Download here

Facing Slander
Psalms 140
October 16, 2022

Tonight we return to our study of the Psalms
And we come across Psalms 140.

As you see by our title, tonight we are talking about “Facing Slander”
That’s what David is dealing with here.

Only, it’s not just David.
We see that this Psalms is “For the choir director”

That is to say that this wasn’t simply a Psalm David sang in private,
But song that God intended for the entire congregation to learn.

And I think the reason would be obvious.
1. Because we will in no way get through this life without being a victim of
slander.

2. Because it is highly likely that at some point you will be tempted to
participate in slander.

This Psalm gives us great insight into the sin itself,
And also HOW TO HANDLE IT.

But more than just a Psalm on dealing with slander,
(as is true with all the Psalms,)

It is a testimony to our Lord Jesus Christ
And yet another way in which He proved Himself to be
“the author and perfecter of faith”.

SO TONIGHT, let’s examine this 140th Psalm and allow the Lord to deal with our hearts.

We’re going to break this Psalm down into 4 points; really just an outline,
And see what God would teach us.

#1 DAVID’S PLIGHT
Psalms 140:1-5

David’s plight is obvious, he is a victim here of evil men
Who have set out to use slander in order to destroy him.

(1-3) “Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men Who devise evil things in their hearts; They continually stir up wars. They sharpen their tongues as a serpent; Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah.”

• David calls them “evil men”
• David calls them “violent men”

And it is because they are doing their best
To use their tongues to stir up evil against David.

THEIR OBJECTIVE is to bring him down from the throne and ensnare him.

(4-5) “Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from violent men Who have purposed to trip up my feet. The proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords; They have spread a net by the wayside; They have set snares for me. Selah.”

This is no mild game.
These are not innocent discussions.
We have men here who are using their tongues to ruin David’s life.

If you look at verse 9 David says they “surround me”.

That is the basics of what is going on.

And just the words that David uses here
Gives us quite an indicator about the nature of slander.
• Words like “evil” in verse 1 and 2
• Words like “violent” in verses 1 and 4
• Words like “wicked” in verse 4

In verse 3 we see an analogy of David:
“They sharpen their tongue as a serpent; Poison of a viper is under the lips.”

David compares them to snakes
Whose threat comes from the poison in their mouth.

YOU LIKELY RECOGNIZE the last line of verse 3 as one of the famous verses Paul used in his testimony to the fallen nature of humanity.

Romans 10:13 “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”

The “poison of a viper” is lethal poison.

WE ARE TALKING ABOUT LETHAL DANGER HERE.

SLANDER IS NO INSIGNIFICANT SIN.

James 3:8 “But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.”

It is no wonder then that God condemns slander so vehemently.
Proverbs 6:12-15 “A worthless person, a wicked man, Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth, Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, Who points with his fingers; Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil, Who spreads strife. Therefore his calamity will come suddenly; Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.”

Solomon says a man with “a perverse mouth” will be broken with no healing.

In the very next verse in Proverbs is familiar to you:
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.”

I don’t know if you picked up on it but the sin of slander there is included in 3 of the 7 things God hates.
• “a lying tongue”
• “uttering lies”
• “spreading strife”

That should tell you something
Of what God thinks of men who use their tongues for evil.

But it’s NOT JUST the tongue that is the issue.
Jesus taught us:
Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

And David certainly agrees.
For even though it is the slander that he hears
David knows it didn’t originate in their mouth.

(2) “Who devise evil things in their hearts…”

Men who slander are men who devise evil.
They are men who carry within them the malice of murder.
The tongue is merely the weapon of choice to commit that murder.

Remember what Jesus taught us?
Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”

I hope this is painting a clear picture for you of the sin of slander.
It is a man with a murderous heart
Who uses his tongue to destroy his neighbor.

AND GOD HATES IT.
Proverbs 10:18 “He who conceals hatred has lying lips, And he who spreads slander is a fool.”

Proverbs 16:28 “A perverse man spreads strife, And a slanderer separates intimate friends.”

Furthermore we know that men will give an account for all their words.
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.”

And thus slander is expressly forbidden for God’s children.

Psalms 34:13 “Keep your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit.”

Ephesians 4:31 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”

Now that is a quick rundown of the sin of slander.
It is when you spread a lie about someone else
With the intent to cause them harm.

• It is when you say something untrue about someone so as to ruin their
reputation.

• It is when you speak something untrue with malicious intent so as to put them
in negative consequences.

THAT IS SLANDER AND GOD HATES IT.

And here we find that David has become a victim of it.

MY GUESS IS THAT
At some point in your life YOU HAVE ALSO been a victim of it.
And if you have then you know it is a painful thing to endure.

• It will make you want to go on a global campaign to set the record straight.
• It will make you want to track down the spread of lies and cut out their tongue.

We live in a day where
• Bad news is printed on the front page and retractions are buried in page 12.
• An accusation can ruin a career, split a family, and even put someone in
prison, whether it is true or not.
• Even when the truth comes out many times the damage is already done and
the reputation is already irreparably stained.

And if you’ve been a victim of that
Then you understand where David is coming from here.

Evil men are trying to ruin him with lies.
That is David’s plight.

#2 DAVID’S HOPE
Psalms 140:6-8

Here is where we can certainly learn a thing or two from David.

When David catches wind that lies are being told about him,
• He doesn’t run to the paper.
• He doesn’t run to the source of the lies.
• He doesn’t get on social media and try to defend himself.

David goes one place.
He goes to God.

WHY?
(and this is great!)

(6) “I said to the LORD, “You are my God;”

Now, notice the verb tense there.
David is speaking past tense here.

• “You are my God” is NOT a declaration David is making today.
• “You are my God” IS a declaration that David has made years ago.

THIS ISN’T NEW.
David declared YAHWEH to be His God way in the past.

Today he merely acts on it.
(He puts his money where his mouth is)

For the second line we move into the present.
“Give ear, O LORD, to the voice of my supplications.”

I hope you’re picking up on what we’re seeing here.

I think on a Sunday night we might say that
• Most everyone in here has at some point in our past made the declaration that
God is our God.
• Most in here have said Jesus is Lord! You are my God!

The problem is that when trials or troubles come our way
It is to our shame that we seem to forget our confession
And we try to go fix the problem ourselves.

DAVID DOESN’T.
He has God on his side and so that is where he goes.

And incidentally,
God has a track record of saving!
(7) “O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation”

David remembers God as the One who saved him.
• God is the One who saved him from sin.
• God is the One who delivered him from is wickedness.
• God is the One who saved him from wrath and hell.

Surely if God can save him from hell He can save him from slanderers!
Surely if God can deliver David from His own wrath
He can save him from the wrath of men.

God also has a track record of protecting David even when the danger is lethal.
(7b) “You have covered my head in the day of battle.”

I wouldn’t presume to know exactly what David has in mind here, but in my mind I imagine it to be a reference to when in battle and the enemy fires that volley of arrows at you.

It would be a pretty scarry thing to just stand there and see all those arrows come flying through the air to land in the midst of the crowd and David praises God for protecting him from such dangers.

And if God is able to protect David from men with swords
Then surely God can protect David from men with tongues.

So do you see what David has done here?

As bad as slander is, it is just another giant
That David stretches out next to God.

Just like Goliath got really small when David stood him up next to God,
So does now this slanderous attack.

• David doesn’t have to correct the narrative.
• David doesn’t have to kill the slanderer.
• David merely takes his defense to God.

After all, “You are my God”
You are the One who defends me.
You are the One who saves me.

So here’s a new threat God, deal with it too.

(8) “Do not grant, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; Do not promote his evil device, that they not be exalted.”

In short, don’t let them succeed.
• Their objective and their goal is to ruin me.
• Don’t let them.
• Save me like You saved me from sin.
• Protect me like You protected me in battle.

THAT IS DAVID’S HOPE.

THAT IS THE BELIEVER’S HOPE.
Do you know that you don’t have to fear the slander of men?

• I know it is painful.
• I know it is irritating.
• But you do not have to fear it.

WE HAVE A PROMISE:
Romans 8:33 “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;”

That is a tremendous promise.

God justified you when He knew the worst about you.
If someone approaches Him and calls you a dirty rotten sinner
It’s not like God is going to be surprised.

Slander may make your life a little more uncomfortable
But it cannot threaten your eternity in the least.

FURTHERMORE it can’t stop the ministry God has for you.

Do you realize how much Jesus was blasphemed?
Matthew 11:19 “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Matthew 12:22 “Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

Jesus was accused plenty
And still fulfilled God’s perfect purpose in His life.

Think about Paul.
Acts 24:5 “For we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.”

If you read 2 Corinthians it is clear that
• The false apostles accused Paul of being a minister for money
• And even for sexual gain.

There is good reason to believe that Paul’s thorn in the flesh
Was in fact one of these character assassins.

Paul calls him “a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan”

And yet God told Paul that his weakness was a good thing!
That thorn was a weakness that God could use with His strength.

So I’m not saying that being a victim of slander is an easy thing,
But if God is for you, it’s not nearly the threat it may seem.

THAT IS DAVID’S HOPE.

David’s Plight, David’s Hope
#3 DAVID’S DESIRE
Psalms 140:9-11

Very simply, David desires justice.
• He basically asks that they fall into the pit they are digging.
• He is asking the God who will not be mocked for them to reap what they are sowing.

(9-10) “As for the head of those who surround me, May the mischief of their lips cover them. “May burning coals fall upon them; May they be cast into the fire, Into deep pits from which they cannot rise.”

• He asks for them to fall under “the mischief of lips”
• He asks for “burning coals” to “fall upon them”
• He asks for them to fall “into deep pits from which they cannot rise”

Let them feel the irreparable sting of slander in their own lives.

NOW THAT MAY SOUND VINDICTIVE.
(And we don’t have a problem when we read David’s imprecatory prayers)

But here it’s NOT so much about David getting revenge
As IT IS about God putting an end to slanderers in general.

(11) “May a slanderer not be established in the earth; May evil hunt the violent man speedily.”

It’s not so much David’s slanderer as it is all slanderers David is after.

He is simply asking God to put an end to anyone
Who would slander with their tongue.

AND IN FACT GOD WILL.

Revelation 21:27 “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

No liar will be allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven.

David will get his request.
God will one day put an end to every lying tongue.

Psalms 101:5 “Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.”

David wants God to rid the world of tongue-murderers
And one day God will.

And then one final point from David.
#4 DAVID’S CONFIDENCE
Psalms 140:12-13

We always love it when David says, “I know…”

“I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted And justice for the poor. Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name; The upright will dwell in Your presence.”

In other words, It doesn’t matter how dark or bleak it looks right now, I know how this thing ends.

• I know whose side God takes.
• I know who God defends and who God destroys.
• I know who gets to stand with God when this is all over.

Liars and slanderers do not get to stand with God, but the afflicted do.

And so even though the affliction may be painful,
It is actually a cause for rejoicing because it reminds you that
You are in the company of those whom God saves.

