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The Crucifixion of Jesus – Part 1
Luke 23:32-49 (32-35a)
January 24, 2021

This morning we enter a study that has such weight and glory
That the task of preaching it is really quite overwhelming.

In many ways it makes me feel like Moses must have felt when approaching the burning bush and he was told to take of his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.

We are of course talking about the account of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Though sermons beyond number have been preached on this event,
NO PREACHER WILL EVER DO IT JUSTICE.

There is no other day like this one.
There is no other event like this one.

December 7th was once called “A day that will live in infamy”
• And yet now less than 100 years after the event most born today, read about it as just another day in history.

Some of you remember the broadcast, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
• And yet today there are many who don’t even know what that was talking about.

Some of you remember when you heard the announcement that Kennedy was shot,
Some of you remember where you were when you heard report that the twin towers were brought down,
• And Americans swore we would never forget.

But the reality is that
Even though those events were in the moment larger than life,
None of them made even close to the footprint
Of the day Luke writes about here.

THIS IS THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION.
This is the day that the sinless Son of God bore the eternal wrath of God
And paid for all the sins of all the elect for all eternity.

It is the pinnacle day of all human history.
• This one event affected every single day which came before it.
• This one event affected every single day which came after it.
• This one event affects all eternity even after time ceases to exist.

By comparison, there is no other event.
Nothing else stands in its class.

Even when we look into the book of the Revelation
And catch a glimpse of the majesty of heaven;
We hear their worship, and the worship of heaven is about this event.

Revelation 5:9-12 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

The crucifixion of Christ is THE EVENT of all eternity.
There is no message bigger than the message of the cross.
• Every other doctrine
• Every other truth
• Every other moment
• Must be seen in relation to this moment or it is wrongly understood.

You can’t understand anything written before this or after this
If you don’t understand this.

• The Old Testament gives us the SHADOW of the crucifixion of Jesus.

• The Gospel Accounts give us the STORY of the crucifixion of Jesus.

• The rest of the New Testament gives us the SIGNIFICANCE of the
crucifixion of Jesus.

IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
THIS EVENT IS THE MESSAGE OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE.

This event tells us more than any other event about things like:
• The love of God – since it is here that God demonstrated His love
• The wrath of God – since God poured it out on Christ
• The justice of God – since God did not allow sin to go unpunished
• The sinfulness of man – since this was what the Substitute received

This event is our HOPE
This event is our PEACE
This event is our JOY
This event is our SHAME

This event is the FOCAL POINT of all the redeemed
This event is the STUMBLING BLOCK of all the lost

To try to use a sermon to grasp the magnitude is for me very intimidating.
But, that is the calling.

And so this morning we approach this sacred ground.
We approach the crucifixion of Jesus.

This event is the entire reason Luke wrote his gospel account.
• My notes tell me that we started our study of Luke on July 2, 2017.
• That means we have been studying for 3 ½ years to get to this point.

Everything Luke wrote was to prepare you for this.
• Everything about the prophetic birth of Christ.
• Everything about the evident power of Christ.
• Everything about the gospel preaching of Christ.
• Everything about the suffering of Christ.

It was all for this.
This is the story. This is the point.

And this morning we begin to look at it,
Knowing that we couldn’t possibly grasp it all.

BUT OUR COMFORT IS THIS.
That even the smallest glimpse of the cross
Can have the most profound impact upon a life,
So even though we may not see it all, to see any of it is pure joy.

So this morning let us begin to look at this sacred moment.

We’re going to break down the text into 4 points. (1st one this morning)
#1 THE SCENE
Luke 23:32-34

We actually continue seamlessly from the text we studied last week.

• Last week we called it “The Last Sermon”
• Jesus addressed the crowd that followed Him,
• He warned them of their coming judgment.

But if you’ll remember we spoke of A CONTRAST in that text.
• We contrasted Simon, who was walking behind Jesus carrying His cross,
• With the women who were also walking behind Jesus lamenting His cross.

We contrasted TRUE SALVATION from FICKLE EMOTION.

Well this morning we actually find that
There is a third group who was also on the road with Jesus.

(32) “Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him.”

Make no mistake, this is not a joyous walk.
• Jesus is on a death march.
• He, and the criminals with Him, are going to be executed.

• There is no pageantry…
• There is no nostalgia…
• There is no honor…

Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

Psalms 22:6 “But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people.”

Psalms 69:7-12 “Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Dishonor has covered my face. I have become estranged from my brothers And an alien to my mother’s sons. For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept in my soul with fasting, It became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate talk about me, And I am the song of the drunkards.”

This is the humiliating walk of the condemned.
THE SCENE IS DARK.

And as we look at these 3 verses which describe the scene,
It is clear that there are points Luke wants us to see above any others.

IDENTIFICATION

We’ve talked about this now for several weeks.
• It was introduced by Jesus the night before in the upper room.

He told the disciples:
Luke 22:37 “For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘AND HE WAS NUMBERED WITH TRANSGRESSORS’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.”

You’ll remember that Jesus told the disciples that
• The days of easy ministry and abundant hospitality are over.
• Jesus was about to be labeled as a transgressor.
• Jesus was about to be reckoned as a blasphemer and a criminal.

And we know why.
He was identifying with us.
He was taking upon Himself our shame and our guilt.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Part of the saving work of Christ
Was to wrap Himself in our sin and our shame.
His work was to be treated as we deserved.

• We saw it in the garden where Jesus felt the coming condemnation of God.
• We saw it in His arrest where they treated Him like a phony rebel thief.
• We saw it in His trials where He was regarded as blasphemer.

And now we see it still
As He walks the death march accompanied by criminals.

(32) “Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him.”

Jesus is NOT a criminal, but He is being treated like one.
Jesus is NOT a sinner, but He is being treated like one.

And then comes the terrible event.
(33) “When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.”

They finally made it to “the place called The Skull”

• The Catholic church has their traditional site of this event.
• There is a more recently proposed site called “Gordan’s Calvary”
• Some think it may have just been a place where there were literal skulls of
previous crucifixion victims.

Who knows?

Either way the name itself rightly depicts the event that took place.

“there they crucified Him”

4 little words in the English language.
• None of the gospel writers go into great detail regarding the event itself.
• There is no gory description of the flogging He received first.
• There is no graphic telling of the nails being driven through His hands & feet.

Partly because to mention crucifixion to their immediate reader
Needed no explanation.

It would be today like if I told you
“Someone was executed by being shot in the back of the head.”

You wouldn’t need me to go into the graphic details
About what would be happening there.

Luke’s readers knew what crucifixion was.
• It was purposely a public event used by Rome for intimidation as much as it
was for punishment.
• Enemies of Rome were purposely crucified for all to see, and Luke’s
readers were well aware of what took place there.

WE ALSO NOTICE that the goal of the gospel writers is NOT to SENSATIONALIZE the event.
• The goal is NOT to simply move you to some emotional weeping.
• That makes you no better off than the women Jesus just rebuked.
• It is actually more important that you apply your mind and understand the significance of what is occurring here.

Beyond that, to focus too much on the physical horror of the cross
Is to miss the entire point of what actually happened there.

This is something Mel Gibson in his famous “Passion of the Christ” movie
DID NOT UNDERSTAND.

The horror of the cross IS NOT what man did to Jesus on that cross.
(as bad as it was)
The horror of the cross IS what God did to Jesus on that cross.

Perhaps that helps you understand why the gospel writers
Almost seem to understate the physical horror of actual crucifixion.

Now, without being overly graphic, if you are not aware what it meant to be crucified, you do need at least a little understanding.

• Crucifixion was likely invented by the Persians.
• Alexander the Great of Greece was known to have used it.
• The Romans certainly adopted it because it was powerful deterrent to criminal activity.

• Those who were to be crucified, were first to be flogged.
• They would be whipped and beaten and ultimately prepared for the cross.
• When the crucifixion actually occurred, they would be stretched out on a wooden beam and nails would be driven through their wrists and then through their feet.

• They would then be lifted up and the person on the cross died from asphyxiation.
• That is, they suffocated.

• You weren’t able to breathe in the way they had you hanging unless you pulled your body up to catch a breath, and this of course was terribly painful since the only thing you could pull against was the nails.
• That is also why, if the Romans sought a quick death the legs would be broken and then suffocation was almost immediate.

But perhaps the best way I can tell you, without getting graphic,
Of the physical torment of the cross is like this.

When we want to talk about the worst form of pain,
We often use the word “EXCRUCIATING”

Excruciating comes from the Latin word “EXCRUCIATUS”
And that word literally means “OUT OF THE CROSS”

IT WAS BAD.
But what happened there happened because that is what sinners deserved.
• The cross was designed for criminals.
• The cross was designed for thieves.
• The cross was designed for rebels.

Jesus was none of those things, but He was identifying with us
And so He was being treated as we deserved.

“there they crucified Him and the criminals”

Luke also adds: “one on the right and the other on the left.”

This is NOT incidental.
This is intentional.

As you will see later in the story,
The entire scene of mockery and shame is centered around Jesus’ claim to be a King.

What is happening here is His mockery coronation.
• They already clothed Him in a purple robe
• They already placed a crown of thorns on His head
• And now they have lifted Him up on His throne with His most fitting subjects on His right and on His left.

This is an intentional move of humiliation.
It is there way of saying that He is “The King of Criminals.”

Perhaps we might borrow from Paul’s self-assessment
And say they are labeling Him “the chief of sinners”.

It’s all part of their desire to totally humiliate and discredit Him.
He doesn’t deserve it, but we do, and so He is enduring it.
He is being treated as though He lived our life.

Isaiah 53:1-6 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

IDENTIFICATION.

There is a second clear point Luke makes by showing us this scene and it is:
INTERCESSION

(34a) “But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

It is probably the most famous of all the statements
Jesus made on the cross.

It certainly appears to be Luke’s favorite, since even when Luke wrote the book of Acts he included the similar statement from Stephen as he was being stoned.

Acts 7:60 “Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.”

AT SIMPLY FACE VALUE IT IS
A remarkable demonstration of meekness and mercy and forgiveness.

To see that Jesus was not only willing to forgive,
But actually pleaded for the forgiveness of His murderers
Certainly encourages us regarding the depth of the mercy of Christ.

