But
the wonderful thing is, he got under our skin, he came and he put our skin on,
and he walked among us, and he died for us, and we’re all in process, all of
us, we’re all in process. So if the
world is frustrating, from the Middle East, to the moral conditions in our
nation, to Boston, all of that [the Marathon bombing must have just taken place
when he gave this sermon], just remember whose on the throne. Remember how this is all going to issue out
in the end. Remember that he so loved
the world that drives you crazy, that he gave his only begotten Son that
whoever believes in him would not perish, that’s how we got in. We’re the “whosoever’s” that should not
perish, but have everlasting life. And
it’s incumbent upon us, then, to give an answer to every man [or woman] for the
hope that we have. We know what the end
of the story is, we know who wins, we have the last chapter, there’s glory
awaiting, there’s a throne, there’s a Kingdom, a majesty, we’re going to shine
like the stars of heaven, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more death, no more
prejudice, no more sickness, no more ill, none of it, it’s all going to be
gone. That’s our future, we’re passing
through. But we want to take as many
with us as possible. Amen? Let’s stand, let’s pray [loud applause]. Read ahead, Psalm 11, 12, 13, however far we
get, read the next three. Hopefully the
Rapture will come first, then you can talk to David about them. ‘Father, we thank you for the privilege we
have to gather, Lord, thank you for these ancient songs. And Lord, your name is wonderful to us Lord,
it’s like ointment poured forth, Lord, the name of the LORD, it’s like the balm of Gilead,
Lord, it’s an ointment, it’s healing, Lord to us, sweeter than honey Lord
Jesus. We love to say your name, Lord
Jesus [Yeshua], and all that it brings to our hearts. And Lord we are still growing in grace and in
the knowledge of who you are Lord, we read these things, and they stir our
hearts, but honestly Lord, sometimes we don’t feel like you’re thinking about
us all day with only good thoughts. Sometimes Lord because of the way we’ve been brought up, or Lord we’ve
been caught in a legalistic situation Lord, sometimes we think you’re making a
list, checking it twice, we get you confused, Lord, that you’re watching us to
find us messing up, Lord. Lord, this
evening give us your Word, give us your Word, Lord, in our hearts, that we
might believe that your thoughts towards us are more than the grains of sand,
and good continually only. Lord, when
the world overwhelms us, Lord, when wickedness seems to be ruling the day,
Lord, remind us, Lord, that you will rule, that you’ll deal out justice, that
you’ll care for the poor, the afflicted, that things will be made right, Lord. And we agree with David, Lord, let the
nations be brought to their knees and the hot-shots, Lord, that they might
realize that they are only men, and you alone are the LORD of Lords and the King of
kings. Now Father we put all of these things before you, Lord don’t let us in
the machinations of our minds, sort through stuff and think we can get away
with something that you don’t’ say, Lord, keep us from any of those
calculations of our mind, Lord. As sons
and daughters, continue to raise us up, Lord, into your image, Lord. As we sing this last song let it be a sweet
savour before your throne, Lord Jesus, we pray in your name, for your glory,
amen.’…[connective expository sermon on Psalms 8:1-9; 9:1-20; 10:1-18, given by
Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue,
Philadelphia, PA 19116.]
related links:
God’s going to come, put down
the wicked and straighten everything out. See, http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm
God created the vast universe,
the heavens and the earth. see,
http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/Does%20God%20Exist.html
|