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The Crucifixion of Jesus – Part 3
Luke 23:32-49 (40-43)
February 7, 2021

This morning we return once again to the hallowed ground of the cross.
• It is the focal point of all history.
• It is the focal point of all theology.
• It is the focal point of all prophecy.
• It is certainly then the focal point of the church.

1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

Galatians 6:14 “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

This is THE story.

Every other important act or doctrine flows from the cross.

• THE INCARNATION means nothing without the cross, for then Jesus is merely another moral example that we cannot live up to.

• THE RESURRECTION means nothing without the cross, for surely it proves Jesus to be innocent, but we remain unatoned for.

• THE ASCENSION means nothing without the cross, for what good is it for us to have a great High Priest if He has no offering to present on our behalf.

• THE SECOND COMING is actually a terrifying event without the cross since for us it would only mean judgment.

If you take away the cross, close the book and go home.
• Take every herb you can find…
• Don’t ever take any risks…
• Don’t ever put yourself in danger…

Your only hope is to live as long as you possibly can
Because without the cross this is as good as it gets.

THIS EVENT IS EVERYTHING TO US.

Thus far, we’ve looked at two aspects of this scene.
#1 THE SCENE OF THE CRUCIFIXION
Luke 23:32-35a

We simply took a panoramic look at what was occurring here
And there were some realities that really jumped out.

We saw IDENTIFICATION
• Jesus was being led with sinners, as a sinner to His execution.
• He was not sinful, but He was being treated as though He was.

We saw INTERCESSION
• While the crowd was mocking and blaspheming, He was praying
The mercy of Christ on the cross gives one of
The greatest pictures in Scripture of the depth of the mercy of God.

We saw IGNORANCE
• As Jesus was dying on the cross the crowd was simply looking on.
• They were oblivious.
• They didn’t understand what was going on here.

And so our first objective was to remove the ignorance of the cross.
• Here on the cross Jesus was bearing the full wrath of God for all the sin of all who would ever believe.
• This one sacrifice was sufficient to save everyone who would ever believe and there has never been another sacrifice like it.
• No goat, no bull, no offering of any kind ever placated the wrath of God, but on this day, at this time, Jesus did.

That was the scene of the crucifixion.

Last week we saw the second aspect of this event.
#2 THE SCORN OF THE MOB
Luke 23:35b-39

We identified all the various players at the scene.
• We have Jesus interceding
• We have the crowd oblivious
• We have Pilate with a “too little too late” sign hung above Jesus
• We have the rulers scoffing at Jesus
• We have the soldiers toying with Jesus as they mock Him
• We have one of the criminals blaspheming Him

He was truly under attack from every side.

But the most unique thing about that text is that
THEY ALL HAD THE SAME SUBJECT IN THEIR SCORN.

“If You are the King then save Yourself”

And so we talked about the INSURRECTION of the cross.
• The crucifixion was nothing short of a rejection of Jesus as King.
• They did not want Him to reign over them so they killed Him.

We talked about the necessity of submitting to Christ as Lord.
In fact, to truly believe in Christ is to confess Him as Lord.

And we talked about how
• In a little over a month, when Peter told the crowd they had killed the King
• And they asked what they should do,
• Peter told them to be baptized in the name of Jesus.

It wasn’t that baptism would save them, but Peter was calling for them to identify with Jesus the way Jesus had identified with them.

They had publicly rejected His Kingly authority.
So Peter demanded that they publicly submit to it.

This is the call for us all.

And as we finished last time
I told you to imagine this scene of scorn.
• Everyone around Jesus is mocking or abusing Him in some way or another.
• And the calling is that you, in the middle of all that scorn, would stand up and
say, “I believe Him! He’s my King!”

We are called to confess Him in a world that hates Him.

And you may wonder who in their right mind
Would have stood up at the cross, gone against the mob,
And publicly confessed Jesus as King right then?

AND YET ONE PERSON DID.
And that brings us to the third aspect of the cross we want to see.

The Scene of the Crucifixion, The Scorn of the Mob
#3 THE SALVATION OF A SINNER
Luke 23:40-43

Here’s a person who did exactly what we were talking about last week.
• In the midst of all the scorn…
• In the midst of all the mockery…

• While rulers are laughing at Jesus…
• While soldiers are pretending to bow to Him…
• While the other criminal is reviling and blaspheming Him…

This man comes forward.
• He rebukes the other criminal
• And in front of everyone he confesses Jesus as his King
• And most certainly invites the scorn of Jesus into his life as well.

Now, I do understand that in one sense someone might say, “Yes, but what did he have to lose?”
• I mean, he was already being crucified…
• He was already being ridiculed and humiliated…
• What did he have to lose by confessing Jesus here?

Perhaps we should ask the other criminal
Because he still didn’t confess Jesus.
The other thief wanted Jesus to save Himself and us.

But this thief instead submitted himself to physical death
When he confessed Christ and asked for entrance into the kingdom,
He was resigning to the fact that he would not be taken off the cross
And he likely added additional scorn and shame to his life at the present.

He came forward in the midst of this hatred and confessed Christ
And as a result he was saved.

This morning we are going to examine this man
And why he, of all the people there, was the one who was saved.

• There are several realities present in his life that are essential to salvation.
• In fact, he becomes a wonderful picture of what type of person Jesus does save.

So let’s look at what was going on in his life.

There’s actually five things here I would show you about this sinner who was saved on the cross.
1) FEAR OF GOD (40)

You are aware of the blasphemy of the first thief.
I told you last week that for a time even this criminal had hurled abuse at Jesus.

Matthew 27:42-44 “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. “HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.'” The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.”

Even this thief had originally started out mocking Jesus.

But what is clear is that at some point in the scene,
GOD OPENED this man’s eyes to see who Jesus really was,
And it must have TERRIFIED the man.
(Similar to when those at Pentecost had their eyes opened)

Because all of a sudden he changes direction
And REBUKES the other thief for blaspheming Jesus.

(40) “But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?”

What does he mean?

He looks at the other thief and reminds him that “you are under the same sentence of condemnation”.

In other words,
• “Don’t you realize that you’re about to die?”
• “Don’t you get that in a few minutes you’re going to stand before God?”

“Do you not even fear God..?”

It is clear that what has hit this second criminal square in the jaw
Is that THERE IS A GREATER HORROR than this cross he’s on
And he is about to face it.

You may remember that I told you that
• When we look at the crucifixion of Jesus the greatest horror of the cross is
NOT what man did to Jesus on the cross.
• The greatest horror of the cross is what God did to Jesus on the cross.

In the garden when Jesus is sweating drops of blood
It is not because of the physical crucifixion that He is about to endure,
It is because He is about to endure the wrath of God.

As bad as the physical cross was (and it was bad)
It was nothing compared to the eternal judgment of Almighty God.

And this second criminal has come to grips with that.

He warns the first thief.
“You had better quit your blaspheming, you’re about to stand before God!”

Clearly there is a fear of God that has set in for this second thief.

And to that I would remind you that
Fear of the Lord is an essential prerequisite for salvation.

Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

That is to say that “fear of the LORD” is first.

Every sinner who is saved
First begins with an awareness of their offense to God
And the fear of the punishment that they deserve.

In fact, one of the CHARACTERISTICS Paul listed of UNREGENERATE man is this:
Romans 3:18 “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

That’s actually one of the reasons they remain lost; they don’t fear God.

I remember talking to a man here in Spur several years ago
• We were talking about salvation and the work of Jesus.
• And one of his responses to me was, “What do you mean; ‘Saved’?”

He had no concept of needing to be saved.
As if to say, “What do I need to be saved from?”

A person with that understanding is a long way from salvation.

I’ll tell you what you need to be saved from.
YOU NEED TO BE SAVED FROM GOD.

More specifically, you need to be saved from the wrath of God
Which He has for those who rebel against Him.

I know contemporary preachers have worked tirelessly
• Trying to convince everyone that God loves everyone unconditionally.
• To try and set people’s minds at ease that God is not angry.
• People can just run up to God like a big ole teddy bear
• Because God has their picture on His refrigerator,
• And He just gushes and goo’s over their every move.

And while it is true that it is the love of God which motivated Him to send His Son as a sacrifice for our sin, do not get your wires crossed.
It is still the wrath of God that you must be saved from.

