Psalms - Chapters 25-30

okay let's get at it we're studying the Book of Psalms and we are going to explore Psalm 25 through 30 this evening and psalms of course is by way of background review is Israel's hymnal their poems really intended to be sung it's poetry laced with strong theology it's astonishing to realize how much theology is in the Psalms and how much eschatology our prophecy the Hebrew term really means praises and a 55 of them are expressly addressed to the chief musician of the temple in the Greek the term is psalm oy and the Septuagint that's a poem to be sung to a stringed instrument or Salter which is a harp or a stringed instrument and that's it's from the Greek that we get our English term Psalms for the this book but the nature of poetry deserves some perception here you and I are familiar with in the west of poetry that's phonetically designed how it sounds in two different ways by its rhyme we think of poetry is rhyming normally one way or another and also rhythm there's a parallelism of time both sound and time that's what we think of as poetry but not so in the East or in the in Hebrew they deal in the conceptual design they take it a notch higher in a sense they deal with parallelism not of sound or time but of ideas and there's at least three different kinds you can actually start if you get down this path you can categorize them several ways but the easy way is there can be their comparative where two lines are in comparison that's to illuminate an idea or contrastive or antithetic where two lines are opposites to get an idea across and sometimes they're completive or synthetic as they say where one completes the idea introduced by the other those are three patterns that we'll see all through the psalms and let me give you a piece of good news I'm not going to try to analyze them but I want you to be aware of that but I'm going to go the other way you'll see in a little bit there's also a term there are many terms we'll encounter that are musical terms that one we pettite of turn will run into again and again is Sayla and many people think that that is a a pause it comes it really comes from to be lift up or to stop so some people think the musical term there are other experts that believe it's a pause to connect the ideas it's a pause to consider it's sort of a catch your breath and think through what we've just said kind of phrase and so there's different views on that but this parallelism there's synonymous parallelism that's where the second line restates the first Lord who shall abide in my Tabernacle who shall dwell in my holy hill there are two lines that one just really restates the first is a form of emphasis but again the parallelism is conceptual in this case synonymous another type of parallelism is antithetic parallelism that's works just the opposite the lines are in contrast to each other an example is for evildoers shall be cut off but those that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit the earth again the two ideas that are in parallel or opposites to each other and so that's a different example then there's synthetic parallelism and this is where each successive line expands or complements or supplements the previous one and the statues of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether those turns are not synonyms but they're closed synonyms and they have slightly different implications that's just an example that we explored when we were in Psalm 19 sums are sourced in many places 73 virtually virtually over half of them are attributed expressly to David there's a dozen of them to ace off the head of the choir the twelve to the sons of korah and then a couple of solomon and then a few others and then there's actually a third of them that are anonymous we're not sure who wrote them they're just traditional hymns if you will but let's put a caveat out you know I tend to be a engineer by background my specialties information sciences I tend to be a quantitative guy and so I run the risk especially the study like this is to be over analytic to look at construction looked at they look at the details that are really irrelevant really aren't going to be helped you embrace the Psalms in some passages especially in eschatology that kind of precision and sensitivity to structure is crucial but not here I'm going to suggest I want to copy up the other way so that we don't destroy the value of this for each individually the emphasis in the Bible on animals is that ones that are clean are those that chew the cud and that's not just a pun it's I think an intended concept for us to understand and that's what we're instructed to do Jeremiah says thy words were found and I did eat them John and in Revelation 10 eats the little book and so forth that's a an idiom that's it the code was key to clean sacrifices one of the things we don't want to do especially in this study is get into what I call analysis paralysis we're so busy dealing with the structure and and we may miss the real gist of it I don't know how many of you saw the movie the Dead Poets Society where the instructor in the poetry class first thing you had them do is read the first chapter the textbook and after they had to tear it out and throw it away because he wanted them not to get involved in the analysis of structure they want to understand with Porto is and what's sort of the kind of thing I'm going to ask you to tear any chapters out but that's the idea I don't want to blindfold our souls to what the real message in the Psalms are and that also means I can't convey it to you I want to give you enough comfort with it so that you can pick up where we leave leave off - indeed meditate on them because that's the only way you're going to really get it not by me my prattling up here so we're interested in prayerful absorption rather than intellectual dissection and so that's your challenge so we'll we'll hit the highlights of some of these Psalms but unless you take them and really meditate on them you'll miss them and when I give you a reading assignment for next week there'll be maybe five Psalms for next week well I want you to read them 75 times each you say you want me to count no of course not but the idea is I want you really don't just read them say okay I'm ready now no meditates on reading you won't really absorb them until you've really had some immersion in them okay and so the Psalms are not an intellectual exercise they are a gateway to the presence of God and you want to treat it that way so we're going to talk about Psalms 25 through 30 well actually we're in a section Psalm 25 to 39 we're going to take through 30 tonight all the preceding Psalms that we've had member Psalm 2 and Psalm 90 there's a they were grabbers they were dramatic pretty much so they've been what I'll call sensational the next 15 are more personal they're more quiet they're more intimate they