If Christ would willingly forgive and intercede
For those who physically hung Him on the cross,
Then here is hope for the vilest sinner.

The mercy of Christ truly knows no limits.

Jesus has even taught us:
Luke 12:10 “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.”

• Blasphemy against the Spirit would be to refuse the Spirit’s call to believe in
Christ.
• That sin can’t be forgiven since to reject the Spirit’s call is to reject the Savior.
• But remarkable about the verse is that Jesus had said that even those who
speak against Him can still be forgiven.

And on the cross we find that this mercy reaches even to those who
• Falsely testify against Him
• Falsely condemn Him
• Brutally flog Him
• Actually nail Him to a cross

And so I can confidently tell everyone listening,
That regardless of the degree of your sin,
Regardless of what you have done, Jesus Christ will forgive you.

Recently we were listening to a John MacArthur sermon on the Love of God and in that sermon he shared a story that honestly shocked me, but I think it will help reiterate our point.

“I don’t know how it struck you, but it struck me as an amazing thing on one hand, and yet not so amazing on the other, that before Jeffrey Dahmer – the mass-murdering, homosexual who killed seventeen and cannibalized a number of them – died at the hands of some fellow prisoners, he had made a confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and been baptized. In fact, I had occasion to read his will, in which repeatedly he expressed his genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in confidence that Christ had forgiven all his sin. And I heard an interview with the chaplain who said that there was no question in his mind but that the faith of Jeffrey Dahmer’s was indeed placed in Jesus Christ and that he was now in His presence.”
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-77/the-love-of-god-part-1

It only goes to illustrate what we see depicted here that
Jesus Christ came to save sinners; even really bad sinners.

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

Paul wrote:
1 Timothy 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”

That should comfort you.
Here, Jesus prays for the sinners who are killing Him.

This does NOT mean that all sins there were instantly washed away.
NOR does it mean that the sin for crucifying Christ was instantly rendered null and void.

Peter is going to make it clear at Pentecost
That those who participated in the event must still “repent”.

But what it does reveal is that
When a sinner does repent they will find mercy.
Christ already asked for it.

And Christ even gave the basis on which He asked for this forgiveness.
“for they do not know what they are doing.”

And this by the way introduces us to the third theme
That Luke highlights in this crucifixion scene, and that is
IGNORANCE

(34b-35a) “And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on.”

This fills in the scene for us.
• While Christ is hanging on the cross dying,
• Below the cross there is the most despicable event imaginable taking place.
• Before He is even dead the Roman Soldiers are gambling for His garments.

This, by the way, was PROPHESIED.
John 19:23-24 “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS.”

That of course was a direct quote from Psalms 22:18:
Psalms 22:18 “They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.”

Christ is dying for sinners while they are fighting over His clothes.

This might be expected, even routine, for the soldiers
But Luke adds that “And the people stood by, looking on.”

We might say OBLIVIOUS
But no doubt the better word is IGNORANT

That’s what Jesus said:
“for they do not know what they are doing.”

• They don’t have a clue.
• They don’t realize who I am.
• They don’t realize what I am doing.
• They don’t realize why they need it.

They are ignorant people who simply don’t know any better.

This, by the way, would be the foundation for the apostles preaching.
Acts 3:17-19 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”

Peter noted that
• They were ignorant of the prophets…
• They were ignorant of the Scriptures…
• They were ignorant of the necessity of the suffering of the Christ…
• They were just ignorant.

And in that ignorance they committed a terrible sin.

Acts 13:27 “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.”

Paul actually attributed this ignorance to himself.
1 Timothy 1:12-16 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

• Paul said the same about himself.
• I was ignorant.
• I didn’t understand what was going on.

This ignorance, by the way, is in all of humanity
Until they come to know the truth.

Paul wrote:
Ephesians 4:17-18 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;”

The world is ignorant of the truth.
Romans 3:11 “THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;”

And again:
1 Corinthians 1:18a “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…”

The world just doesn’t understand
Who Christ is, why He died, and why they need it.

And that is also put on full display here.

So from Luke’s perspective can I
SUMMARIZE THE SCENE of the crucifixion for you.

Here we have the sinless Son of God,
Dying AS a sinner, FOR sinners, AT the hands of sinners;
And the sinners don’t even know why He is doing it.

Isaiah 53:4 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.”

And so the first objective of any study of the crucifixion of Jesus
Must be to make sure we remove the ignorance.

You must understand what is going on here.
You must not be some simple bystander just “looking on”

This event is too important for you to miss.

Jesus Christ was here atoning for sinners.
• He was the propitiation (appeasement) meant to satisfy God’s holy wrath.
• He was paying for the sins of all those who had believed in Him in the past, as in the Old Testament.
• He was paying for the sins of all those who believed in Him at the present, as in the disciples.
• He was paying for the sins of all those who would believe in Him in the future, as in the church.

He was offering to God the FIRST, LAST, and ONLY sacrifice
God would ever accept as a suitable payment for sin.

Hebrews 7:27 “[Jesus] does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”

Hebrews 9:11-12 “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

Hebrews 9:24-26 “For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

Hebrews 10:10 “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Hebrews 10:11-14 “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

What He was doing here was the greatest event in all of human history.
He was paying the entire sin debt
• For everyone who believed in the present,
• For everyone who had ever believed in the past,
• And for everyone who would believe in the future.

If anyone would ever realize their sin and the wrath of God on that sin
And would then turn to Christ for forgiveness,
He was atoning for that sin here.

PAID IN FULL.

And the people standing around were totally oblivious.

HOW ABOUT YOU?
• Do you see that He is being treated as you deserve?
• Do you see His great mercy even for you?
• Do you understand that the calling is for you to repent of your sins and trust in what He did?

On the day the church was born,
Peter stood up for the first time and addressed the ignorance
And the rebellion of this entire crowd who crucified Jesus.

I want us to end by reading what he said.
TURN TO: Acts 2:22-40

And there it is.

Maybe Peter’s sermon addresses your life so far.
• You’ve done some terrible things.
• Maybe you did them out of ignorance, but you did them none the less.
• Maybe even in your past you have rejected Jesus.

Well, here’s the good news.
• God has seen fit, in His tremendous mercy, to allow you today to hear the truth about the cross.

And the offer that Peter extended to the Jews that day in Jerusalem,
I now extend to you.

“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…Be saved from this perverse generation!”

That is what the cross is about.
It’s about saving sinners.

I hope you see that this morning, and I hope you will respond.

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My Consolation In Evil Days
Psalms 94
January 17, 2021

Tonight we approach a Psalm that I have been eager to reach.
It has been a Psalm which has been
MY PERSONAL CONSOLATION many times over.

We live in evil days.
• Our culture is filled with violence
• Our culture is filled with corruption
• Our culture is filled with immorality
• We live in a nation of abortion
• We live in a nation of sexual deviation
• We live in a world of human trafficking

On a daily basis I feel very much like the Bible says Lot felt in Sodom.

2 Peter 2:8 “(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),”

That is a perfect description.
• I have a tormented soul regarding the world in which we live.
• I long more now for the return of Christ than I have ever longed in my life.
• I have such an intense craving for a city in which righteousness dwells.

Hebrews 13:14 “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”

2 Peter 3:13 “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”

I (at least in some ways) understand the groaning of Jesus who would say:
Mark 9:19 “And He answered them and said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?”

This world is a depressing place to be.
Evil runs rampant and appears to be unchecked.

And we, as we have said many times before
Are held in check by the commands of God.

Matthew 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

• We know that we are called to love and pray.
• We don’t get to attack either verbally or physically.
• We are called to be like our Father, who despite His wrath toward humanity,
still maintains basic benevolence toward them.

Even in their rebellion God SUSTAINS their life, PROVIDES them with food and clothing. He sends rain and sunshine on the just and the unjust.

God is kind and merciful to evil men.
And we are called to be His children in this world.

Our behavior is clearly mapped out for us.
• We pray for them (mostly for their repentance)
• We show love and consideration toward them.
• We turn the other cheek
• We go the extra mile

That has never been in question
Regarding our Christian duty in this sinful world.

We have also often times referenced the reminder of Paul who said:
Romans 12:19 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.”

We’ve said it before, but we say it over and over again.
It is extremely hard to live like Jesus in a sinful world.

His meekness is perhaps the hardest attribute to emulate.
• He was omnipotent
• He could do whatever He wanted
• He could stop any person He wanted to stop
• And yet, this omnipotent God-Man willfully submitted Himself to the scorn and
abuse of sinners.

BUT THIS IS THE CALLING
1 Peter 2:21-23 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 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;”

But humbling ourselves as we watch the world
Grow all the more wicked is incredibly difficult.

THE PSALMIST AGREED.

Hence the infamous (3) “How long shall the wicked, O LORD, how long shall the wicked exult?”

It’s getting old.

And in his frustration he has turned to God.

As we have said repeatedly, THIS IS WHAT WE DO.
This is why I love the imprecatory Psalms.

• I love being able to lay out my raw emotions and indignation before God.
• I can so identify with that widow in Luke 18 who continually went before that unrighteous judge asking for justice.
• God has given us many great Psalms to pray that we can lay right at His feet.
• We don’t go beat up our enemies. Instead, we deal with our anger and frustration by laying it at the feet of our just Judge.

Well that is certainly what our Psalmist is doing,
And in doing so, HE HAS FOUND GREAT CONSOLATION.

(17-19) “If the LORD had not been my help, My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence. If I should say, “My foot has slipped,” Your lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.”

So, if you’re angry…
• If you’re anxious…
• If you’re defeated…
• If you’re impatient…
• If you’re frustrated…

Here’s the Psalm for you that will bring consolation
To a troubled soul during evil days.

Now, I do want to give you a backdrop passage.
This isn’t a cultural backdrop, it’s a theological one.

• I can’t line up for you the historical event that has prompted this Psalm,
• But I do think I can give you the scripture that has prompted it.
• I think I can give you the passage that has inspired this specific prayer from the Psalmist.

TURN TO: DEUTERONOMY 32

• Deuteronomy 32 is a song of Moses.
• It is highly prophetic about where Israel is headed
• And it is a warning about how they shouldn’t go there

We actually see the motivation for this song in the previous chapter.