God’s word says:
Psalms 7:11-13 “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.”

The writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 10:30-31 “For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Or we could even go to the final judgment scene:
Revelation 20:11-15 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Man has offended God, and God has promised that
He will judge all sinners in hell for all eternity.

The physical torment of the cross is nothing compared to eternity in hell.
AND YOU AND I NEED TO BE SAVED FROM THAT.

We need to be saved from the wrath of God.
Fortunately for us, this is exactly what Jesus came to do.

Romans 5:9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”

So you understand where this second thief is coming from.
While facing physical death he began to wonder
What was going to happen once he died?
AND IT TERRIFIED HIM.

That is the first step in salvation.
• It is an awareness that God is a righteous Judge
• Who will in fact judge sinners
• And that you need to be saved from that judgment.

Fear of God
2) HUMILITY (41a)

Humility works hand in hand with fear of God.
In fact humility is often a consequence of fear of God.

When you realize who you are
And that you are in danger of God’s judgment
The logical next step is to humble yourself and plead for mercy.

Look at this man’s humility.
“And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds;”

I’m not sure that this definition would stand up in a seminary class or a theology textbook, but I’ve often described humility to people like this.

Humility is when you believe you are who God says you are.

• It occurs when you quit arguing with the righteous Judge…
• It occurs when you submit to God’s evaluation of your life…
• When you stop being defensive…
• When you stop arguing…
• When you simply bow in honest acknowledgement that you are who God says you are.

James has a tremendous passage on this.
We see both what humility is and what it is not.

James 1:19-25 “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”

• Often times we hear verse 19 quoted alone
• People simply think James is talking about the evils of the human temper,
• But that misses the point.

The passage as a whole is clearly talking about
HOW YOU RESPOND TO THE WORD OF GOD.

And only two options are given.
• You will either be an “effectual doer”
• Or a “forgetful hearer”.

James said that when you look into the mirror of God’s word, and God shows you who and what you are,
• You’ll either ignore it and go about your life
• Or you’ll own up to it and do what it says.

And this is what James is talking about even at the beginning.

And James said you should be
• “quick to hear” that is eager to know what God has to say.
• “slow to speak” that means slow to argue or make excuses.
• “slow to anger” that means don’t get mad or offended, just accept it.

Now, if you are someone who is eager to hear what God has to say
And you will accept what God has to say without argument or anger,
THEN YOU HAVE HUMILITY.

That is where our thief is.
• Is not arguing.
• He is not debating that he should get to come off the cross.
• He agrees with what he is.

And this HUMILITY is also ESSENTIAL
James 4:6-10 “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

Matthew 5:3-4 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

That is a man who agrees that he is spiritually bankrupt
And who hates or mourns over the sin that put him in that predicament.

ONLY those who are poor in spirit inherit the kingdom of heaven.
ONLY those who mourn over sin receive God’s comfort.

You see where this man is.
He fears God and He is humble.

3) THE GOSPEL (41b)

After announcing his own guilt the thief simply says:
“but this man has done nothing wrong.”

He hits one of the very prevalent themes of Luke;
Namely that JESUS WAS INNOCENT.
• Pilate said it over and over,
• Here the thief says it,
• Down in verse 47 the centurion will say it again.

Now clearly that’s NOT ALL this man believes about Jesus.
• He certainly believes Jesus to be sinless.
• He clearly believes Jesus to be the King since he references His kingdom.
• He also believes Jesus to be the Savior and a merciful one since in spite of his sin he asks for entrance into the kingdom.

What is clear is that while ignorance surrounded the cross,
God opened the eyes of this one man.
He could see what no one else could see.

Now what I find interesting here is where this man heard the gospel.
You might say, who preached the gospel to him?

Well let’s just look at WHAT HE HAS HEARD RECENTLY.

• He heard Jesus say: (34) “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what
they are doing.”

• Then the rulers announced: (35) “He saved others”

• The rulers also listed His assumed titles of: (35) “the Christ of God” and
“His Chosen One”

• When the soldiers came up, they called Him (37) “the King of the Jews” (as
did Pilate’s sign)

The thief heard all of this.

While these statements were being hurled at Jesus,
God opened this thief’s eyes to see that they were ALL TRUE.

• Jesus was the sinless Son of God
• Jesus was the Chosen One of God
• Jesus was the Christ
• Jesus was the King
• Jesus was the merciful Savior

That man learned it all right there.

And hearing the GOSPEL is also ESSENTIAL.
No one is saved without the gospel.

Romans 10:9-14 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

There is NO SALVATION apart from the gospel.
There is NO SALVATION apart from the actual name of Jesus.

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

• That means that fear of the Lord alone is NOT ENOUGH to save.
• That means that humility alone is NOT ENOUGH to save.
• That means that sincerity alone is NOT ENOUGH to save.

There is only one Savior and that is Christ Jesus.
You must cry out to Him.

The gospel matters, and this man heard it on the cross.
He may have heard it before, but it is apparent that
On the cross God finally opened his ears to it.

That, incidentally, gives us our answers regarding those who trust Christ even ON THEIR DEATHBED.

• I certainly do not recommend trying to wait until you die to be saved, for who
knows when God may open your heart (the other thief was not saved),
• But I will say this, I certainly can’t think of a more pertinent time to cry out to
Jesus than when staring death in the face.

So this man had a fear of God – This man had humility – This man heard the gospel
4) FAITH (42)

You know of course that FAITH is ESSENTIAL.

Romans 3:21-22 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;”

Romans 3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”

Well look at this man’s faith, it is remarkable.
(42) “And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom.”

Take away your spiritual awareness for a moment.
(Just look at the physical scene of the cross)

What in the world would have caused anyone at the scene of the cross to think that Jesus was about to sit on a throne anywhere?

Through physical eyes that statement from the thief
Is a dumb as they come.

All the mocking around the cross was pointing out that
Jesus was no King and that apparently He had no kingdom.

But this man, goes entirely against the grain,
He rejects the logic of the day
And he confesses that Jesus does in fact have a kingdom.

And he appeals to the apparent mercy of Jesus to welcome him in
Despite the fact that he is an unworthy criminal.

• That is faith in the sovereign authority of Jesus
• That is faith in the mercy of Jesus
• That is faith in the atonement of Jesus

He cries out to Jesus.
Romans 10:13 “for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

He has great faith.
INCIDENTALLY, THIS SAME FAITH
Is going to be put on display again a few hours later.

Luke 23:50-51 “And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God;”

Joseph was like this thief,
Waiting for a kingdom when it appeared that it was a lost cause.

This type of faith is the type of faith we hear written about
So often in the book of Hebrews.

Listen to the faith of the Patriarchs.
Hebrews 11:17-22 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come. By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.”

Every one of them had the same obstacle standing between them and the promise…DEATH.

• Abraham just figured God could raise the dead.
• Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau about what was coming even after death
• Jacob blessed and worshiped even while dying in Egypt
• Joseph gave orders about his bones

Every single one of those men looked like fools according to human logic.

• What kind of fool is willing to kill his own son through whom the promise is coming?
• What kind of fool still believes he’ll receive the land when neither he nor his dad had owned it?
• What kind of fool talks about their land when he isn’t even in the land anymore?
• What kind of fool talks about the land when he also is dying and even makes plans for his bones to be carried?

It’s faith that looks beyond the current situation into the future.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:13-16 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

That was the faith of this criminal as well.
• He was hanging on a cross next to Jesus
• But somehow believed that Jesus was still the King and that His kingdom was still coming.
• And clearly He believed that Jesus would be His means of entering that kingdom.
• He had faith in Christ.

And this also is essential for salvation.
• Fear of God
• Humility
• The Gospel
• Faith

If you don’t have those things you’ll never be saved.

And so the last reality now makes sense.
5) SALVATION (43)

(43) “And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

Jesus promised this man eternal life in heaven with Christ.
• But he was a criminal? Didn’t matter
• But he was dying? Didn’t matter
• But Jesus was dying? Didn’t matter

The mercy and atonement of Christ was more.

If you’ve read 1 Peter 3, Jesus was about to serve as this man’s ark.
• Just as the ark carried Noah through the judgment,
• Jesus was about to carry this man through death into life.

