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Psalm 1 comments
Psalms will provide us with several points of Biblical
interpretation. There will be a direct interpretation based on the specific
historical context and meaning of the writer. There will be a prophetic
interpretation based on future events in history. There will be a personal
interpretation where the reader will draw wisdom for themselves and their own
time from the text of the Scripture. I will try to suggest all three.
Psalms, chapter 1 (We
don’t know who wrote Psalm 1. Perhaps it was King David, who wrote many of
them.)
Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that
walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the
law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf
also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so:
but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not
stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the
righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Here, David, if I’m correct in my presumption of his
authorship makes some important points regarding his own walk with God. This
Psalm is in keeping with many other comments by David and others in the Psalms
which you and I will see later on. Here are some cross-references.
Psalm 17:4 As
for the deeds of men--by the word of Your lips I have avoided the ways of the
violent.
Psalm 26:4 I have not sat with vain persons,
neither will I go in with dissemblers. 5 I have hated the congregation of
evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.
And from Solomon;
Proverbs 1:7 ¶
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8 My
son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9 For
they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about
thy neck.
10 ¶
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 11 If
they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the
innocent without cause: 12 Let
us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into
the pit: 13 We
shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 14 Cast
in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: 15 My
son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 16 For
their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 17 Surely
in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 18 And
they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for
their own lives. 19 So are the
ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life
of the owners thereof.
Verse 2 in this passage has some great
cross-references. Just some examples should do here to get the frame of mind that
David (see the heading of Psalm 110) has regarding God’s words and
commandments.
Psalm 119:14 I
have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all
riches. 15 I
will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. 16 I
will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
Verse 3 is a simile which uses like or as to link one
thing to something else that we don’t usually associate with each other. They
are not synonymous or meaning the same but a parallel is being drawn between
them See Psalm 92, a prayer of Moses as per Psalm 90, a Psalm or Song for
the Sabbath Day, my Cambridge Bible says at its heading.
Psalm 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like the
palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 Those that be planted in the house
of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bring forth fruit
in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; 15 To shew that the
LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in him.
The ungodly in verse 4 are destined to destruction. A
similar thought is offered by David in other Psalms. For example;
Psalm 37:38 But
the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be
cut off.
Verse 5 might be a reference to eternity, to heaven,
in that it appears to be constructed as a statement that these wicked people
that are like the wind-driven chaff will not stand in the congregation of
the righteous in the time of judgment. See confirmation in the
following;
Who could the congregation of the righteous be, if
that is a correct interpretation of the verse, but the spirits of just men and
women made perfect by God?
Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of
the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to
the spirits of just men made perfect,
Verse 6 recalls many similar thoughts but one example
can suffice for David.
Let’s now review this Psalm and consider its prophetic
value. When someone is blessed by God this does not necessarily mean they have
a pleasant outcome in life but it often does. It does mean they are happy in
the Lord and in the Lord’s will, and that they are approved by God.
Genesis 30:13
And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she
called his name Asher.
Matthew 5:5
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
The righteous will not follow the counsel of the wicked,
stand with them, or sit with them in judgment. This teaches a separation of the
Godly Christian from the carnal Christian and the world that latter Christian
compromises with and the wicked people around him.
The righteous take delight in God’s Law and in His
standards. Notice what is said in Revelation.
Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here
are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do
his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may
enter in through the gates into the city.
Compare verse 3 to the verse just mentioned in
Revelation 22:14. Note the greater context in comparison.
Revelation 22:1 And he shewed me a pure
river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God
and of the Lamb. 2 In
the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was
there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner
of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of
the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And
there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in
it; and his servants shall serve him: 4 And
they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their
foreheads. 5 And
there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the
sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and
ever.
6 And
he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord
God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things
which must shortly be done.
7 Behold,
I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the
prophecy of this book.
8 And
I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I
fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these
things. 9 Then
saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and
of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book:
worship God.
10 And
he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the
time is at hand. 11 He
that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be
filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that
is holy, let him be holy still.
12 And,
behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man
according as his work shall be. 13 I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
14 Blessed are they
that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may
enter in through the gates into the city.