won't have the razzmatazz that some of them did before but they have a depth of relevance to our day-to-day lives that may surprise you and less familiar but they have much to say to us they're applicable every one of these Psalms are going to be applicable to the past the present and the future in fact I'm gonna give you a paradigm that you can just try on and see if it helps you if it doesn't help you throw it away it's just an idea these Psalms have a past we often try to estimate what was the predicament that caused David depend that Psalm that can be useful we noticed that there were some Psalms that apparently had to do with the trauma that he went through with absalom's rebellion rebellion and that helps us try to understand what he was going through but we're not sure that other Psalms were absolutely at a loss to figure out how on earth he I don't know how he bevor penned Psalm 22 it's hard to even contrive a set of circumstances that would cause him to generate a you know a first-hand description by the lord himself as he hung on the cross looking I mean come on that's wild stuff and also as I go through the commentaries more often than not our estimate of the predicament David was going through is an estimate it's hard to prove it's just hopefully maybe helpful the real issue of the sum in the present tense is how did this how does this impact Israel many of them have operative implications for Israel today and for the future and that's when we start to maybe get a glimpse of how it can impact you and I personally in the present today how does any one of these Psalms impact you today for example Psalm 22 G it's an astonishing portrayal of the crucifixion of Christ great neat how does that impact you today obviously in many ways but that's the point that's the real issue so we've got in effect 303 peace if you've been any a decent seminary you know something can't be true unless it's a literate 'iv you know the test is I'll start with the same letter then you know it's true and I'm being facetious of course but here we have the past the present and personal there's a three different sections orthogonal dimensions probably of the of the Psalms unless it has a personal impact that you don't you never you have to be able to answer this so what question so what about what does that mean to me okay that's I throw that out for what it might be worth let's just jump in the first one of the evening will be Psalm 25 now this some turns out to be it's amazing to me first of all many commentaries don't even notice that it's an acrostic song and cross taxonomies that everything starts with you know ABC each one starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet but then when you start digging into the few songs commentaries that called my attention the fact that it's acrostic I jumped into it turns out it's not acrostic exactly it turns out it's a broken across acrostic there are two letters missing and one of the one time established only by altering the punctuation of the Hebrew text as we received it and the last verse of the psalm breaks away from the alphabetic thing and just it breaks outside that scheme altogether now one of the rabbinical literature suggests that this brokenness reflects the way troubles break the pattern of our light of life itself whatever we going live is broken up life happens that has different renderings on certain bumper stickers but we'll just say life happens right okay see if you look at Psalm 25 in the Hebrew remember it goes from right to the left all this all languages flow towards Jerusalem you know that so it's a so it's it's from right to left if you have Aleph bet game away well the bet it isn't missing there isn't one that starts with a bet so if you take those out then if you just drop those two then you'll discover that each letter with those two exceptions dropped are alphabetical each line starts with the the the that sequential Hebrew letter in their alphabet down to the lamb 'add in verse 11 and from and from 12 once the amendment on it goes all the way to the toe which is 21 and then the last line of the psalm drops away from that whole schema and so it's a broken acrostic so the people say it's not across the character are correct and those that say that it's acrostic are correct so the reason is it's a broken one okay so I don't know what you're gonna do with that piece of information but I thought I would I said I wished it a lot of time trying to figure Ekans I'll how could it be acrostic I looked at you know then I finally you know anyway we sorted it up now sorry the first seven verses are prayer next three are meditation then the next verse is a prayer and then the next four our meditation and then it finishes with a prayer so it's prayer meditation syncopated to some extent and again we can't fully appreciate this because it was in Hebrew and it was intended to be sung so we have no idea how that would have been communicated but we do know from this um it emphasizes the fact that life is a rough road the wet word way appears four times as three verses and the word path also so it's all about the walk life and the psalmist cries out to God for wisdom as he makes his decisions in verses 4 and 5 he's surrounded by his enemies we discovered and enemies who hate him enemies who lay traps for him and want him to fail how many of you have been in that kind of a situation okay we can make all kinds of conjectures as to what time in David's life was involved here but it turns out there are a lot of candidates but for 10 years he was on the run so it could have been any time during that it could have been before then for some reasons it could have been after so I don't put a lot of stock on the conjectures that fill some of the commentaries because they are just that conjectures but David knows he is a sinner and doesn't deserve God's help that's emphasized and yet he relies on the goodness and the mercy of the Lord so David is in a very good place he's in trouble he's got problems we can relate to that let's hope we can relate to the rest of it because he knows he's a sinner we know that we are and we know that we don't deserve anything and but we can rely on the goodness and mercy of the Lord and very in that whole positioning is where Psalm 25 has a lot of relevance to every one of us sitting in this room so let's go on David succeeded in his journey because he held two three unwavering assurances unwavering a searcher ensues and that's what we two need to cling to the first one is the help we need comes from God for seven verses are really amplify that particular issue our God can be trusted is what ven is underscored in the next few verses and of course trusting God thus brings us to victory it's that simple it's that direct and yet it's just that profound don't let the simplicity deny us the relevance to that to every one of us were where we're