Psalms 23:4-6 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

This notorious sinner, at the end of his life, was saved.
• He had a fear of God that drove him to humility.
• He had humility that opened his ears to the gospel.
• He heard a gospel that encouraged him to have faith in Jesus.
• He had faith in Jesus that brought about salvation.

He is a great blueprint, even as he died.

Now look at your life.
• Do you fear God? Do you understand the reality of judgment?

• Have you humbled yourself and do you believe you are who and what God says you are?

• Have you heard the gospel and seen that only Jesus can save you?

• Have you trusted in Christ?
• Have you publicly confessed Him as this man did?
• Have you called upon His name for mercy as this man did?

While the timing of this man’s salvation is unique,
The manner of his salvation is entirely routine.
This is how everyone is saved.

And this morning I extend that offer to you.
James 4:8-10 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

Romans 10:13 “for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

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A Message For All Peoples
Psalms 96
January 31, 2021

Tonight is the final service we are having in what is traditionally our “Missions Month” here at church.

• I realize that this year, aside from a few videos and the offerings, we really didn’t take a close focus into missions.
• In all honesty, I could not bring myself to put Luke’s gospel and this message of the cross on hold for a month.

However tonight, as God’s providence would have it,
We do get one final study that is very missional in focus.

Tonight we study the 96th Psalm.

Certainly it is a Psalm bent on worshiping God as God deserves.
• (3x) “Sing to the LORD”
• (3x) “Ascribe to the LORD”
• “Worship the LORD”

The song recognizes
• (2) “His salvation”
• (3) “His glory”
• (3) “His wonderful deeds”
• (4) that He is “great”
• (6) His “splendor and majesty…strength and beauty”
• (10, 13) His judgement

And such messages are quite common in these songs of praise
Which we frequently read in the Psalms.

But more than anything Psalms 96 is a song for EVANGELISM
• (3) “Tell of His glory AMONG THE NATIONS, His wonderful deeds AMONG ALL THE PEOPLES.”
• (7) “Ascribe to the LORD, O FAMILIES OF THE PEOPLES”
• (10) “SAY AMONG THE NATIONS, “The LORD reigns”

There is a clear message included in this Psalm that
The truths celebrated here are not just for the congregation,
But are the very truths which are to be published to the world.

We might say that this Psalm provides us with a blueprint of sorts
For the message that we are to proclaim to the world.

The truths contained here are truths that the entire world needs to hear.

It is a song of evangelism.
(Not necessarily a song sung to the lost, but rather a song sung among the saved reminding them of the message they should be proclaiming to the lost)

Another unique aspect of this Psalms
Was a historical point in which it was sung.

TURN TO: 1 CHRONICLES 16

• This is the occasion for when David brought the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem.
• It was a great celebration in which David appointed several men to sing and play instruments as the ark was brought up.

Now the complete song listed is in verses 8-36,
But I want you to pay special attention to verses 23-33.

(READ 23-33)

Clearly Psalms 96 was one of the songs that was sung on that day.
(The rest of the song is excerpts from Psalms 105 & 106)

WHY THAT IS INTERESTING IS BECAUSE
Here you have the children of Israel establishing God’s presence in the city which God chose.
• God is on this day moving into Jerusalem.
• This will be His city forever.
• This is where His throne will be forever.
• When Christ returns, this is where He will reign.

And as God’s presence enters the city,
The song that was sung was a song of declaration to the world
That this was the true God and He will reign here forever.

IN SHORT, THE MOVING UP OF THE ARK INTO JERUSALEM
Was a precursor to the Second Coming of Christ.

God was now setting up His permanent residence
From where He would one day judge the world.

And part of the message of that day was that
While the celebration here is good, and the rejoicing here is fitting,
THIS EVENT IS ULTIMATELY TOO SMALL.

The WHOLE EARTH needs to be in on this…
ALL PEOPLES should be joining in this worship…

And indeed when Christ returns they will, for
“every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

So perhaps that provides you with a little CONTEXT to this Psalm
And gives you a GREATER UNDERSTANDING of what we are studying.

Now in that, we will divide this Psalm up in to 4 points.
It would simply be 4 points that we should remember that the world needs to hear.

Consider this Psalm an encouragement to you and to me
Regarding what our message to this world should contain.

Call it an Old Testament gospel message…
Call it Israel’s evangelism training…

I simply call it “A Message For All Peoples”

4 points
#1 ANNOUNCE HIS SALVATION
Psalms 96:1-2

The only 3 lines that are listed in Psalms 96,
Which are not in 1 Chronicles 16 are the first 3.

“Sing to the LORD a new song; Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name;”

It is an obvious call for singing.
• It is a song to for everyone.
• It is a song meant to bless God.
• And it is encouraged to be “new”

“New” here DOESN’T necessarily mean that
You should write new lyrics or compose a new musical score,
Though there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Rather, it means to sing it a new.
• Sing it again.
• Start another one!
• Don’t simply rely on the fact that you sang last week.

God’s mercies are new every morning,
And so should your song be as well.

• Sing it again!
• Everyone sing it! (“all the earth”)
• Sing it to bless Him!

Angels before the throne never tire of singing His praise.
“Day and night they do not cease to say, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’”

And while we will never achieve such consistency in this weakened flesh,
It should certainly be our aspiration.

Sing-Sing-Sing

And the Psalmist adds for us THE SUBJECT OF THE SONG.
“Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.”

Now we get to the evangelistic part.

Here the singing is for the purpose of
Announcing the greatness of God’s salvation.

“Proclaim good tidings” is one word in the Hebrew: BASAR (ba-sare)

It means “to gladden with good news” or “to preach good news”

It is what the angels did to the lowly shepherds:
Luke 2:10-11 “But the angel said to them, ” Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

The good news of the angel was that a Savior has been born.

And this is the same good news that the Psalmist is calling
For the congregation to sing and publish to the world.

“Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day”

Tell the world of His salvation!
We might say, PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL EVERY DAY!

You know the hymn by Priscilla Owens:

We have heard the joyful sound: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Spread the tidings all around: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Bear the news to every land, Climb the mountains, cross the waves;
Onward! ’tis our Lord’s command; Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Waft it on the rolling tide: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Tell to sinners far and wide: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Sing, you islands of the sea; Echo back, you ocean caves;
Earth shall keep her jubilee: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Sing above the battle strife: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
By His death and endless life Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Shout it brightly through the gloom, When the heart for mercy craves;
Sing in triumph o’er the tomb: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Give the winds a mighty voice: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Let the nations now rejoice: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Shout salvation full and free; Highest hills and deepest caves;
This our song of victory: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

It is the message of the church above every other message.
“Our God does what no other God does.”

Our God saves sinners!
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

No other god does that.
• Imagine the grief of being born in Islam only to believe that regardless of your efforts, when you die there is no assurance whatsoever that you will be saved.

• Imagine the horror of the Hindu religion to know that you can spend your entire life seeking to appease your deity and may never accomplish it.

The gods of the nations are moody and petty and angry and vindictive.
And one thing they are not is forgiving.

It is the message that the world most needs to hear.
It is the message of the gospel.
Our God saves!

When He took on human form and became human,
He came to earth in the form of a Savior.
• We proclaim this Savior.
• We proclaim the person and work of Jesus.

• We talk of His obedience to fulfill the Law
• We talk of His submission to death for our sin
• We talk of His victory over the grave
• We talk of His work as our great high priest

And we are called to talk of it “day to day”.

Sing this song of the gospel every day!
Sing this song of the gospel to a world that needs to hear!

Titus 2:11-15 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

You know the texts.
This is the song we are to sing to the world.

Isn’t it amazing that on the day that the Ark was carried into Jerusalem.

The message which was proclaimed to the world
Is that our God is a saving God.

“Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day”

Announce His salvation
#2 AFFIRM HIS GREATNESS
Psalms 96:3-6

The gospel message continues in verse 3.
• “Tell of His glory among the nations (who He is)
• His wonderful deeds among all the peoples” (what He has done)

We always say that the gospel is defined in this way.
It is the “Person and Work of Jesus”

And the Psalmist reminds us to declare that to the world.

But here it is NOT JUST that they may be saved.

Here we are called to proclaim the gospel
Because He deserves to have His person and work proclaimed.

(4) “For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.”

At times it is given as a peculiar excuse.
Men will abstain from sharing the gospel
Under the premise that the sinner won’t respond.