Pay attention also to chapter 20 of Revelation.
Revelation 20: 11 And
I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth
and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened:
and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead
were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to
their works. 13 And
the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the
dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their
works. 14 And
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire.
From a prophetic standpoint look at God’s
foreknowledge in verse 6 and in the condemnation of the wicked at the Great
White Throne.
Now, let’s apply it directly to us. A man is blessed
who does not follow the advice of the worldly, nor follow in their way, nor sit
in judgment with them. We are told not to have church fellowship with the
wicked.
1Corinthians 5:9 ¶ I wrote
unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of
this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or
with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
11 But now I have written unto you not
to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or
covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with
such an one no not to eat. 12 For what
have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are
within? 13 But them that are without God
judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
Indeed we are even told not to unite with them in agreement for
any reason.
2Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness?
For the ways of the world and the ungodly are not the ways of God.
1John 2:15 Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. 16 For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Monday, October 11, 2021
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Saturday, October 9, 2021
Friday, October 8, 2021
Thursday, October 7, 2021
I Will Never Leave You Nor Forsake You - Sermon Notes - given at Lake Marburg Baptist Church on 10.3.2021
Let me read a quote to
you from a newspaper comment;
“No sane man, be he
Democrat or Republican, who is at all informed as to the election in 2020,
believes for a moment that Biden was elected.”
I bet that got a few of
you to perk up your ears. I want to remind you of something Solomon wrote;
Ecclesiastes 1:9
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is
that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
You see, that newspaper
quote should have had, instead of 2020, 1876, and instead of Biden, Tilden. The
“stolen election” of 1876 is what it was talking about. It is a quote from the
June 18, 1884 New York Times. On the other side there were cartoons in 1876
that said “Tilden or Blood” and tried to instigate a thousands of man “march on
Washington” to install the Democrat Tilden instead of the Republican Hayes who
they claimed the election was stolen for. You see how this political stuff
tends to repeat itself and, in spite of all of your hand-wringing and anger, it
will again. I’m not saying that something isn’t bad and you shouldn’t fight for
election integrity and your right to vote and have your vote counted, only that
it has happened before, a number of times.
You see, many of you
have this false impression about the past, this glorified idealism that people
were holier, more righteous, more Christian, and just better people than they
are today. But Solomon also wrote;
Ecclesiastes
7:10 Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire
wisely concerning this.
Someone asked in the
Baltimore riots over Freddie Gray in 2015 how such a thing could happen, such
lawlessness and disregard for private property and people? I ask what about the
Doctor’s Riot of 1807, The 1812 Baltimore Riots, the Baltimore Bank Riot of
1835, the Know-Nothing Riot of 1856, the Baltimore Election Riots of 1856, 57,
and 59, the Baltimore Railroad Strike of 1877, the Baltimore Riot of 1919 part
of Red Summer, and the riots in 1968 after Martin Luther Kings’ murder? Is
today somehow different? What is that difference? Americans love to protest and
have often done so violently with destruction of property and loss of life.
Man’s sin nature drives
him and her to do all sorts of violent things and always has. But, we glorify
the era during which we think things were just peachy and righteous. That
time never existed. One of my favorite scholarly books on the history of
the American family is entitled The Way We Never Were. The era where Mom
stayed home and cleaned and cooked and Dad went to an office or factory and the
family consisted of Dad, Mom, and children without other relatives, servants,
or farm workers living in the same unit was only in a small short time of history.
You are concerned that everything is falling apart. So were the people in the
era when Dad left the farm to go to work for wages in a factory or office and
so were the people in the era when Social Security came into being and
grandparents were shuffled off to a nursing home to live and die apart from the
family. You should read some of the sermons from those days.
You worry, You fret. Sometimes
you feel helpless. The world events and particularly events in this country are
swirling around you like a whirlpool threatening to drag you in so you think or
maybe you are just angry and want to lash out. You feel weak and perhaps alone
as no one is as angry as you are, it appears.
But, where is your
faith? Remember what Jesus said to Paul when Paul asked to be relieved of his
physical problems, possibly near blindness as a result of his encounter with
the Risen Saviour on the road to Damascus.