Deuteronomy 31:26-29 “Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you. “For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the LORD; how much more, then, after my death? “Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them. “For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

Perhaps you can call him a pessimist, Moses was certainly a realist.
He had led these people for 40 years
And he knew exactly what kind of people they were.

He knew that rebellion was coming.
In as a prophetic warning, Moses wrote this song in chapter 32.

It is long, but we can cover it quickly and you’ll get the gist of it pretty easily.

(1-4) – Opening Praise
(5) – Announces that Israel are illegitimate and corrupt children.
(6-14) – The rebellion is undeserved since God has done so much good.

Obviously Moses is speaking prophetically there
Since Israel wasn’t even in the land yet.

(15-18) – Israel’s prophetic idolatrous rebellion.
(19-25) – This is the coming punishment of God that will follow their rebellion
(26-27) – God announces that their sin would have been enough to actually destroy them, but He doesn’t want the nations thinking that He has been defeated.

But God is going to use foreign nations to chastise and punish Israel.

(28-33) – This is about Israel’s enemies. God says that those enemies should have realized that God was helping them when they punished Israel. And that this understanding would cause them to (29) “discern their future”.

But those foreign nations won’t.
They will afflict God’s people without mercy and without repentance.

• SO we have Israel who has offended God
• And who has brought on themselves the chastisement of foreign nations.
• Those nations fail to realize that God remains for Israel
• And are afflicting them beyond God’s intent.

(34-36) – God will respond to their chastisement by punishing those foreign nations.

Hopefully you noticed that verse that Paul quoted, “Vengeance is Mine”

(37-43) – And God will make it clear to everyone that He was the One who both chastised and delivered Israel.

• SO it is a song about the sin and failure of Israel.
• It is a song about how God will use the wicked to chastise.
• It is a song about how God will then vindicate His children and punish the wicked.
• It is a song about how God will ultimately be glorified and worshiped.

And now when we work through Psalms 94 you’ll see that
It is rather obvious that the Psalmist had this song in mind.

They also are chastised by the godless…
They also are eagerly awaiting the vengeance of God…

Their consolation is found in the promise that God will bring it.

Well, let’s look at this Psalm and the consolation it brings.

There are actually 4 truths here that console our Psalmist,
And they will console you in a wicked world as well.

#1 WHAT GOD HATES
Psalms 94:1-7

What we are saying here is that
The Psalmist is actually consoled and comforted
Because he knows what God hates.

And it is this knowledge that actually fuels his imprecatory request.
(You don’t ask God for vengeance if you don’t know that He is against it)

He cries out:
“O LORD, God of vengeance”

And we stop there because we get a theological description of God.

The LORD is the “God of vengeance”

He is also referred to as:
• God of forgiveness (Neh 9:17)
• God of righteousness (Ps 4:1)
• God of truth (Ps 31:5)
• God of salvation (Is 17:10)
• God of justice (Is 30:18)
• God of hope (Rom 15:13)
• God of peace (Rom 15:33)
• God of all comfort (2 Cor 1:3)
• God of love (2 Cor 13:11)
• God of all grace (1 Peter 5:10)

And most of those we are familiar with,
But we do not lose sight of the fact that
He is also the “God of vengeance”

He is the God who avenges His own.
He is the God who repays His enemies.

That is NOT a contradiction to His mercy.
His mercy is readily available to all who repent.

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.”

And the Psalmist knows this.
In fact, it is his consolation.

• He knows that God is NOT a corrupt judge.
• He knows that God is NOT one who refuses to see evidence
• He knows that God is NOT one who refuses to deliver out justice

And so he prays:
“God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth, Render recompense to the proud.”

By now you know that such prayers are NOT anti-christian,
But are rather a blessing to the Christian.

• We do not take our own revenge…
• That Luke 18 widow did not try to kill her legal opponent…
• But we do go before our righteous Judge.

And our Psalmist goes before God because he knows what God hates.

(3-7) “How long shall the wicked, O LORD, How long shall the wicked exult? They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly; All who do wickedness vaunt themselves. They crush Your people, O LORD, And afflict Your heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger And murder the orphans. They have said, “The LORD does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.”

Are you picking up on his complaint?
We’ve actually seen something similar to this recently in Luke,
Though granted the example we saw was a dishonest one.

But consider for a moment the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin.
Remember they condemned Him because He claimed to be God.

But when they hauled Jesus before Pilate, and Pilate asked why He deserved to die, what was the answer?

Luke 23:2 “And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”

Now why did they tell Pilate about taxes and insurrection?
That clearly wasn’t the consensus at their trial.

Because they wanted vengeance from Pilate.
But in order to receive it they needed to appeal to something Pilate hated.

Pilate didn’t care that Jesus claimed to be God,
But Pilate did hate people who didn’t pay taxes or who revolted against Rome.

It is a similar thing happening here with our Psalmist.
He is able to cry for vengeance because he knows what God hates.

We have the wicked boasting and speaking arrogantly, crushing God’s people, saying widows and orphans, and thinking God doesn’t see it.

And the Psalmist knows how God feels about all those things.

Jeremiah 50:31 “Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,” Declares the Lord GOD of hosts, “For your day has come, The time when I will punish you.”

Psalms 5:5 “The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity.”

Psalms 11:5 “The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates.”

Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.”

Zechariah 2:8 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, “After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.”

Isaiah 1:17 “Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”

You see why he is able to come before God during this evil time,
And that is because he is confident that God hates it.

And we understand that.
• We live in a day where innocent blood is shed in massive amounts.
• But we have no problem at all praying for God to avenge those infants who
have been murdered because we know God hates it.

As grievous as the sin is,
It is actually consoling to us to know that our God hates it too.

And I can pray for vengeance on the shedding of innocent blood
BECAUSE I KNOW WHO GOD IS.

I would have despaired if I thought God didn’t care.
But my consolation is to know that
He most certainly does and that He will avenge.

What God hates is a consolation to the Psalmist and it is to me as well.
#2 WHAT GOD HEARS
Psalms 94:8-11

The Psalmist revealed in verse 7 that these wicked are so smug.
They think they are getting away with everything.

They sin, they oppress, they speak arrogantly, they shed innocent blood,
They attack the weak and helpless and they THINK NO ONE KNOWS.

If that were true, it would crush my soul.

BUT IT IS NOT TRUE.
The Judge of all the earth knows!
(He hears)

(8-11) “Pay heed, you senseless among the people; And when will you understand, stupid ones? He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see? He who chastens the nations, will He not rebuke, Even He who teaches man knowledge? The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are a mere breath.”

They think they get away with it,
But nothing could be further from the truth.

Do they really think the One who created the ear doesn’t hear?

Matthew 12:36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”

Do they really think the One who created the eye doesn’t see?

Psalms 11:4 “The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.”

Amos 9:8a “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth…”

Proverbs 5:21 “For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He watches all his paths.”

Proverbs 15:3 “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.”

David reminded us:
Psalms 139:1-6 “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.”

GOD KNOWS ALL.
He even judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And do we really think that the God who has judged nations has somehow lost His nerve?
• Do we really think that the God who flooded the earth refuses to judge?
• Do we really think that the God who rained fire on Sodom won’t kill?
• Do we really think that the God who crushed Egypt won’t punish?

It’s absurd!

God knows the futile thoughts of man
And He will most certainly punish them.

AND THAT IS A CONSOLATION TO US.
The God who avenges knows every evil deed.

Revelation 20:12 “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.”

What God Hates & What God Hears
#3 WHO GOD HELPS
Psalms 94:12-16

Here the Psalm takes an interesting turn,
Because the focus has now left the arrogant oppressor
AND THE PSALMIST LOOKS INWARD.

And he begins with a sobering beatitude.
(12) “Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O LORD, And whom You teach out of Your law;”

Now if you’ll remember that song of Moses we opened with
• You’ll remember that the very point of that song was to point out to Israel the danger of idolatry.
• Moses was very clear that if Israel defected from God into idolatry that they would be chastised for it.
• The purpose was not destruction, but ultimately redemption.

Well, here we find the Psalmist listing that very silver lining.
He sees the recent persecution as being “chastened”.

He sees that God has used this enemy to “chasten” Israel
And to refocus them on God.

And the Psalmist even lists the goal of this chastening.
(13) “That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity, Until a pit is dug for the wicked.”

God chastened this man to turn him back to Himself
Namely so that he would be saved from further adversity.

In other words, it has been a little hardship now
To save you from greater hardship later.

And the Psalmist says that it good news.
That is a blessing.

And it only reiterates to him that God is for Him and God cares.

(14-15) “For the LORD will not abandon His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance. For judgment will again be righteous, And all the upright in heart will follow it.”

So here is what the Psalmist knows.
• Does God chastise His people? Yes
• Does God use that chastisement for their good? Yes
• And ultimately, God will never forsake His people, regardless of their sin.

I often find comfort in this promise regarding Israel that Paul quotes.
• Speaking in reference to Israel’s murder of Jesus and them being broken off.
• Paul reminds that regardless of this heinous sin,
• And even though God has surely chastised them for it,
• God has not forgotten them.

Romans 11:2a “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.”

He goes on to say:
Romans 11:25-27 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”

THAT COMFORTS ME even though I am not Jewish
Because I realize that I, like they, absolutely deserve to be abandoned.

If God would not abandon them, He will not abandon me either.
Matthew 28:20b “…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Is that a consolation to you?
It is to me.

In the midst of evil days I am so glad to know that GOD HATES EVIL TOO.
In the midst of evil days I am so glad to know GOD KNOWS WHAT IS GOING ON.
In the midst of evil days I am so glad to know GOD HAS WILLED TO HELP US.

That being the case, I love verse 16.
(16) “Who will stand up for me against evildoers? Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness?”

That’s a little hard to understand exactly what he means.
This is NOT a statement of despair.
He has just emphatically stated that God won’t leave him.

It is best to read this verse like this: “Who [else] will stand up for me against evildoers? Who [else] will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness?”

The answer is – NO ONE
God alone is our hope, God alone is our help.

But that is a tremendous comfort.
Psalms 20:7 “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.”

Psalms 37:35-40 “I have seen a wicked, violent man Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil. Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more; I sought for him, but he could not be found. Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright; For the man of peace will have a posterity. But transgressors will be altogether destroyed; The posterity of the wicked will be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in time of trouble. The LORD helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him.”