sitting no matter what's going on in your life right now the help we need comes from God God can be trusted and trusting him will give us victory that's the essence of this Psalm let's just jump into Psalm 25 first three verses as the psalm of David especially so and this is gonna reveal the dependence that David had upon God unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul o my god I trust in thee let me not be ashamed let not mine enemies triumph over me they let none that wait on thee be ashamed let them be ashamed which transgress without cause David was a warrior right then war woe to the warrior that discards his shield and the shield of course is the Lord it's interesting that let none that wait on thee be ashamed let them be ashamed which transgress without cause cause shame is their fitting reward is basically what David is declaring here see our help does come from God this is a prayer that reveals the dependence David had upon God now one day Israel is going to also realize this the way David did David understood it clearly the Psalms but these Psalms have an application to the nation also both historically present tense and eschatologically future tense the day will come that Israel realize that their dependence does not come from the United States back human it's not going to come from the leadership sitting in the Knesset or wherever else the noticeably devoid of leadership almost as devoid as the Americas America is but the point is one day Israel realize that their dependence can only their help can only come from God their dependences on him and the time will come when the remnant will find themselves in a position where that there is no one whom they can dependent but God himself and that's exactly what the tribulation is all designed for the Great Tribulation as Jesus labeled it is a period of time in which they're going to be driven to the wall and Jesus says so in Hosea 5 last verse of that chapter I'll return to my place until they acknowledge their offense how can he to return you must means he has left it I returned to my place until they acknowledge their offense that's singular and specific in their affliction the creativity they will seek me earnestly and indeed they will and it's good for us you and I to come that same place in the sense we're a micro Israel also we need to understand that our help comes from him and that's that's our primary dependency let's move on verses 4 and 5 are probably in your most of your memory list those of you that have been in the Memphis crypt your memory probably will recognize 4 & 5 as being very familiar in any case show me thy ways o Lord teach me thy paths lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation on V do I wait all the day there are three forms of guidance moral providential and mental forms of guidance they're all precious gifts of a gracious God moral providential and mental they're gifts of a gracious God to a teachable people the question is are we a teachable people you don't have to raise your hands but are you a receptive student did Willy's work with you four times in just two verses David applies for a scholarship in the College of grace I can put it that way show me thy ways the Lord teach me thy paths lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the god of salvation on thee do I wait most of the time no all the day you bet you let's continue in verse 6 remember O Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving-kindness is for they have been ever of old remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake o Lord if you're an attorney in a courtroom you place a great deal of emphasis on precedence you build your case on precedence an unchangeable God an immutable God is the most effective argument to remind us of his ancient mercies and his eternal love because he is unchangeable that's one reason our embracing the history of God's dealings is so valuable to us because he has an unblemished record of faithfulness and he's unchangeable that's right that's what David's calling upon here remember O Lord thy tender mercies and loving-kindness where they have been ever of old why is that relevant because he doesn't change he's still that way remember not the sins of my youth and deeds day David had some but he repented of them nor my transgressions according to thy mercy remember thou me for my signal for thy goodness sake God's reputation in effect is being appealed to hear Lord so okay he he had three and wait we've just talked about the first seven verses the help we need comes from God let's go to the next unwavering assurances that David clung to our God can be trusted see when you pray fix your eyes as David did on the fact that God is what that he's good that he's upright that is willing to instruct sinners how condescending of him but he's willing to do that that he's loving that he's faithful that he's forgiving these are significant demonstrable proven attributes of the God that we fix our eyes on and that's what we do when we pray and what conference we have in prayer is not because we pray well but because of the nature of the God that we to whom we pray he's what it's all about not our skill not our articulation he's what it's all about our God is what we can trust not our prayers our God is what we're trusting let's jump in good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way the meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth under such as keep his covenant and his testimonies and yemen's are doing not just hearing thing for thy name sake o Lord pardon my iniquity for it is great for whose sake my sake no for it I name sake interesting so the psalmist is reiterating his prayer for instruction in the way the same thing we had in verses 4 & 5 or echoed here again but now his prayer although it echoes verses in 4 or 5 it's grounded in the revealed character of God what man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose the way it's been put by some is that he who fears God has nothing else to fear well that's a that's a soldier's creed isn't it his soul shall dwell ADIZ and a seat shall inherit the earth the secret of I love this one I really love this one especially the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show him em his covenant this is a admission of confidential intimacy it's not seeing as believing believing is seeing neither natural wisdom nor human strength can force the door to this inner chamber and anyone who doesn't understand the meaning of this verse will never learn it from any commentary you underst you either experience this by your relationship with him or it's forever elusive to you God has secrets Amos 3:7 says God will do nothing but that which he reveals to his servant the prophets then Genesis 18 God reveals himself to Abram not my friend shall I not tell them what I'm going to do and it goes on with