But listen, the salvation of the sinner is only part of the reason
We are called to proclaim the gospel.

We are also called to proclaim the gospel for the glory of God.
We boast of the Person of Christ because He is worth boasting about.
We boast of the Work of Christ because His work is worth boasting about.

It’s really not about whether or not they respond,
It’s about whether or not we proclaim it.

Who He is and what He is done should not be kept a secret.
It should be published, it should be proclaimed, it should be broadcasted,
If for no other reason than for His glory.

He deserves praise from all of His creation.

That was part of the point of them singing while bringing up the ark.
• It was a huge celebration and yet it fell far short of what God actually deserved.

• Are we to assume that if cram 300 people in this building and sing at the top of our lungs that it is a worship service worthy of His glory?

• What if we fill our football stadium? What if we put the entire 1200 people of Spur, Texas in that stadium and sing with all we’ve got, is that big enough for His glory?

Of course not!
We read where this is headed:
Revelation 7:9-12 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

That’s more like it.

We go out and proclaim this message
Because our great God deserves for it to be proclaimed.

You don’t have any problem bragging on your kid’s achievements…

Jesus deserves for His work to proclaimed everywhere.
His greatness must be declared.

AND THIS IS THE MESSAGE TO THE WORLD.
We proclaim His greatness
Because their gods do not compare in any way to Him.

In fact the Psalmist said that our God “is to be feared above all gods”

He is to be held in awe above them all.
No god should captivate you like our God.

(5-6) “For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.”

I love that statement.
“For all the gods of the peoples are idols…”

• That is to say they are all imposters
• They are all usurpers
• They are all “wanna-bes”
• They are frauds; they are phonies

They’ve never done anything in their life, in fact they aren’t even alive,
But our God “made the heavens”

Speaking to idols, God says:
Isaiah 41:21-24 “Present your case,” the LORD says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” The King of Jacob says. Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together. Behold, you are of no account, And your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.”

Psalms 115:3-8 “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.”

I did a simple internet search where I am told that
• Of the 7.8 billion people in the world
• 1.7 billion claim to be Muslim.
• 1.2 billion people are Hindu.
• 500 million are Buddhist.

Now just on those numbers alone that means that 43% of the world wakes up in the morning and gives glory to and fears a god that does not exist.

And that doesn’t even take into account lesser religions or those who claim atheism.

The point is simple.
The world needs to hear about the greatness of our God.
The world needs to hear about who He is and what He has done.

In what news I’ve watched or listened to in the past months there are a few terms or words that continue to pop up. Words like “Propaganda” or “Gas lighting” or “Psy-op”

• Well I’m telling you that half the world is a victim of propaganda.
• Half the world has been gas-lighted
• Half the world is falling for a psy-op

They are worshiping a god that does not exist
And they do not know about the greatness of our God.

THE WORLD MUST KNOW.

“Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.”

• These are defining characteristics that are unique only to Him.
• No other god has splendor or majesty
• No other god has strength or beauty
• Those things are unique to Him and Him alone.

And yet half the world does not know Him.

Which is why the Psalmist says “Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.”

Isaiah 43:11-13 “I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me. “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And I am God. “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

Announce His salvation, Affirm His greatness
#3 ASCRIBE HIM GLORY
Psalms 96:7-9

You clearly see the call to “Ascribe”

It means “to give” or “to provide”
Especially that which is deserved and due.

And it reminds us here that this One true God
Who alone is the savior of the world
Also has requirements for the mankind He created.

God created mankind to worship Him.

Those who refuse incur His wrath and are judged.

Romans 1:18-21 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Our world DOESN’T JUST need to know that
God alone saves and that God alone is real.

Our world also NEEDS TO KNOW that a failure to give honor and glory to the God who created them will cause them to incur His wrath.

Our job is to call the world to worship the Lord and worship Him properly.

• “Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples” (that is everyone)
• “Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength”
• “Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name”

It is time for all peoples to worship God as God deserves to be worshiped.

What does that look like?
(8b) “Bring an offering and come into His courts.”

Make no mistake, God requires an offering.
God requires a sacrifice.

• Now, you know, and we have talked about the many verses where God indicates that it is not the blood of goats and bulls that He requires.

• Those things were merely a symbol of the coming sacrifice of Christ.

• And so yes, in one sense we understand that when Christ presented Himself to God, He did so on our behalf and in many ways there is no other offering that needs to be presented.

If you’re following along in our Hebrews devotion,
This is what Hebrews 9 and 10 is all about.

Christ offered that one perfect and sufficient sacrifice to God.

BUT LISTEN, the “offering” referred to here is not just one of atonement.

It is also one of TRIBUTE, and we never stop bringing that.
Psalms 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

Even the writer of Hebrews who went to such great detail to make sure we understand that Christ was our one sufficient sacrifice to God ENDED HIS BOOK BY SAYING THIS:
Hebrews 13:15-16 “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

We understand that while Christ alone atones for our sin,
Our great God still deserves a great tribute from us.

• We bring Him offerings for the work of His kingdom…
• We bring Him songs of praise…
• We bring Him generous and grateful hearts…
• We present our bodies as living and holy sacrifices…

The world is certainly called to understand this.
Micah 6:6-8 “What God Requires of Man With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”

There is a lost world that needs to hear this.

• You watch those Muslims on their knees bowing during times of prayer convinced that this is what god requires…
• You watch Hindus struggling under the cast system for fear of offending the god who put them their…
• You watch them cramming food in the mouth of their carved idol to feed their deity…

THEY HAVE NO CLUE what the God who created them desires from them.
We are called to show them so that they may give what He desires.

(9) “Worship the LORD in holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth.”

You know that garments represent character.
God demands holiness.

Certainly we find this only in Christ.
• And a religious world following Mormonism or Jehovah’s Witness who assume that their own righteous garments are good enough must be told otherwise.

Remember the parable of the wedding banquet?
Remember that one man who snuck in their without wedding clothes?

Matthew 22:11-14 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Certainly we understand that
We only approach God clothed in the righteousness of Christ
And with the humility that He requires as we bring our tribute.

There is a lost world which does not grasp this and they must be told.

Announce His salvation, Affirm His greatness, Ascribe Him glory
#4 ANTICIPATE HIS COMING
Psalms 96:10-13

This is also a message that the world needs to hear.
Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

Matthew 3:12 “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

We are called to remind a sinful and rebellious world that
• Despite their current wickedness,
• Despite the fact that their sin seems unnoticed.

The God who created them has not abdicated the throne.
He reigns and soon He will judge.

(10) “Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.”

Christ will return and He will return for judgment.
Every man will be judged and our world must hear that.

This message is pure delight to all who hate sin and long for a righteous land.

(11-13a) “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy, Before the LORD, for He is coming,”

Paul said:
Romans 8:19-22 “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”

• Creation remembers life before sin.
• Creation remembers life before the fall.
• My how frustrated creation must be having been forced to endure this evil
administration of Satan who is the god of this world.

And we too, after our redemption…
We too are awakened to the filth of our current prison.

That is why Paul went on to say:
Romans 8:23 “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”

• We used to love this world.
• We used to be knee deep in the corruption.
• We used to enjoy the sin that permeated it.

And then we were awakened!
Then we were filled with the Spirit of God!
And we joined in the groan of creation.

We also began to long for “a better country”,
A land “where righteousness dwells”.

And that land is coming.
“for He is coming”

“For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.”

Isaiah 11:1-5 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.”

That is the land we wait for!

But, just as we long for it, we must lift up our eyes and recognize
That the world is not ready for that day.

If Christ were to return today, there is a massive amount of humanity
That would be swept up in the judgment.
They must be warned.

And this is why we are here.
• We are here to ANNOUNCE HIS SALVATION
• We are here to AFFIRM HIS GREATNESS
• We are here to ASCRIBE HIM GLORY
• We are here to ANTICIPATE HIS COMING

As the children of Israel moved the Ark into Jerusalem,
• They could see with their mind’s eye a better day.
• They could see the day when Christ would return and set up permanent
dwelling upon the earth.

And so as they rejoiced they encouraged the people
That the truths about our great God must be proclaimed to the world.

This is a message for all peoples.

Download Here:

The Crucifixion of Jesus – Part 2
Luke 23:32-49 (35b-39)
January 31, 2021

As you know, we are studying through Luke’s gospel, and as we said last week, we have been 3 ½ years preparing to get to this one point.

