[0:00] I ask you to take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 33. Psalm 33. Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous.
[0:13] It is fitting for the upright to praise Him. Praise the Lord with the harp. Make music to Him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to Him a new song.
[0:24] Play skillfully and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true. He is faithful in all He does.
[0:36] The Lord loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of His unfailing love. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry hosts by the breath of His mouth.
[0:53] He gathers the waters of the sea into jars. He puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the people of the world revere Him.
[1:07] For He spoke, and it came to be. He commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations.
[1:18] He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand forever. The purposes of His heart through all generations.
[1:31] Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. The people He chose for His inheritance. From heaven, the Lord looks down and sees all mankind.
[1:43] From His dwelling place, He watches all who live on earth. He who forms the hearts of all. Who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army.
[2:00] No warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance. Despite all its great strength, it cannot save.
[2:12] But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him. On those whose hope is in His unfailing love. To deliver them from death.
[2:23] And keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In Him, our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name.
[2:37] May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord. Even as we put our hope in you. I invite you to turn to Psalm 33.
[2:49] If you don't already have your Bibles open there. As you know, there are 150 Psalms in the Psalter. And many of them are calling on us to praise the Lord.
[3:01] But none of them call upon us to praise the Lord without giving us the reasons why. Search for yourself. You won't find them. I did.
[3:12] I searched, I should say. I didn't find them. When calling us to praise Him, the Lord always gives us reasons why. Now that's significant for a couple reasons.
[3:24] First off, it reveals that God means for our worship to be directed and controlled by our minds. By rational thoughts about Him.
[3:37] Yes, God wants our emotions as we find in this Psalm. He wants our emotions involved in worship. But not in a way that bypasses the mind. It's quite possible to whip up any crowd into emotional pitch.
[3:54] Without any words even being spoken. But no, God doesn't do that. He lifts us to emotional praise through the mind.
[4:06] He comes at our emotions by way of our intellect. Telling us who He is, what He's done, what He's said. So we don't check our minds at the door when we come to worship and just come in here and emote and have good feelings.
[4:19] Rather, a call to worship is a call to put on your thinking caps. We need to know the reasons why we ought to praise the Lord. Secondly, the fact that God gives us reasons for praising the Lord reveals that God knows that we don't always feel like praising the Lord.
[4:41] Sometimes He finds us quite out of sorts with joyful praise. And so this is God stooping to our weakness to fit us and prepare us for worship that we might offer to Him the worship He's so deserving of.
[4:58] And that's important because it's precisely when we don't feel like worshiping the Lord that we most need to worship the Lord. Because praise focuses our minds on Him, not leaving us groveling in thoughts of our problems.
[5:19] You see, He doesn't leave us to be slaves to our emotions, to be controlled by them. The truth sets us free. Truth about our God. And so praising the Lord doesn't leave us as it finds us, but lifts us in our minds, in our emotions, and our will to the Lord Himself.
[5:39] So if 2021 hasn't gotten off to the rip-roar and start that you would have hoped it would have, and the future looks a bit gloomy and leaves your spirit a bit gloomy in your emotions, Psalm 33 is calling you to joyfully praise the Lord and would stir you up to it by telling you reasons why.
[6:02] So there's three points to this Psalm. There's the introductory call to praise the Lord, one to three. There's the main body of the Psalm, reasons for praising the Lord. This is by far the longest, verses 4 to 19.
[6:15] And then a conclusion, our response to this Lord that we are praising, verses 20 through 22. So we begin with the call to praise the Lord. God wants to be praised.
[6:28] He commands it. He deserves it. And He delights in it. And I should think if there were no other reason than this, that God delights in the praises of His people, that that should be enough to gather us together.
[6:41] If we got nothing from it, our God gets something from it. He takes pleasure, so much pleasure that the scriptures say that He dwells in the midst of the praises of His people.
[6:56] Well, who is it that's called to praise the Lord? Now, we're going to see things about this Psalm that aren't true of every Psalm. And let me just start that with the who. Who's being called to praise the Lord?
[7:07] Other Psalms call on everything that has what? Breath to praise the Lord. Life and breath. Praise the Lord. This Psalm is calling upon the righteous to praise the Lord.
[7:20] Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous. It is fitting for the upright to praise Him. So, this is one of the most common ways that God speaks of His people, especially in the Old Testament.
[7:34] You have the righteous and the wicked. And the righteous is a reference to His people. There are people who are legally right with God.
[7:45] If you could go into the courtroom of heaven, you would find God the judge. And He could open the books on these people.
[7:56] And He could look at the books, all of His commands, and examine them, He who knows everything about them. And He could bring His gavel down and say, They are right with Me.