other passages all through the scripture proverbs 25:2 it's the honor is the honor of God to conceal a thing and the duty of kings to search out a matter but there's also God because of it some of these secrets is his plan for your life God has a plan for each of our lives Jeremiah 29:11 highlights that and all the way through the scriptures God has a plan for our lives and have great adventures to discover what they what that is okay let's take the third unwavering assurance that David has as he embraces the some trusting God brings us victory David maintains see the enemies we have to conquer what victory we talk about well we got enemies to conquer danger have you ever experienced danger all kinds have you ever experienced loneliness boy David sure did three of his sons Absalom Hamlin and a denied you turned against him and also his close friend and counselor a hit FL that was as the agent advisor at his elbow that turned on him they may know why ahead of hell turned on David his trusted counselor his inside help most people don't know this that hit FL was the grandfather of Bathsheba and apparently he never really forgave David for having violated his granddaughter that's a conjecture but it's interesting relationship a broken heart I won't ask for a show of hands but how many of you have been have had that enemy to conquer a broken heart over some situation then regrets fear I can remember once gripped in the deep darkness of fear and in the depth of that darkness I call Chuck Smith I just placed a call to chuck this Chuck what do you do when you're really terrified and he gave me an answer I'll never forget this focus on the love of God and I did in ways that I don't ever want ever want to forget and he's there in those times and of course despair David goes online eyes are ever toward the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net now a net is a common metaphor for temptation turn the unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted the ground of a quarrel is always ourselves the ground of a quarrel is always ourselves and when that's removed there's nothing to prevent our full enjoyment of communion with God what's in the way is us how did that go in the comic strip I've met the enemy and they are us huh now often that's true the troubles of my heart are enlarged I'll bring thou me out of my de-stresses boy they say when the sea is at its lowest ebb that tide must surely turn once you know it's at the lowest ebb that's great but it's sorta like going down that rollercoaster in the dark you don't you're not sure there is a bottom down there hey anyway David contains look upon my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins consider my enemies for they are many and they hate me with cruel hatred and there's no hate that's so cruel as that which is unreasonable and unjust that's less cruel if it's justified what's really cruel of its unjustified the flipside of that is your hurts and resentments the most dangerous ones are the they justified ones if you have a resentment that's justified they're the dangerous ones because you won't let those go there on justify you you can watch if you can rinse them off but if they are justified they're the ones that will keep you in bondage because you'll cling to them don't keep my soul and deliver me let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee that's where the acrostics complete the last one is a tag line and addition in the sense it breaks away from the acrostic pattern redeem Israel God out of all his troubles so that's Psalm 25 now David closed that one with an emphasis on his integrity and he had justifications for leaning on that Psalm 26 is a strong affirmation of integrity and it's a prayer that God would recognize it at no time in the life of David clearly presents itself as an occasion for this passage you can decide it all you like and it's not clear that you can link some incident in his life to this particular song so some 26 is very similar 25 accepted it does not include a prayer for pardon the sums declared that he kept separate from sinners they identified himself with a worship the Lord and on this basis he prayed with the confidence the Lord would would heal him and so forth so he has three requests in in here vindicate me they examined me redeemed me short little son vindicate simply means to give me justice defend my reputation and David was a man of integrity and there are lots of verses on that all through the Psalms and in the history as we watch it and the Lord Himself affirmed his integrity and first Kings nine persons four and five he's declared as having integrity there and so when you're at when your character and conduct are attacked it's not wrong to vindicate yourself as Paul did in second Corinthians ten or ask the Lord to vindicate you you're not just defending yourself you're defending the name of the Lord that we whom we serve so that's a that's that may surprise you to many people and there's many times I know in my case to where you're you you're inappropriately accused just let it pass and that may be the right move in many places and yet there is a there is a I remember once it's interesting I was president of a corporation I had just taken over at the request of the bank's public company my number two man was the vice president marketing we had a meeting with some important people and during which I sort of adopted sort of a humble posture and I thought you know that's the Christian thing to do I was just sort of on the faith you know being casual when the people left the door closed and this the right the right spiritual man who at was older and I was but anyway he very seasoned professional he closed the door with just the two of us and he chewed me out and I'll never forget that did not ever do that again you're not you're not chuck Missler you're the president's company and don't you ever do that again don't don't you ever demean the office of the officer sitting in I thought I was being humble and I realized what he from his point of view I did something less than really represent the company in that positive aggressive way I've never forgotten that because we can't separate the person from the office in that such a situation like that and how often were in that position where we're representing the king there are times when it's important to put these three requests up there vindicate me examine me and then redeem me let's jump into some twenty six judge me Oh Lord where I have walked in my integrity for I've trusted also in the Lord therefore I shall not slide examine me O Lord and prove me try my reins in my heart where the loving-kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth in verse judge me O Lord for I've walked in mine integrity his slanderers David slanderers were described before and they're also going to be detailed in subsequent verses here