We are approaching the holy ground of the crucifixion.

This moment is the focal point of all eternity.
It is the biggest day of all eternity.

This day is even bigger than any of the 7 days of creation
Since this day was determined even before time began.

• Paul tells us in Titus that eternal life was promised to the elect through the
cross “before time began.”
• Paul tells us in Ephesians that we were chosen in Christ “before the
foundation of the world” (1:4)

The cross was always God’s plan to redeem His people back to Himself.

WE ARE LOOKING AT THIS UNEQUALLED DAY.

We started working through the text last week with our first point.
#1 THE SCENE OF THE CRUCIFIXION
Luke 23:32-35a

In seeing those verses again
We are drawn back into the panorama of what is going on.

We even said there are 3 major realities that Luke would have us notice.

IDENTIFICATION – Christ is clearly being treated as a criminal.
• He is in a death march
• He is headed to the place of execution
• He is being led among other criminals

Jesus was not a criminal, nor was He sinful, but He was identifying with us.
He was being treated as we deserve.

INTERCESSION – We clearly saw Christ on the cross already fulfilling His role as a great High Priest.
• He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

IGNORANCE – most noticeably in the people who were simply “looking on” oblivious to the magnitude of the moment.

And so we discussed briefly
How important it is to remove the ignorance of the cross.

Paul told the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

So our first goal last week was simply to remove the ignorance.
We talked about what is actually occurring here.

Namely that this innocent man was bearing the wrath of God
For all the sin of everyone who would ever believe for all time.

His sacrifice on the cross.
• REACHED BACK to atone for the sin of every Old Testament believer.
• REACHED OUT to atone for the sin of every believer at that time.
• REACHED FORWARD to atone for the sin of everyone who would ever believe in the future.

Hebrews 10:14 “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

I realize that this scene may look like a simple execution of Jesus by wicked men, but in reality it is so much more than that.
This is the day that changed it all for all of us.

So that was the scene of the crucifixion that we saw last week.
This morning let’s move forward in the text.

#2 THE SCORN OF THE MOB
Luke 23:35b-39

I told you last time that what you see taking place here is actually a “Mock Coronation”.
• They have already robed Him in purple
• They have already placed a crown of thorns on His head
• They have already lifted Him up on His throne
• They have placed His most fitting subjects on His right and His left (criminals)

It is a mocking scene.
And there are a few things important to see here.

First, I would simply point out to you what we might call THE PLAYERS
(or the participants)

The first player mentioned is CHRIST

We actually saw Him up in verse 34 praying for the forgiveness of His murderers.

I bring that up again because we have here
Another one of those GREAT CONTRASTS that Luke loves to use.

While the entire mob is a picture of hatred and scorn,
Jesus shines brightly to us as a model of mercy and meekness.

You can’t help but bring to mind that powerful passage that Peter gave us.
1 Peter 2:22-24 “WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

Christ is the exact opposite of those around Him.
He is the only One here who is NOT acting like a sinner.
And yet He is the One dying as a sinner.

We always want to recognize that.

Another player we’ve already looked at was clearly THE PEOPLE.

Luke told us that they were “looking on” sort of in ignorant oblivion.

Matthew tells us that they were also verbally abusing Jesus.
Matthew 27:39-40 “And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

You’ll see why Luke doesn’t mention their scornful attacks in a minute.
Luke has another point to make.

But I do want you to see them by way of contrast to Jesus.
THEY ARE MOCKING, HE IS MEEK.

Another player that I want to show you that is not as easily recognizable is actually PILATE.

Now you say, where is Pilate in all this?
He’s not at the foot of the cross.

Let me show you where Pilate is.
(38) “Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

That is Pilate’s contribution to the scene.

However, what Pilate has written was NOT MEANT to mock Jesus.
John 19:17-22 “They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.'” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

I want to be sure and put that picture in your mind
As we’ll come back to it later on this morning.

One of the events that took place was this PILATE,
Who knew Jesus was innocent but didn’t have courage to release Him,
ACTUALLY TESTIFIED AS TO WHO JESUS REALLY WAS.

And where it not for Pilate’s noticeable cowardice we might even be inspired by his response. “What I have written I have written”

Wow, that sounds great doesn’t it!
Yet, that is what we call too little too late.

But even though Pilate’s confession was a pitiful one
It still played a prominent role in what is occurring here.

Because there is no doubt that
THIS SIGN hanging above the head of Jesus
Greatly influenced the scorn and mocking that Jesus was receiving.

So that’s already 3 characters at the scene.
Jesus, the People, and Pilate

But there are more, and the others Luke mentions specifically,
And Luke mentions what they say.

We see THE RULERS
(35b) “And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.”

The word “sneering” there is a long Greek word
That means “to deride by turning up the nose”

You’ve seen it before:
Luke 16:14 “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him.”

So it’s not like they’re growling at Him
(Like we might be tempted to think by the word “sneering”)
Rather they are sort of laughing and scoffing at Him.

They aren’t actually daring Him to come down off the cross,
They are mocking the fact that they don’t think He can.

• “Hey miracle worker, how are those miracles working for You now!”
• “Hey Mr. Savior, what happened Your Saving potion not working?”
• “I thought you were the Mighty King? Don’t look so mighty now!”

They are scoffing and mocking Him.

This is actually infuriating to us
Because we know that the only thing keeping Him there
Was His love for us and His humble submission to the plan of God.

• He reminded Peter that God would at once put at His disposal more than 12 legions of angels if that was His desire.
• We know that if Christ had required that this cup pass, it would have since He was in fact righteous.

And are we really to assume that the One
• Who calmed the waves,
• Overturned death,
• Cleansed lepers,
• Healed paralytics,
• And overwhelmed legions of demons
Would find the nails in His hands too big of an obstacle to overcome?

Of course not.

The only reason He is there is because He chooses to be there,
And yet they scoff Him for it.

But it wasn’t just the rulers.
We also see THE SOLDIERS getting in on the fun.

(36-37) “The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”

“mocked” there is a Greek word that means “to play with”

Matthew 2:16 “Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged…”

When they approach Him and offer Him “sour wine”
They AREN’T concerned about His thirst,
NOR are they offering Him some sort of pain killer.

They are just joining in on the game.
• All they had was this sour wine,
• But they were pretending it was the king’s choice wine
• And they are no doubt approaching Him and bowing
• And offering Him wine as they would a noble king.

It’s a mockery.
They are toying with Him.

And then they begin to taunt Him too.
“If you are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”

Do you remember the story of Elijah and the showdown on Mt. Carmel?
• When Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a showdown?
• Remember how Elijah spoke to the prophets while they tried to coerce Baal to light the sacrifice?

1 Kings 18:27 “It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.”

• We all laugh when we hear Elijah mock the utter impotence of their false deity.
• He pointed out for the whole crowd to hear how weak their god was
• And how stupid they were for following him.

Well that’s the exact same thing these soldiers are now doing to Jesus.
What’s the matter King, can’t you come down?

And you see them mockingly bow and offer Him a drink.

He the massive butt of all the jokes there at the scene.

And that’s still not all.
We also see the CRIMINALS hanging with Him getting in on the action.

(39) “One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”

Luke’s gospel only mentions one of the criminals abusing Jesus,
But the other gospel accounts show us that for a time both were participating.

Matthew 27:44 “The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.”

As we will see, one of them felt remorse and changed his tune.
Clearly the louder of the two is the one Luke mentions.

And this criminal was “hurling abuse”.
That is actually the Greek word BLASPEMEO
From where we get the word “blaspheme”.

It means “to speak reproachfully, rail at, revile”

This guy isn’t necessarily mocking, this guy is mad.
He is angry that Jesus, who supposedly has all this power,
Is just taking all this abuse without doing anything about it.

See, this criminal has an ulterior motive.
He wants Jesus to get off the cross and take him too.

He’s like the other prisoner in the jail cell
Who wants Jesus to bust out so he can escape as well.

And he’s actually mad at Jesus for getting his hopes up
And then not doing anything.

His scorn must have been the most difficult to bear.
Calling Jesus names like a pathetic loser, lying sissy, and phony deceiver,
And I’d imagine he used other language not suitable for a sermon.

He was calling Jesus every name in the book.