That is such a consolation.
• God hates the evil of our world
• God hears and knows all about it
• God has chosen to help us

One more consolation
#4 WHO GOD HIDES
Psalms 94:17-23

You certainly love his response to the truth of God’s help.
(17) “If the LORD had not been my help, My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.”

That is to say, “If I couldn’t count on God I’d fall into a bottomless depression and hopelessness.”

THAT’S TRUE.
It is God’s help alone that satisfies and encourages our soul.
We count on nothing else.

It echoes:
Psalms 27:13-14 “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.”

And that is why the Psalmist goes on to say:
(18-19) If I should say, “My foot has slipped,” Your lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.”

• Ever feel like giving up?
• Ever get overwhelmed with discouraging despair?

Well the Psalmist says even when I would give up, God holds me up.
When I am overcome with my anxieties, God consoles me.

We aren’t holding ourselves, He is holding us.
That is such good news.

Jude 24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,”

Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

He is holding us. He is helping us.

And this cannot be said of the evil ones in our world.
Listen to his logical conclusion. There is comfort here.

(20-21) “Can a throne of destruction be allied with You, One which devises mischief by decree? They band themselves together against the life of the righteous And condemn the innocent to death.”

• He talks of this fierce enemy who attack the righteous and innocent.
• It is these same people who he described up in verses 1-7.

But here the question is this.
Knowing the level of their evil, is it even remotely possible for them to be on God’s side? Or for God to be on their side?

No, it is not possible.
“Can a throne of destruction be allied with You..?” NO

What does that mean?
God is definitely for us and God is definitely not for them.

THAT IS A CONSOLATION.

And that is why the Psalmist closes here.
(22-23) “But the LORD has been my stronghold, And my God the rock of my refuge. He has brought back their wickedness upon them And will destroy them in their evil; The LORD our God will destroy them.”

The picture is of the coming day of destruction.
The picture is of the day when all wickedness is brought to light and destroyed.

• On that day, these wicked whom God hates…
• On that day, these wicked whom God hears…
• On that day, these wicked whom God is opposed to…
“The LORD our God will destroy them.”

But for us who are oppressed…
• For us who are helped by God…
• For us whom God will not abandon…
• For us whom God is for…
GOD IS FOR US A HIDING PLACE

“But the LORD has been my stronghold, And my God the rock of my refuge.”

Psalms 18:30 “As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the LORD is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.”

Psalms 34:22 “The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.”

And that is also a consolation.

We certainly live in evil times,
And such evil is prone to lead us into anxiety, despair, and even hopelessness where we might be tempted to give up.

But God is for us.
• He hates the evil we hate
• He hears the evil we hear, it has not escaped Him
• He helps us His people
• He hides us from the coming judgment

LET THAT CONSOLE YOU IN AN EVIL WORLD.
He is a God of vengeance
And there is coming a day when His people will be avenged.

The Psalmist begins with a cry for vengeance
And he ends with absolute peace that it will occur.

2 Peter 2:4-10 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”

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The Last Sermon
Luke 23:26-31
January 17, 2021

If you’re studying Hebrews with us through the daily devotions,
Then recently you have been reminded of the story of
The failure of the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness.

The text that the writer of Hebrews cites comes from Psalms 95
Psalms 95:7b-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.”

The event alluded to there was the grumbling of Israel regarding water,
And God’s ultimate decision that an entire generation of people
Would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land.

Do you remember that proclamation by God?

Numbers 14:26-32 “The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. ‘Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ‘Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey — I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. ‘But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness.”

It must have been a horrifying day.
• God announced that if you’re over 20 you will not enter the Promised Land.
• YOU WILL DIE IN THE WILDERNESS.

THE POINT?
Because of a present decision, their future fate was sealed.
In a sense, they were dead men walking.

Like the famous signs along the river that lead to NIAGARA FALLS,
They had crossed the point of no return.

All that was left for them was to wait for the Lord’s judgment.

The writer of Hebrews referenced that story because
He wanted his audience to understand the importance of “Today”.

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…”
• You can no longer trust Christ yesterday.
• You cannot yet trust Christ tomorrow.
• All you have is today, all you have is right now.

And the reality is that what you choose today
May very well be the decision that sets your eternity forever.

We saw that with Pilate last week.
• He had every opportunity to confess the Son of God, the Messiah, the innocent One (all things Pilate knew) and yet he didn’t.
• He washed his hands, but he would never escape the guilt.

It is a terrifying reality to think about
The children of Israel in the wilderness or Pilate in Rome
Who spend the rest of their days simply waiting for the judgment.

Habakkuk had a similar encounter with the Lord.
• Habakkuk was a man who was distressed by the wickedness of his society
and he asked God to do something about it.
• God affirmed that He was about to do something.

Habakkuk 1:5-6, 11 “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days — You would not believe if you were told. “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which are not theirs… “Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, They whose strength is their god.”

• Habakkuk was terribly frightened when he heard the Lord’s plan.
• But God had already determined it.

Later in the book Habakkuk remarks about this coming dread:
Habakkuk 3:16 “I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us.”

In short, we are dead men walking.
Now Habakkuk was a man of faith and he had determined to trust God,
but the dread of the coming judgment was still real.

IT IS THIS DREAD WE DISCUSS THIS MORNING.

We come to the last sermon of Jesus before He was crucified.
Only Luke includes it.

But it follows perfectly what we have been saying.
• We have seen Jesus stand before various courts and leaders and they all thought they were trying Jesus.
• IN REALITY, JESUS WAS TRYING THEM.
• And that goes for the crowd who yelled for Jesus to be crucified as well.
• They had rejected the Christ.
• And now they faced a sure and certain judgment.

And this is the sermon Christ is preaching on His way to the cross.
IT IS INCREDIBLY IRONIC.

We have here a Man sentenced to death, on His way to be crucified
And yet He is warning the crowd about their coming doom.

We would call it laughable if we didn’t have the rest of the story.
In 3 days Jesus will be back alive,
But the fate of Jerusalem would be permanently set.

And so we listen to this last sermon of Jesus
• And it simply reminds us that “Today” we are required to trust Christ
• For none of us knows when our final opportunity will have passed.

There are 5 points we can make in this text this morning, and several of them we’ll work through rather quickly.
#1 A CROSS IN TOW
Luke 23:26

Here we begin with an interesting account
That is included in all 3 synoptic gospels.

“When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simone of Cyrene, coming from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.”

This was not actually that unheard of.
• You may remember Jesus earlier teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:40-41 “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.”

• It was the prerogative of a Roman soldier to be able to enlist a Jewish citizen
into temporary service at his pleasure.
• And that is what happens.

We have a man here from “Cyrene” (northern Africa; Libya)

He has no doubt come to Jerusalem for the Passover
And finds himself “At the right place and at the right time.”

He is grabbed and forced to carry Jesus’ cross.

The reason I say he was “At the right place at the right time”
Instead of the opposite is because it is apparent that the event
Left a mark on Simon and resulted in his salvation.

Mark’s gospel reveals this:
Mark 15:21 “They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross.”

• It is obvious that Mark had a personal connection as did the church to whom Mark wrote.
• His audience obviously would have known Alexander and Rufus.
• By the point the gospels were written those two men had obviously become followers of Christ and were a part of the church.

Paul even references Rufus later:
Romans 16:13 “Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine.”

• Paul even referred to Rufus’ mother as “his mother and mine”

It is apparent that Simon must have been moved by what he experienced
And that he led his family to know the Lord.

THERE IS EVEN GOOD REASON TO ASSUME
That Simon had a hand in the gospel reaching his home village of Cyrene
Because as the church is beginning to grow it is actually missionaries
That come from Cyrene who are among the first to preach to Gentiles.

Acts 11:19-21 “So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.”

Now obviously we don’t have the entire story, but being that Cyrene was in north Africa it is doubtful that the village would have known much about Christ.

It is more likely that Simon’s trip to Jerusalem
And this encounter with Jesus
Actually resulted in many salvations including that of Simon.

He was in the right place at the right time.

But more than that, I think there’s a reason why Luke includes this story.

By now you realize that Luke likes contrasts.
He likes to lay two players beside each other and to allow you to see the obvious difference.

WELL SIMON PROVIDES THE CONTRAST.

In verse 26 read about Simon and how he was selected
And “placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.”

He is quite the living illustration isn’t he?
Luke 9:23 “And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

• I’m NOT insinuating that Simon was already saved at this point, or that he was here following Jesus in faith as Jesus spoke.
• But the scene is pretty illustrative of exactly what Jesus had proclaimed as necessary.

Simon will be saved, but here he is just a really interesting picture.

He will soon be CONTRASTED with other people who are following Jesus.
• They are not carrying a cross…
• They are not suffering with Christ…
• They are merely weeping for Christ.

AND THERE IS A GREAT CONTRAST EMERGING IN THAT PICTURE.

One is following Christ while bearing His cross.
The other is following Christ while merely lamenting His cross.

Simon provides for us a point of reference to view the rest of the crowd.

So we see A Cross in Tow
#2 A CROWD IN TEARS
Luke 23:27

Now we are introduced to the other part of the crowd.
• Two groups really emerge here,
• Though only one of them earns the attention of Jesus.

“And following Him was a large crowd of people”

• No doubt some of these were people who had been at the triumphal entry.
• Certainly most of these had been at His recent sentencing and even cried out for Him to be crucified.
• They are caught up in the moment and they are going to watch this blasphemer and traitor to Rome be executed.

But there is another group there that Luke really focuses on.
“and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.”

THERE ARE TWO POSSIBILITIES HERE.

ONE IS THAT
• They are merely those professional type mourners
• That were often employed in Israel
• Who simply saw it as their job to put on a good show of grief and mourning.

THE OTHER IS THAT
• They were legitimately moved by the horror of what was about to occur.

And I don’t have a problem with either or both of them being true.
We don’t really know.

All we know is that they are behind Jesus
And they are really getting after it in their weeping.

THERE IS ONE OTHER THING WE KNOW AND THAT IS THAT
While they are weeping, they are NOT REDEEMED.

This is why they are good contrast to Simon
Who is also following Jesus while bearing His cross.

How do we know they aren’t redeemed?
Because Jesus is about to tell them to weep for themselves.

