Psalm Chapter 11

[Music] shalom and welcome to via israel a hebrew phrase which means you shall love israel we hope you'll stay with us for the next 30 minutes as our teacher dr baruch shares his expository teaching from the bible dr baruch is the senior lecturer at the zara avraham institute based in israel although all courses are taught in hebrew at the institute dr baruch is pleased to share this weekly address in english to find out more about our work in israel please visit us on the web at loveisreal.org that's one word loveisreal.org now here's baruch with today's lesson when we look at the word of god we see that god is intimately involved in this world it is wrong to think that god created the world and then took a step back god is here he is functioning his sovereignty is revealed day in and day out now that does not mean that we do not have choice we do real choices but nevertheless god is in control that does not mean that he controls everything but he's aware of everything and if he does not allow it it will not happen god has created this world to function in a certain way humanity to truly be human beings to the limitations that god has given to us and we need to see that eventually god will bring about judgment the scripture says that he will judge all things not only our deeds but our words and even every thought that we have everything is going to be brought under the judgment of god and that's why we see in the scripture that the apostle paul he spoke always when he spoke under the authority of the holy spirit he gives us wisdom from heaven and he once said that the real challenge the real desire of every believer ought to be this to bring every thought captive to the obedience of messiah that is wisdom when we acknowledge his sovereignty and we submit to his lordship that is what a true disciple does take out your bible and look with me to the book of psalms and psalm number 11. the book of psalms and psalm number 11. now sometimes when approaching a passage of scripture it is helpful to get an overview of what we're going to encounter what are the primary messages of the texts what are we going to learn from it but in psalm 11 i think it's better simply to to jump into it and let it come about in a natural sense of revelation allowing each verse to build upon the one that precedes it so with that said look with me to this psalm psalm 11 and we'll begin in verse 1. again there's an inscription but a rather short one so much so that the first verse and the inscription are are placed together both in the hebrew text and the english text which means that there won't be any difference in verse numbering in this psalm once more verse 1. we read to the chief music director of david so david is the author of this psalm and he's addressing it specifically in a way for the one who's going to lead the reciting the chanting the singing of this psalm and we begin after the inscription with the words in the lord now we know what an important statement that is in the new covenant when one is in the lordship of messiah yeshua having received yeshua into their life as their savior through the gospel but recognizing who he is as as the lord of lords and the king of kings acknowledging him as god well here david he says concerning the lord that he's in the lord notice what it says in the lord and what is one of the great outcomes of being in the lord notice what he says is a word for refuge but it's a verb which means i have taken refuge i have found shelter so it's in this covenant commitment that david has having entered into this covenant that he can take safety and that's the implication that i have found safety with the lord in him in this relationship and once again what this scripture does is to show us that indeed god and don't miss this is a very present help in times of trouble he's not distant he is not simply a creator and then steps back but he is actively involved in his creation and therefore we in faith can find shelter find help to find a refuge against those who are attacking us so david says in the lord i have taken refuge and then he asks a question he asks a question and we need to pay attention to the grammar here now oftentimes that's difficult to do in english because the word you in english we don't know if it's you one person or you meaning you all as a group but here we see that david is speaking to you and when he says you he's speaking to his enemies not to god but to his enemies and we know that because he says how will you say and it's how will you all say to my soul now this is a use of the word nephesh and speaking about that inner human being and what the enemy does and this is true for the great enemy hassetan satan and those that are under his his influence they love to bring fear anxiety worries into a person in fact immediately before sitting down here to do this lesson i was watching the israeli news and they were speaking about an event between the israeli armed forces the defense force sahal and hezbollah that terrorist organization that that is in lebanon and on the golan heights at a place called har dove dove mountain there was a conflict there was an exchange of gunfire and what we find is this the commentator and i agree with him he was saying the primary objective of hezbollah was simply to cause the residents in this area to be bothered to be fearful to be full of anxiety that is enough of an achievement from them in this objective in this operations that that they did that's how the enemy functions and notice david's response here to a similar situation that took place 3 000 years ago when we see here david's saying how do you meaning you my enemies you all say to me say to my soul flee unto your mountains now this shows the strategy of the enemy your mountains is the same second person plural you all that we saw of the one speaking to david when david says how do you say to my soul flee and this word flee has to do with with not only movement but it's a very emotional word many times for example it's translated with the phrase to bemoan something to be full of of despair and an inner pain and then notice what it says here the last word is the word sipor