[8:10] There is nothing wrong with them and the law. They stand in a position of righteousness. Nothing outstanding, nothing to punish them for.
[8:23] They are right. They are righteous. There are people like that. And you say, well, how can that be if we're all sinners and have come short of the glory of God?
[8:33] Well, of course, it's because of what our Savior has done in taking the sins of His people upon Himself and then going to the cross and receiving the punishment that was due to us, that by His blood, our sins might be covered, wiped away, paid in full, so that they're no longer on the page for God to see.
[8:58] But rather, He sees the righteousness of Jesus put to our account, His obedience, His blood. And so there's nothing but righteousness. And God can say, that man, that woman, that young person is right with Me.
[9:14] In that sense, God's people, all of them are righteous. And that's what the psalm before that Pastor just read from, in Psalm 32, you see it, verses 1 and 2.
[9:24] Blessed is He whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. There's only one thing that covers sins effectually, and that's the blood of Jesus.
[9:36] Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against Him, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Well, the reason they're not counted against us and not found on the books of heaven is because they were counted against our Savior, and He paid for them in full.
[9:53] So they're righteous in that sense. We have an imputed righteousness. Christ's righteousness has been put to our account. But there's another reason we're called righteous, and that's because of an imparted righteousness.
[10:08] We not only receive Christ's obedience put to our record in heaven, but we receive Christ's spirit put in our hearts on earth. And He comes to our hearts, and He finds every one of us liars and deceivers, and He makes us righteous in whom there is not this guile and deceit.
[10:29] And rather, we're sincere with our God. And so we're not perfect, but we are being made perfect, and one day will be, and the change from what we were to what we are is so drastic that we're now called righteous.
[10:45] We have His righteous spirit in us who is making us careful to keep His commands. So in two ways, the people of God are called righteous, and that's who's being called here to praise the Lord.
[11:00] All of God's people called to praise Him. Secondly, let's look at how we are to praise the Lord. I think we've got some five instructions here. We're to praise the Lord with sung praise.
[11:13] Sing joyfully to the Lord. Now again, spoken praise is commanded as well, but God wants sung praise as well.
[11:26] Praise put to music. Verse 2, praise the Lord with a harp. Make music to Him on the ten-string lyre. Sing to Him. Play skillfully.
[11:36] Thank the Lord for our musicians who play in a way to enhance worship rather than detract from worship. It's a blessing. And God wants to be praised, yes, with our lips, but He also wants to be praised with our song.
[11:53] Secondly, how are we to praise the Lord? With exuberant, joyful praise. Sing joyfully to the Lord. Verse 3, shout for joy. In other words, God does want our emotions engaged in worship.
[12:07] He doesn't want us sitting as bumps on the log. He wants us enthused about worship, joyful about worship, excited about worship. When do you hear shouts of joy?
[12:20] In the Bible, it's referred to as when a country comes back from war, and there's shouts of joy when they're victorious.
[12:32] Think of the ticker tape parades and the joys of victory after war. You might shout for joy when your favorite sports team pulls out a nail-biter at the end and wins in the final seconds, and you give a shout for joy.
[12:52] Well, good for you. But what about the people around you when you worship? Is there anything about the way you sing that would make them say, he's excited, she's excited to have God for her God?
[13:07] That's what God wants. He wants exuberant, joyful praise. It's a glory to him. Now, I know there are times when we're sad and grieving, and I know there are psalms that call us to lament, and we sing, we have not loved thee as we ought, nor feared thee, or obeyed thee as we ought.
[13:29] Yes, but there are also songs of praise, and God means for us, even as we're sorrowing, to praise the Lord, and to rejoice even through our tears.
[13:44] Third, how are we to praise him? With fresh praise. Sing to him a new song, verse 3 says. And that doesn't mean that it has to be a song we never sung before. No, what it's saying is we need to bring new energy, new thoughtfulness, new thankfulness to the song, even if we've sung it a hundred times.
[14:08] And so we sang again this morning, Jesus paid it all. That wasn't a new song in the sense that we never sung it, but I hope that as you sang it, you sang with fresh praise, because you have fresh sins that have been forgiven since the last time you sang that, and you now sing, praise the Lord, he paid it all, all my sins.
[14:33] And that gives you a new song to sing. Shouldn't new mercies deserve a new song? And our mercies come daily, and so our song of praise ought to be forever fresh and new.
[14:48] And then fourth, it's targeted praise. Notice we're told to sing to the Lord. We're to praise him. We're to sing to him.
[15:00] It's targeted praise. It's not just letting our songs of praise just aimlessly float up to the ceiling. No, we're singing to this grand audience of one.