Listen to Jesus:
Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Slander just puts you in good company.
• Let it be a boost to your hope.
• Let it be a boost to your confidence.

The Bible actually says when you are slandered you are blessed.

1 Peter 4:14 “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

THAT’S A GOOD THING.
AND THAT IS DAVID’S CONFIDENCE AS WELL.

But as I told you at the beginning.
This is not just a sermon about slander,
Though there is plenty of application to be made.

THIS PSALM IS ABOUT THE TRUE AND BETTER DAVID.

This Psalm is a picture of the coming Messiah
And how He would be slandered and yet overcome.

• We heard how Jesus was called demon possessed.
• We heard how Jesus was accused of being a drunkard.
• We heard how Jesus was called a blasphemer

1 Peter 2:23 “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;”

What David talks about in Psalms 140 is EXACTLY WHAT JESUS DID.

• When they reviled Him as a demon-possessed blasphemer.
• When they challenged Him to prove He was the Son of God.
• When they mocked Him as a false prophet.
• When they laughed at Him as a phony King.

HE DIDN’T run around trying to set the record straight.
HE DIDN’T lash out at those who were lying about Him.

“but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”

He knew how it would all shake out in the end.

But there’s MORE to that than just Jesus’ example of handling slander.

If we keep reading what Peter said:
1 Peter 2:23-25 “and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”

• Jesus was reviled.
• Jesus was blasphemed.
• Jesus was slandered.

WHY?
He was taking the slander that we deserve.

What was false about Jesus is true about us.
• We are the filthy blaspheming sinners that Jesus was accused of being.
• But “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross”

He was being treated as we deserved.
AND YET still did not once lash out at His accusers.

Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.”

• He took the sharp barbs of the serpent.
• He took the poison of the viper.
• They purposed to trip up His feet.
• They hid a trap for Him.
• They set snares for Him.

And while David may have thought himself completely innocent,
CHRIST WAS completely innocent.

And He bore the slander so that we might be justified before the Father.

And God did maintain His cause.
He was raised from the dead and He ascended to heaven.

Jesus is the One who conquered the lies of the enemy.

And now, we are called to follow (not in David’s steps), but in Jesus’ steps.

TO CLOSE TONIGHT:
TURN TO: 1 PETER 2

Read verses 12-21

Did you catch how Peter addressed these people who were being slandered?
(12) “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

They may slander you now, but on the day when the Judge returns
They’ll be forced to admit their lie.

You stay the course.

And you notice then that this is all funneling down to verse 21.
(21) “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”

I hope you get the point here.
Christ suffered for you.
• Christ bore your reproach.
• Christ bore your slander.
NOW – YOU BEAR HIS

You follow His example and do for Him what He has done for you.

TURN TO: 1 PETER 4:1-6

There it is again.
“since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with same purpose…”

And even when they “malign you” (vs 4) you stand strong
And know that God will judge all these things one day.

And then down to 4:14-16
(14-16) “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.”

Slander is painful, but slander is part of the calling.
When it occurs just know that
You are walking in the footprints of Your Savior.

• Take their reproach to God who will judge rightly.
• Do not fear their slander or reproach.
• Rather see it as a badge of honor and an indication that you look like Jesus.

That is dealing with slander.

(12-13) “I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted And justice for the poor. Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name; The upright will dwell in Your presence.”

Download here

God’s Burden Through Malachi
Malachi 1:1
October 16, 2022

This morning we’re beginning A NEW BOOK STUDY.
We’re going to begin working through the book of Malachi.
(We want to spend some time this morning
Really just introducing the point of the book as a whole)

Malachi is a Hebrew word that means “My Messenger”

This book is a message from God through His servant.
It is also the FINAL message God would speak for over 400 years.

THIS BOOK WOULD CLOSE OUT THE OLD TESTAMENT
And there would not be another new revelation
Until an angel visits Zacharias in the temple
To tell him that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son.

This would be the message
That Israel would dwell on for the next 4 centuries.

On the surface it is a message about APATHY or INDIFFERENCE.

In fact, if you look up the word apathy in a dictionary it is defined as
“a lack of interest or feeling; indifference.”

That is what the book of Malachi talks most about.
It is about when God’s people become indifferent
To the desires and glory of God.

And you’ll see it throughout the book.
• Indifference to worship
• Indifference to God’s word
• Indifference to sin
• Indifference to brotherly love
• Indifference to giving

It’s just a people who don’t care if God is pleased or not.

So let’s INTRODUCE this book a little while this morning.

(1) “The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi”

“oracle” is the Hebrew word MAS-SAH
It means “burden” or “load”

Exodus 23:5 “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him.”

They called the donkey Jesus rode a “beast of burden”

This book is the “burden of the word” or “the load of the word”
It is God’s burden.
It is the load which God has carried.

It is now the burden or load which Malachi will bring to the people.

This is a HEAVY MESSAGE.
And I want you to grasp that from the outset.

MY PRAYER as we begin this book is that it would LAND RIGHTLY.

• It is never my objective to discourage the righteous by copying the
Pharisees and by laying on people a burden to great to bear.

• Nor do I want to put a burden on you that I won’t lift with so much as a
finger.

• I am also mindful that Jesus came to give rest and His yoke is easy and
His burden is light.

And so it is never my desire to just take God’s word
And grind the innocent under its weight.

• AT THE SAME TIME, it is not my desire to whitewash anyone’s wall either.

• It is not my desire to lessen the weight of what God would say to His
people.

• It is not my desire to disregard what was clearly burdensome to God.

And so you must understand that the book we are studying here
Represents what was burdensome and heavy to God.

THIS IS A GRIEF GOD BORE.
This is what “weighed” on Him.

And as God’s people we must be willing to take seriously
The things which burden God.
GOD’S BURDEN HERE IS THE INDIFFERENCE OF HIS PEOPLE.

Let me put the book in CONTEXT for you.

TURN TO: MALACHI 2:14

You see one of the expressions of their indifference was that they had no problem sending away their wives.

• This was an afront to God since He is a God who keeps His covenant.
• In fact God will tell them “I hate divorce” but it still hadn’t stopped them.

But let me give you the context to this divorce dilemma.

It was 605 BC when the first wave of exiles was carried into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.
The temple was actually destroyed in 586 BC.

But 70 years after those first exiles we get Cyrus issuing the decree that the Jews can go home and rebuild their temple. That was 536 BC

• That is when Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem and started building that
temple.
• Zerubbabel finished the temple 20 years later in 516 BC

Ezra shows up in 458 BC
And Nehemiah shows up to rebuild the wall in 445 BC
Nehemiah goes back to Persia for a time and returns again in 420 BC

Now that’s a lot of dates, but just know that
• When Nehemiah gets back to Jerusalem that second time
• Israel has been back in the land for over 100 years
• Zerubbabel’s temple is 96 years old
• Jerusalem has been a walled city for around 25 years.

Everything had grown comfortable and easy
And the people had settled into complacency.

Listen to Nehemiah explain the scene.
TURN TO: NEHEMIAH 13:15-31

You see in verses 15-18
• Israel had gone right back to profaning the Sabbath.
• The things of God didn’t matter anymore.
• More important was making money and personal satisfaction.
• The people were indifferent to the desires of God.

Even in verses 19-22
• Nehemiah had a difficult time keeping the tradesmen from camping outside the city.

You see in verses 23-31
• They had also returned to the intermarriage that had gotten them in trouble in the first place.

This is what Malachi was referring to.
They were divorcing their wives
So they could intermarry with these foreign women.

READ MALACHI 2:11-12
It was people who were indifferent to the desires of God.

• What God wanted didn’t enter into their thinking.
• They were more concerned with making money.
• They were more concerned with gratifying the flesh.

They were a people who were going through the motions,
But at the end of the day God was anything but a priority.

THIS IS WHEN MALACHI SHOWED UP TO PREACH.
• Again, it is the message that Israel would chew on for the next 400+ years.
• The next prophet who would speak in Israel would John the Baptist who would tell these people it is time to repent.

PERHAPS THAT GIVES YOU A LITTLE CONTEXT TO THE BOOK.

That also gives you insight as to why we are studying it.

If I say that “Our culture is one that is marked with indifference toward the things of God”, there’s not a man in here who can argue with me.

We know our culture has reached a place where God’s will is ignored.
There is no fear of God in our culture any longer.

And we know what the indifference of the world looks like.

Asaph talked about them.
Psalms 73:10-12 “Therefore his people return to this place, And waters of abundance are drunk by them. They say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.”

• They are people who just dwell in this sort of complacent and apathetic “ease”.
• They are concerned about the things of the world
• They are totally unconcerned about the things of God.

Jesus spoke of the world’s apathy as well.
Matthew 22:4-5 “Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ “But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,

• It is to be unconcerned about spiritual things

Luke 17:26-27 “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.”

• It is to be unconcerned about the warnings of judgment

Isaiah spoke of the world’s apathy regarding judgment also.
Isaiah 22:12-13 “Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth. Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”

God was warning of judgment.
God was calling men to repentance and mourning.
But men were indifferent.

Who wants to repent when we could party?
That is indifference.
That is apathy.

THE WARNINGS AGAINST
THE WORLD’S INDIFFERENCE ARE ALSO PLENTY.

Listen to the writer of Hebrews
Hebrews 2:1-3 “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard”

Those are nautical terms by the way.
“pay much closer attention to” is the Greek word pra-SECH-o which means “to bring a ship to land” or “to moor a ship” or “to tie it up to the dock”

“drift away from it” is the Greek word parr-arr-RAY-o it means “to flow by” which speaks of a ship that is allowed to drift past the harbor.

So it’s the picture of an INDIFFERENT CAPTAIN.
He has given no thought to the direction of his ship.
He’s just letting it drift and never giving any thought to bringing it into port.

It’s an analogy of our lives.
Your life is the ship, the port is heaven.

AND THE QUESTION IS:
If you live your whole life disregarding God and His call of salvation, what are the odds that your ship will just one day enter the port of heaven and anchor itself there?

Indifference does not lead to eternal life.
That’s the point.

“we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard”

Listen again to the writer of Hebrews
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.”

There the indifference is seen in their irreverence for God.
• They “trample under foot the Son of God”
• They “regard as unclean the blood” of His sacrifice
• They “insult the Spirit of grace”

In other words they have heard God’s warning of judgment
But they are totally indifferent to the way of salvation.

THAT IS THE WORLD’S INDIFFERENCE.
• They are indifferent to the holy requirement of God.
• They are indifferent to the saving call of the gospel.
• They are indifferent to the impending judgment.

They just neglect or disregard or overlook such commands
And their indifference most certainly will land them in judgment.

We have no problem seeing or condemning the indifference of the world.

WE KNOW THAT THEIR INDIFFERENCE IS A TERRIBLE PROBLEM.

And yet, the book of Malachi is NOT a sermon for the world.
It is “The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel…”

Malachi was not a prophet to the pagan nations.
This is a sermon for the people of God.

