Is Man God? Psalm 82:6-7 - Pastor Chuck Smith - Topical Bible Study

our text this morning is found in this Psalm 82 verse 6 and 7 I have said you are gods and all of you are children of the Most High but you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes back before man existed when God had created the universe and those angelic beings in their various ranks and orders one of the highest order of angelic beings a cherub who ruled got it into his mind and heart to exalt himself to be on a par with God Isaiah 14 tells us how that Satan said I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven and ultimately I will be like the Most High but we are told by Isaiah that instead of arising to the god state he was brought down and cast forth later on when God created man and placed him in the Garden of Eden with that total Liberty with only one exception the tree in the midst of the garden which God had forbidden them to eat we find that Satan came to E and he suggested that the reason why God forbid them to eat of that tree was that in that tree lied the potential of godhood that God was holding back from them something that was desirable he knows Satan said that in the day that you eat of it you will be as the God's knowing good from evil that was back in the beginning of human history and back prior to human history that desire that longing that ambition to be as God through the centuries that same ambition has persisted as in India there were those men who after long periods of fasting meditation and spiritual rituals became avatars which means the embodiment of God in man and men such as Sai Baba Rajneesh and others of these Indian gurus have declared that they are gods incarnate having gone through this avatar state they have become gods and thus are to be reverenced adored worshipped some 57 million Americans watched a couple of years ago on ABC television when they did the miniseries known as out on a limb they saw Shirley MacLaine as she was being guided by David as she was standing there on the beach in Malibu and David was encouraging her to say I am God and the first time she said it it was very hesitatingly and unconvincingly and so David encouraged her say it again with meaning with feeling shirley maclaine repeated I am God I am God and as she repeated over and over she came in to this changed this transition the recognition that indeed she was God many of those who are the adherence of the evolutionary theory are proclaiming that man at the present time is in the next transitional state of the evolutionary process for they point out that in reality every evolutionary change is an evolution of consciousness and they declare that we are now about ready to take this next punctuated equilibrium and some have already gone through the transition and have come into this Universal God consciousness have ascended into the god state the New Age movement is upon us millions of people believe that they have ascended into the god state other millions believe that the gurus of India have ascended into that God state and are going to learn from them the arts of meditation asceticism and all whereby they might make that same transition into this Universal God consciousness the Mormon Church has taught and believed that if you are a faithful Mormon and if your marriage has been sealed in the Mormon temple that when you and your wife die you will ascend into the god state and you will be able to go to one of the millions of planets in this universe and you will be able to have your own family there and as God's over that planet you will be able to watch and to guide the development of that race that you have begun and populated on that planet and this is the hope of every good Mormon the continuance of the family in heaven as God's on your own planet now Brigham Young who was one of their prophets in the Journal of discourses which are his recorded sermons declared that Adam is our God he came to this planet earth with one of his celestial wives Eve and they began the human race and he is our God and the only God with whom we have to do he said the day will come when all men will realize this and your salvation is dependent upon your believing it he also said in that same message I have never said anything in the name of the Lord and printed it and sent it out to the state to the Saints but what it can be accepted on an equal par with the Scriptures now the Mormons do believe that the words of their prophet spoken in the name of the Lord are equivalent to Scripture and on earth and are on a level and a part with the written scriptures now the Mormons have sought of late vehemently to deny what Brigham Young their prophet declared their usual statement is that you have taken the words out of context I would recommend that if you believe that that you read the whole sermon which I have done and I can assure you it is not taken out of context that is the basis of his whole message he said that that Adam came and impregnated Mary and Jesus was the result you can read the whole sermon if you want but the idea is that Adam one of his celestial wise Eve were no doubt good Mormon on another planet in another era and what he did was take their doctrine back one step their doctrine that you will be gods if you are faithful Mormons and that you will have your own planet one day and no doubt going back one step Adam and Eve were faithful Mormons their marriage were was sealed in some Mormon temple on some planet somewhere and they ascended into the god state came to the planet Earth and began the whole human race here on the planet Earth today in many of the charismatic circles some of those men who are the spokesman for the charismatic s' kenneth copeland kenneth Aegon and earl paul and many others are declaring that you are gods this of course is a logical outgrowth of their teaching of naman and claimant to