[15:12] Yes, we sing to each other, but the primary audience in the sung praises of God is God himself. We sing into his ear. He inhabits the praises of Israel.
[15:23] And so it's a directed praise to him. All too easy to forget the one we're here worshiping.
[15:34] I say that as a pastor. I say it as a worshiper who sits here and sings and prays and hears the word read. It's too easy to miss him in our worship.
[15:46] No, singing is to aim our worship directly to him and to sing into his ear. Targeted praise. And then lastly, it's fitting praise.
[15:57] It's fitting for the upright to praise him. Just the fact that he made you, the sinner, righteous. That he's calling you a righteous person.
[16:10] One that he's made righteous legally and is making righteous in your heart and life. If he never did anything more for us, wouldn't that be enough?
[16:20] Wouldn't it be fitting for us to sing a song of praise energetically to him? Oh, but he has done a whole lot more for us.
[16:32] And that's where the rest of the song comes in. So, there's the call. The call to worship. To praise. And who's to do it.
[16:44] And how it's to be done. And so when your present tense is full of troubles and the future tense looks a bit ominous and more unpromising, is there enough in God to set your heart to joyfully singing his praise?
[17:00] That's the question. The opening call makes it look like there is. So, let's dig in. The reasons to praise the Lord.
[17:13] Verses 4 to 21. The first reason given. For the word of the Lord is right and true. He is faithful in all he does. I wonder if we're coming to treasure more and more this book of 100% truth.
[17:31] It's becoming increasingly difficult, isn't it? To know that what is being claimed is true or not.
[17:43] Some things that are true are being called false news. Some things that are false news are being called true.
[17:55] And here we sit in Bremen, Indiana. And how are we to know what's happening out there in these places that we can't see?
[18:07] How are we to know what is right? What is true? Our times ought to be making this book more precious to us.
[18:25] What's it worth to have the very word of the right and true God speaking to us and to know that what he says is right and true. That every word of God is flawless.
[18:37] Psalm 1830. Young people, you can build your life on this truth and never be disappointed. No, you can stake your whole eternity on this truth and never regret it.
[18:54] It's right and true. It never changes. So many scientific and psychological and political theories of man. Their ideas come and they go, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
[19:08] Here's the word forever settled in heaven. The unvarnished truth. This is the book that defines reality. You want to know what's really going on in the world today? Here it is.
[19:19] Unvarnished. 100% true. Every word. People don't know what's real anymore. And so they live their own reality, which is a lie.
[19:32] And so far off of what is real. They don't know the problem. How will they ever know the solution? Jesus told Pilate, everyone on the side of truth listens to me.
[19:46] That's the Lord Jesus. And Pilate responds, what is truth? What is truth? Well, the word of the Lord is right and true. And we have it.
[19:56] And we have it in our language. Jeremiah has a question concerning the self-proclaimed wisdom of the world, of people of the world. And Jeremiah 8, 9, since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?
[20:11] Well, they have worldly wisdom. The wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God. So you righteous ones, what's it worth to have a hundred percent true word from God in a world of lies?
[20:28] He exalts his name and his word above everything else. So let's exalt it in 2021. Let's devour it. Let's read it and reread it.
[20:39] Let's meditate on it. Let's think about it. Let's let's memorize it. Let's fellowship about it. Let's talk about it. Let's walk in it. Let's love it. Let's know it.
[20:49] Let's hunger and thirst for it. Let's rejoice in it. Receiving the truth and the love of it. Let's cling to it and not let go. And be moved from it.
[21:01] And let's praise the Lord for it. For the word of the Lord is right and true. Now. If you're watching other news networks more than you're tuning into the good news networks, let me challenge you to switch that.
[21:17] Okay. In 2021. To get your news. More news from the good news network than any other network. Verse four goes on to say he is faithful in all he does.
[21:33] All he says is right and true and all he does is faithful to what he said. You won't find a discrepancy between what God says and what God does.
[21:44] He is faithful in all he does. Faithful to what? Faithful to what he has said. Faithful to what he is. God is not a man that he should lie.
[21:57] Nor a son of man that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and then not fulfill? No, he does. He is faithful in all he does.
[22:09] So if you've got the word of the Lord, you can be sure that he's going to be faithful to do exactly what he said. That's the glory of every gospel promise that calls on you to repent and to come to Christ.
[22:23] Did he say that? He will do that. He will do it this morning. Whoever you are and whatever you've done, if you'll put your faith in Jesus Christ and turn from going your own way and come and throw yourself on God to have mercy upon you in Jesus Christ, he will save you because he is faithful to his word.
[22:44] But then notice in verse 6, not only is his word right and true, it is a powerful word. It is an all-creating word. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
[23:00] The vastness of the heavens is something that our scholars are having trouble understanding. How big the heavens are, the universe is.