And what you see is that Jesus is being attacked from every side.

Jesus is praying for them
They are mocking and abusing and attacking Him in every way possible.

Psalms 22:6-8 “But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, “Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”

Psalms 22:12-18 “Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.”

It is certainly undeserved and uneducated scorn.
Jesus not only could have come down from the cross,
But He could have instantly swapped places with any man there.

• He could have turned them into salt like Lot’s wife…
• He could have consumed them with fire like Aaron’s sons…
• He could have opened up the ground and swallowed them like Korah…
• He could have sent a plague like during the wilderness…
• He could have called a she-bear out of the woods to maul them all…
• He could have had a lion approach and kill them…

All of those are ways in which God killed sinners in the Old Testament.

But Jesus just took it.
He bore the abuse. He bore our sin.

Isaiah 53:7-8 “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?”

It is a striking contrast.

But beyond that, there is SOMETHING ELSE
That Luke clearly wants you and I to see in his account of the crucifixion.

He doesn’t just want you to see that the scorn happened.
He also shows us THE COMMON SUBJECT OF THE SCORN

Did you notice that everyone Luke mentioned as scorning Jesus all had the same attack?

Every one of them basically said the same thing.
“If you are the King/Christ…save Yourself”

There is a definite point to be made by Luke in all of this.

All the scorn that Jesus is receiving here
Is centered around His claim to be the King.

We can look at the reason for the cross from many different angles.
• We certainly saw last time that God’s purpose for the cross was the
redemption of humanity.

But if we look at Luke’s angle of view, the reason for crucifixion
Is rooted in a rejection of Christ as their sovereign authority.

TO PUT IT MORE SIMPLY.
These people did not want Christ to reign over them.

THEY REJECTED HIS AUTHORITY.

Now this is NOT NEW to Luke’s gospel,
He has given us subtle looks at this from time to time.

TURN BACK TO: LUKE 1:30-33
Very early in his gospel account Luke brought to the forefront that in Jesus we have the King.

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

It was a clear heading very early in the gospel.

And we saw that there is an EXPECTED SUBMISSION to Him as such.

TURN TO: LUKE 9:18-26
• It is that famous call of Jesus to His disciples.
• God revealed Him to be “The Christ of God” (King)
• And the expectation was that these men would follow Him.
• They would leave their lives behind and follow Him.

TURN TO: LUKE 9:57-62
That of course was a NEGATIVE EXAMPLE of men who wanted salvation, but who were not interested in following Jesus.
• He would cost their comforts…
• He would cost their fortunes/inheritance…
• He would cost their reputations…

It was a clear call to submission and to follow Him
And many were not willing.

TURN TO: LUKE 12:41-48
Once again a reference to the necessity of doing the will of the Master.
• When His kingdom comes those who did His will would be rewarded,
• Those who did not would be punished.

There was the definite requirement of submission to the King.

TURN TO: LUKE 14:25-35
It is FAR MORE than simply “believe” and then carry on like normal.
• There is a required submission there.
• There is an understood cost in following Christ.

TURN TO: LUKE 19:11-27
Again a parable about Christ’s return

But twice in that parable we see the real root issue.
• (14) “But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’”

• (27) “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”

WHAT IS MY POINT TO ALL OF THAT?

Simply to make sure you understand that
Central to the call of Christ was submission to Him as Lord.

Look, it is absolutely true that man is justified by faith alone.
There is no merit and there are no works that you can do which aid Christ in salvation.

We are justified by faith and faith alone.
Romans 4 makes this clear.

BUT IT IS ALSO TRUE that many times
People’s understanding of this has been far too shallow.

This is why the book of James is so important.

You’ve probably recognized the SEEMING CONTRADICTION.

• Romans 3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works
of the Law.”

• James 2:24 “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

Seems like someone is wrong.
No, they are both right.

Paul is revealing that FAITH ALONE JUSTIFIES.
James is revealing THE KIND OF FAITH THAT JUSTIFIES.

Luther said it like this.
“We are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.”

What is my point?
IT IS ACCURATE to say that
All a person must do to be saved is believe in Christ.
But in our day, with the rise of cheap faith which has no substance
It is necessary to explain that the faith which is required
Is far more than just some intellectual ascent to a story.

Pilate knew who Jesus was.
He even hung a sign that said it.
But Pilate was not saved.

I carried you through all those passages in Luke
Because I wanted you to see that the call of Christ was far more than for you to simply believe He was real.
• There was a definite call there to act on that belief.
• There was a definite call there to demonstrate that faith.
• There was a definite call to self-denial, cross-bearing, and following Jesus.

AND WE MIGHT SAY IT LIKE THIS.
All that is required for you to be saved is faith in Christ.
• But if that faith doesn’t lead you to submission to Christ as Lord,
• Then the faith you have is not the kind that saves.

It should be obvious to all.
Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;”

And I bring that to the forefront
Because I want you to see WHY THEY ARE EXECUTING JESUS.

They didn’t want Him to reign over them.
They didn’t want Him to be their Lord.
They didn’t want Him to be their King.

We talked last time about the IGNORANCE at the cross
Now we see the INSUBORDINATION at the cross

• They weren’t rejecting the baby in the manger…
• They weren’t rejecting a miracle worker…
• They weren’t rejecting a crowd feeder…

If He would have been willing to do those things
But still let the religious elite be in control,
They would have had no problem with Him.

They were killing Him because they resented this notion that they must bow the knee to Him as the Christ of God.

That is obvious because at the cross,
The main truth they attack is the truth that He is King.

And might I submit that
THIS IS STILL one of the main reasons why men reject Christ today.

• To be certain, there are some who resent the need even for a Savior.
• There are some who don’t want to humble themselves and admit they need saving.
But it is also true that
There are many who realize they need a Savior
But the balk at the notion of Christ also being their Lord.

Was this not the problem of the Rich Young Ruler?
(He wanted a Savior, but not a Lord)

WE SEE THAT SAME ISSUE TODAY
Our culture is fine, for the most part, with that baby in a manger on Christmas.
Our culture is fine, for the most part, with that compassionate philanthropist.
Our culture is fine, for the most part, with the healer and sympathizer.

Where our culture throws a fit is when
We suggest that Jesus is King and must be obeyed.

Think of Herod when Jesus was born.
• He had no problem with a baby until he learned that this baby was “born King of the Jews” and then Herod wanted Him dead.

NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

It was prophesied in Psalms 2
Psalms 2:1-3 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!”

MEN HATE THE NOTION THAT CHRIST IS KING.

BUT THIS IS THE REQUIREMENT.
• In order to be saved, you must confess what the world hates.
• You must confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

And again, as we saw last week, if you’re paying attention
This is exactly what Peter told the crowd at Pentecost
Just over a month later.

Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now to that statement the Jews asked what they should do?
And I remind you again of Peter’s statement.

Acts 2:38-39 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

What was Peter saying?

Many have taken that verse wrong to assume that somehow being baptized in water is the means of salvation.

IT IS NOT.

So why is Peter telling them to be baptized?
It goes back to the issue of IDENTIFICATION

Remember that Jesus identified with us
And was being treated as we deserved.
Through baptism Peter is telling these Jews
That they must identify with Christ.

Listen to this passage:
Romans 6:3 “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?”

Galatians 3:27 “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

Now listen carefully.
Neither of those passage is saying that when you get into the water that somehow you are then being united with Christ.

The baptism that unites you with Christ is a spiritual baptism.
It is a baptism performed by the Holy Spirit.

When you believe in Christ, you are identified with Him.
That is to say that before God you are identified with Him.

Paul said it like this:
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Just like Christ was identified with you and suffered your fate.
By faith you are identified with Christ and share His fate.
There is a spiritual union that occurs.

Now, water baptism is an outward symbol of that spiritual reality.

In essence through baptism we are having your symbolic funeral.
• It is an announcement that you have believed in Christ.
• That you have been joined with Christ in His death.
• That you have been joined with Christ in His resurrection.

And in water baptism, you are not being saved,
But you are publicly declaring Christ as your Savior
And Christ as your Lord.

This is why Peter mentioned it at Pentecost.

Jesus had been publicly crucified
As a rejection of His sovereign authority as King.

And when the people wanted to know how to remedy their blunder,
Peter said, “Put your money where your mouth is and publicly proclaim Him as Lord.”