say that you can write your own ticket with god that you by speaking the words of faith can create your own realities and they talk of the power of the spoken word the word of faith you have what you say and in this doctrine God becomes obligated to fulfill every word of faith that you declare God becomes a servant sort of a divine of sorts where you are now in control he must obey your commands that are made in faith and as they declare this heresy the next step logically is you are God because you are the one that is controlling your destiny by your faith and your declarations of faith you are creating your own reality and thus you are God's now both the Mormons and these charismatic s' point to John chapter 10 as their proof text in verse 34 looking at John chapter 10 in its context we read that Jesus was in Jerusalem for the feast of dedication verse 22 and he was walking in the temple precincts on Solomon's porch when he was surrounded by the Jews who demanded that they not that he not keep them in suspense any longer that if he was the Messiah to tell them plainly and Jesus said I have already told you but you didn't believe the works that I do in my father's name they bear witness of me and then he said his own sheep heard his voice knew his voice but because they were not his sheep they did not hear his voice and then he declared I and my father are one verse thirty at this point the Jews took up stones and they were going to stone and Jesus said I've done a lot of wonderful works in your midst for which of these works are you going to stone me and they said we're not gonna stone you because of your works but because you being a man are continually making yourself god and jesus answered them verse 34 is it not written in your law I said Ye are gods so this quotation of Jesus from the law declaring ye are gods is the verse that they have fastened on to to prove that man is God and as God can control his own destiny can create his own reality it is important however to look at this more carefully in the psalm that we read and usually because it said I said Ye are gods they go back to psalm 82:6 our text for this morning where again he said I have said Ye are gods and all of you are the children of the Most High but notice Jesus said in the law the Psalms are not the law they're not the Torah they are the hymn book of Israel wherein the law does it say that you are God's going back to Exodus chapter 21 and chapter 22 Exodus 21 6 deals with a servant who has served out his term but he doesn't want to go free he loves his master his master shall bring him to the judges the word judges there in Hebrew is Elohim bring him to the gods chapter 22 verse 8 again if a thief is not found then the master of the house he'll be brought to the judges the Elohim the gods to see whether he put his hand into his neighbor's goods for all manner of trespass whether it be of an ox and ass sheep Rehman any manner of lost thing which another challenges to be his the cause of both parties shall come before the Elohim the gods judges and whom the gods judges shall condemn he shall pay double unto his neighbor so in the Old Testament in the law God in referring to the judges calls the judges the Elohim or the gods now your God is whatever ideal ambition or passion that governs your life every man has a God every man's life is governed by some ambition some philosophy some ideal some passion for the God is that which is in control of your life that which is determining your destiny and your life and your destiny is being controlled many of you by some ideal or by some ambition when a person stands before a judge and is waiting for that judge to make the decision that person's future is in the hand of that judge what he says goes he is now determining what you are to do and for that reason in the Old Testament those men who were appointed judges were called the eloheem or the gods in that they did rule over the lies they made the decisions that governed a person's life and thus with you whatever force power ambition that governs your life that is your God in the Old Testament the judges received the title as God's now looking at John again in the context where Jesus said I said Ye are gods he is talking to the Jews in the Gospel of John the term Jews is used almost exclusively for the scribes and the Pharisees and the priests who were the judges of the law in that day and thus as judges they Elohim the gods in the psalm in which we found our text psalm 82 notice that this psalm is in that day when god will stand in the congregation of the mighty and what is he going to do and he will judge among the eloheem the judges or the gods it is important for every man who has been placed in the position of a judge to realize that one day he will stand before the judge of the universe God will stand in the congregation of the mighty and he will be judging among the judges the eloheem and so Psalm 82 is a psalm of God's Word and declaration to the eloheem to the judges how long he said will you judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked how long will you be impressed by man and allow that to pervert your judgment the Lord said deliver the poor and the fatherless do justice to the afflicted and the needy deliver the poor and the needy rid them out of the hand of the wicked God is calling for the judges not to honor or respect a person's position whether he be wealthy or poor but to be fair in judgment all the way along the line and then God said for I have said Ye are Elohim you are judges or you are gods and all of you the children of the Most High but the Lord said ye shall die like men you will fall like one of the princes and so the idea that ye are gods applying to you and to me is scripturally a fallacy the reference always in the scripture was to the judges which Jesus was referring to in their law I said Ye are