[23:12] The starry host. How many stars are there in the starry host? And every time I preach on this, I go back and start looking on the internet and seeing what our scholars are saying.
[23:27] And the numbers just keep rising. It's somewhere around 300 sextillion stars, they estimate. That's a three followed by 23 zeros.
[23:38] And spread out over a universe that they say to go from one end of it to the other would take you 93 billion years traveling at the speed of light.
[23:51] That's 600 million miles per hour. That's how fast you're going. And it would take you 93 billion years just to get from the edges, from one edge to the other, of this spance that God has created.
[24:06] But his purpose here in Isaiah 33 is not to get us counting the stars and to measuring the expanse, but to thinking about the one who made it. And more importantly, the way that he made it.
[24:20] By the word of the Lord were the heavens made. This vast expanse made. And the starry host by the breath of his mouth.
[24:32] He spoke. And it came into being. Verse 8 says, This is reason for all the earth to fear the Lord. So we've been called to praise him, but this is enough to call the whole world to worship him, to fear him.
[24:49] Why? Because he spoke. And it came to be. He commanded and it stood firm. What is this word of the Lord?
[25:03] That he just speaks and nothing becomes something. Is that not worth a song of joy? Joyful praise? That he can speak blessing into your life?
[25:17] He can speak life into dead hearts? That he who said, Let there be light. Made his light to shine in our hearts so that we could see the gospel of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
[25:33] Praise the Lord. Why? For his word. It's true. And it's all powerful. Secondly, not only for his word, we praise the Lord for this reason.
[25:48] His unfailing love. Verse 5 says, The earth is full of his unfailing love. To those with eyes to see it, we can see his love everywhere.
[26:00] Even in this fallen, cursed world, we still see God's love everywhere. It's overflowing in our daily bread.
[26:13] Did you eat before you came to church? You've already eaten the unfailing love of God flowing to you. You'll probably do it again when you get home. And he's giving us life and breath and everything else and senses.
[26:28] Five of them in a world full of things to satisfy and thrill those senses. His unfailing love fills the earth. Is that not worth a new song of praise?
[26:41] As I say, we've been tasting that unfailing love for another week. Let's bring fresh praise to God for it. And then thirdly, we praise the Lord for his righteousness and justice.
[26:52] Verse 5 says, The Lord loves righteousness and justice. Now, we all know what happens when powerful rulers use their power for evil ends.
[27:05] And so, when we hear that God has this almighty power and he just speaks and things happen, we might back off from that God.
[27:18] Say, I don't want to have anything to do with him. I'm scared of what he might do with that power. But his power is joined to his righteousness and justice.
[27:31] Indeed, it's joined to his love. In fact, it says not only that he is righteous and just, but that he loves righteousness and justice. And he's so in love with righteousness and justice that he made it the foundation of his throne.
[27:45] The foundation of his rule over this universe. He's the king of kings and he rules his world in perfect righteousness and justice.
[27:59] Just wait and see. He's not done yet. It's no small thing for which to praise the Lord. With every injustice suffered or seen.
[28:12] Here's a resting place. There's a God. Who is righteous and just and loves it. And then fourthly, he. Why praise him for his sovereign rule of providence?
[28:25] Verses 10 and 11. The Lord foils the plans of the nations. He thwarts the purpose of the people. Kids, you don't use those words all the time. Foiling and thwarting. It just means that he he messes up their plans so that they aren't fulfilled.
[28:39] They're making plans. But God throws the monkey wrench into the works. And and it doesn't come out like they were planning. He foils. He foils. He thwarts the purposes of the people.
[28:51] But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever. The purposes of his heart to all generations. Now that speaks of a sovereign rule of providence that he we can't.
[29:05] We can't bring all of our plans to fruition. Even our smallest plans get frustrated. Why? Because we don't control all the variables. But the sovereign in heaven does control all the variables in his universe.
[29:19] He rules over them all. And therefore. His purposes. Are always. Fulfilled. His plans are always.
[29:31] Brought to pass. And if the plans of powerful nations conflict with his plans. He thwarts them. You remember that.
[29:43] Nation of Egypt. And they had plans for the Israelites. First to be their slaves forever. And God had other plans for his people. Israel. To be.
[29:55] His worshipers. To take them into a promised land. So. So here's a clash of wills. Well. Ten plagues later. We see. Pharaoh's plan is being frustrated.
[30:05] And thwarted. And God's plan is being fulfilled. And then it comes to the. The Red Sea. And. After saying. Okay. Get out of here. You're ruining our country.
[30:16] After their firstborn was killed. They changed their mind. And Pharaoh changed his mind. And we have this in Exodus 15. Here's the plan. Of the nation of Egypt. The enemy boasted.