This is where I want to challenge you this morning.
• I realize that I could ask the question, “Do you believe in Jesus?”
• And I honestly doubt that anyone in here would say, “No.”

That is to say, YOU AGREE He lived, died, was sinless, rose from the dead,
All of that.

But there’s a bigger question to be asked.
• Have you submitted to Him as Lord?
• Have you denied yourself, taken up your cross, and followed Him?
• Have you publicly confessed Him?
• Have you been baptized?

THOSE ARE THE THINGS PEOPLE WHO REALLY BELIEVE DO.

Picture yourself standing around that cross while all of those people are hurling abuse at Jesus and mocking Him as a phony King.
• What are you doing?
• Are you mocking with them?
• Are you cowardly and quietly just sitting back letting them have at it?

THIS IS THE CALL OF CHRIST.

In a world that has rejected the authority of Christ
We are those who are called to publicly go against the grain
And confess Him as Lord.

If you have not, I call you to do that this morning.

For many, imprecations have almost been considered to be “unchristian”.  The thought that Christians could pray and call down judgment has been seen as anti-Christ in every way.  And yet, God has literally saturated His word with prayers of imprecation.  Two years ago, God opened my eyes to these prayers as a Biblical way to deal with my righteous indignation.  And while we certainly heed the words of Paul and never take our own revenge but leave room for the wrath of the LORD, we also understand that it is our right and our calling to bring our frustrations and lay them at the feet of our righteous Judge.  These prayers have been a blessing for me, hopefully they will be for you as well in these dark days and difficult times of evil.

[evp_embed_video url="https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1yqanc9nwyzhot/Imprecatory%20Prayer.mp4?dl=1" width="500"]

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Being God’s People
Psalms 95
January 24, 2021

Psalms 95 has long been one of my favorites.
It reveals what it means to be “The People of God”

Have you ever pondered that question?
• People today like to assume the title “man of God” or “woman of God”
• Some seek sort of the generic term “child of God”
• What does that mean?

Perhaps more importantly, what does that look like?
• Can you spot a “man of God”?
• Is a “woman of God” evident?
• What do “the people of God” look like?

It really is a basic question and one that
We all ought to have a very clear understanding of.

So, if you aren’t quite sure, let’s look together at Psalms 95.

NOW – WE HAVE A DISTINCT ADVANTAGE IN STUDYING THIS PSALM

The reason is because the last half of this Psalm
Is already exposited and preached for us in the New Testament.

Hebrews 3:7-4:13 is an exposition and application of Psalms 95:7b-11

WE WOULD BE FOOLISH NOT TO TAKE A LOOK.
So we are going to study this Psalm sort of in reverse order because we want to start off with what the writer of Hebrews has to say about the end of this Psalm.

TURN TO: HEBREWS 3:7

Now, just to make sure we all understand
(and I think we looked at this a little in regard to Sabbath rest a few Sunday nights ago, so hopefully you’re still familiar with some of it)
Let me give you the basic point of the sermon.

“HOLD FAST or NO REST”

That’s really the message.
• The writer of Hebrews is preaching to a group of Jews
• Who have professed faith in Jesus,
• But because of persecution are considering defecting from Him.

The writer of Hebrews wants to bring to their attention
A group of people who did that very same thing in the past
And how it did not work out well for them.

Now a very important verse is actually Hebrews 3:6

(3:6) “but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house – whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope until the end.”

He said that we are truly part of the house of God if we hold fast to Christ.

It is similar to the statement of Jesus in:
John 8:31 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;”

It is that same gauntlet that is being thrown down here.

And in order to reiterate his point,
The writer of Hebrews turns to Psalms 95:7b-11,
Which he quotes in verses 7-11 here.

(7-11) “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'”

So he’s made his point that you should hold fast,
And then he gave his supporting text.

In verses 12-14 he REITERATES HIS POINT once again.
(12-14) “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,”

Do you see the same point as in verse 6?
• Yes, there is a warning about falling away.
• Yes, there is a call to encourage others not to fall away.
• But ultimately it ends with the same point of verse 6.
• We read it in verse 14 – “we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end”

This is NOT a warning about losing salvation.
This is a litmus test.

That is to say, it’s not about no longer being a child of God.
We’re trying to determine whether you ever actually were a child of God.
If you fall away, then we’ll know you weren’t.

That’s the overarching point.

Then, in order to enforce his point he starts expositing Psalms 95

(3:15-19) is the FIRST POINT
Namely that your religious past is pointless if endurance doesn’t occur in your life.

You notice there how the writer brings up
All the religious activities of the people in the wilderness.

The writer talks about those who provoked God but he wants to know who they were?

And the answer is that it was those who followed Moses out of Egypt.
• Those who had seen the plagues
• Those who had participated in the Passover
• Those who had passed through the Red Sea

And if you are unclear as to what all that meant, listen to Paul:
1 Corinthians 10:1-5 “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.”

Paul equates the actions of the wilderness congregation to basic Christian actions today.
• The Passover would have been their profession of faith
• Going through the Red Sea would have been their baptism
• Eating the manna and drinking the water would have been their basic Christian
lifestyle as part of the congregation

They did all the religious stuff.
“Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.”

Despite all their religious ordinances they clearly were never pleasing to God.

Now, that is the same point the writer of Hebrews is making in 3:15-19.
• Despite all that God had done for them.
• Despite all they had done in a religious sense.
• God never let them enter His rest.

So their religious past was pointless.
You see that.

Then we come to the next point.
(4:1-3) is the SECOND POINT
If you want to enter rest you must believe.
And of course believing here is equated with endurance or not falling away.

The writer warns us to fear.
• We should fear that any of us might fall short of God’s rest.
• And he reminds us why the congregation in the wilderness fell short.

They had good news preached to them, “but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”

They didn’t believe.
They heard, they knew, they did not believe.

Are you starting to see the problem with the wilderness congregation?
THEY WERE PHONY.

They heard the truth, they went through all the motions,
But they didn’t believe.
That’s why they didn’t enter.

On to the next point.
(4:4-10) is the THIRD POINT
Rest is real. Rest is enjoyed by God and it is continually available to all who believe.

That is to say that true believers can also rest from their works
Just like God rested from His works.

Here the writer points out how the former congregation had rest offered
BUT they never received it because of their disobedience (lack of faith)

But the writer also points out how that
When we get to Psalms 95 we something amazing happening.

Rest is still being talked about!

Now, just for reference sake,
• The writer of Hebrews says that Psalms 95 was written by the Holy Spirit (3:7), but here he also attributes it to David (4:7).
• And just so you know, David showed up around 400 years after Joshua.

And the point of the writer is that if “rest” was just about the children of Israel taking the Promised Land under Joshua,
Then what in the world is David talking about in Psalms 95?

Clearly God’s rest is about way more than just entering the land.

His point is that rest is still available.
(9) “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.”

And that rest is defined as this.
(10) “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”

• You will remember that God rested because He was finished.
• There was nothing left to be done, tweaked, finished, or accomplished.
• He rested because all the work was completed.

Now, we rest the same way.
• Jesus said that it was finished.
• He finished it on the cross.
• We rest in Him and understand that there is no more work to do.

And so the writer of Hebrews is simply reminding his audience,
Based on Psalms 95, that rest was not a one-time offer.

Rest is a continual proposition
Made available to all who trust in the finished work of Christ.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

So rest is real and available.

And then
(4:11-13) is the FOURTH POINT
God knows your heart as to whether or not you really believe and therefore whether or not He will give you rest.

So the calling is to enter that rest.
Which is equal to believing in Christ
And showing that belief through obedience and endurance.

And to understand that God knows your heart,
Whether or not you are really His people,
And He only gives rest to those who are really His people.

And his text for that was Psalms 95:7b-11.

Let’s read it again and now you’ll see all those elements in play.
(7b-11) “Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

Clearly there you see that David and the writer of Hebrews
Are using the same example to make the same point.

• What God once did for them, He is now doing for you.
• He is offering you rest, and He is offering it today.
• They hardened their hearts and refused to believe.
• This angered God and in His anger He refused to give them rest.
• Even though they claimed to be God’s people, their behavior proved otherwise.

That is the universal application of this text.

We are talking about the importance of genuinely being the people of God.
That is also what David is talking about.