is the word bird now it's a choppy verse there's not a lot of of transitional words helping words that make this sentence easy to understand in english so therefore if you look at many translations they have words in italicize or they should if they add them that are not literally in the hebrew texts so david is saying how is it that you my enemies say to me that i should flee with despair be moaning under your authority that's what mountains are your mountains under your authority like a frightened bird david says i'm not going for that that is not my behavior why isn't it very simply because it says here that he has taken refuge in the lord and that refuge has given him inner tranquility security peace of mind confidence and that's what being in a covenantal relationship should should do for you and me well read on verse 2 for behold [Music] wicked once and david is showing a contrast between him and his enemy his enemy those are wicked ones so he says behold the wicked ones what do they do well they they bend the bow and this is an expression for for taking a bow in a moment we'll see the arrows mentioned in order to to take aim and shoot at the target and in this case who's the target well you know the answer that david is but even though they're doing that and notice what david says now this should be a a confidence builder for us this should give us peace of mind confidence that if we belong to god we need not be full of anxiety stress fears worries notice what david says here for behold the wicked one ones they bend the bow they prepare their arrow uh on the string this would be the the bow and the the string or chord that that the arrow is shot from and it says they prepare their arrow upon the chord to shoot at and the next word aleph fei lamin now this is an important word because it speaks about a darkness a thick darkness and what david is saying is this you my enemies you can take that weapon you can bend the bow you can put that arrow on the string that cord that you're gonna fire it but what are you shooting at and the word here ophel is darkness a thick darkness what david is saying is you're not going to hit me because you don't have in my situation being in the lord having taken shelter in him your firing at me is obscured it is like thick darkness now by the way this is the same word used in the book of exodus to describe the hoshek that is darkness but there's the word for thick darkness and that's what appears here and they fire at who this is their their motive motive of of behavior at the yeshure leave at the upright of heart now this shows that those who take refuge in the lord they're the ones that are upright in heart they are concerned with that which is proper so one of the reasons that we can be assured that that god is going to defend us is because we are with him in purpose that's one of the wisest things that you could ask yourself and you need to ask yourself as i ask myself daily throughout the day constantly is what i'm doing under the authority of god and for the purposes of god if it is i can have confidence i can have that inner peace i can have that contentment that insurance but if i'm about my ways and trying to get god to bless my objectives and if i am led by what i believe my purpose my destiny is devoid of revelation then i am exactly where the enemy wants me to be so ask yourself am i committed to the purposes of god david is and therefore he has that that assurance that he is among the upright in heart look at verse 3 now verse 3 i believe speaks about a description of where this world is going this psalm psalm 11 is a great one for us to learn for us to recite over and over and over and over and the reason why is that this psalm builds up a spiritual confidence that we do not need to fear the enemy now what does verse 3 say look carefully it says ki for the foundations when they are destroyed so the very foundations that which should give stability in this world stability from what standpoint a totality economic stability political stability social stability all these things they're going to be destroyed they are going to to fall and crumble so what should we do well notice it says the righteous what the righteous one what what is his behavior what does he do how does he function in the midst of that well we need to remember something look at verse four hashem that is the lord where is he he is and if your bible says temple it's not the the proper word for temple it's not the word buy it for house referring to the house of god it's not the word mikdash the holy place the better gosh the holy temple but it's the word which what i would suggest to you is speaking about this inter-sanctuary the holy of holies and the reason why that word is used there he hao for de vir habait is another synonym for it is that this is where god dwells when his presence is uniquely among us and so david is saying god god is with us now realize david wrote this there was no temple there was not a functioning even tabernacle but nevertheless david by faith through his covenantal relationship he believes that god is in that dwelling place with his people through covenant through faith so the lord is in his holy sanctuary the lord in the heavens is his throne now here heavens it speaks about that which is greater than earth there is greater power there is greater everything in the heavens than on earth and that's where god's throne is so we use the expression in hebrew to understand this homer light and heavy and the implication is this if god's throne and baby we should would say this a different way sense biblically and also in our own language many times we use the word if when really the implication the intent of the speaker or the author of some statement is sense since his throne is in the heavens we can be assured that it's greater than any earthly throne yes when god establishes his kingdom that that throne in the heaven will be here in jerusalem but but then time that is in the meantime what do we know that throne in heaven is sovereign over this world so he says the lord in the heaven is his throne second part of verse four his eyes and this is the word it's a verbal form for