[30:27] I will pursue. I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils. I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword. And my hand will destroy them. That was the plan of the nations.
[30:39] Next verse. But you Lord. Blew with your breath. And the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. So much for their plans. The Lord thwarted them.
[30:51] He foiled them. And it's easy to God. It's not something difficult. Remember he speaks. And things happen. Just a. Puff of breath.
[31:03] With his breath. He blew. And the sea covered them. Now that means that. We can be sure. That whatever is happening. In our nation.
[31:13] In the world. That if it's happening. It's part of God's plan. And purpose. We can know that. Because the plan and purpose of God. Is never.
[31:24] Ever. Frustrated. Never. Foiled. The plans of the Lord. Stand firm. Forever. So it's the Lord's plan.
[31:35] That is being fulfilled. You say. Yeah. But there's so much evil. Involved in the. The way things are going. That's right. God's plan.
[31:46] Is big enough to. Take into account. All the evil of men. Their culpable evil. They are guilty. They will. Stand before God. In judgment. And pay for their evil. And yet.
[31:57] God uses it. In a mysterious way. As we sang. His wonders. To perform. And Calvary. Is the biggest side of it. That Calvary. Is the biggest scene. Of this. This. This grand God.
[32:08] Nothing more wicked. Has ever happened. In our. Our human history. Than the crucifixion. Of the righteous one. And yet. What did God do?
[32:21] He. He says. This is part of my plan. You better believe that. With all your heart. God didn't leave. The death of Jesus. Up to chance. No. It was in his plan.
[32:32] It will stand. He will die. A bloody death. And it happened. At the hands of wicked men. To fulfill. The predestined plan. Of God.
[32:43] And so he took. What was bloody. Evil. And he turned it. To the greatest good. For his people. Indeed. For anyone. Who will repent. And come to Christ. Was that not worth.
[32:55] A joyful song. To praise. Him. Even after. A bad week. His plan. Is being fulfilled. God. And it will stand. Firm. Forever.
[33:07] Why praise the Lord. Number five. For his choosing us. To be his people. Verse 12. Blessed is the nation. Whose God is the Lord. The people. He chose.
[33:18] For his inheritance. Now you can go. Many places. In the New Testament. And see that. If you're a child of God. You're a child of God. Because he chose you. Before the creation of the world.
[33:29] He chose to save you. Blessed is the nation. Whose God is the Lord. Israel. Was the one nation. The descendants of Abraham.
[33:41] Was the one nation. Among all the nations of the world. That the Lord chose. To be his own. And now. In the New Covenant. That nation.
[33:54] Has been pruned. And. The offspring of Abraham. That don't believe in Jesus. They have been pruned. Out of the nation of Israel.
[34:04] Romans chapter 11. And. Jews and Gentiles. Who believe in Jesus. Have been grafted. Into. The stock of Israel. We are the nation.
[34:17] Of God. We are the Israel of God. Peter. Tells us that. In first Peter 2. 9 and 10. But you. You are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood.
[34:28] You are a holy nation. Not the United States of America. The church of Jesus Christ. You are a holy nation. That you may declare the praises of him.
[34:42] Who called you out of darkness. Into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people. You were not a nation. But now you are. The people. The nation. Of God.
[34:53] Once you had not received mercy. But now. You have received. Mercy. How blessed then. To belong to the people of God. And to have the Lord. As your God.
[35:04] Is that you? If so. It's worth a joyful song. Every day. And if not. Why not? Because he's willing. And he's able. And he'll receive you.
[35:16] If you come. Turn from your sin. And cast yourself on his mercy. What a king. What a nation. And notice. He chose us.
[35:27] To be his. Inheritance. Did you see that? Verse 12 ends. The people he chose. For his inheritance. You know what your inheritance is.
[35:37] As a Christian. We looked at that. In first Peter. Chapter one. That we have an inheritance. In heaven. Never perish. Spoil and fade. Well he himself. Is our inheritance.
[35:48] The Bible says. He's given himself. To us. If children. Then heirs. Heirs of God. And he gives himself. To us. As. Our.
[35:58] Inheritance. We inherit God. As we heard. In our worship. This God. Being for us. But what is this? That God.
[36:10] Chose us. To be his inheritance. So. So we get him. And he gets us. Say.
[36:23] We got the better of that. Didn't we? Is that not worth a song? That we would have him. As our inheritance. But even. That God would count us. As his inheritance.
[36:34] As his treasured. Possession. As his delight. That as a husband. As a bridegroom. Rejoices over his bride. So your God. Will rejoice. Over you.