gods referring to the judges of the land in psalm again it is in reference to God dealing with the judges the Elohim and thus in the New Testament Jesus is quoting from these passages but he is not saying that you are God the final cry of Psalm 82 is for God to arise and judge the earth and therein is the true judgment I'm glad that I am NOT my god that my destiny is not in my hands I have made too many foolish mistakes to desire to create my own realities I'm afraid I would create nightmares as I look back in my life I am as thankful for the prayers that God did not answer as I am for the prayers he did answer had God answered a lot of my prayers I would be in big trouble today I'm glad that he is in control and I have no desire to usurp from him that control of my life and my desk I do have no desire at all to make God a servant of mine one who must fulfill my will I am more than happy to surrender myself to his will to be guided and directed by his spirit and by his wisdom I do believe that this idea that you are gods has its origin in Satan Isaiah 14 it was surely that which Satan used to deceive Eve and today the same lie is used to deceive millions of people there are today those people in the new age who are called channelers and people are spending hundreds of dollars to go on weekend seminars to hear them channel the sages of the past mrs. Knight channels Ramtha there is Seth and there are others of these supposed mystics and sages of past history who are speaking their wisdom through these channelers the message is the same what these spirits are saying to the people who are paying several hundred dollars is you are God and they are encouraging people to come to this altered state of consciousness into the universal consciousness of God I believe that channeling is the old-fashioned what we used to call demon possession and that these are demons that are speaking through these people and the message of Satan is the same but I must say that even if it is a charismatic leader that is declaring the same message then I have to be very questionable as to that person's leadership from a spiritual standpoint unfortunately channel 40 is featuring these men constantly and Jen and Paul sort of listened in rapt wonder at their potentials of being gods and it's a tragedy and it's a travesty and we can't just bury our heads in the sand and pretend that it doesn't exist I believe that this classifies is the doctrines of demon I believe that it has its origin in Hell and it would have man to try to take over and to rule his own destiny rather than submitting himself to the true and the Living God the creator of the heavens and the earth but in a sense there is a truth if you are guiding your own destiny if you have rejected Jesus Christ if you have not submitted your life to be controlled by him if you haven't made him Lord and God of your life if you say I am going to do it my way in opposition to his way then you are God little G of your own life and all I can say is God help you shall we pray father how thankful we are that we know the true and the Living God the creator of the heavens and the earth the eternal wise loving God and Lord what a thrill and joy it is and what peace it is to place our lives in your hands to be guided and directed by your spirit Lord we want to give our lives over to your control we want you Lord to control those circumstances that surround us we want you to be in control of our destiny and so we surrender ourselves to you in Jesus name Amen so you might take a look at yourself to find out if you are serving and following capital G OD or little G OD because every man does have a god some people are governed by their own passions their lust rule their lives it has become their God I have noticed that whenever man deifies man or the passions or the lust that it is always an extremely degrading experience to worship and to serve the true in the Living God is a is a enough Iying experience for God makes you more and better than you ever could be in yourself but the moment you start worshipping yourself or worshipping man it's always degrading as an example among the hindu followers of the Hindu religion those who are worshipping Sai Baba are rush nish or any of these other Indian gurus these men who have experienced the avatar who are the embodiment of God according to their beliefs one of the highest privileges as a novice seeking to learn from them to be God is the eating of their feces or the drinking of their urine that you might partake of the gods yourself now that's degrading and so is the worship of false gods if you could only see it it's degrading it takes you down to the filth and the bottom that's why it's so important that we take a look and find out who our God is today am i worshipping and serving the true and the Living God if I am then thank God I am now a son of God by my faith in Jesus Christ and he is conforming me into his image he is making me like himself I'm on the road up but if I'm worshiping my own passions or lust or some man as God I'm on the way down it's a degrading experience God capital G God little G all of your control by one or the other your destiny is being controlled and it's really your choice it's the one you choose to submit to to surrender your future to I'm so thankful my future is in his capital H hand if you'd like to surrender your life to Jesus Christ today I'd encourage you go back to the prayer room pastors will be back there to pray with you to help you to come into a meaningful relationship with the true and the Living God the eternal creator of heaven and earth god bless you be with you this week watch over and fill you with his love and keep you by his power in Jesus name

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Id: h822ZEv2m8w

Length: 37min 16sec (2236 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 02 2017