There’s just two main points.
1) THE EXPECTATION
2) THE EXHORTATION

We’ve already looked at the exhortation, but let’s now look at the beginning.

#1 THE EXPECTATION
Psalms 95:1-7a

Now I will also tell you that we need to break this first point
Down into 2 sub-points.

There are really two expectations listed here.
1) JOYFUL SINGING (1-5)

When we begin the song we see very clearly what is expected.
• We see a reference to singing
• We see a reference to shouting
• We see a reference to thanksgiving
• And we see a 3-fold call for joy

(1-2) “O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.”

So just see this basic yet totally authoritative command.
THIS IS THE EXPECTATION OF GOD.
He expects joyful singing, joyful shouting, and joyful thanksgiving.

Psalms 81:1-5a “Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob. Raise a song, strike the timbrel, The sweet sounding lyre with the harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, At the full moon, on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob. He established it for a testimony in Joseph When he went throughout the land of Egypt.”

You might even recognize the reference to the fact that
God instituted this ordinance with that first congregation
When they came out of Egypt.

God delivered them and He very explicitly commanded them
To sing and shout with joy.

It was called “an ordinance of the God of Jacob”

God expected this – God commanded this. God ordained that this would be done.

As we have said many times before
• It had nothing to do with singing ability,
• It had nothing to do with if you could stay on key or on time.
• It disregarded personal preference.
• It overlooked feelings of embarrassment.

God had saved this entire congregation
So this entire congregation was expected to sing and shout joyfully.
(Instead they grumbled and tested God and you see how that worked out)

But David reminds us of God’s expectation
That His people will joyfully praise Him.

And then David goes one step further and tells us why.

(3) “For the LORD is a great God…”

What a statement!
• Do you believe that?
• Is He in fact a great God?
• Is He worthy of shouting and singing?

Remember when God rebuked the priests in Malachi for calling His work too tiring?
Malachi 1:11 “For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts.”

Those who think worship is too tiresome
God simply reminds how much He deserves it.

I am a great God! He says.

(3) “For the LORD is a great God and a great King above all gods,”

Jeremiah 10:6-7, 12-16 “There is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name in might. Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Your due! For among all the wise men of the nations And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You…It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses. Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish. The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of hosts is His name.”

There is not another god in this world
That actually deserves worship, but this God does.

He is a great God.
And David continues with his evidence.
(4-5) “In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land.”

David appeals to the glory and grandeur of creation.

You of course remember that creation alone is enough testimony to condemn humanity. It is that telling.
Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

Do you not see God’s greatness in creation?
Psalms 19:1-6 “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.”

I love that passage.
• There have been several moments over the past year where I took advantage
of this.
• We know our world has been in chaos.
• We know we are fed massive amounts of dis-information.
• Many we listen to would simply seek to invoke fear and confusion.

And on the days when the noise gets too extreme,
I like to just walk outside and look up at the sky and then look around.

I remind myself that the sun still rose in the east and it will set in the west
And remind myself that God is sovereign over it all.

Creating teaches us about the greatness of God!
• He owns the depths of the earth
• He owns the mountains
• He owns the sea
• He owns the dry land

IT’S ALL HIS!

Psalms 33:6-8 “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.”

Isaiah 40:12 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales?”

Job 38:8-11 “Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band, And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors, And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop’?”

The passages are endless.

And make sure you understand David’s point here.

He is NOT here telling us to praise God for creating the world.
No doubt we should, but that is not the point here.

He is telling us to praise God
Because only a great God could create the world.

• What kind of God has the power to create all of this?
• What kind of God has the power to sustain all of this?
• It is like the disciples on the boat: “Who is this Man that even the wind and the waves obey Him?”

THE EXPECTATION IS THAT
We will praise God with joyful shouting and grateful singing
Because He is the great God of creation and He deserves it.

Any failure to participate is a slap in the face to Him.

That’s the first expectation.
Joyful Singing

But there’s a second expectation.
2) HUMBLE SUBMISSION (6-7a)

Again, the expectation is clearly outlined.
“Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.”

Now we have moved from outward praise to inward awe.
The understanding of who God is
Leads us to erupt with shouting and singing at His greatness.

But as His greatness begins to sink in,
It becomes awe-struck wonder where we now “bow down” and “kneel”.

• It is submission.
• It is the humble offering of our lives to Him.
• It is the full surrender of our wills to Him.
• It is the total devotion of all that are and have to His desire.

“worship” is such a great word.

It is so much more than just singing songs before the sermon.

Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

It is the giving of all that we are and have to His glory.

The very first time the word “worship” appears in the Bible is a very telling explanation.

Genesis 22:5 “Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”

Of course Abraham was talking about
How he would go and sacrifice his son to God.

• It wasn’t a pep rally…
• It wasn’t a rock show…
• It wasn’t a mosh pit…

• It was Abraham surrendering to God the thing he loved most in this world.
• It was his greatest offering
• It was his most prized treasure

That was worship.
And that is what is being commanded here.

First it was a call for JOYFUL SINGING
But now it is a call for HUMBLE SUBMISSION.

And again we are given EXPLANATION as to why we should give it.
(7) “For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.”

• We praise Him with singing and shouting because He is “a great God”
• But we submit our lives to Him because He is “our God”

David has moved inward.
It is no longer simply the expectation for creation.
Now we are talking about the expectation for redemption.

We are those who have been purchased.
We are those who have been redeemed.

Do you remember God’s expectation for His people at Sinai?
Exodus 19:4-5 “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;”

What did God want?
• A people to call His own.
• He wanted His own people; His own possession.

It is very similar to like when a man takes a wife.
In one sense he can be friends with all the women in the world, but only one will be his.

This is what God said to Israel.
I want you as My own.

Isaiah 43:1 “But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!”

God chose them and saved them and purchased them
TO BE HIS OWN PEOPLE.
He would be their God and they would be His people.

And the expectation is that they
Would worship and submit to Him as their own God.

Now do you understand why God was so angry with them in the wilderness?
These people, whom He had purchased and delivered.
• All of a sudden they didn’t want to worship and bow down.
• All of a sudden they didn’t want to trust and believe.
• All of a sudden they didn’t want to obey and endure.

He bought them and they refused Him.
He was so angry that He decided to never let them share in His rest.

So now let’s again move into that final point.
We saw the Expectation
#2 THE EXHORTATION
Psalms 95:7b-11

You see it now more clearly don’t you?

David is now speaking to his contemporaries
And reminding them of how great God is and that He is our God.

And the expectation has always been
That they would worship and bow down to Him.

But whatever you do,
Don’t make the same mistake our ancestors made and ignore Him.

• Don’t harden your heart to His call.
• Don’t put Him to the test.
• Don’t try Him.

The first generation that did that suffered for it greatly.
God loathed them and they never entered His rest.

That was David’s exhortation.

When we get to the New Testament the writer of Hebrews read that
And determined to apply it to his contemporaries as well.

• Those who had professed faith in Jesus.
• Those who had claimed to be His people but now were tempted to leave Him.
• They were about to try Him and test Him and the writer of Hebrews again
warns his followers not to.

Remember that old congregation and how God loathed them
And never let them enter his rest.

Well tonight we get to follow in their steps.
We read Psalms 95 and we apply it to our lives.

1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”

WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD.

BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
• If we say we are the people of God then we must be a people of praise.
• If we say we are the people of God then we must be a people of submission.
• If we say we are the people of God then we must be a people of worship.

• But if we harden our hearts…
• Or if we test and try Him…
• Or if we fall away from Him…
• Or if we fail to praise Him joyfully…
• Or if we fail to kneel in submission to Him…

Can we really say that we are the people of God?

• So what if you got delivered out of Egypt…
• So what if you got baptized in the Red Sea…
• So what if you at the manna and attended the feasts…

They all did that.
But God loathed them.

We are talking about being God’s people in this world.
• Being people of praise
• Being people of worship
• Being people of submission
• Being people of obedience
• Being people of endurance

Ultimately being people of faith.
We are talking about being God’s people.

So the simple question is “Whose people are you?”
• That’s what David was asking.
• That’s what the writer of Hebrews was asking.

Whose people are you?
• Are you God’s people or not?
• Are you Christ’s people or not?

Then praise Him, worship Him, submit to Him, obey Him,
And by all means stick with Him.

Do that today.
And He will give you rest.