And just to give you a preview:

READ MALACHI 1:10
God was so displeased with the indifference of His people He cried out for someone who would be willing to go and shut the gates so that people would quit arriving to bring Him such pathetic worship.
• He wasn’t pleased with the offerings…
• He wasn’t pleased with the people…
• His request was for someone to close up the temple and call off the service.

READ MALACHI 2:7-8
Listen to God talk to the priests about the way they handle God’s word.
• They were indifferent to what God had to say and had instead settled on some
other authority.
• That is indifference and God promised to make those priests “despised and
abased” because of it.

READ MALACHI 2:17
That is their indifference to the coming judgment.
• They didn’t think God would judge sinners.
• They thought people in sin were fin.

You see God’s burden there don’t you?
“You have wearied the LORD”

Because they tell people that they can do evil and still be pleasing to God.
Their message to sinners is that God still delights in you.

They actually question whether God is even just to judge sinners at all.

Boy doesn’t that sound familiar!

In a world where church after church only has the goal
To make sinners feel comfortable and to assure them that
God delights in them regardless of what they do.

That is indifference and it was wearisome to God.

READ MALACHI 3:13-15

And this is the pinnacle of arrogance.
“what profit is it that we have kept His charge..?”

What’s in it for me?
• Forget the days of serving God for God’s benefit.
• Forget the days of worshiping God for God’s glory.
• Now we just want to know what’s in it for me?

I went to church now where is my blessing?
I gave some money now where is my reimbursement?
I did what you asked so where is my benefit?

Do you see that the people were totally indifferent to what God wanted?

It is one thing when the culture grows indifferent to God,
But Malachi is about when that indifference infiltrates the church.

First just let me ask you
Why indifference is such a grievous problem in the church?

• What is the big deal if we grow a little complacent?
• What is the big deal if we grow a little lethargic?
• What is the big deal if we are a little indifferent or apathetic?

Here is the big deal.
Matthew 22:36-37 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’”

If you take the entire book of the Law…
If you take the sum total of all that God commands…
DO YOU KNOW THE MAIN POINT?

LOVE GOD MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE!

This is the foundation command for everything else.
• Why should we not have any other gods? (because we are to love God)
• Why should we not make graven images? (because we are to love God)
• Why should we honor the Sabbath? (because we love God)
• Why should we obey..?
• Why should we evangelize..?
• Why should we give..?

BECAUSE WE LOVE GOD MORE!
• More than other gods
• More than our time
• More than our money
• More than our comfort

You know of course that Jesus is quoting the infamous SHEMA
Have you read that passage?

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

That command is the very opposite of indifference.
That command is the very opposite of apathy.

Instead of God being the farthest thing from your mind,
He is the first thing on your mind at all times.

DO YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE?

Indifference or apathy or complacency is the exact opposite
Of the chief command of Scripture to love God
With all your heart and soul and mind and strength.

So you understand a little why God is so frustrated
Why God actually would just as soon that someone would go lock the doors and cancel the service.

And you’d think the people would know better.
For it their indifference that sent them to Babylon to begin with.

Amos 6:1-7 “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria, The distinguished men of the foremost of nations, To whom the house of Israel comes. Go over to Calneh and look, And go from there to Hamath the great, Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, Or is their territory greater than yours? Do you put off the day of calamity, And would you bring near the seat of violence? Those who recline on beds of ivory And sprawl on their couches, And eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall, Who improvise to the sound of the harp, And like David have composed songs for themselves, Who drink wine from sacrificial bowls While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, Yet they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles, And the sprawlers’ banqueting will pass away.”

You see their desire for the things of the world
And they cared so little for the things of God.

Is it any wonder that God ripped away their worldly comforts and sent them into Babylon?

Perhaps Jeremiah had the best definition of those who are indifferent.
Jeremiah 12:1-2 “Righteous are You, O LORD, that I would plead my case with You; Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You: Why has the way of the wicked prospered? Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease? You have planted them, they have also taken root; They grow, they have even produced fruit. You are near to their lips But far from their mind.”

Jeremiah said “You are near to their lips but far from their mind.”

They’re God’s people, but God is not on their mind at all.
Everything else is more important.

Do you see that sort of indifference in the spiritual community today?

If you don’t, then come help with the youth
And next year I’ll let you pick the date for Disciple Now.

You’ll learn real quick where the things of God rank.
(and it’s not just the kids, it’s their parents who value the things of the world more)

I CAN TELL YOU.
• Friday Night Football – that’s #1 (it’s unthinkable that anything unseat that)
• Anything that links to football – that’s #2 (Band, Pep-Rally’s, Cheerleading, Practices, etc.)
• Any other sport – that’s #3 (cross country, travel ball, etc.)
• Then there’s any family get together (weddings, birthdays, reunions, etc)
• And finally just human tiredness (it’s too early, it’s too late, etc)

And if you can get past all of those, then maybe
You’ve got a shot at scheduling something people will attend.
(That is as long as something doesn’t pop up at the very last minute.)

WHAT’S MY POINT?
• Everything matters more than church today.
• Everything matters more than worship.
• Everything matters more than ministry.

That’s not to say that football is sinful or birthday parties are bad,
But their idolatrous preference in our lives over the things of God
Is a horrible expression of indifference to God.

I’ve talked to my kids about this recently because they’ve been so disheartened as they invite friends to disciple now.

But I talk to them about THE LITTLE BATTLES.
Our Christian culture has an absolute blind spot about themselves
That if push comes to shove that they’ll stand with Christ.

You know
• If they make Christianity illegal…
• If someone tells me I have to die for my faith…
• Then I’m standing with Christ!

By in large the American Christian community genuinely believes
That if it ever came to that, then they’d be faithful.

This from people who won’t even let their kid skip an athletic practice
For fear that the coach won’t start them in the game.

Very few people face that ultimate giant battle
• Of Christ or death in some great martyrdom decision.
• There are some who do,
• But the Christian life is not marked by this one giant “do or die” moment.

The Christian life is marked by thousands of little battles every day.
That’s what I remind my kids.

It’s the little everyday decisions that mark your priorities
That show where your allegiance truly lies.

Jeremiah nailed it in Israel,
“You are near to their lips but far from their mind.”

People make their schedules with no thought at all
Regarding their responsibility to gather with the saints in worship.

Don’t tell me indifference doesn’t exist in the church today.

Israel was actually judged by God for it
And sent into Babylon for 70 years.

But it wasn’t just their time management.
It was also their indifference to the commands of God.

Ezekiel compared the people to Sodom and spoke of why God destroyed her…
Ezekiel 16:49 “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.”

Ezekiel’s point is that you are just like her.

• It was to not care for the things that God cared about.
• It was to store up goods for oneself and ignore the poor.
• They didn’t care that God commanded them to feed the poor.

That’s another kind of indifference.
It’s just not to care about what God has commanded you to do.

Let’s leave the issue of church attendance aside for a moment…
• When is the last time you helped the poor?
• When is the last time you shared the gospel?
• When is the last time you confessed your sin?
• When is the last time you taught someone about God?
• When is the last time you gave sacrificially?
• When is the last time you prayed?

Hopefully you do those things, but you must agree that
There are many who claim Christianity who don’t do those things.

WE ARE TALKING ABOUT
The indifference of God’s people to the things of God.

And God sent Israel into the exile for those things.
And so the people of Malachi’s day should know better.

The problem is that they are now over 100 years removed from the exile.
The people alive now don’t even know what it was like.

To them it was nothing more than history.
Like when you or I read about WWII or the holocaust

It is really easy to slip right back into the indifference
That once plagued a previous generation.

That is God’s burden in the book of Malachi.
It is when God’s people grow indifferent to the desires of God.

NOW LET ME SHOW YOU THE MESSAGE OF THE BOOK

The people of Malachi’s day were content and happy and all they waited for now was Messiah to come and lead them to prominence.

But God had a message for them.

READ MALACHI 3:1-4

These people thought they were ready for the Messiah.
To which Malachi says – NO YOU AREN’T!

• If He were to show up you wouldn’t like it.
• You are not ready to stand before Him.
• You can’t “endure the day of His coming”

So Malachi says before God sends the Messiah,
He will first send a “messenger” and “he will clear the way before Me”

• He will come and preach repentance!
• He will come and make the crooked ways straight!
• He will come and make the uneven places smooth!

READ MALACHI 4:5-6
• You know who this is.
• It is John the Baptist.

NOW WHAT IS THE POINT TO ALL OF THIS?

WOULD YOU REALLY ASSUME THAT YOU CAN
• Present broken sacrifices on God’s altar..?
• Gripe and complain about service to God..?
• Vow a good sacrifice to God and then give Him a broken one..?
• Ignore God’s word and preach your own instead..?
• Disregard God’s commands regarding marriage..?
• Tell sinners that God delights in them anyway..?
• Rob God of the tithe He commands..?
• Call the wicked blessed..?

AND THINK THAT THE MESSIAH WILL BE PLEASED WHEN HE ARRIVES?

“You are not ready to meet Him”.
That is the message of Malachi.

That message is not totally invalid in the New Testament.

Did we not just finish 1 John?
1 John 2:28-29 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

What was John saying?
• Walk in righteousness so you aren’t ashamed when Jesus arrives.
• That’s not so different than the message of Malachi.

And for those of us who are living in the last days,
Being ready to meet Jesus should be at the forefront of our minds.

Let me leave you with one parting verse to ponder on this week.
Romans 13:11-14 “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

We’ll get into the book of Malachi in a couple of weeks.

Download here

Transparent Worship – Part 4
Psalms 139 (19-24)
October 2, 2022

Tonight we come one last time to the 139th Psalm.

We have called it “Transparent Worship” because David has certainly come to worship the God who knows everything about him.

And the first 3 weeks the study of this Psalm we looked at
#1 THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE TRANSCENDENCE OF GOD
Psalms 139:1-18

And we broke that down into 3 areas.

1) GOD’S OMNISCIENCE (1-6)

• David recognized that God knows everything about him, even the seemingly insignificant details, God knew it all.

2) GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE (7-12)

• David realized that not only did God know everything about him, but there was also no where he could go to escape God’s presence.

3) GOD’S SOVEREIGN ORDINATION OF ALL THINGS (13-18)

• The reason God was so intimately acquainted with David is because David is God’s creation.
• God created David with a purpose and a plan in mind and it mattered to God how David lived and what David did.

And when David contemplated all of this
We saw the great submission of his soul before God.

(17-18) “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.”

David came to the conclusion that every human should come to
And that is that we prefer God’s wisdom over our own.

We do not wish to “lean on our own understanding”
Or follow our own wisdom, but we wish to seek the wisdom and knowledge of God and what He would have us know.

SO, WE’VE SEEN: God is transcendent, and we should respond to Him with appropriate wonder and awe and submission.

WE SHOULD KNOW IN OUR SIN
• That God knows all about it,
• That we cannot escape His judgment,
• And that our sin is a rebellion against His sovereign plan.