verse two examine me O Lord and prove me try my reins in my heart now reigns by the way technically that Hebrew word is for kidneys but it's used in the sense that it's the the seat of the emotions like we use the term guts okay and the heart of course is the place of moral decision and so prove me try my reins in my heart and so forth i loving-kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth that's his declaration I have not sat with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers I've hated the congregation of the evildoers and will not sit with the wicked I will wash my hands in indices so will I compass thine altar O Lord that I may publish with the voice of Thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works now some of the sound familiar to you remember Psalm 1 the first song we studied blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly or that sitteth our standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful remember that Psalm well that this echoes the same the same issue David had a balanced life he hated sin but loved the things of God many of us make a stab at loving the things of God but I'm not sure we have any you can almost measure our spiritual maturity by the degree to which we hate sends the way God hates sin I'm not talking hating sinners God doesn't hate the sinner he loves the sinner but he hates sin and he and David did this in the way he walked in verses 1 3 and 11 he emphasized the way he walks verse 12 how he stood and how he was sitting in verse 4 in other words every all his various postures he he kept himself from evil that says that's his a sir that he could make before the throne of God he hated sin but love the things of God continue verse eight Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth boy-oh-boy to gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloody men in whose hands is mischief and the right hand is full of bribes well all this is about the same thing we have sheep and goats and tares and wheat that are all mixed to get today but the day is coming and not very far away when God will separate them and the wicked will perish if you're those who are jotting down references you don't want to jot down not just Psalm 1 which we just made reference to but also Matthew 7:21 through 23 and Matthew 25 verses 31 to 46 Matthew 7:21 to 23 and Matthew 25:31 to 46 deals with that issue but David could tease but as for me I will walk in mine integrity redeem me and be merciful unto me my foot standeth in an even place in other words on level ground in the congregation's I will bless the Lord the David's on the level ground he will not waver he's got good footing he's prepared to stand so that's that little song okay let's take Psalm 27 this one's got some surprises most of these are pretty straightforward they're they're intimate they're personal they're relevant to each one of us but Psalm 27 has a little sleeper in it as far as I'm concerned I'll let you judge for yourself let's just jump into Psalm 27 by the way it's in the Septuagint the annotation is that it was before he was anointed so this is probably before he was exiled from his home and being hunted by Saul and his men and all of that this may have been may have been a very early son but it speaks of three fears in here the fear of circumstances in the first six verses the fear of failure in the next four and that fear of the future in the next four verses so that's just one way to try to outline this um I put it there for your use but it's probably useless I think outlying in my this is one of those places I don't think it's that useful I think you just digest them outline free that may be a bad attitude for a commentator I may be doing you a disservice but I think you do better just to digest them on your own without the encumbrance of you know commentary notes except where maybe here and there they might be eliminating anyway some twenty seven verse one the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid of whom shall I be afraid John Knox is famous for saying one with God is a majority elected we've all heard that line I was intrigued to discover it really came from John Knox originally apparently when Cromwell was asked why he didn't fear anyone he said I have learned that if you fear God you have no one else to fear and that that explains a lot of his conduct contain verse two when the wicked even mine enemies and my foot my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell right God be for us who can be against us as the way Paul summarizes it in Romans eight David continues though a host should encamp against me my heart shall not fear the war should rise against me and this will I be confident one thing have I desired of the Lord that that will I seek after then I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple you know Psalm 26 27 and 28 also will reveal Davis love for God's sanctuary his focus on the sanctuary and by the way in that day it was the temple had million it was the tabernacle in at Ponemah Zion and that God would later let David provide the materials and gave David the plans with a temple that Solomon later built but there it's interesting here how confident he is on the one hand he's confident of victory but verse 4 is a fascinating verse that I can attest to personally in my life I have been blessed out of my socks as a head I came from a wonderful home very modest home but a very wonderful home in school in those days the school system I was in was outstanding it's no longer that way but it was then I was able to coach through college with with an incredible high school background I did have from the LA city schools in those days I stood high in the class I had an aptitude for technical things that allowed me to coast through a lot of interesting adventures I was heading for a doctorate I was going to go for a PhD in EE at Stanford when I had the cup the Academy appointment and the glamour of that attracted me knit gave me a passion for adventure I've never lost and I won't bore you with all of that except I was always at the right place at the right time and had an incredible array of adventures both in at the academy and the Air Force subsequent and then in think-tanks and the defense industry following and I could go on and on but I got to a point where I was at a crossroads of of a number of ways and I was visited by Hal Lindsey who grabbed me by the scruff of the neck so to speak and said check what do you enjoy most doing he know what the answer was because all through those adventurous years my hobby my outlook was Bible studies that's what I did for fun so what do you enjoy doing most thing he knows the answers I just loved Bible studies always have you ever thought about doing that full-time I never took myself seriously Bible T I did that I taught that Monday night Studies at Calvary but that was a recreation