That is a different message than Jesus has for the redeemed.
Just a few hours earlier He had told the disciples in the upper room.

John 16:20-22 “Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”

The message to the redeemed is that their weeping would be short-lived.
That was NOT the message to these women.

So what we have here are women who are following Jesus
And putting on a good show of weeping,
But they are not genuine followers of Christ.

It brings to mind:

Esau who did not receive the blessing:
Hebrews 12:17 “For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”

It reminds of the warning of John the Baptist:
Matthew 3:8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;”

We are reminded of the Rich Young Ruler
Matthew 19:22 “But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.”

DON’T LET THE EMOTIONAL DISPLAY FOOL YOU.
There is a drastic difference between following Christ
And simply being emotional about Christ.

There is an entire group of women who are just weeping like crazy
And it looks like they really love Jesus,
But the contrast is the one behind Jesus who is carrying His cross.

WHICH ARE YOU?

Again, Jesus was clear:
Matthew 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

Matthew 16:24-27 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “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.”

When Jesus called us to follow He was calling us
to forsake this world and to latch on to Him.

• We were to embrace His suffering…
• We were to embrace His shame…
• We were to embrace His cross…

He doesn’t need more posts on Facebook…
He doesn’t desire more tweets on Twitter…

His call was for people to set their life aside and follow Him.
• To do that with cross on shoulder…
• To do that up the hill to Golgotha…

Don’t ever miss this.
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

I would remind you again of what we have said before.
Do not misunderstand the analogy.

1. You have a wide road with a wide gate and a popular following.
2. You have a narrow road with small gate and a scarce following.

But only the narrow road leads to life, the other leads to destruction.
And here’s the critical part.

People assume
That over the wide road hangs a sign that says, “The Road to Hell”
And over the narrow road hangs a sign that says, “The Road to Heaven”

But that’s not true.
The wide gate actually says “The Road to Heaven”
• The only problem is that it is mislabeled.
• It was hung there by the false prophets
• Who have deceived people into thinking that they can keep their easy life and all their friends and still go to heaven when they die.

Those people are just happily traveling that wide open road
And they don’t even realize they are headed to hell.

The sign above the narrow road does not say the road to heaven,
• It says, “The Road to the Cross”
• Which is the road we are called to walk.
• And that’s why so few travel it.

And the terrifying reality that Jesus teaches is that
Most people are on the road to hell and they don’t even know it.

Most people are headed to hell and don’t even know it.
The contrast is visibly clear here.

A Cross in Tow, A Crowd in Tears
#3 A CORRECTION IN THEOLOGY
Luke 23:28

Here Jesus turns and addresses especially these women,
AND HIS SERMON IS STARTLING.

“But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”

That is to say, “Boy, you’ve got it all wrong!”
You have assessed everything and you think I’m the One in trouble.
You clearly lack discernment.

You probably thought I was on trial before the Sanhedrin too…
You probably thought I was on trial before Pilate as well…

Here we have the Son of God being led away to be crucified
And the people watching think He’s the One in trouble.

Jesus says, “NOT SO!”
“weep for yourselves and for your children.”

Remember that little declaration before Pilate?
Matthew 27:25 “And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!”

BAD IDEA.
• These people had just rejected the Son of God.
• They had willingly dipped their hands in His blood
• And they had acknowledged the effect this decision had on their children.

AND WE KNOW THE AFFECT AS WELL.
Israel would be broken off.

Paul said that as a result of their rejection:
Romans 11:7-10 “What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.” And David says, “LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM. “LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER.”

It’s as we talked about last week.
• They had chosen to condemn and innocent man!
• They had chosen to murder the Son of God!

Jesus wasn’t the One in danger here and Jesus clarifies that.

A Cross in Tow, A Crowd in Tears, A Correction in Theology
#4 A COMING TRIBULATION
Luke 23:29-30

I can imagine that as Jesus told these women to weep for themselves
• That there must have been an abrupt stop to the weeping
• And a look of bewilderment
• And perhaps even a chuckle or two.

WHAT?
So Jesus explains the situation that they had failed to see.

“For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’”

Now there’s more, but let’s STOP THERE FOR A SECOND.

In Jewish culture there was no higher calling or desire for women than to bear children.
• Think about Sarah…
• Think about Rebekah…
• Think about that feud between Rachel and Leah…
• Think about Hannah…
• Think about Elizabeth…

The greatest desire for any Jewish woman was to raise godly children,
Or even to be fortunate enough to be the mother of the Messiah.

Remember:
Luke 11:27 “While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”

Bearing children was the goal and the desire.

It was absolutely unthinkable that any woman
Would consider a barren woman to be blessed!

That’s is just a strange statement.
• What do you mean “Blessed are the barren…”?
• What do you mean “Blessed are…the wombs that never bore…”?
• What do you mean “Blessed are…the breasts that never nursed…”?

That’s absurd!
No barren women would ever be considered blessed.

Well, they will on the Day of Judgment.
• They will on the day that the babies of Jerusalem are being slaughtered…
• They will on the day their children are dying…

It is the picture of a woman watching her child be slaughtered
AND ACTUALLY ENVYING A BARREN WOMAN
Who doesn’t know the pain of losing a child.

IT’S GOING TO BE BAD.

What do you mean?
(30) “then they will begin TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, ‘FALL ON US,’ AND TO THE HILLS, ‘COVER US.’”

There is an Old Testament reference here.
• In Hosea 10 Hosea speaks of the northern kingdom of Israel and their terrible idolatry.
• And because of their faithless idolatry God has pronounced judgment on them.
• He is about to send the King of Assyria to destroy them.

Hosea 10:5-8 “The inhabitants of Samaria will fear For the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn for it, And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it, Over its glory, since it has departed from it. The thing itself will be carried to Assyria As tribute to King Jareb; Ephraim will be seized with shame And Israel will be ashamed of its own counsel. Samaria will be cut off with her king Like a stick on the surface of the water. Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars; Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

In other words the judgment of that day will be so bad
You will actually enter into caves and plead that the cave would collapse
Because that would be better than the judgment that is coming.

And that’s not the only reference to such talk.
• A few years later, after the northern kingdom was destroyed by Assyria,
• The southern kingdom of Judah was facing the judgment of God as well.

Isaiah spoke of their judgment.
Isaiah 2:12-19 “For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against everyone who is proud and lofty And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased. And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan, Against all the lofty mountains, Against all the hills that are lifted up, Against every high tower, Against every fortified wall, Against all the ships of Tarshish And against all the beautiful craft. The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, But the idols will completely vanish. Men will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD And the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble.”

The judgment will be so terrifying you’d rather a mountain fall on you.

And of course we will see this same judgment occur during the tribulation.
Revelation 6:12-17 “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

YOU GET THE POINT.

These women are weeping for Jesus as though He is the One in danger.
• He’s fine, and in 3 days He’ll be alive.

The real danger is on the people who rejected Him.
• They have secured a judgment of such extreme horror that it would be better to
have a mountain fall on you.

Now do you understand the behavior of Jesus as He entered Jerusalem?
Luke 19:41-44 “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

• Jesus was referring to the coming destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 at the hands of Rome.
• Because Israel failed to see and believe in her Savior she had secured judgment.
• It would be a judgment so horrible that women, after watching their children slaughtered,
• Would wish they had never even had them
• And men would rather have a mountain fall on them then endure this horror.

IT’S GOING TO BE BAD.
And all this even pales in comparison
To the ETERNAL JUDGMENT they will receive.

It seems strange today that so many people have such a little fear of hell.
Some have even embraced it as a place of like-minded friends.

Can I remind you that when Jesus contemplated the wrath of God
That He sweat drops of blood?

Can I remind you also of what He said when contemplating hell?
Matthew 18:8-9 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.”

Jesus wasn’t advocating self-mutilation; namely since that won’t work.
• Sin resides in the heart, not the eyes
• And a man with no eyes can still have lust in his heart.

BUT YOU GET THE IDEA.
How awful would it be to right here gouge out your own eye?
How awful would it be to right here cut off your own hand?

IT WOULD BE TERRIBLE.
Jesus said that would be better than hell.

Hell is God’s eternal trash heap
Where the worm doesn’t die and the fire isn’t quenched.

Are you weeping for Jesus?
You’d be better off weeping for yourself.

Jesus will triumph, but sinners who reject Him will suffer forever.

A Cross in Tow, A Crowd in Tears, A Correction in Theology, A Coming Tribulation
#5 A CONDEMNED TREE
Luke 23:31

Jesus closes with an illustration.

Context allows us to understand it.
“For if they do these things…”

Who is “they”?
• Well “they” is the same “they” have been throughout the text.
• It is Israel.
• It is “they” who will bless the barren women (29)
• It is “they” who ask the mountains to fall on them (30)

And what are “these things” that “they” are doing?
• They are crucifying Jesus.

And they are crucifying Jesus “when the tree is green”
• That is to say when the fruit is obvious.

Jesus has lived among them for 33 years and ministered for the last 3.
His words and His miracles have been obvious for all to see.
His fruit was everywhere.

And even with such evidence they chose to condemn Him.

BUT NOW
• He looks vile and is identified with sinners.
• In the coming days He will leave.
• His works will not be so easily spotted.
• In that regard the tree will be “dry”.

AND THE POINT IS:

If they wouldn’t believe while I was right here in front of them,
They surely won’t when I am gone.
If they won’t believe while I’m working miracles.
They surely won’t believe when I’m hanging on a cross.

Remember this passage?
John 12:35-36 “So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them.”

The point is, the time is now.
• There will never be a greater opportunity.
• And in that sense, the decision you make today will set your fate for tomorrow.

Just like those children wandering in the wilderness.
• They were dead men walking.

So it was for those who crucified the Lord.
• Today, when it was easy and obvious, they rejected.
• Tomorrow, it will only be that much more difficult.

Now you understand why the writer of Hebrews said:

Hebrews 3:12-13 “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.”

Or why he said:
Hebrews 6:4-6 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

Or why he said:
Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 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.”

Today is the day to believe, none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.
None of us knows what tomorrow holds.

2 Corinthians 6:2 “for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”

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The Lord Reigns
Psalms 93
January 10, 2021

Charles Spurgeon wrote an introduction to this Psalm
That I don’t think can at all be improved upon,
So I to begin our study tonight I simply want to read his prologue to you.