WE SHOULD KNOW IN OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
• That God also knows all about it,
• That He will never leave us or forsake us,
• And we should continue to seek Him.

WE SHOULD KNOW IN OUR PAIN
• That God knows,
• God sees,
• and God cares.

And the same is said for our times of worship.
God knows our hearts, God sees our thoughts, God is present,
And therefore, seeking to worship in hypocrisy or phoniness
Is a massive mistake.

Know that in our worship we worship a truly incomprehensible and transcendent God.

Well, if the Psalm ended there,
I think we could put a nice and neat little bow on it
And walk away with a warm feeling and a nice little practical application.

BUT THE PSALM DOESN’T END THERE.

Instead, David takes a sharp turn.
What we have thus far failed to realize is that
There was a secret emotion also rising up in David’s heard.

The emotion that WE SAW was his adoration and admiration for God.
We saw that.

We heard David say, (14) “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”

We listened as David admitted that, (6) “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is too high, I cannot attain to it.”

We saw David’s adoration of God.
We could see his gratitude and his amazement at who God is.

What we DIDN’T SEE, until now,
Is that at the same time there was a growing FRUSTRATION
And even INDIGNATION also brewing in David’s heart.

For just as his love and amazement and God was growing,
So also was his disdain for those who fail to be equally amazed with God.

And in verse 19, David’s heart bursts open with a strong IMPRECATION.

AND THIS IS OUR SECOND POINT IN THE PSALM.

We saw: The Incomprehensible Transcendence of God
#2 THE INFURIATING REBELLION OF MAN
Psalms 139:19-22

Now the INITIAL RESPONSE is sort of to gasp and hiccup
While reading those verses.

It almost feels like these verses don’t belong.
In fact, I would venture to guess that you’ve heard Psalms 139 quoted many times in your Christian life, but I’d also bet you’ve never heard verses 19-22 quoted.

• People love to talk about the omniscience of God in those first 6 verses.
• People love to talk about the omnipresence of God
• People love that “fearfully and wonderfully made” part.
• And they love those last two verses asking God to search me.

But you’ve likely never heard quoted verses 19-22.
In fact, it may have come as a shock to you
The first time we read this Psalm through 3 weeks ago.

The way these verses are neglected would indicate that
They do not fit the mindset or agenda of man.

But let me give you a little Bible study 101 tip.

You CANNOT understand the overall message of this Psalm
If you neglect verses 19-22.

• If you omit those verses…
• If you ignore those verses…
• If you explain away those verses…
• You by default miss the point of the entire passage.

I’M NOT SAYING you can’t MAKE SOME GOOD POINTS from various truths found in this Psalm. In one sense we’ve done that the last 3 weeks as we talk about God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and sovereign ordination of all things.

You can make some good points that are true.

But if you omit these verses you cannot understand the Psalm as a whole
You will miss the whole point of the whole thing.

Certainly these verses are ESSENTIAL.
But I think we can go one further and tell you that these verses may be THE KEY TO THE ENTIRE PSALM.

• Do you realize that David doesn’t ever make a request of God in this Psalm until verse 19?

The first 18 verses are rich and beautiful as David outlines the transcendence of God, but aside from the reality of praise,
After 18 verses we still don’t know why David wrote the Psalm?

We still don’t know why David penned the Psalm.

That doesn’t become clear until verse 19
When David says, “O that You would slay the wicked, O God;”

And all of a sudden we realize that
Psalms 139 is an Imprecatory Psalm.

It is yet another one of those Psalms
That calls down the judgment of God upon the wicked.
And this one may be the most severe expression yet.

David is certainly blown away by the greatness of God.

But the message of the Psalm is
David’s fury directed at those who could blaspheme and hate and rise up against such an awesome God.

Psalms 139 is about David’s love for God
And his love is measured by his hatred for those who blaspheme God.

When David wants to give God evidence of his great love for Him,
David lays out his hatred for those who hate God.

David says, (21) “Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?”

• You know everything there is to know about me.
• You know when I sit and when I rise.
• You know my thoughts from afar.
• I never exit your presence.
• “Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?”

David’s love for God is expressed by his hatred for the wicked.

THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO READ THESE 4 VERSES.

Look at them again:
(19-22) “O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies.”

The message is clear, BUT it does cause us some head scratching.

So let’s deal with the elephant in the room.
• David gives a request that God would “slay the wicked”
• David says I “hate those who hate you”.
• In fact David says, “I hate them with the utmost hatred.”
• That’s David’s way of saying, “I didn’t stutter”

It’s clear what he says, and he even says, “You heard me right.”

SO…

What about?
Leviticus 19:17 “You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.”

What about?
Matthew 5:43-47 “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. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”

If you lay Psalms 139 up against those two passages,
One from the Law, and one from Jesus,
Then you’d almost have to say that David has gone off the radar here.

You’d almost have to say that
David is in violation of the Law and the words of Christ.

1) And some, actually take that approach.
• They link verses 19-22 with David’s request in verses 23-24
• As if David first expresses his fleshly anger and then asks God to examine it to
see if it’s ok or not.

Sort of to read:
“I hate them, now God search me and see if I’m out of line in that.”

And I suppose that grants us a way out of the tension,
But there’s NOTHING HERE to indicate that David questions his hatred.

What David questions is his loyalty to God.
He wants to make sure there is nothing in him
That is as repulsive to God as these blasphemers are to David.

It is clear in these 4 verses that
David is convinced that his indignation is totally justified.

So we have a hard time passing this off as a reckless rant by David.

Beyond that we recognize that these 4 verses were INSPIRED by the Holy Spirit.

• It wasn’t Satan that made David say these things.
• It wasn’t his flesh that made David say these things.
• It was the Holy Spirit who made David say these things.
• (As He did with all those other imprecatory Psalms we’ve studied)

2) Others have preferred the King James Version and used the wording there to sort of soften the blow.

The KJV reads verses 21-22 as:
“Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.”

• And commentators have seized upon the word “grieved” and “perfect”

Instead of David saying I “loathe” they read it “grieved”

And say, it’s not a hatred like we think of hatred
It’s an intense sorrow and grief over the way they act.

Albert Barnes wrote:
“The expression here – “grieved” – explains the meaning of the word “hate” in the former member of the verse. It is not that hatred which is followed by malignity or ill-will; it is that which is accompanied with grief, pain of heart, pity, sorrow. So the Savior looked on men; Mark iii, 5; “And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.” The Hebrew word used here, however, contains also the idea of being disgusted with; of loathing; of nauseating. The feeling referred to is anger – conscious disgust – at such conduct; grief, pain, sorrow, that man should evince such feelings toward their Maker.”
(Spurgeon, Charles [The Treasury of David; Volume 3, Part 2; Hencrickson Publishers; Peabody, MA] pg. 285)

So the explanation here is that David didn’t wish any “ill will” toward these men he rather felt sorry for them and was grieved by their conduct.

But you’re going to have a tough time explaining why David said,
“O that You would slay the wicked, O God;” if he meant them no ill-will.

That Hebrew word can be translated “grieved”
But let me show you were else it is used.

Ezekiel 36:31 “Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations.”

It speaks of a sinner under judgment
And the feelings they will then have about their sin.
I don’t think they’re just sad, I think “loathe” is the proper word.

Psalms 95:10 “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.”

And that was the same generation
• God refused to allow to enter the Promised Land.
• The same generation He killed in the wilderness.
• “loathed” fits.

Another explanation commonly given is that instead of David saying “utmost hatred” they read it “perfect hatred”

That David’s hatred here was perfect in the sense that
It was only expressed through his grief.

Augustine said:
“What is “with a perfect hatred”? I hated in them their iniquities, I loved thy creation. This is to hate with a perfect hatred, that neither on account of the vices thou hate the men, nor on account of the men love the vices…How then will he fulfill in them both his own saying, “Have not I hated those that hated thee, Lord,” and the Lord’s command, “Love your enemies”? How will he fulfill this, save with that perfect hatred, that he hate in them that they are wicked and love that they are men?”
(ibid. pg. 286)

So Augustine took that favorite approach that
David means that he hates the sin but loves the sinner.

But again, that’s NOT what David said.
And he said it twice!

“Do I not hate THOSE who hate You, O LORD?”
“I hate THEM with the utmost hatred.”

The word “uttermost” here.
• The word here means “complete”.
• It is like when John 13 said that Jesus “loved them to the end (i.e to the
max)”

That is what David is saying.
My hatred for them is complete, to the limit, maxed out.

We see how men like to try and explain away what David has said,
But the reality is he says what he means.

SO WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS?

Well again I remind you that
This is an imprecatory PRAYER not a marketplace confrontation.
• David has NOT taken up the sword and gone into the city and started slaying sinners.
• David is praying to God about it.
• We have often said that imprecatory prayers are a great way to release our righteous indignation to God.
• We never take our own revenge, but leave room for the wrath of the Lord.
• David is well within that guideline here.

But that still doesn’t explain
The clear sentiment of hatred in his heart
When the Bible also says not to hate, but to love.

Well could I also remind you that Jesus commanded us to hate?
WAIT! WHAT?

Luke 14:25-26 “Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

Did Jesus mean to literally hate your parents in every sense of the word?
No, He was making a comparison.

In comparison to your love for Him,
The affection you feel for even your parents
Would be considered hatred by comparison.

Steve Lawson referenced that text during his sermon on Psalms 139
And he said that HATRED here should be defined as “to reject and to oppose”

And that certainly fits what David has to say here.
“Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.”

David’s hatred here is expressed
In his unwillingness to associate or to even greet
Or fellowship with those who blaspheme God.

And might I simply say that this is a hatred
That is sorely lacking from the church in our day and age.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.”

At the same time we are reminded of his statement in 1 Corinthians about the sinning brother in which he said:
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.”

When you put both together we realize that
• There is to be no covenant or fellowship between believers and unbelievers
• And there is to be no association between believers and immoral believers.

And yet we live in a day when men don’t live by that rule at all.
We are more than happy to condone, fellowship, date, marry, celebrate, etc.
With men regardless of how they live before God.

We can’t imagine someone blaspheming our spouse
• And then sitting and cheering next to them at a football game as though we were friends,
• But we do it with those who blaspheme God all the time.

David says, NOT ME!

David instead asked that God would “slay the wicked”

In his sermon on this text Steve Lawson said:
“To kill others ruthlessly is what the reference is to these men of bloodshed. For they speak against You wickedly. That means they blaspheme God’s name. They defame God’s name. They speak abominations and atrocities against God. David cannot sit by and just whistle ‘Just As I am’, David cannot sit by and let the name of God be drug through the mud. David is responding as the Lord Jesus did in the temple when He went in and with holy zeal cleansed the temple. It is the same holy zeal that in Galatians 1 verse 8 and 9 Paul said, ‘If any man preach another gospel than the gospel I have delivered to you, let him be damned and go to hell.’ Strong words, but it is with a holy zeal and passion for God.”
https://media-cloud.sermonaudio.com/audio/1124101551290.mp3 (28:10)

This is the explanation of these 4 verses.
• Is it hatred? YES
• Is it indignation? YES
• Is it directed at men and not just their sin? YES
• Does it intend judgment on them? YES

And it is justified and righteous indignation!