I did that as casually as some people might teach Sunday School class on a Sunday or something you know just something I did but I did for some years the tapes from that went around a lot of places but so I had a following of sorts but but the hell did you ever how about doing full-time I never felt that I felt called to be a pastor so you don't have to be a you're fine you normally can't make it as any pendant you could as your following you could once you give it that way you won't get rich but you could probably survive and you could do what you like best and okay give that a try you know and we did and Lord blessed it but when I read Psalm 27 verse 4 I can relate to this because I have a second career for the last 15 20 years where there's been doing what used to be my hobby I get to do what I do full-time I get to study the Bible full-time and a lot of the ownerís chores that accompany this I've got people that have picked up the ball do I really have a free ride went to Israel and and and when the water is cold and his baptism and then did it for me wherever I turned there was something that wasn't really you know particular tried and just jumped in and I had a free ride had a blast around here I get supported incredibly well we just had a conference at the Ord Coeur d'Alene Resort that's where the most phenomenal conference I've ever been involved in never attended even let alone be involved in and all kinds of people are doing all the stuff stuff making sure that all the kirti's are crossed and I's dotted and i just got a chance to get up there and shoot my mouth off and mix with people who love the Lord and so I look at this I consider David one thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after this is David talking that I may dwell in the house the Lord all the days of my life and to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple I am doing that as close as it's possible to do in this earthly life right now I spend my time most of my not all my time obviously but most of my time poring through commentaries tracking down little treasures tucked in corners that other people have missed that's my that's my biggest kick is discovering something in the word I'll meet with my rabbinical friends and they'll show me something that I never knew about in the Old Testament I come home with nugget that's a joy that's a there's really more fun than that and and and so forth so I can relate to what he's saying here now he's saying it in a broader sense of course but I can understand that passion that's what David what David is a warrior yeah look you know he was King know what he wanted to do is just be behold the beauty of the Lord inquire in his temple man that's great stuff one thing about his art of the Lord that I that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house the Lord all the days of my life that's it that's it now let's watch carefully what's emerging in Psalm 27 in verses five and six David contains for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion really in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me up upon a rock that's David's exclamation I think it's an emotional excellent explanation the time of trouble usual Heitmann is pavilion yet secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me up in Iraq and now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me therefore will I offer in his Tabernacle sacrifices of joy I will sing yay I will sing praises unto the Lord wait a minute time out is it possible that in David's flow of words here the holy spirit did some editing is it possible the Holy Spirit has put a little hint in here about something let me tell you frankly one of the most authoritative seminaries in the country Dallas Theological Seminary would argue what I'm about to show tell you or suggest to you they would they would refute this possibility so I want that being understood I'm going to show you something that would be at at least controversial I want you to look at verse five very carefully for in the of trouble what does that mean that scatological II Great Tribulation in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion what on earth is that in the secret of his Tabernacle that's where he's doing shall he hide me he shall set me up upon a rock now Paul would make the case in first Corinthians 10:4 in other places that the rock refers to Christ in general as Internet as a metaphor it may or may not hear but let's assume it does this leads to a conjecture I'm among those that suspect that the rapture of the church is hinted at three times in the Old Testament this is one of them Psalm 27 5 that we've just stumbled into let's take a look at Isaiah 26 starting at verse 17 through 21 Isaiah 26 verse 17 it says like as a woman with child the draweth near the time of her delivery is in pain and cry off out in her pangs so have we been in thy sight O Lord birth pangs what does Mathew say all these things are the beginning of Sorrows no birth pangs not really we have been with child we have been in pain we have as it were brought forth wind we have not brought any deliverance in the earth neither have they inhabitants of the world fallen now I get the next I just giving you some context these are the verses that I want you to focus on the dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise sounds like as a resurrection to me awaken singie that dwell in the dust for thy due is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead get this verse this is my favorite I said 26:20 come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation is over past past over come my people how many of your God's people got most of your hands that's pretty good okay enter thou in thy chambers and my father's house are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I'll receive you unto myself that where I am there may you be also John 14 and following the next few chapters go through all that come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thyself as it were for a little moment we're not going to be here during the indignation is what I think is that harpazo is all about hide ourselves at work for a little until the indignation once he made the wrath of God called an indignation in a number of places you can chase that down look it up for yourself well it's worth come my people enter the whole night chambers because then it continues for behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity the earth also shall disclose her blood shall no more cover her slain the word blood there's in the plural if that means anything especially so I leave that with you there's one more that I'll just throw in here to cause confusion discussion on your way home in Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 18 and if the last verse of chapter 1 the first couple of verses of chapter 2 I was doing this I was