He writes:
“This brief Psalm is without title or name of author, but its subject is obvious enough, being stated in the very first line. It is the Psalm of Omnipotent Sovereignty: Jehovah, despite all opposition, reigns supreme. Possibly at the time this sacred ode was written, the nation was in danger from its enemies, and the hopes of the people of God were encouraged by remembering that the Lord was still King. What sweeter and surer consolation could they desire?”
(Spurgeon, C.H. [The Treasury of David; Volume 2, Part 2; Psalms 58-110; Hendrickson Publishers; Peabody, MA] pg. 134)

My heart leaps upon that final statement:
“and the hopes of the people of God were encouraged by remember that the Lord was still King. What sweeter and surer consolation could they desire?”

There really isn’t any.

For those of you who don’t know,
We have recently had a presidential election in our country.

I do not at all wish to get into politics during this sermon
(I save that for text messages with Cody)

I only mention it because every election,
And this one has been no exception,
Can be a cause of great anxiety, anger, fear, despair, and dread.

When faced with the possibility of a reigning government
• That censors free speech,
• Seeks to shut down businesses and livelihoods,
• Seeks to shut the doors of the church,
• And which holds quite unbiblical moral views on almost everything.

And when faced with the reality that
• Those who oppose such government have totally lost their voice
• Both by having their speech censored,
• Their concerns ignored,
• And their votes manipulated.

It can leave a person feeling helpless, frustrated, and angry.

I’m not going to lie to you.
I am one of those people.

And I only tell you that because
THIS PSALM IS SUCH A TIMELY AND NEEDED REMINDER FOR ME.

It begins with a declaration that we all know,
But perhaps it is so routine that at times we forget it.

“The Lord reigns”
• Read it again: “The Lord reigns”
• Read it again: “The Lord reigns”
• And again: “The Lord reigns”

I know that. You know that.
But when fear, anxiety, doubt, and hopelessness creep in
(like they have too often done with me in the last couple of months)
All we can deduce is that we have forgotten that.

Psalms 93 confronts our despair and then crushes it with this one blow.
“The Lord reigns”

Spurgeon would go on to say:
“Whatever opposition may arise, his throne is unmoved; he has reigned, does reign, and will reign forever and ever. Whatever turmoil and rebellion there may be beneath the clouds, the eternal King sits above all in supreme serenity; and everywhere he is really Master, let his foes rage as they may. All things are ordered according to his eternal purposes, and his will is done…Let us repeat the proclamation, “the Lord reigneth,” whispering it in the ears of the desponding, and publishing it in the face of the foe.” (ibid. pg. 134)

There is the reminder.
There is the encouragement.

And tonight we want to walk through
This tremendous and totally encouraging reminder.

We can break this Psalm into 3 points tonight.
#1 THE REIGNING KING
Psalms 93:1-2

There is such encouragement here for the believer.
Being reminded of God’s eternal and unmovable throne
Has been the rallying point for Christian encouragement
Throughout the ages.

• It is His throne that allows us hope for justice…
• It is His throne that allows us hope for salvation…
• It is His throne that allows us hope for prosperity…

We are very much that widow from Luke 18
Who goes before our Judge day and night seeking justice.

But unlike that widow, our Judge is a righteous Judge and One with full authority.

This is a constant source of encouragement.

And as we ponder this,
I want to show you perspective throughout the ages.

TURN TO: ISAIAH 6

As you turn there, I want to give you the cultural backdrop.
2 Chronicles 26:1-15 “And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jechiliah of Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the LORD according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding through the vision of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God prospered him. Now he went out and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the area of Ashdod and among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gur-baal, and the Meunites. The Ammonites also gave tribute to Uzziah, and his fame extended to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong. Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate and at the corner buttress and fortified them. He built towers in the wilderness and hewed many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the lowland and in the plain. He also had plowmen and vinedressers in the hill country and the fertile fields, for he loved the soil. Moreover, Uzziah had an army ready for battle, which entered combat by divisions according to the number of their muster, prepared by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the official, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s officers. The total number of the heads of the households, of valiant warriors, was 2,600. Under their direction was an elite army of 307,500, who could wage war with great power, to help the king against the enemy. Moreover, Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows and sling stones. In Jerusalem he made engines of war invented by skillful men to be on the towers and on the corners for the purpose of shooting arrows and great stones. Hence his fame spread afar, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.”

What we have described there is A GREAT KING.
He made Israel great again.
• He reigned for 52 years
• He enlarged the borders
• He strengthened the military
• He secured the nation

It was good to be alive while Uzziah was on the throne.

Now to Isaiah 6.
We read: “In the year of King Uzziah’s death…”

Do you want the context?
• Isaiah saw an empty throne.
• The man responsible for so much good in Israel was now gone.
• The future was uncertain, and fear abounded.

Where would Isaiah receive encouragement?
(READ 6:1-4)

Isaiah saw the real throne.
Isaiah saw the LORD.

And all at once it becomes obvious that
The security and the prosperity and the glory of Israel
Was not due to Uzziah’s throne,
It was because of the LORD’S throne.

INCIDENTALLY,
It was at that moment that Isaiah volunteered into service for the Lord.
Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

After seeing the highest throne,
Serving any lesser throne just seemed like a pitiful job.

TURN TO: PSALMS 11

The setting here is a little different.
(READ 1-3)

• David wasn’t mourning the loss of stability as Isaiah was.
• David was actually living in corrupt times.
• His friends actually told him to flee because the foundations had been
destroyed and there was nothing the righteous could do.

In short, they had no voice.

But David looked past the newspaper and into his bible, where he learned:
(READ 4-7)

David found his courage by understanding that
Despite the chaos of the world, nothing had changed in the heavens.

TURN TO: REVELATION 4

Just the very mention of Revelation
Gives you insight into what we are discussing.
We are talking about a time of tribulation like the world has never known.

• John is about to see global death…
• John is about to see demonic invasion…
• John is about to see massive persecution…
• He is literally about to witness “all hell break loose”

How would John handle such horrible times?

Because God first solidified for John the throne.
(READ 4:1-8)

Everything there is about the throne.

“The LORD reigns”
• It doesn’t matter if you are leaving a time of PROSPERITY…
• It doesn’t matter if you are in a time of ADVERSITY…
• It doesn’t matter if you are facing a time of HOSTILITY…

All comfort and all peace comes from the same place
And that is realizing that “The LORD reigns”

I know you know it, but now remember it.

And the Psalmist here gives 3 quick realities about His reign.
HIS EMINENCE (1a)
“He is clothed in majesty; The LORD has clothed Himself with strength;”

It is what Isaiah saw.
• It is glory, it is “majesty”,
• It is unapproachable holiness and perfection.
• There is no corruption
• There is no deceit
• There is no weakness, only “strength”

This is no impotent throne.
This is no paper throne.
This is no corrupt throne.

We have One sitting upon the throne clothed in glory and splendor.

HIS EFFECT (1b)
“Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.”

We could not be sure of anything
If we were not sure of His dominion.

But because God is firmly established, His world is firmly established.

You see this so easily in Scripture.
• When God draws near, things are sanctified and perfected.
• When God pulls away, things fall apart and sin abounds.

The great tribulation is the clearest picture of this.
• When the Lord begins to withdraw creation immediately falls into absolute and utter chaos.

Things stand only because He stands.

That is why in heaven, when you see God worshiped, the first reason listed is His sustaining power.
Revelation 4:9-11 “And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

They stand because You stand.
Life endures because You endure.

HIS ENDURANCE (2)
“Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.”

• Israel has many feasts and festivals.
• Israel has many events meant to remember and highlight what God has done.

But there is no feast in Israel
That commemorates the day God took the throne.
Because there was never a day when God took the throne.
He has always been on the throne.

And He will always be there.

It doesn’t matter who may attack, it doesn’t matter who may usurp,
All attempts at dethroning God are absolutely in vain.

You can try a COUP DE’ TAT, but there will be no success.

Remember this story?
Genesis 11:1-9 “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

• That was the day humanity united with one intent and that was to storm heaven and overthrow God.
• The only even mention of inconvenience to God was that He had to “come down” to see what they were doing.

Or how about this often quoted Psalm?
Psalms 2:1-6 “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!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

Want to give God a good laugh?
Conspire against Him.

Or how about this event?
Revelation 12:7-9 “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

You can unite all the forces of the heavens…
You can unite all the forces of earth…
And none of them can even threaten the throne of God.

He is the reigning King.
Always has been, always will be.
“The LORD reigns”

And yet, as we just saw, His power has not stopped men from trying.
And that leads us to the second point of the Psalm.

#2 THE MIGHTY KING
Psalms 93:3-4

Here we have the emergence of a foe.
• The foe is described as a title waive.
• It is a tsunami of evil and oppression.

“The floods have lifted up, O LORD, The floods have lifted their voice, The floods lift up their pounding waves.”

It is a rebellious, loud and relentless enemy.
Just pounding over and over and over and over.

• There seems to be no end to the attack
• There seems to be no relief from the onslaught
• It is loud and it is brutal and it won’t stop

And yet we read:
(4) “More than the sounds of many waters, Than the mighty breakers of the sea, The LORD on his is mighty.”

What a great word…
“More than”
• How much power does an ocean wave carry?
• How much was the force with which the tsunami hit the shore a few years ago?
• How much was the force of the flood that hit Houston?

How much power does a river or a title wave have?
Well the Lord has more.

Psalms 46:1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.”

Why can you cease from fear when the oceans roar?
Because God is stronger.

Matthew 8:23-27 “When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

I’ve always liked that the word Matthew used for “storm” was SEISMOS, which is where we get our word “seismograph”, which is the way we measure earthquakes.

Matthew said it was “a great earthquake on the sea”
(pretty good description for a tax collector)

But you’ll remember that even the fishermen in the group thought it was over.
• They cried out “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”

But after Jesus rebuked the sea and it became calm they said,
“What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

The sea represented unmeasurable power.
• It was unpredictable and wild.
• It was dangerous and unyielding.

And yet it was no match for God.

His power is “More than the sounds of many waters, than the mighty breakers of the sea,”

“The LORD on high is mighty.”

And we see that it didn’t matter what enemy approached,
They were all powerless before Him.