Now that DOESN’T MEAN that if they repented
That David would still want them judged, certainly he would not.

But you are seeing here the heart of a man who loves God
And he cannot stand those who claim to be God’s children
And yet blaspheme His name.

In fact, let’s go a little further.
(19) “O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.”

SO WHO ARE THE WICKED?
They are “men of bloodshed”

Is David justified in asking God to slay them?

Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”

That wasn’t man’s law, that is God’s Law.
• The Bible 100% supports capital punishment.
• There is nothing outside of the will of God here from David.

In verse 20 David says they “speak against You wickedly”

We call that blasphemy.
Leviticus 24:16 “Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.”

In verse 20 David also says they “take Your name in vain”

That is hypocrisy.
Exodus 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”

Verse 21 David says they “hate You, O LORD” And they “rise up against You”

Let me just give you a quick list of the types of things that God’s Law requires the death penalty for.
• Striking your father or mother (Ex. 21:15)
• Cursing your father or mother (Ex. 21:17)
• Kidnapping a man (Ex. 21:16)
• Someone whose ox is allowed to gore someone (Ex 21:29)
• Someone who sleeps with an animal (Ex. 22:19)
• Profaning the Sabbath (Ex. 31:14)
• Giving your offspring to Molech (Lev. 20:2)
• All kinds of adultery and sexual sin (Lev. 20)
• And that’s just a few.

THE POINT IS: David is not outside of the justice of God on this request.
He looks around and sees those who should be God’s people
And they are engaged in deeds which the Law prescribes death for
And David is filled with rage.

His prayer is that God would in fact rise up and avenge His name.

David is NOT ABOUT TO go and hang out with them.
David is NOT ABOUT TO high five them in the streets.
David is NOT ABOUT TO invite them over for supper or attend their party.

WHY?
Because David loves God!
David honors God!

AND THE THRUST OF THIS PSALM
Is that the God who knows everything there is to know about David
Can look inside of him and see that this is true.

So here’s an obvious question and application.

If you were forced to prove your love for God by your refusal to condone that which God hates could you do it?

Romans 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”

We have no doubt that there is
NOT A SHRED OF HYPOCRISY in David’s love for God.
His love for God is pure and sincere.

David WILL NOT congregate and fellowship with those who blaspheme God and take His name in vain and hate Him and rise up against Him.

From David’s perspective.
• Any enemy of God’s is an enemy of mine.
• If they are Your enemies they are my enemies.
• If they hate You, they hate me.

THAT IS WHAT DAVID IS SAYING.
He says it with a full understanding that God knows everything about him.
And with a full understanding that God knows his thoughts from afar.

Can you see why David was a man after God’s own heart?

THIS ISN’T THAT STRANGE:
• Go read Matthew 23 and listen to the way Jesus approaches those who take God’s name in vain.
• Go read Acts 7 and listen to how Stephen preached to those who blaspheme God.
• Go read Acts 8 and listen to how Peter addressed Simon who tried to purchase the Holy Spirit.

We cannot applaud that which is opposed to God
And say that we love God with a pure heart.

There must be a holy hatred for what is evil.
There must be a holy hatred for those who hate God.

If you want a great and recent example of this, after the sermon google John MacArthur’s open letter to Governor Newsom. You’ll see a good example of exactly what David is talking about.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/los-angeles-pastor-john-macarthur-publicly-rebukes-gavin-newsom-diabolical-policies-invoking-jesus

The Incomprehensible Transcendence of God
The Infuriating Rebellion of Man
#3 THE INEVITABLE RESPONSE OF HUMILITY
Psalms 139:23-24

I know we are short on time here, but these verses are clear.

David doesn’t end this Psalm
As though he is the sole authority on what is in his heart.

If you ask David,
• He genuinely believes that he loves God with all his heart.
• In fact, he even offered evidence of how great his love for God is.

But David knows he is not the final authority.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”

Proverbs 16:2 “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives.”

Proverbs 21:2 “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.”

David knows that he can have a blind spot.

Jesus actually told us
That there will be people in the judgment who are convinced that they are servants of Jesus Christ and will say, “Lord, Lord, did we not…”

And Jesus will say, “I never knew you…”

It is quite possible to be self-deceived.
There are “many” who are.

Jesus spoke to Jews in John 8
Who for a moment claimed to believe in Jesus, but Jesus revealed that they were actually children of the devil.

And while David is convinced that he is not hypocrite or blasphemer
He is not willing to take his own word for it.

So now he appeals to God to search him
And tell him the truth about himself.

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT FOR YOU AND I TO DO CONTINUALLY!
We always appeal to God to show us the truth about ourselves.

David says:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart”

Addressed to the God who knows everything about me,
David prays that God would examine him thoroughly.
• Is there any hypocrisy?
• Is there any blasphemy?
• Is there sin I am not aware of?

“Try me and know my anxious thoughts;”

“Try” is “to test” or “sift” or “reveal”.
Put me in the furnace, run me through the purifier.

And look at my thoughts, my “anxious thoughts”;
My doubting thoughts; my unbelieving thoughts.

Don’t just examine the motives of my heart,
But examine the thoughts of my mind.

I need them all to be tested.
I need to be exposed where I am thinking wrongly.

“And see if there by any hurtful way in me”

“hurtful”

It is the Hebrew word O-TSEV
Which is adapted from the word EH-TSEV

• It is a word that speaks of “pain”.
• It is the word used for what the curse would bring to Eve. “pain”
• It can also speak of painful toil or labor.

It is actually the word used to speak of Jeconiah in Jeremiah 22:8 when he is called a “shattered jar” and an “undesirable vessel”

Which is to say he was wasted toilsome labor.
I worked and toiled for this jar,
But it’s corrupted and only good to be thrown out.

It is work which causes pain.

Interesting that this form of the word used here in Psalms 139 is also used in:
Isaiah 48:5 “Therefore I declared them to you long ago, Before they took place I proclaimed them to you, So that you would not say, ‘My idol has done them, And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.’”

• There it is translated “idol”
• Which is a graven image made as a result of toilsome labor,
• But is useless and worthless.

You went to all that trouble for nothing.

Now listen as David says: “See if there is any hurtful way in me”

Is there anything in my life which I am doing
With the assumption that it is good,
But it is actually hurtful or useless?

You know, am I toiling for things which do not please You?
(or which grieves You or causes You pain?)

Such a good question.

And then David says:
“And lead me in the everlasting way.”

That would be the way of righteousness.

What a great prayer for any of God’s people.

The fact of the matter is that
• You may think you know your heart and motives but God really knows your heart and motives.
• You may think you really love God with all your heart, but God knows.

And so it is imperative, as we worship
The omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign God
That we also appeal to Him in humility
To make sure our worship is pleasing.

• Have you asked God if you are walking in a manner that pleases Him?
• Have you asked God to reveal your idols?
• Have you asked God to expose your blasphemy?
• Have you asked God to express those things that are hurtful?
• Have you asked God to show you your wrong thoughts?

He surely knows all those things.
And the response of humility is to ask Him.

After all, it is all transparent to Him.
Hebrews 4:13 “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

Download Here

 

 

Learning About The Lord’s Supper
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
October 2, 2022

This morning we are going to take advantage of the fact that we have just finished our study of 1 John and we are going to take the Lord’s Supper.

It is of absolute vital importance that we return here often
To remember what it is that the Lord has done for us.

AND THIS MORNING we are going to appeal to the book of 1 Corinthians
To learn a little bit about this ordinance and how we are to partake of it.

I was compelled to come to 1 Corinthians
Mostly because of the text we referenced here last week.

You likely remember that we studied 1 John 5:22
1 John 5:22 “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

And as part of our study we actually looked at a passage in 1 Corinthians
Where Paul referenced their partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

1 Corinthians 10:14-22 “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?”

And to be perfectly honest it was my initial intent
To return here and just study that passage
As it seemed a perfect transition from idolatry to the Lord’s Supper.

But you know how rabbits can be chased when you begin to study the word of God.

Paul actually references the taking of the Lord’s Supper
3 times in the book of 1 Corinthians.

There is the passage I just read to you from 1 Corinthians 10 where Paul reminded us of the fellowship with Christ which is involved in partaking.

There is the passage we read to open our study this morning in 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul will discuss taking the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner.

And it is referenced again in 1 Corinthians 5 during Paul’s discussion of the immoral brother in which Paul commands us to “Celebrate the feast…with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

AND IT IS OUR OBJECTIVE to look at all 3 of these this morning
To learn some valuable lessons
Regarding our participation in this holy ordinance.

BUT BEFORE we take a look at each of those texts,
I FIRST want us to examine for a moment the text we read to begin.

(23-26) “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

You may or may not be aware, but most scholars agree that
1 Corinthians was written before any of the gospel accounts were written.

That means that this is the first written account of the Lord’s Supper.
Paul notes that “I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you”

Paul didn’t read Matthew’s gospel and give an account.
Jesus told Paul what happened that night.

Paul revealed that “He…took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

This was during the Passover meal
That Jesus and His disciples were taking.

John MacArthur gives some helpful insight into what occurred in the room that night.
“The Passover meal began with the host’s pronouncing a blessing over the first cup of red wine and passing it to the others present. Four cups of wine were passed around during the meal. After the first cup was drunk bitter herbs dipped in a fruit sauce were eaten and a message was given on the meaning of Passover. Then the first part of a hymn, the Hallel (which means “praise” and is related to hallelujah, “praise ye the Lord”) was sung. The Hallel is comprised of Psalms 113-118, and the first part sung was usually 113 or 113 and 114. After the second cup was passed, the host would break and pass around unleavened bread. Then the meal proper, which consisted of the roasted sacrificial lamb, was eaten. The third cup, after prayer, was then passed and the rest of the Hallel was sung. The fourth cup, which celebrated the coming kingdom, was drunk immediately before leaving.”
(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary; 1 Corinthians; Moody Press; Chicago, IL; 1984] pg. 271)

During that meal the Jews ate unleavened bread.
• Leaven is of course like yeast which is an agent which makes bread rise.
• When a woman would make dough she would pinch off some and put it back to use in her next batch.

In Egypt they were commanded to make their bread without leaven,
Partly due to time, as they were in a hurry to leave.
But mostly because they were to leave the old behind.

Unleavened bread was a picture of new life; a pure life.

Jesus had already preached:
John 6:48-51 “I am the bread of life. “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

And now He says:
“This is my body, which is for you, do this in remembrance of Me.”

From now on, when the disciples partook of this meal
They were no longer to remember Egypt, they were to remember Christ.