[36:45] That's the. Uninventable God. No one would ever. Invent. A God who would. Who would. So bless his people. By calling us.
[36:55] His inheritance. That's why. We ought to praise him. He's chose us. To be. His inheritance. Why praise the Lord.
[37:07] Sixly. Because his all. Seeing eyes. And of his protection. For his own. Notice the all inclusive language. Verses 13 to 15.
[37:18] The all's. And the everything. Verse 13. From heaven. The Lord looks down. And sees. All mankind. From his dwelling place. He watches. All who live.
[37:29] On the earth. He who forms. The hearts. Of all. Who considers. Everything. That they. Do. So he sees. Everyone. And everything.
[37:42] They do. That means. He sees you. And everything. You do. Now that's a double-edged sword.
[37:53] This spells comfort. For the righteous. And terror. For the wicked. Right? The fact that God sees. Everyone. Everyone. And everything.
[38:04] If. If. Anything. Argues. For the patience. Of God. Is that. Do you know what he had to see this week? What he has to see.
[38:16] Every week. Do you know the children. Murdered in the womb. The bloodshed. In the womb. And on the streets. That God watched. And saw.
[38:27] Every day. Every week. The lies. The deceit. The cheating. The sexual immorality.
[38:38] God's eyes. See it all. I say. If. If we're not. In hell already. It's. It's the strongest argument. For the patience. And grace. Of God. He's not dealt with.
[38:50] This. This world. This nation. This pastor. As. As we deserve. To be dealt with. Because he sees it all. And. We're still here. Sees.
[39:03] And that's. A terror. To the wicked. And a comfort. To the righteous. The eyes of the Lord. Are in every place. Beholding the evil. And the good. Now that's just. The outworking.
[39:14] Of what we saw. In verse five. That the Lord. Loves righteousness. And justice. How can he be a righteous. And just judge. If he doesn't see everything. And know everything. That's going on. In his universe.
[39:25] Oh he does see. He does know. And he not only sees. Their every action. You notice it says. That he who forms. The hearts of all. Children. He's not talking about. The muscle. That's pumping blood.
[39:35] Through your body. He's talking about. The center of your being. Of your personality. The mind. As it thinks. The affections. As they desire. And the will. As it chooses. The heart.
[39:47] The control center. God forms. The hearts of all. And forming your heart. He knows every nook and cranny. Of your thoughts. Your desires. And your.
[39:58] Your choices. Your will. He not only sees. Your action. He sees. The underlying. Motivation. Of why.
[40:08] You do. So. So. So. I see. You're here. This morning. But God sees. Why you're here. This morning. You see the difference. So. God sees. The thoughts. And intentions.
[40:19] Of the heart. Not just the outward actions. And you know. That's why. He's the only one. Qualified. To be the final judge. Because no action. Can be rightly evaluated.
[40:31] Without knowing the heart. The ultimate judgment. Must be left to God. Because only he knows. The heart. I'm not saying.
[40:42] We don't have judges. And they know. They must judge. On what they do know. The Bible is clear about that. I'm saying. That's why the Bible. Tells us to judge. Nothing before the appointed time. To wait for him.
[40:56] Wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light. What is hidden in darkness. He will expose. The motives of men's heart. And at that time. Each will receive. Their praise from God.
[41:07] Are you frustrated. That people are getting away. With murder. Getting away. With all kinds of sins. And crimes. Oh they're not. Jesus is coming again.
[41:19] And God will judge the world. By that man. That he has appointed. There is a moral governor. There. Now it is the thought. Of the wicked. That they're. They're pulling the wool. Over God's eyes.
[41:30] Even if they acknowledge. The existence of God. That he. He doesn't immediately. Judge them. They get away with it. They. They think. Well then he doesn't see. Or he doesn't care. Absolutely wrong.
[41:42] That's the wrong conclusion. To draw from his patience. The right conclusion. Is God is being. Very patient. With you. If he. If he judged you today. You'd be in hell.
[41:53] But he's being. Patient. With you. There is a moral government. There's a moral governor. And he sees all. And everything. He's not sleeping.
[42:05] He's not missing the thing. And every evil doer. Finds in that. A reason. To fear. It's all going to be. Brought up against him. In the day of judgment.
[42:16] His sins are not. Under the blood. They're not covered. But the righteous. Have every reason. For comfort. When I'm mistreated. And nobody else knows it.
[42:28] When I suffer injustice. And it's. It's pain. Just will not go away. And I want to see that person. Paid back. But I'm told. No. I got to be rid of that.
[42:39] Kind of. A hard attitude. Where. Where. Where do we go for help. We say. Oh God. You are judge. Forgive me. That ever I would try to scoot you over. And do your work for you.