the word vision now visions are a powerful thing i'm talking about those who receive biblical visions biblical visions relate to for example the prophet or someone like john in the book of revelation when they received a biblical vision they saw things from god's standpoint so this word is speaking about the lord having perfect vision absolutely a perfect perspective for what's going on so his eyes they see and his eyelids this is even his eyelids usually the eyelids don't see in a human being but with god that's not the case they have discernment of of humanity so god discerns perfectly he has a perfect perspective perception of what is going on among humanity god knows and therefore god not only sees but he has discernment for what he's going to do look at verse 5 the lord the righteous one he and this is the word for for test but but he discerns that righteous one's objective he knows the condition perfectly of the righteous one he knows his heart in other words but the wicked one who's the wicked one well here we use a participle to describe the wicked one the one who loves hamas hamas is violence for the sake of violence doing something causing pain and suffering of another because of a sense a demented a demonic sense of enjoyment that one receives by that now if if you have the holy spirit within you if you're a believer you do it's hard to look upon the suffering of someone i mean today in the youtube generation you can see videos of about anything and oftentimes we'll we'll see a suggested video come up and i'll say graphic i don't like looking at those it'll be speaking about perhaps a some crime that was captured on a security camera something that someone was able to film and it's of someone that's going through a very hard situation now perhaps it's even a just thing but we don't derive pleasure from seeing the pain and the suffering of others it's just not something that that our inner being our soul derives satisfaction from and therefore it's the exact opposite the wicked one he loves this is how he's described he loves violence and therefore what do we find his soul this is god hates it says that that god hates his soul this one who behaves in this way and what will god do well look now to verse six he will yom ter yamter is we we have the word geshem which means rain and there's another word for rain and this is the less known rain it's known if you read the sidor because we we say it almost every day in the winter time and it's a word for rain so god will reign it's hem third person singular but it's referring to god he will reign upon the wicked ones and this is a word probably i think the king james translates its snare the word pach can be a snare a trap but it can also be related to kohl's c-o-a-l-s coals of of heat like uh you would find in a a fire an amber of fire so god will reign upon the head of the wicked one coals also fire and suffer sulfur and the spirit or the wind and it uses word for for a strong a very strong wind this is going to be the portion of their cup now cup speaks about a lot an outcome a happening that has been decreed and what god is saying is this for the wicked ones who love violence god's soul hates them or he hates their soul and therefore god will cause to rain down upon them these embers these coals hot coals and fire and sulfur and with strong wind and that strong wind is going to heat up the fire this is their portion verse 7. verse 7 the last verse in our psalm tonight and notice what it says for righteous is hashem righteous is the lord and what else now notice that the wicked ones they love violence but god loves said what's that righteous things things that reflect god's judgment meaning what god deems as proper that reflects his truth what god sees is as a right outcome so god loves these righteous things because he's a righteous lord and then it says yeshua yashar is a word for straight but it can be thought of as the the word for the upright we saw that same word back up in in verse verse 2 at the end the enemy were trying to fire in the midst of a thick darkness at the upright in heart those who have a straight heart straight in the things of god and we have a great promise here and we'll close with this yeshar which means the the upright they will gaze upon and this is the same word for having a vision that which which produces perfect perspective the upright they will look upon they will see his face how do we understand that seeing the face of god well we all know the beer cut koanin the aronic benediction the priestly blessing where it says the lord bless you and the lord keep you what's the next phrase and the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious the lord lift up his face upon you and he will give to you peace so seeing the face of god is an idiom for experiencing his blessing the fact that god will keep us guard us defend us that he will be gracious to us and that we in the end will experience his peace that's the outcome of those who walk uprightly and the only way that you can walk uprightly is when you are living in the faith the faith of messiah yeshua his faith that caused him to go to the cross to obey god's will that same faith that that regenerates us saves us justifies us will cause us to live uprightly will cause us to pursue the behavior the acts the deeds that will mediate blessings upon us that's what david teaches us in this 11th psalm well i'll conclude with that statement until next week when we press on in the book of psalms until then shalom from israel well we hope you will benefit from today's message and share it with others please plan to join us each week at this time and on this channel for our broadcast of love israel.org again to find out more about us please visit our website love israel.org there you will find articles in numerous other lectures by baruch these teachings are in video form may download them or watch them in streaming video until next week may the lord bless you in our messiah yeshua that is jesus as you walk with him shalom from israel

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Length: 30min 16sec (1816 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 12 2020