• He is God made flesh.
• He took on human form.
• And in His flesh He fulfilled the Law and earned the righteousness He would
impute to us.
• And in His flesh He suffered becoming a merciful and faithful High Priest on
our behalf.

Jesus told the disciples that they should now partake
And remember His righteous life which provided righteousness for us.

This is “for you” He said.
All that He did, He did for those whom He redeemed.

MY BODY IS FOR YOUR LIFE.

LATER IN THE MEAL Jesus would interject some more profound truth.
(25) “In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

This would have been that third cup, after the meal.
And as Jesus passed this cup He once again redirected their worship.

• No longer focus on the Exodus, focus on Me.
• This cup represents My blood.
• More than that it represents His death, since the life is in the blood.
• It represents that Jesus would die so as to redeem us from the Old Covenant of the Law.

He would both fulfill our obligation through His righteous life
And He would pay our debt through His atoning death.

He would bring us into a New Covenant where righteousness is obtained FOR us and God’s Law would be written ON our hearts.

Jesus said when the disciples took the Passover
They should no longer focus on the Exodus but focus on Christ.

Paul summarized then the entire ordinance for the Corinthians:
(26) “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

At its core this is what we are doing every time we partake.
• We are proclaiming the reality and necessity of the atoning death of Christ.
• We are declaring our dependance on what He did for us.

The only shot we had of reconciliation with God
Is if Jesus Christ came in a human body
To fulfill the Law and then to die to pay the sin debt of men.

Without Him we are lost forever.
Without Him hell is our only destiny.
But He came and saved us.

We partake to remember the saving work of Jesus Christ.

We never grow tired of remembering what He did for us.
His life and death are at the center of this ordinance
And we never forget it.

BUT AS I TOLD YOU,
• This is not the only place Paul mentions the Lord’s Supper to the Corinthians.
• And that is not all he has to say even here in chapter 11.

The Corinthians were certainly partaking of the Lord’s Supper
But they were doing so on the wrong ways.

God was not pleased with the way in which they were partaking.
IN FACT, God was actually causing some of them to get sick and even some to die as a punishment for the way they were partaking.

AND WE ARE INTRODUCED TO THE REALITY THAT
IT MATTERS HOW WE PARTAKE.

We are talking about an ordinance meant to commemorate
The greatest work ever accomplished by any man ever.

It matters to God THAT we remember it.
It matters to God HOW we remember it.

SO THIS MORNING we’re going to look briefly at all 3 of the passages where Paul instructs the Corinthians.

AND THEN WE ARE GOING TO PARTAKE.

Well, let’s look at the first mention and we’ll talk about:
#1 THE IMPORTANCE OF PURITY
1 Corinthians 5:6-8

The first mention of the Lord’s Supper comes to the Corinthians
In chapter 5 where they were totally missing the point of their celebration.

You know the chapter as the one about the infamous sinning brother
Who was sleeping with his father’s wife.

The issue at hand, as it relates to the Lord’s Supper
Was not that the sin had occurred,
But that it had not been denounced.

(5:2) “You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.”

Paul’s call to the Corinthian church was to repent of their arrogance.

WHAT ARROGANCE?
The arrogance that would condone what God has condemned.

There is an entire lesson for the church
In the midst of our evil and perverse culture.

Never before in my lifetime has the church been more willing to succumb to social pressures and condone what God forbids than today.

WE THINK OF ALL THE SEXUAL SINS:
• Divorce
• Living together in adultery
• Homosexuality
• Then CHURCHES performing homosexual marriages
• Then CHURCHES ordaining homosexual clergy

OR WHAT ABOUT THE RISE OF THE NUMBER OF WOMEN PASTORS?

Such compromises with the world are not new,
It was occurring in Corinth.

In fact, in Corinth it had go so far that they were actually condoning things that even pagans knew were wrong.

IT WAS THEN AND IT IS NOW – NOTHING BUT ARROGANCE.

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

No man has the right to tolerate or condone
Or approve of what God condemns.

That is extreme arrogance.
There should have been MOURNING over such sin
And DISCIPLINE even to the point of removing the sinning brother.

That is the biblical mandate for dealing with such sin.

IN FACT Paul made his stance abundantly clear.
(3-5) “For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

• Paul’s ruling on the matter is clear and firm.
• You cannot allow such unrepentant sin to remain in the church.
• It must be removed either by REPENTANCE OR DISCIPLINE.

And then Paul turns again to rebuke the Corinthians.
(6) “Your boasting is not good.”

First it was arrogance, now it is “boasting”
They actually took pride in the fact
That they condoned the sin of this man.

But there is a threat there that they have overlooked.
“Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?”

You certainly understand the analogy.
• Yeast spreads.
• Or as we like to say, “Sin splatters”

We saw our entire world go upside down as the issue and threat of CONTAMINATION covered the globe.
• Signs everywhere demanding that you stay 6’ away from every other human.
• Wear a mask, or wear 2.
• Stay away, don’t leave the house, don’t have people over.
• Wear gloves, don’t touch anything
• Go virtual
• Skip work, stay away from gatherings

There was literally no end to the insanity
And it all had to do with the threat of contamination.

But what you ought to really be concerned about is sin.
Sin is far more contagious than the coronavirus ever thought about being.

And there’s only one way to stop the spread – you’ve got to root it out!

(7) “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”

Here’s the first real theological point.
• Jesus Christ came to set you free from sin.
• He came as our Passover.

It harkens back to that first Passover in Egypt
When the Hebrews painted the blood of that lamb on the doorpost
So that the death angel might pass them by.

In the same way, it was the blood of Christ,
Which paid for our debt and satisfied the wrath of God.

It was an extremely high price that we might be cleansed of our sin.

Jesus took away our leaven; our sin.
And here the Corinthians were
Willingly letting leaven right back into their midst.

So here’s the first command regarding the Lord’s Supper.

(8) “Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

The celebration of our Passover…
The partaking of the Lord’s Supper…
Is NOT a place where sin should be celebrated or overlooked or tolerated.

To partake in the ordinance that way
Is to totally miss the point of what Christ came to do.

IN FACT, IT IS ARROGANCE.
It is boastfulness that baffles the mind.

The entire purpose of the Hebrews eating unleavened bread at the Passover was because it symbolized a separation from the old life.

They were not to bring any of that old Egyptian leaven with them.
• Start fresh.
• Start new.

And every year when they took the Passover they were to throw out all that leaven again.

Exodus 13:7 “Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders.”

Get rid of the old and start new.
Throw out all those old starters you’ve got in the ziplock baggies.

It was symbolic of putting off the old life.

And I hope you realize that this is the calling of all Christians.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

For which we are commanded:
Colossians 3:5-11 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”

A Christian must take off the old and put on the new.

There is no place for holding on to sin,
Especially during the ordinance
Where we celebrate having been set free from it.

Do you see the hypocrisy in that?

To partake of the Lord’s Supper and celebrate being set free from sin
While having sin in my life that I won’t let go of?

Surely you understand the importance of purity as we partake.
• Repent of your sin.
• Confess your sin.
• Honor what Christ did.

“Celebrate the feast…with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

That’s the first lesson in 1 Corinthians.
The Importance of Purity
#2 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IDENTITY
1 Corinthians 10:16-17

This is the passage we touched on last week as we talked about idolatry.

The context is that some of the Corinthians were entering idols temples and eating the meat sacrificed to those idols.

Now their rationale to such behavior was simple.
• There is no such thing as those false gods
• So there is no way that the meat is tainted.
• Therefore it’s no big deal if we enter and eat or not.

Now one of the issues was that such behavior was causing their brothers with weaker consciences to stumble, and Paul addresses that.

But the other issue is that such a practice
Ran the risk of moving Christ to jealousy.

That’s why Chapter 10 begins with the devastating effects of making God jealous.
(READ 10:1-13)

Those are some of Israel’s most infamous crimes.
Those were times when they made God jealous with their idolatry.
• We read of the golden calf incident.
• We read of the intermarriage with the Moabites where God killed 23,000.
• We read where they questioned God’s provision and God killed them with
snakes.
• We read where they rejected God’s leadership and God destroyed them with
the destroyer.

It never went well for Israel when they provoked God to jealousy.
You should avoid that at all cost.

And with that backdrop Paul says in verse 14, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

You just don’t want to even go there.
It’s not worth the risk.

And then he explains himself.
(16) “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?”

The key word there of course is the word “sharing”.

It is the Greek word KOINONIA
It is also translated “fellowship” or “participation” or “communion”

Paul says that when you partake of the Lord’s Supper
It is far more than just a symbolic act,
It is an act of fellowship with Jesus Himself.

When you take this bread and drink from this cup
You are in that moment fellowshipping with Jesus,
You are communing with Him.

HOW?
Have you been apart from a loved one for an extended time and your heart sort of begins to miss them? And so you grab their picture and what happens? You flood your mind with memories, times of laughter, times of sadness.
• You may actually laugh as you remember…
• You may actually cry as you remember…
• You are fellowshipping and communing there.

The major difference here is that while the person in the picture is totally unaware of the gesture, Christ is with us as we commune with Him.

At the same time there is ALSO a fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ who partake with you.

(17) “Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.”

There is a unity and a fellowship with one another as we partake.

Galatians 3:26-29 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”

The cross is the great equalizer of all the redeemed.
At the cross we lose all sense of
Prior morality or goodness or worth or importance.

We may have sought to distinguish ourselves from one another under faulty assumptions of goodness.
• You know, “I was better than him or I was more important than her”

Yet, it required the same death of Jesus to save us both.

So whatever your imagined distinction of superiority was,
It wasn’t much because you cost the same price to save a they did.

And so there is a fellowship among ourselves when we partake.

But beyond even the communion and the fellowship
There is also an identification that occurs.

(18) “Look at the nation of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?”
• There is a reason we eat.
• There is a reason we don’t just look at a picture.

Eating is an act of participation.
Eating is an act of ownership.
Eating is an act of identification.

When you ate that sacrifice of that sheep,
• You identified with that sheep in its death.
• You announce that you are the reason for the death of that sheep.
• It died for you.

This is what Jesus spoke of when He said:
John 6:52-59 “Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.”

HE WASN’T talking about the Lord’s Supper there, NOR was He talking about cannibalism where we’d literally eat His flesh and drink His blood.

• He was talking about identification.
• He was talking about ownership.
• He was talking about admitting that I am the cause for His death.
• He was talking about trusting in His sacrifice on my behalf.

When we partake of the Lord’s Supper we declare all of those things.

We are coming to this table to commune with the Lord.
We come and say to Him, “I need You, I trust You, I’m devoted to You”
• It is an intimate moment.
• It is a sacred moment.

And THAT is what made what the Corinthians were doing so detestable.

WHAT WERE THEY DOING?

Well, they were going to church and partaking of the Lord’s Supper and declaring their devotion to Christ.

Then they’d go to an idols temple and in effect do the same thing there.
(READ 19-22)

I told you last week, you can kiss your spouse and speak of how important it is and then go kiss your neighbor and try to explain to your spouse how it didn’t mean anything when you kissed your neighbor, but your spouse is quite likely not to agree.