[42:50] You will judge. Because. You know everything. And so we're told. Be still. Be still.
[43:01] Before the Lord. And wait patiently for him. Do not fret. Don't get all stirred up. When men succeed in their ways. And when they carry out their wicked schemes.
[43:12] Refrain from anger. And turn away from wrath. Do not fret. It only leads to evil. Oh God's got it. Let him have it.
[43:24] And go on doing good. Trusting in the Lord. And he will make all things right. At the last judgment. Does that not tune your harp?
[43:36] To want to sing a song of praise to God. As you live in a world so full of injustice. One of the things that God is.
[43:46] Very interested. In observing. As he looks down. On all who live in the world. Is the hearts. Of men. And.
[43:58] What their responses are. To trouble. Where do they put their hope. And trust. Where do they run. In times of. Trouble.
[44:09] What do they lean on. For help. Either God. Or some God substitute. That's the only choices. There are. The arm of the flesh. Our own resources. Our own ingenuity.
[44:20] False saviors. Or the only savior. That's. One of the things. He's. He's watching. When people get in trouble. And trouble comes to them.
[44:32] He mentions two troubles. War. And famine. But it's not limited to these. We could. Throw. Every trouble. Into that. Where. Where do we lean?
[44:43] Well. He first shows. The futility. Of trusting. In God's substitutes. Verses. 16 and 17. No king. Is saved. By the size. Of his army. Now. This has ever been.
[44:54] The trust of nations. And the trust. Of kings. Just watch. Their proud show. Of strength. At their military. Parades. And they bring. Their weaponry. And their men.
[45:05] Marching. In lockstep. Through the city. And the cheering. Of the mob. Our military. Is bigger. And better. Than yours. But that doesn't. Secure victory.
[45:15] For the king. And history. Clearly records that. I hope you're reading. Your old testaments. There are no more. Exciting stories.
[45:26] Than the bible's. History. And you read. About nations. And wars. Do you know. That the biggest. Armies. Don't always win.
[45:38] That's what you find. In the bible. That's what you find. In history. World history. Gideon's 300. Against the horde. Of the Midianite.
[45:48] Army. One angel. Killing 185. Thousand. Syrians. Nothing can hinder. The lord. From saving. Whether by many.
[45:59] Or by few. No king. Is saved. Saved. By the size. Of his army. But many. Kings. Trust. In the size. Of their armies. And then.
[46:11] Back then. Much of the warfare. Was hand to hand. Combat. Wasn't it? So. Strong. Manly men. Might. Flex their muscles. Trusting in their.
[46:21] Superior strength. Over the enemy. But our text says. No warrior. Escapes. By his great strength. So you might. Trust in your great strength.
[46:31] But. No warrior. No warrior. Escapes. By his great strength. There was once. A strong warrior. That met up with a.
[46:42] Little teenage. Boy. With a slingshot. And he learned. That he did not escape. By his own great strength. There was once. A woman. Jail.
[46:53] And a mighty. Captain. Of the. Enemies of. Jehovah. Named Sisera. And she put a.
[47:05] Tent spade. A tent peg. Through his temple. And drove it. With a hammer. Into the ground. No warrior. Escapes. By his own great strength. But. Many a warrior.
[47:17] Trusts. In his own great strength. And in those days. The chariot. And horse. Were like. The tanks. Of world war two. So the nations. And even Israel. Found themselves.
[47:28] Often trusting. In their horses. And trusting. In their chariots. And cavalry. They will give us. The upper hand. And surely. Secure. The victory. But verse 17.
[47:38] Says a horse. Is a vain hope. For deliverance. Despite all. Its great strength. It cannot save. I believe. There were some. Horses. And chariots.
[47:49] Made their way. After the Israelites. Into the. Red Sea. Wasn't there. Well. What happened. To those mighty tanks. Of horses. Well. They sank like lead.
[48:01] To the bottom. That's the history. Of this world. And yet. People trust. In their own resources. People trust. In their own strength.
[48:11] Their own money. In the bank. Their own. Medical insurance. Their government. Their. Anything. And everything. But God. And you see. That's what God. Is looking for. What are men.
[48:21] Trusting in. Oh. Don't put your trust. In. In any of these. God substitutes. And now.
[48:32] The psalm. Shifts. From the feudal. Trust. Of the wicked. To the. Safe protection. Of the righteous. They're described. In verse 18. As those who fear. The Lord. And hope.
[48:42] In his unfailing love. A sharp contrast. Is being made. With those who trust. In. The God substitutes. Verse 18. But. The eyes of the Lord.
[48:53] Are on those who fear him. On those whose hope. Is in his unfailing. Love. To deliver them from death. And to keep them alive. In famine. Why is his eye upon them?