No doubt the Psalmist here is NOT TALKING ABOUT A LITERAL FLOOD.
These aren’t literal waves that are pounding him.
• This is the relentless enemy which seems to attack him at every turn.
• There is no letting up.
• This enemy has risen against him.
• This enemy has mocked him with his voice.
• This enemy has pounded him repeatedly.

Where does his hope come from?
Namely that the God who reigns is mighty.

This is the very confidence of Paul:
Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What next?
• We saw the Jews rise up and try to crush the early church, all they did was flourish.
• We know that in the dark ages the Catholic church tried to crush the true gospel, all the gospel did was flourish.
• Various nations like Russia, and China, have tried repeatedly to crush the church, and all it has done is flourish.

There is not a wave strong enough to unseat God from His throne.
“The LORD on high is mighty.”

He is The Reigning King He is The Mighty King
#3 THE HOLY KING
Psalms 93:5

The Psalmist says “Your testimonies are fully confirmed;”

What does that mean?
Only that God has totally done everything He said He would.

That sounds like no other politician I have ever met.
Even the very best of them fail in some way or another.

But not this God.
Not this throne.

The Psalmist can go down the list one by one and check off every box.
God has not failed to do a single thing He promised.

Because of that the Psalmist says:
“Holiness befits Your house”

“befits” is the Hebrew word NA’AH
It has to do with loveliness or comeliness.

Song of Solomon 1:10 “Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, Your neck with strings of beads.”

Isaiah 52:7 “How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

The New English Bible translates it
“Holiness is the beauty of Your house”

That is to say
• Of all the things that we admire about Your house….
• Of all the things that we love about Your throne…
• The attribute that is most attractive to us is Your “Holiness”

We love that You are a holy King!
We love that You are an upright King!
We love that You are an honest King!
We love that You are a just King!
You are perfect!

And this is truly the great desire we have in a King.
• More than anything we desire holy leaders.
• More than anything we desire upright leaders.

We long for a holy city and a holy throne.

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’s our desire isn’t it?

Well, in the heavens we have one!
• There is a holy city.
• There is a heavenly city.
• There is a holy throne.

And one day we will have it on earth.
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.”

“Holiness befits Your house, O LORD forevermore”

And we love that You reign forever.
He will never stop reigning.
• He never started and He will never stop.

And that friends is a cure for despair.
• When like Isaiah you see an empty throne…
• When like David you see a corrupt system…
• When like John you see an oppressive future…

Look above.
“The LORD reigns”

• Do you want a throne to watch?
• Do you want a throne to seek?
• Do you want a throne to trust?

Isaiah 40:21-24 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.”

Isaiah 40:27-31 “Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”

Psalms 46:10 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

There’s your encouragement in confusing times.

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A Song for the Sabbath Day
Psalms 92
January 3, 2021

Tonight we title our sermon from the subtitle given in your Bible.
“A Song for the Sabbath Day”

One could read that title as though this were a song to be sung on the Sabbath Day, which would be true for a lot of Psalms.

I prefer to read the title as though it is a song
In favor of observing a Sabbath Day. (i.e. “for” a Sabbath Day)

And I think the content of the Psalm would agree with me there.

Either way, the title of the Psalm opens of a massive can of worms for us
That we need to wade through before we start working through our text.
What do Christians do with the issue of the Sabbath?

THE ROOTS of the Sabbath day come to us in the 2nd chapter of the Bible.

Genesis 2:1-3 “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

From the very beginning, even before the Law of Moses,
We have God setting apart the seventh day as a day of rest from labor.

• God completed all His work.
• God finished all His task.
• God rested, signifying that nothing else needed to be done. It was all fully accomplished.

And then God set apart the 7th day as a day of rest.

WELL, THE NEXT TIME this issue of a Sabbath comes up is immediately after the children of Israel are delivered from Egypt.
• Moses goes up on Mt. Sinai and God gives him the 10 Commandments.
• And the 4th command on the list is:

Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”

Clearly linking it back to creation, Moses called upon the children of Israel
To cease from their labors on the seventh day of the week (Saturday).

They were to obey this command with an eye to the fact
That God had also rested from His labor.

It was obviously important to God that His people
Understand the issue of rest from their labors.

Well, by the time we get to the New Testament, this law regarding the Sabbath had obviously gotten WAY OUT OF HAND.

The rabbinical traditions had sought to define the word “work”
And the details were exhausting.

• You could carry enough medicine to keep someone from dying, but if you carry enough to make them recover then you were working.
• You could carry paper and ink, but not enough to write one advertisement or that would be work.
• The list is extensive, but you get the idea.

And of course you are aware that of all the issues with the Law,
Jesus didn’t challenge any of them as much as
He challenged their understanding of Sabbath Law.

When you read the gospels one would almost ask if Jesus was willing to heal anyone if it wasn’t the Sabbath.
• He constantly stuck His finger in the eye of the Pharisees by healing on the Sabbath.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 12:1-14
When you read those first 8 verses you realize that the Pharisees had pounced on Jesus for apparently violating the Sabbath since the disciples were eating grain.

However Jesus straightened out their theology.

1) The Sabbath doesn’t restrict deeds of necessity (vs. 3-4)
• Jesus will expound on this in verses 9-14 when He heals a sick man and gives
the “sheep in a pit” analogy.

2) The Sabbath doesn’t restrict acts of worship (5)
• Since the priests clearly work very hard on the Sabbath in order to orchestrate
worship to God.

3) The Sabbath was never meant to be a burden but a blessing (6-7)

4) The Sabbath was never about work, it was always about the Lord (8)
• The Jews had totally missed the point of Sabbath Law, just as they had missed
the point of every other command and Jesus continually exposed that.

But it still leaves us a little confused.
Indeed many debate and argue this very point today.

SO SHOULD CHRISTIANS REST AND WORSHIP ON SATURDAY OR NOT?

Or Perhaps more relevantly: DID SUNDAY REPLACE SATURDAY AND SHOULD CHRISTIANS NOW REST AND WORSHIP ON THAT DAY?

Well, let’s dive a little deeper and see if we can gain some clarity.

One thing that must be understood is that Christ fulfilled all the Law.
• We are released from the burden of the Law.
• We are no longer seeking to prove our perfection to God through the Law.
• Christ fulfilled it all on our behalf and the righteousness He earned has now
been imputed to us.

THAT INCLUDES SABBATH LAW.

It is somewhat perplexing to me the number of people who have chosen the Sabbath Law and dietary restrictions as commands that are still binding today,
• But don’t seem to care about wearing T-shirts that are 50% polyester and 50%
cotton (which would have been forbidden)
• They don’t seem worried about mix-breed cattle…
• They don’t grow the hair long on their temples…
• Women aren’t declared unclean for having a baby…
• Etc.

It is peculiar to me that of all the commands they want to hang on to
The only two that really get chosen are the Sabbath & dietary restrictions.

But either Christ fulfilled all the Law or none of it.
Either He satisfied God’s righteous requirement or He didn’t.
We are either under all of the Law or none of the Law.

Certainly we believe that Christ fulfilled it all, as He said He would,
And that “in Him” we have fulfilled it too.

There SEEMS TO BE A MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE PURPOSE behind the Sabbath Law.

Incidentally, many Sabbath holders today would say that
The Sabbath was instituted back in Genesis 2 (before the Law)
And that is why it is binding.

But there is a failure to understand
WHY God instituted it and WHAT it meant.

The writer of Hebrews is the one to make this clear to us.
TURN TO: HEBREWS 4:1-10
We don’t have time to fully unpack this (you can go listen to those Hebrews devotions if you want more insight)

But the writer of Hebrews is using Psalms 95 as a text where David
(many years after Joshua) is STILL OFFERING REST to Israel.

Specifically he tells them that they should not harden their hearts like the children of Israel because God swore to them that they would not enter His rest.

And of course those people did not enter the Promised Land.

But now, many years later, already in the Promised Land,
David is still talking about entering God’s rest.

Clearly then, rest meant more than just entering the land.

Which is the point the writer of Hebrews makes.
(8-10) “For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”

David said it first and then the writer of Hebrews said it again,
NAMELY THAT REST IS STILL AVAILABLE.

And then he tells you what he means.
“For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”

The writer of Hebrews now tells us the whole point to God resting
And instituting a day of rest.

God rested because He was finished
And there was no more work to be done.
And God told us to rest as a prophetic picture
That we too would one day rest from our labors.

But the labors He was talking about was not physical labor,
Rather it was spiritual labor.

THERE WOULD COME A DAY WHEN
We would no longer have to work to please God.

When did that happen?
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.”

How could Jesus offer rest?
Because on the cross He said, “It is finished!”
Jesus completed the work on our behalf.

The whole notion of rest was a prophetic picture
That one day Christ would do all the work for us
And we would sit down relieved
And rest from the struggle of trying to earn God’s favor.

In this way, the Sabbath laws were no different than things like the Passover or Day of Atonement (which we do not observe).

They were prophetic pictures, but we now have the fulfillment.

AND WE ARE NOT REQUIRED TO DO IT.
It’s not a sin if you do, it’s not a sin if you don’t.

Romans 14:1-9 “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

HOWEVER – there is another aspect of this
That I think is often overlooked and yet is very important.

And that is the issue of PRIORITY

It is the idea of knowing that
The things of this world are not as important as the things of God.

There is something very telling about those
Who see no importance in committing to a day of worship.

INCIDENTALLY, when God did get angry at the children of Israel regarding the Sabbath Laws,
It was always because they saw the Sabbath as a burden,
Or an unwelcomed intrusion into their business.

Amos 8:4-6 “Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”

See the issue is not about earning God’s favor, we do that through Christ.
But the issue that remains is one of trust and priority.

Do you TRUST Christ enough to rest from your worldly labors? (He will provide)
Do you LOVE Christ enough to rest from your worldly labors? (priority)

THAT’S THE ISSUE.
And this is really the issue of Psalms 92.

• It’s NOT so much a Psalm to be sung on the Sabbath…
• It’s NOT so much a Psalm about the legalities or prophecies of the Sabbath…
• It IS a Psalm that encourages a day of worship because it is good…

And in that sense it is very applicable to us.
• We are not saying that you cannot work on Saturday or Sunday.
• We understand the Lord’s instruction about deeds of necessity.