putting this slide together this afternoon when I got a call from a friend of mine in Fresno California who asked who's asking me a question about Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 18 I thought that's kind of interesting it's funny you should mention Scott guess what I'm doing right now it happened you know of course there's no such that coincidence is not a kosher word the rabbi's remind us Zephaniah says neither silver nor gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy whoo that's a frightening phrase the fire of God's jealousy who or he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land gather yourselves together yay gather together o nation not desired or not desire Russ that can go either way there in that translation before the decree bring forth before the day passes the chaff before the fierce anger of the Lord come down upon you before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you then you get the verse I'm after verse three Zephaniah to three seek the Lord all ye meek of the earth which he have wrought in his judgment seek righteousness seek meekness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger that's kind of cool I wouldn't build doctrine for any one of these verses unless certainly not this last one it could just be referring to the those that are protected through their tribulation that may be what it's referring to but I just think these are three interesting little verses you may want to include your notes when someone says the rapture is not in the Old Testament say well maybe it isn't but let me show you three verses okay so that's definite is me okay getting back to Psalm 27 dear Lord when I cry with my voice have mercy also upon me and answer me when now said a seek the you seeking my face my heart said out of thee thy face Lord will I seek hide not thy face far from me put not thy servant away in anger thou has been my help leave me not neither forsake me or Oh God of my salvation when my father and my mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies verse 10 has been widely misunderstood by the critics in fact even diligent profound of the exegetes suggested as verse could have been written by someone else why because David's father and mother did never forsake him that's because they haven't translated it properly the reason that possible is even considered is because you know because of David's history actually the term when my father should be translated had my father and my mother forsaken me then the Lord will take me up in other words the head when in the sense of if it's not when as a point of time it's when as a point of condition so it's a translational difficulty that many people misunderstand so it's not it's not saying that your father and mother will forsake you it's saying that should they do that God will take you up that's really what it's saying that's simply saying that way it's obviously quite simple teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies deliver me not over to the will of my enemies for false witnesses are risen up against me and such as breathe out cruelty and I was going through various commentators on this verse and I was delighted by Jay Vernon and McGee on this verse he says I always prayed to the Lord do not let me fall into a position where I'm at the mercy of the church leaders or a church board you know and I thought about that one of the reasons I have been so comfortable in my ministry for as my 60 years as a Christian is because in that entire time I've never been on staff even at Calvary Chapel I taught the Monday night Bible studies there for 25 years but I was not on staff I was just I just taught my Bible study and and when I and I've harbored that cynical attitude that I even got as a teenager about church boards and I was amused when with the Jay Vernon's candor he puts that in his commentary I've always prayed to the Lord do not let me fall in a position where I'm at the mercy of church leaders her church toward Canada so David said deliver be not over to the will of my enemies for false witnesses arisen up against me and such as breeds are cruel you know it's tragic to realize how much of the church politics is based on slander hearsay and not facing your accusers in gossip organizations run on gossip it's tragic anyway David contains I had faded unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land in the land of the living wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord and so Andrew bone are one of my favorite commentators Leviticus made the remark let us be watchful after the victory as before the battle before a battle we should be very watchful obviously as a warrior but when the victories one should be no less watchful and Stuart Hamlin in one of the songs said I know not what the future holds but I know who holds the future that's another way to look at the whole thing okay and we can we can squeeze in a couple more here maybe in the Book of Psalms Psalm 28 these are short ones we'll zip through it this wonderful little sum has a cry that David's in trouble here the links between 2627 and it suggests that David is still in the same life-threatening situation as we've inferred from the previous ones and prophetically speaking this may be referring to the Trib Israel in the tribulation it's a prayer of judgment upon enemies and a praise for the deliverance they know will come basically Psalm 28 gives the problem of unanswered prayer in the first five verses the joy of unbounded praise in the next couple of verses and the promise of undeserved blessing as the wrap up at last couple of verses psalm of David Psalm twenty eight under the will I cry O Lord my rock is that rock again be not silent to me lest if thou be silent to me I become like them who go down to the pit hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee when I lift up my hands toward thy holy Oracle hear the desperation in his voice draw me not away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity which speak peace to their neighbors but mischief is in their hearts give them according to the deeds that according to the wickedness of their endeavors give them after the work of their hands rendered to them their desert because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands he shall destroy them he will not build them up blessed be the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications the Lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusted in him and I am helped therefore my heart greatly rejoices and my song and with my song I will praise him the Lord is their strength he is this saving strength of his anointed save thy people and bless thine inheritance feed them also and lift them up forever the word feed here by the way is to shepherd the people is what it actually says and to lift up the word there is like you would carry a child