If we might put it another way.
It’s like a man who orchestrates an elaborate ceremony where he can renew his vows to his wife, but later that night he goes out and has an affair.

WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT THE VOW RENEWAL SERVICE?

Do you understand what you are doing
When you partake of the Lord’s Supper?

It is like an intimate vow renewal service with the Lord.
It is personal as you commune with Him.

You are in effect again saying, “I take You, forsaking all others”

You don’t put on a ring,
Instead you eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

That ring doesn’t make you married, it symbolizes your devotion to the marriage,
But if you wreck that covenant it will become a symbol of betrayal.

Taking the Lord’s Supper doesn’t make you saved,
But it is a symbol of love for and trust in Christ.

IF YOU DO IT, MAKE SURE HE IS YOUR ONLY TRUST.
• There is no room for SIN and partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
• There is no room for IDOLATRY and partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

You are one with Christ, and only Christ.

The Importance of Purity The Significance of Identity
#3 THE EXPECTATION OF SOBRIETY
1 Corinthians 11:17-34

We already read part of this text where Paul gives the account
Of Christ actually giving the first Lord’s Supper.

But in these verses now we get the backstory.
• The church would meet for their Love Feast which was something similar to our potlucks and at the end would have the Lord’s Supper.
• But the problem in Corinth is that the wealthy people who brought the food wanted to make sure they got the food they brought and so they’d hurry in and eat it all before the poor people who could not bring food arrived.
• Not only was it gluttony and drunkenness, but it was a horrible display of a lack of love and charity.

It missed the point of what we just read about
The fellowship between brothers of the Lord’s Supper.
And Paul rightly rebuked them for such a terrible demonstration.

In fact he said YOU AREN’T eating the Lord’s Supper when you do that.

WHY?
(READ 23-26)

Paul said (20) “when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper”

WHY?
Because the Lord’s Supper is all about Christ.
“do this in remembrance of Me”

AND YOU HAVE MADE IT ALL ABOUT YOU.

The Lord’s Supper is about proclaiming Christ’s death.
You have made it about gratifying your appetite.

You have totally misunderstood the reason for which Christ died.

And so Paul calls for them to EXAMINE THEMSELVES as they partake.
(READ 27-33)

The call is to question your motives when you come to partake.
• Why are you doing this?
• What are you declaring when you do this?

• Are you partaking because everyone else is partaking?
• Are you partaking because you thought it would be fun?
• Are you partaking because it’s something else to do?

Or are you examining your motives?
• Are you making sure that you are doing putting away sin when you do this?
• Are you making sure that Christ is your only love when you do this?
• Are you making sure that you are honoring Him as you do this?

THERE IS A SOBRIETY HERE.
Not just a lack of drunkenness, but a seriousness about this.

Why do I say it is serious?
Because God was making the Corinthians sick and killing some of them for their lack of reverence.

• Your MOTIVE matters.
• Your SINCERITY matters.
• Your BROTHERLY LOVE matters.
• Your FAITHFULNESS matters.
• Your FOCUS matters.

When we gather here to partake
We are here to commune with Jesus, to declare our need for Him,
To honor what He sought to accomplish with His sacrifice,
And to proclaim the glory of what He did.

IT IS A SACRED TIME.
• DON’T arrogantly partake while living in sin.
• DON’T hypocritically partake while holding idols.
• DON’T lightly partake while focusing on yourself.

What Jesus did, He did for you, but we do it in remembrance of Him.

Isaiah 53 “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. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

So now we’ll have a time of preparation and then we’ll partake of the table of the Lord.

LORD’S SUPPER

Colossians 1:19-20
“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”

Give bread to deacons
Deacon prayer
Deacons pass out bread

1 Corinthians 11:23-24
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

Take bread

Colossians 2:13-14
“When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

Give juice to deacons
Deacon prayer
Deacons pass out juice

1 Corinthians 11:25-26
“In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

Take juice

Parting hymn

 

Download Here

Transparent Worship – Part 3
Psalms 139 (13-18)
September 25, 2022pm

This evening we continue our study of Psalms 139.
It is a Psalm that really asks us
To contemplate the transcendent glory of God.

Tonight I want to start with a question for you.
I want to start with an idea for you to ponder.

WHY IS GOD’S WORD IMPORTANT TO YOU?

I want to start there.
WHY IS GOD’S WORD IMPORTANT TO YOU?

In verse 17 David is going to make a wonderful statement regarding his love for God’s word.
“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!”

• Clearly God’s word was important to David.
• Clearly He loved what God had to say on any subject.
• Clearly He wanted to know God’s take on everything.

SO WHY IS GOD’S WORD IMPORTANT TO YOU?

As you ponder that we’ll recap a little
Because it is always important to get back into the flow of a text.

So we have called this Psalms “Transparent Worship”
Namely because David has come to a full realization
That his worship is transparent before God.

God sees all, God knows all.
There is no fooling Him in worship.
• Ananias and Sapphira could fool everyone in the church regarding their giving, but they couldn’t fool the Holy Spirit.

GOD KNOWS.
And David has begun this Psalm by meditating upon that reality.

We have decided to break this Psalm down into 3 main points.
Thus far we have only looked at point 1.

And tonight we should conclude it.

#1 THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE TRANSCENDENCE OF GOD
Psalms 139:1-18

We have also decided to break these 18 verses down a little more
As David discusses this transcendence of God.

1) HIS OMNISCIENCE (1-6)

God is All-Knowing

And David contemplated what that meant as it regards to his life.
God knows everything about David.

• “when I sit down and when I rise up”
• “my thought from afar”
• “my path and my lying down”
• “all my ways”
• “a word on my tongue”

God knows it all.
There are no secrets from God.

And this is lofty knowledge that is beyond our full comprehension.

And we discussed some of the implications of that truth.
1. Sinners should know their sin is not in secret.
2. The righteous should know God rewards even their secret obedience.
3. In times of trouble, God knows everything about it.
4. Regarding sanctification, God knows what we need.

HE IS OMNISCIENT.

And when you worship, bear in mind that
YOU ARE WORSHIPING THE ALL-KNOWING GOD.

Don’t try to fool Him.
Be real with Him.
There is no place for hypocrisy.

GOD KNOWS.

Then Last Week
2) HIS OMNIPRESENCE (7-12)

The is the reality that God is “All-Present”

We noted how once David realized that God know everything about him
That the FIRST INSTINCT of David was to HIDE.

But David was confronted with another truth.
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?”

• To the highest heights – He is there.
• To the lowest depths – He is there.
• To the far east – He is there.
• To the far west – He is there.
• To the remotest area – He is there.
• Into the darkness – He is there.

There is no escaping God’s presence.
Even in hell men are judged in the presence of God.

They do not enjoy His compassion or mercy,
But they are judged in His presence.

And we discussed implications of this as well.

1. Sinners should know they will not avoid God’s judgment. He knows right where they are.
2. This is also true for sinning believers like Jonah who could not flee the presence of God.
3. God is also a very present help in trouble.
4. God is also available to save when sinners call.

We are worshiping an All-Present God.
He knows whether our worship is true
He is here to witness it Himself.

These are the FIRST TWO realities of God’s transcendence that David recognizes.

Tonight let’s move to the 3rd aspect of God’s transcendence that David sees.
3) HIS ORDINATION OF ALL THINGS (13-18)

The point here is that God is sovereign and God is wise.
He is in sovereign control of ALL THINGS.

And just in a simple sense THINK ON THAT for a moment.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Romans 11:36 “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

• Paul told the Ephesians that God “works all things after the counsel of His will” (1:11)
• Paul told the Corinthians that God “works all things in all persons.” (12:6)
• Paul told the Colossians that in Jesus “all things hold together.” (1:17)
• The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus “upholds all things by the word of His power.” (1:3)

So you understand this point in a simple sense.
That God is sovereign over all things.
• He works all things
• He holds all things together
• All things are for Him
• He forces all things for good

GOD ORDAINS ALL THINGS.

But just as David did with God’s omniscience and omnipresence
He examines God’s sovereignty from a personal position.
Let’s follow David’s thinking in this Psalm.
• David JUST STATED that God knows everything about him.
• David JUST STATED that it is impossible for him to exit God’s presence.

God seems to be EXTREMELY INTERESTED in David.
• He “scrutinizes”
• He “knows”
• He is “intimately acquainted”

And when we get to verse 13
WE FIND OUT WHY God is so preoccupied with David
(and why He is so preoccupied with us).

Notice verse 13.
“For…”

Don’t skip that word.
It is a word that tells us that this verse is the explanation
As to WHY God has taken such an interest in his life.

“For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.”

Very simply put, God had such interest in David
Because God created David.
GOD MADE HIM.

We see words like “formed” and “wove”.
• David is the product of a design.
• David is the creation of God.

Of course in our day and age
We are aware that this creating took place “in my mother’s womb” which is all the evidence we need regarding the evil of ABORTION.

It is astounding that men can be so fiercely protective of the environment as that which God made and even so fiercely protective of animals as God’s creatures
And yet so nonchalant about abortion.

Biblically speaking there is no way to view an unborn child
As anything other than a human created in the image of God.
And therefore there is no other way to view abortion than as murder.

I also love the reality that God “formed my inward parts”

There is mystery here as well.
• A doctor might be even more equipped to worship at this point,
• But it is remarkable all the things that we don’t even know about our own bodies.

Science has studied the human body and made astounding discoveries.
• They can tell you what the kidneys do and how the liver functions, and the purpose of the pancreas, etc.
• Someday, maybe in heaven, God will reveal the purpose of the appendix which modern medicine has no explanation for.

But what amazing wisdom to know that God caused
Even the internal functions of our body to work so amazingly.

But THE POINT is that David is the creation of God.

For the first time we see David’s present attitude.
verse 14 “I will give thanks to You”

DAVID IS GRATEFUL.
• God’s scrutiny of his life is NOT about God being some overbearing judge.
• Rather, it is God loving the one He has created.

David says, “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”

That is to say,
• “I’m not an accident”
• “I’m not a mistake”

We have so many people in our world
Who suffer from a misunderstanding of this reality.

I think of
• People who maybe were given up for adoption.
• Or people who are deemed accidental
• Or like the infamous “throw away baby” in China.

Imagine living with such a stigma.
Like you were some sort of mistake or accident
And you are of such little value that you were discarded at birth.

But David knows the truth.
The truth is that we were “fearfully and wonderfully made”

It means to be “meticulously made” and to be “made distinct”.

When you were created by God it was not haphazard.
You weren’t thrown together.

Every single human is put together with precision
And with the mark of a 100% authentic original.

• There is not another like you anywhere on earth.
• There has never been another like you anywhere in history.
• There will never be another like you at any point in the future.

David knows he is “wonderfully made”
Because he knows “Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”

God doesn’t make junk.