But what we are talking about is that
In every believer there ought to be a general understanding of
The importance of walking away from the chaos of the world
And fixing our eyes on Christ.

And for those who see that as unnecessary,
At the very least we would say they are missing a blessing.

This Psalm is a Psalm that makes an appeal that
If you aren’t setting aside a day for worship, then you should.

So now let’s work our way through it,
It is not hard to understand and won’t take us long.

The Psalmist gives 3 reasons why you should participate in the Sabbath, or at least devote a day to the Lord where you walk away from the world and focus on Him.

#1 IT IS SATISFYING
Psalms 92:1-4

Now before you run too far with that title, let me reign you in.

When I say that setting aside the world to participate in a day of worship is satisfying, I DON’T INITIALLY MEAN that it is satisfying for you.

Now, I happen to believe that a day of worship is extremely satisfying to me personally, as it feeds my soul and encourages my life.

But the real point here is that the setting aside of the world
For a day of worship is satisfying to God.

The Psalmist begins with 3 words.
“It is good”

And you know that “good” is not a word that God throws around lightly.
• Creation, before the fall was “good”.
• Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler that only God is “good”
• Paul reminded us that there is none “good”

The link here is to the “good” of creation,
Where God was fully satisfied in all that He had created.

He saw no need to tweak it…
It had no need for renovation…
There were no finishing touches…

God saw it as complete, finished, and good.

That is the phrase the Psalmist uses here.

SEEING THE SAINTS depart from the world to SET ASIDE A DAY
For thanksgiving, praise, and declaration of the goodness of God
IS A GOOD AND SATISFYING THING TO GOD.

And the Psalmist even gets specific as to what sort of things should consume that day.

THANKSGIVING – SINGING OF PRAISES – DECLARATION OF GOD’S GOODNESS

“It is good to give thanks to the LORD”
• The New Testament tells us that we should “give thanks” in all circumstances.
• Paul reminded us that it is the unredeemed who do not honor God as God or “give thanks”.

There is certainly an expectation on the part of God
That a people so blessed by Him
Would consistently gather to thank Him for all He has done.

Psalms 50:7-15 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me. “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

God didn’t want some ceremonial goat, God wanted gratitude.

When we gather, it should be “to give thanks to the LORD”.

• He is the “Father of lights with whom there is no shifting shadow” and “every good and perfect gift” comes from Him.
• It is Him in whom “we live and move and exist”.
• It is Him who sustains our life and promises to care for our needs.
• It is Him who “chose us” for salvation and “sent His Son” to save us.

The reasons are endless.
And they are more than enough to warrant that everyone
Set aside 1 day of their week to tell Him “thank you”.

There is another thing that should occur.
“And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;”
• Singing praises is “good” to God.
• Singing praises is satisfying to God.

James 5:13 “Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.”

And might I point out how important this is to God?
In His Bible, He gave a book with 150 songs in it.
Singing is the expectation.
Praising God in song is by His determined design.

• I don’t want to hear about you being a bad singer…
• I don’t want to hear about you not liking to sing…
• All I am concerned about is the fact that singing praises is “good”.

“sing praises to Your name, O Most High”

God’s name is a representation of who He is.
• Jehovah Jireh – provider
• Jehovah Nissi – banner
• Jehovah Rohi – shepherd
• Jehovah Tsidkenu – Righteousness
• Jehovah Mekadesh – Sanctification
• Jehovah Rapha – healer
• Jehovah Shamma – present
• Jehovah Shalom – peace

Who God is; is bound up in His name.
And we sing praises accordingly.

We praise Him for who He is.
That is good.

And on this day we gather:
(2-3) “To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness by night, with the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, with resounding music upon the lyre.”

More singing, but this in the form of declaration.

I like the picture.
“declare Your lovingkindess in the morning”
• In the morning we sing of God’s loyalty to us as we declare what God will do
for us today.

And then in the evening we gather again and we declare “Your faithfulness by night”.
• That speaks to all that God has done for us.

One is faith, the other is gratitude.
They all are declarations of praise to God.

And it is “good” that we do that.
It is satisfying to God that we do that.

(4) “For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.”

Because we delight in who God is and what God has done,
We know that setting aside a day to thank and praise God for it
Is a privilege.

Do you understand that?
• It’s why I’m a proponent of Sunday morning and Sunday night church.
• It’s why I think that we make these things a priority.
• It’s why I think we push aside the world on Sunday.
• It’s why I think we let the things of this world wait for a day.

It’s NOT so that we might earn salvation.
It’s NOT so that we might be considered righteous.
(Christ already did that)

It’s because God deserves it, and God delights in it,
And I am grateful and want to give it.

The world can wait 24 hours for me to tell God thank you.

It is satisfying
#2 IT IS SENSIBLE
Psalms 92:5-9

After speaking of how good it is to set aside a day for worship,
THE PSALMIST NOW CONTRASTS
The person of praise with the person of the world.

The person spoken of here is the person who is too busy or too consumed to stop his worldly pursuits to come and praise God.

It seems counterproductive to his success
To stop for a day and give thanks.

• He is like that person mentioned in Amos who thinks closing on Sunday is dumb because there is money to be made on Sunday.
• It is the person who would rather use Sunday as a day to get ahead, or get ready for the week, or whatever.
• It’s simply a person who thinks devoting a whole day to the Lord is a waste of time.

The Psalmist speaks of them and what they don’t know.

(5-9) “How great are Your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep. A senseless man has no knowledge, Nor does a stupid man understand this: That when the wicked sprouted up like grass And all who did iniquity flourished, It was only that they might be destroyed forevermore. But You, O LORD, are on high forever. For, behold, Your enemies, O LORD, For, behold, Your enemies will perish; All who do iniquity will be scattered.”

Now consider this.
• Here we have a man who would rather work on Sunday or use Sunday to get ahead.
• Stopping to give credit to God is seen as a waste of time because there is money to be made today.

And, the Psalmist points out
How for them IT SEEMS LIKE IT WORKS.

Skipping a day of worship in order to get ahead in the world
HAS caused them to get ahead and to prosper.

But the Psalmist says that thought process is “senseless” and “stupid”.
There is something they don’t understand.

(7) “That when the wicked sprouted up like grass And all who did iniquity flourished, it was only that they might be destroyed forevermore.”

In other words, through all their efforts they did get rich,
But what is the benefit in getting rich?

• The question is where do they end up?
• Did their money buy them heaven?

Psalms 49:16-20 “Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased; For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him. Though while he lives he congratulates himself — And though men praise you when you do well for yourself — He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.”

That is to say, he is “senseless” and “stupid”

Psalms 73:18-20 “Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.”

Sure, by neglecting the Lord they got rich,
But that is to falsely assume
That getting rich is somehow beneficial.

Jesus was pretty clear:
Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

It is to assume that we were placed on this earth
For the purpose of being successful, and that isn’t the case.

We were placed on this earth for the glory of God.

Jesus made a remarkable statement:
Luke 12:23 “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.”

If you think the only reason God placed you in a body
Was so that you’d have something to feed and something to clothe
Than you really don’t understand your purpose.

WE ARE HERE FOR GOD’S GLORY.
Our bodies are to be used for His kingdom and His glory.
PEOPLE WHO DON’T UNDERSTAND THAT ARE SENSELESS.

(8-9) “But You, O LORD, are on high forever. For, behold, Your enemies, O LORD, For, behold, Your enemies will perish; All who do iniquity will be scattered.”

God is going to win, and in the end being with Him is all that matters.

Why should setting aside the world for God be your routine?
• You should do it because it is satisfying to God.
• You should do it because it is the sensible thing to do.

A smart man would see that “forsaking that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” is a wise investment.

Satisfying, Sensible
#3 IT IS SUPPORTED
Psalms 92:10-15

After talking about the coming scattering of the wicked
The Psalmist now lays out what he expects after a life of worship.

He now lays out the benefits
Of being someone who loves God more than the world.

Do you want to see what he receives from his devotion to God?

POWER – “But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox”

There is a strengthening that comes into a life
When they spend time in praising the Lord.

We have heard before that “the joy of the Lord is my strength”

Isaiah 40:31 “Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”

REFESHING – “I have been anointed with fresh oil”

Stopping the busyness of life and focusing on the Lord and His goodness
IS A REFRESHMENT TO A WEARY SOUL.
It revives and makes one energized for this world.

Psalms 19:7a “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul…”

VICTORY – “And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes, My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.”

That is to say “I only hear of what they want to do, but they never win”

And the picture here is that they never totally win or finally win.
My confidence in victory grows when I stop and behold the Lord.

This world often times makes me feel like a loser,
BUT I NEVER FEEL LIKE A LOSER WHEN I LEAVE CHURCH.

2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”

ABUNDANCE – “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like the cedar in Lebanon.”

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

When is the last time you ever forsook the things of the world to go and worship God and you felt like you got cheated?

God is not stingy, and He is always worth it.

ENDURANCE – “They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green,”

This world has a bad habit of discarding the aged as no longer of any use.

But in God’s congregation the elderly hold a place of honor
As those who have the wisdom of walking with God
And seeing His faithfulness.

I would submit especially to the aged
That you have no place in this world
Where you hold as much value as in the church.

And so the Psalmist points out that
• Not only is forsaking the world to worship God satisfying to God,
• Not only is it the sensible thing to do in light of eternity,
• But it is also something that God supports.

In fact, if you will devote yourself to Him,
THEN HE WILL SUPPORT YOU WITH
Strength and refreshing and victory and abundance and endurance.

He doesn’t give that to the world, but He does to those who worship Him.

WHY DOES HE GIVE THAT TO THEM?

(15) “To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

He gives them those things
So that they can keep on doing what they are doing.

• When you forsake God to gain the world you are on your own.
• But when you forsake the world to worship God, you gain God as an ally.

And that is the encouragement I give to you.
This is why setting aside an entire day should be the objective.

Come on Sunday morning and sing of the loyalty of God.
Come back on Sunday night and sing of His faithfulness.

• Don’t skip it so you can be successful in the world,
• Don’t treat it like you can’t wait for Sunday morning worship to be over so you can get back to chasing the world.
• Stop, slow down, and give the Lord His day.
• It is satisfying, it is sensible, and it is supported.

Psalms 122:1 “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”