and you remind of course Isaiah 40 verse 11 he shall feed his flock like a shepherd he shall gather the Lambs in his arms carry them in his bosom and he shall gently lead those that are with young we sing that as a song that's from Isaiah 40 verse 11 and Jesus himself reminds us that said save thy people salvation is of the Jews he tells the Samaritan woman in John 4 you may recall okay let's slip in a couple of more short ones here Book of Psalms Psalm 29 this is the storm Psalm and there's something interesting in this because 7 times we hear the voice of the Lord it's mentioned and none other than Dilek calls this the voice of the seven thunders that you encounter he suggests not implicitly suggesting that this is this is an allusion to Revelation chapter 10 verse 4 remember the seven thunders that out of their voices but John was not allowed to write down what they said but this Psalm does describe a storm the gloom of a tempest the clap of thunder the flash of lightning and there's terror on all sides so a psalm of seven thunders according to Dilek he wall says the sums elaborated with a symmetry of which no more perfect specimen exists in the hebrew some of david give unto the lord o ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and strength given to the Lord the glory due to his name worship the Lord and the beauty of holiness emphasis on the glory up front now it starts with the voices the voice of the Lord is upon the waters the god of glory thunderous the Lord is upon many waters so we have a storm brewing here it starts out at sea with power and majesty some commentators even visualize David in his palace which is on high ground watching this come in over over the sea from the north the voice the Lord is powerful the voice the Lord is full of majesty the voice the Lord break of the Cedars yea the Lord break of the Cedars of Lebanon he make of them to skip like a calf Lebanon and Syrian are like a young unicorn the voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire so you got lightning going on and so on so we have it comes it's coming ashore from the north that would be in Lebanon five to seven Syrian is a term for Mount Hermon which is in the near or in excuse me the the before Lebanon range about 9,000 feet in altitude or 2700 meters if you're in that world the highest in Israel I try to put four metric for our European audiences but if God wanted some metric system he would have had ten disciples right okay even the solid fabric of the world seems to rock under the impact of this storm this is a big storm that's idiomatically coming here the voice the Lord shake up the wilderness the Lord shake up the wilderness of Kadesh that's in the South the voice of the Lord maketh the Hinds - keV discover the forests and his temple Duff everyone speak of his glory so now we come through to Julia South to Kadesh last few verses and that's an extreme south of Judah core in Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 19 the Lord sitteth upon the flood ye the Lord sitteth King forever the Lord will give strength unto his people the Lord will bless his people with peace and we have in effect at epilogue in the last two verses so Jewish worshippers used Psalm 29 in their synagogues in their celebration of hog show vote feast of weeks also called in the Greek Feast of Pentecost the early church in many denominations today used Psalm 29 in their celebration of Pentecost same season but why the Jews have their reasons I guess but the church has their reasons because of Acts - you may recall in acts 2 we had a rush of a mighty wind we had tongues of fire the lightning there's some there's some reason from a church point of view that it would seem to fit Acts chapter 2 so I think that's kind of fun so I'll leave that with you to chew on and let's take let's take one more to finish off the evening the psalm thirty this is a psalm of thanksgiving it deals with a new victory going from death to life in the first three verses a new day from night unto morning verses 4 and 5 and a new heart from pride to humility and a new song from morning to rejoicing that's a quick profile of this psalm of thanksgiving and this is at the dedication of the house of David now there's a lot of debate among the commentators what does that mean some feel what's the dedication of his palace which he did first and indeed it might be there's some reasons why it seemed it could be tied to 2nd Samuel 5 but there are other the other theories that is tied to 2nd Samuel 24 and remember when David numbered the people and there was the the plague that the 70,000 died before that was averted and so forth and and so his pride got him in big trouble there as you may recall and so the dedication this may be it was sung by the dedication the temple commemorating the trauma that led up to that so let's give it's the Saturday the second of the two theories that I tend to lean to but we're just guessing first one I will extol the O Lord for thou has lifted me up and has not made my foes to rejoice over me O Lord my god I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me O Lord thou has brought up my soul from the grave thou has kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit sing unto the Lord o ye Saints of his and give thanks if the remembrance of his holiness for his anger and earth but a moment in his in his favor his life weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning see clear David had gone through some dark times and things gotten better in my prosperity I said I shall never be moved Lord by thy favour that was made my Mountain to stand strong that is tied they face and I was troubled I cried to the Lord and unto the Lord I made supplication my prophet is there in my blood when I go down to the pit shall the dust praise thee shall it declare thy truth here O Lord to have mercy upon me Lord be thou my helper thou has turned for me my mourning into dancing that was put off my sack cloth and girded me with gladness to the end that my my glory may sing praise to thee and be not silent o Lord my god I will give thanks unto thee forever The Vow hast has been appeared in here seven times by the way the focus is on what God has done so that's it for tonight we was up through a few of these for your next session Psalm 31 through 37 would be a good shot in other words read then you know the the next seven Psalms I'm not sure we'll get through all of them the next session but we'll see how we go but don't just read them through once try to digest them see what you can infer from them without the distraction of any weird notes that I add to their to your uh notebook so with that let's stand for closing word of Prayer

Channel: Bible Study

Views: 836

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: YsdAuuKeIgg

Length: 65min 7sec (3907 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 30 2020