[49:04] To deliver them from death. And to keep. Them alive. In famine. You see. God's eye is on his people too. But it's not a threat to them.
[49:15] Because. His eye is on them for good. To protect them. To deliver them. He sees your plight brother. He sees your danger.
[49:26] Sister. He sees what threatens you. What troubles you. And he also sees your reverent fear of him. That you hold him higher than any. One or thing else.
[49:37] In the world. And he sees your hope. In his unfailing love. And so he helps you. And he protects you. And delivers you. And keeps you alive.
[49:48] In face of all dangers. We are immortal. We are invincible. Until God's time. To call us home. So God's looking at your heart.
[49:59] In troubles. Big or small. Right now in your life. Right now in my life. Where is he putting his trust? Where is he seeking. Help from. Where is he leaning.
[50:10] The weight of his soul. To help him. In his troubles. The all seeing eye of God. Can see that. Only God can see that. And where he sees our hope is in him.
[50:24] He comes with his hand. To protect them. Is that not worth a shout. Of joy. In our praise. For him. So we've seen the call to praise the Lord.
[50:37] Who and how. We've seen the reasons. To praise the Lord. And folks. Just again. As you know. To be reading your Bible. Is to be bumping into them every day.
[50:49] Isn't it? Reasons. That could be a subtitle. Of the Holy Scriptures. Reasons to praise the Lord. Every day. I hope you're finding them. And I hope you're doing that. Turning.
[51:00] God's word. To praise. So the reasons have been given. Now the conclusion. What is our response to this God. So worthy of praise. Well. We wait in hope for the Lord.
[51:12] Verses 20 and 21. We wait in hope for the Lord. He is our help. And our shield. Our hearts. In him. Our hearts rejoice. For we trust in his holy name. So let others trust in chariots and horses.
[51:24] But we will trust in the name of the Lord our God. Why wouldn't we? He himself is our help. You will never be in trouble. Where you'll need more help. Than what he is. For you. He's your help.
[51:38] And he's your shield. He's the one who comes between you. And every danger. Everything that threatens you. He's always there. He's your shield. All around you. Why wouldn't we?
[51:50] Trust in him. And put our hope. In him. He will either foil the plan. That is coming against us. Or if he lets it through. It will only be in order to do us good.
[52:03] Now that's the kind of protection that he has for his own who put their hope in him. And notice the fruit. Of trusting and hoping in the Lord. In him.
[52:15] Our hearts rejoice. For we trust in his holy name. Joy. Is the fruit of trust. Real joy.
[52:26] Real peace. That comes from believing. So we don't have to come to church. And paste a happy face on our. Or a happy smile on our face. And pretend to be. Happy and joyful.
[52:39] No. The heart. That has been thinking. About his God. Is overwhelmed with joy. That he should be my God. And I should be one of his people.
[52:50] And he's all this. For me. Summarized by. Saying he's my help. And my shield. That's joy. Whatever our circumstances.
[53:02] We found enough in him. In who he is. And what he is for us. To sing our joyful praise. To the Lord. And then the psalm ends. With a petition. You see. Praising doesn't leave us. As it finds us.
[53:13] It moves us. To prayer. It moves us. To. From praise. To petition. And that's where it ends. In verse 22. With a petition. And the connection. Should be easy enough.
[53:24] To follow. Praise fixes our eyes. On God. Seeing afresh. Who he is. What he said. What he's promised. What he's done. And what he will do. And that inspires us.
[53:35] To ask. Ask. And to ask big. And to ask with strength and faith. And so we come. And verse 22. Is really just pleading the promise of verse 18.
[53:50] To deliver us. You promised Lord. To deliver those who fear you. And hope in your unfailing love. Now may your unfailing love. Rest upon us. For we trust.
[54:02] We hope. We put our hope. In you. Praising the Lord. Leads to better praying. Leads to better love. Better joy. Better peace.
[54:13] Better hope. Better trust. So when we do not praise the Lord. In our troubles. We're not only robbing God. Of the glory that should be his. But we're robbing ourselves.
[54:25] Of food. For our joy. Our peace. Our hope. Our trust. Happy. Happy. Is the people. Whose God.
[54:35] Is the Lord. This is. Where real. Help. And deliverance. Is found. And especially.
[54:47] Help from. Our greatest problem. Of God's wrath. How you going to handle that my friend.
[54:57] You may get through this world. Somehow. Peacing. And pulling yourself together. But when you stand before almighty God. And if one sin. Is not covered by the blood of Jesus.
[55:07] You will have eternity. In hell. Where. Are you leaning. For your help. From that problem. Oh. Come to Jesus. He's faithful.
[55:19] To his word. And he's promised. To turn none away.