People today struggle with who they are.
Some of these struggles are seemingly insignificant, like:
• Why am I short?
• Why am I tall?
• Why am I skinny?
• Why am I husky?

Some have gotten even more confused of late as they ponder
Why they are male or female or even their sexuality, etc.

But the answer is that you were not a mistake.
You are the way you are because you were METICULOUSLY DESIGNED.

Now SOME RESENT this because they compare themselves to other people and wish they were more like so and so.

And so the hear a truth like this and think that
God must have played some cruel trick on them.

You even hear people get depressed as if to say,
• “Why didn’t God make me more like so and so?”
• “I could be so much more effective if I was like that person.”

That is to assume that God made a mistake in making you.
That God wasn’t paying attention while you were in the womb.

That reveals a sinful preoccupation with worldly acceptance.

It reveals a person who has given too little thought
To God’s purposes in making you the way He made you,
And for what purpose.

Think about inanimate objects.
Which object has more glory?
• A diamond or a lump of coal?
• You’d say a diamond.

Which object has more value?
• A diamond or a lump of coal?
• You’d say a diamond.

But the answer to that question depends on how cold you are.

Everything has value and purpose
When you understand the reason for why it was created.

David is now understanding that.

(15) “My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;”

• Again we see words like “skillfully”
• Again we understand God at work in the formation and making of David.

(16) “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”

• That God has determined when you would live.
• And God has determined how long you will live.
• God has set your time boundary on this planet.

It has been determined by His ordination of all things.
Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”

God is the One who created David.
God is the One who created you.

This is David’s understanding as to why God is focused on him.

• Why would God watch when I sit and when I rise?
• Why would God scrutinize my path?
• Why would God read my thoughts from afar?
• Why would God not let me out of His presence?

And the answer:
BECAUSE YOU ARE HIS CREATION
He made you and He made you for His purposes.

All of a sudden DAVID COMES TO A VERY IMPORTANT REALIZATION.
He is not in charge!
He doesn’t make the plan!
He’s not here to master his own fate!

When a man tries to forge his own way according to his own will
He is agitated at God
• Who “made me like this”
• Who continually scrutinizes his path
• Who questions his motives.

When a man tries to forge his own way
He seeks to hide from God
• Who can call him into judgment.
• Who can find him no matter where he goes.

But when man realizes that he has been designed by the God of heaven
And that he has been designed for a specific purpose

That man then finds great fulfillment
In seeking the Creator to learn that purpose.

If you read one more verse from that passage in Acts.
Acts 17:26-27 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;”

You weren’t created to blaze your own trail.
You weren’t created to look inward,
• Figure out which gender you want to be,
• Determine your own path,
• And walk it at all cost.

Do we not learn from that arrogant man James spoke of?
James 4:13-16 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”

That man who makes his own plans according to his own will
With no thought of the One who created him is a sinful fool.

And David has learned that.
He was created.
He is intentional.
The direction of his life has been ordained by his Creator.

WHICH MEANS DAVID’S CHIEF OBJECTIVE
Is not to look inward to what he wants,
But to look upward to what God wants.

NOW READ verses 17-18
“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.”

I asked you at the beginning:
“Why is God’s word important to you?”

You may have said something like,
• “Because it’s true”
• “Because it’s God’s word”
• “Because it tells me about Jesus”

And all of those things are true and good reasons.

Do you want to hear David’s answer?
BECAUSE IT TELLS ME WHO I AM AND WHY I AM HERE.

God’s word gives David purpose and direction.

And now David turns to his Sovereign Creator and asks:
WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE FOR ME?

“How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”

David speaks of the value of knowing God’s plan for his life.
• I don’t want to know why I think I’m here.
• I don’t want to know why the world says I’m here.
• I want to know why You say I’m here.

And what a difference this makes in a life.

• Saul thought his purpose was to become a super Jew until God revealed that he would be a messenger of Jesus to the Gentiles and we’d all call him Paul.

• Esther may have thought herself to be a boring Jewish girl in a pagan land until she learned that she was created for such a time is this.

• The man born blind must have wondered many times what God was thinking by allowing him to be born blind.

John 9:1-3 “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

We read of JEREMIAH and JOHN THE BAPTIST
As men set apart from their mother’s womb.

But listen to me: SO WERE YOU!

You were meticulously designed and designed for a purpose.
It is a purpose which God ordained for you before you were born.

You say, “What is it?”
• I have no clue specifically.
• I don’t know what all God has in store for me specifically.

But in general?

What is the chief end of man?
• “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”

That man “would seek Him…though He is not far from each one of us.”

AND THAT IS WHAT YOU HAVE DAVID DOING HERE.
He is seeking the God who created him
That he might find his true purpose.

Now, let’s one more time follow some of the IMPLICATIONS of this reality.

We already mentioned a very important one.
You need to know: YOU ARE NOT A MISTAKE
THERE IS A DIVINE PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE.

Even if you are like the man born blind who was blind for the glory of God.
Even if you have a past of rebellion like Saul.

God redeemed His life and made it of great purpose.
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.”

So what is your big infirmity?
• You’re too short to be important?
• You’re too fat to be important?
• You’re too shy to be important?
• You’re too blind to be important?
• You’re past is too checkered to be useful?

All of those things may be true
If we’re talking about you fulfilling YOUR plans and dreams.

• There has been many a person in this world too short to fulfill their dreams.
• There has been many a person in this world too shy to fulfill their plans.
• There has been many a person too handicapped to accomplish their goals.

BUT NOT GOD’S.
Quit seeking your plans and seek out your Creator.

There is a divine purpose for your life.

But we should also speak of THOSE WHO REJECT THAT PURPOSE.

Let’s again talk about what this means for sinners.
• Those who refuse to seek God.
• Those who refuse to acknowledge or honor their Creator.

These people aren’t just sinning, they are in direct rebellion.

Consider what Paul says about sinners under God’s wrath in Romans 1.

TURN TO: ROMANS 1:18
I know this is familiar, but we learn something every time we look at the Scriptures.

We see now this picture of the sinner, who is under God’s wrath,
And we see his direct rebellion against God.

He’s not just accidentally offending God,
He is intentionally rebelling against Him.

(18-23)
• These are people who know better but rebel anyway.
• They intentionally suppress the truth.
• They don’t want to know what God wants of them.

They are dead set on being the masters of their own destiny
And they are determined to walk in their own path.
And they rebel against the One who created them.

Now, what do you see God doing with these rebels in Romans 1?
“God, gave them over”
(24, 26, 28)

• They did not want to know the will of their Creator.
• His thoughts were not precious to them.
• They wanted to walk their own path,

AND WHAT DID GOD DO?
He allowed it.

So did they thwart the sovereign plan of God?
• Did they break His sovereign control?
• Did they succeed in breaking free and now control their own destiny?

TURN TO: ROMANS 9:17-24

Here we see Pharaoh, another man who rebelled against God.
• Over and over God called Pharaoh to repentance
• Pharaoh hardened his heart.
• He insisted on his own path.

So did God just turn him loose?

Nope. God let him live a while longer and preserved him
Until the day that He would crush Pharaoh for His glory.

Pharaoh was a vessel of wrath,
Just like those in Romans 1 whom God gave over to their sin.

And he was “preserved as a sinner” until God chose to use Him to demonstrate His love to His vessels of mercy, by crushing Him.

WHAT IS THE POINT?
There is no escaping God’s purpose in your life.

But far better to seek God and learn His purpose
Than to rebel against God and be used in judgment.

When men deny God’s will they are “given over” to corrupting purposes,
But they are still used for His glory.

You were created by God for a purpose
And it is a foolish thing to rebel against that purpose.

But that’s not all we learn from the fact that God ordains all things.

Since God ordains all things, that also means that:
THIS WORLD MAKES SENSE TO HIM

It doesn’t always make sense to us.
• It’s hard for us to see why our culture runs the way it runs
• Or why we are stuck with the leaders we are stuck with.
• It’s hard for us to understand all mysteries of life,

But it’s not hard for God.
He ordained it.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

I was asked this week by someone about
Submitting to the governing authorities.

This is an increasingly hot topic these days, and I’ll be honest,
I’m not sure all of the answers given
Are as biblically sound as we might think.

I certainly agree with the stance that no government ever has the right to command the church to disobey God’s word.
• We’re not going to stop praying.
• We’re not going to stop preaching the gospel.
• We’re not going to stop assembling together.

The government has no jurisdiction here, not like that.

But I’m hearing a trend that troubles me a little
And that is this notion that if we determine that the governing authorities have somehow failed in their calling, that because of their failure they are “illegitimate authority” so we are then given the right to rebel or reject.

You know, if they don’t do their job as outlined by Scripture they are “illegitimate” so we are no longer commanded to submit to them.

You won’t find that clause anywhere in Scripture.
• Nor will you find the clause that says wives don’t have to submit to an unbelieving husband.
• Nor will you find the clause that says husbands don’t have to love a quarrelsome wife.
• Nor will you find the clause that says fathers don’t have to train rebellious children.
• Nor will you find the clause that says children don’t have to obey ignorant parents.

In fact, when Paul and Peter wrote those passages about submitting to the governing authorities and honoring the king, the ruler of the land was Nero and he was about as corrupt as they come.

Well what about those Hebrew boys and the golden statue?
What about Daniel and the command not to pray?

They were right not to obey those commands,
But they still walked in submission and honor.

They submitted to the consequences.
They didn’t try to subvert the authority.
They didn’t try to lead a revolt.

WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT?

Listen, when you can walk in submission
To the governing authorities even in their foolishness
It is a clear evidence of your faith that God is sovereign over it all.

We believe that while the world is a tangled mess of unredeemable evil,
IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE TO GOD.

• He is sovereign.
• He ordained the rulers of the world.
• He placed you here at this time for His purposes.

Now is not the time
To seek our own hearts to determine what our purpose is in all of this.

Now is the time
To seek the Author of our lives to find His purpose in this.

The fact that God ordains all things
Is a great comfort to us in wicked times.

I would also point out to you that YOUR LIFE IS LIMITED BY DESIGN

This life that you live on this rock was not intended to last forever.
• You weren’t even given a body here that could last forever.
• You were given a body that can’t even enter heaven.

You are here for a limited time.
• You are on a mission trip.
• You are on a tour of duty.

As one missionary agency said a few years ago,
“You have one life, do something.”

Do we really suppose
• That God created us and placed us here for no specific purpose whatsoever?
• That your God-ordained destiny is a blank sheet of paper?

No, God has placed you here by His design and for His purposes,
For the short time He has allotted.

So are God’s thoughts precious to you?
Or are you still consumed with your own thoughts?

• Go back to Ecclesiastes and make the most of your time.
• Number your days and realize you are here for a reason.

These are the things David has grasped.
• He is worshiping the God who knows everything about him.
• He is worshiping the God whose presence he cannot escape.
• He is worshiping the God who created him and has a definite plan for his life.

AND SO ARE YOU.
Consider this as you worship Him.