2Corinthians 12:7 And
lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the
revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan
to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For
this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And
he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:
for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me. 10 Therefore
I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
And again;
Hebrews 13:5 Let
your conversation be without covetousness; and
be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So
that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear
what man shall do unto me.
It is understandable that you are concerned, even afraid
or anxious, over the events you read about every day, several times a day, that
your ancestors sometimes only vaguely knew about sometimes long after the fact
as they did not have the internet or TV and radio.
But Paul has said;
2Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power,
and of love, and of a sound mind.
And you have more personal concerns. I think of the
women who have had the heartbreak of a miscarriage. They even named the baby
who never saw the light of day. It crushed them to lose the child and even if
they had other children after there is a part of their heart that is always
reserved for the little one that passed away, that God took home to be with Him
for reasons we just don’t understand now.
The Bible is the revelation of God’s ministry of
reconciling mankind to Himself. There is a scene in 1Kings chapter 14 that
strikes a sad chord.
The wife of the evil Jeroboam brought her sick child
to a prophet of God. She even disguised herself so as not to influence what he
would say for the bad. She wanted her baby to live, did she not? But, it was
not God’s will.
1Kings 14:17 And
Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she
came to the threshold of the door, the child died; 18 And
they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the
LORD, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.
Some women have wanted so badly to have their own
child but could not. The Bible suggests that this is also God’s will.
Jacob makes the angry declaration that God had
withheld pregnancy from Rachel. In fact, we know from reading the Book of Job
that God is control of all things like this from conception to miscarriages, to
a happy birth as in the case of Hannah.
1Samuel 1:27 For this child I prayed; and the LORD
hath given me my petition which I asked of him:
God has permitted us and even blessed us with all
sorts of medical enlightenment, tools to assist in these things. We work very
hard to make new life possible inasmuch as we may have our part in the matter
under God’s either perfect or His permissive will. It is not wrong to use
medical technology to have a child as much of the time God does use human
endeavor to accomplish a purpose.
In other words, the song, “Praise the Lord and Pass
the Ammunition,” the big hit song not long after Pearl Harbor based on Pastor
Forgy’s statement on the USS New Orleans during the attack, was not a sign of a
lack of faith. It simply shows that God is going to do something through you
but you must act. So, helping a woman have a child is within God’s will.
In all of these worries and concerns we must remember;
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness.
And;
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Again, we have to face life as it is dealt to us and
do what we can to ameliorate our suffering. All of God’s people will eventually
die if He does not call us out as the Church before our time comes. Even great
men of God doing God’s will almost flawlessly had to face sickness and death.
2Kings 13:14a Now Elisha was
fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of
Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face…
They had to face the pain of old age as the
aforementioned prophet, Ahijah.
1Kings 14:4 And Jeroboam's wife did so,
and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah.
But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
And truthfully, whether you are old or young the time
of your departure is near.
John 7:6 Then Jesus said unto
them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.
Job 7:1 Is there not an appointed time to
man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
Your time is always near. But, we have this promise.
John 10:28 And
I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
But always remember while you are here;
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness.
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Some of us when we were young had to face tough
realities that affected us more profoundly than others, even in our own
families. I spent most of the first thirteen years of my life in Somerset
County, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. It was an idyllic time for me,
wandering the Manokin River bank and the woods of our farm with my Belgian
Shepherd named Rinnie for Rin Tin Tin, the TV hero dog. It was perfect except
for one or two things. My parents were godlike to me. Everything they said was
as it were from Mount Sinai. I thought of them as infallible. But, they argued
constantly and seemed to hate each other. One day listening to one of their
arguments I realized to my great disappointment that that they were just
people. That disappointment became an abiding anger, a rage, and rebellion.
But my little brother had it much worse. He was abused
by a cousin from Baltimore who often came down to stay at our grandparents’
farm. I’m not talking about just bullying either so just leave it there. You
can imagine. The abuse was crushing and unfair but the culture in which we
lived didn’t talk about such abuse. His telling my parents what had happened
did nothing. Humiliation, embarrassment, and family dynamics prevented them
from doing much of anything and that was often the way it was back then. You
just didn’t talk too much about things like that.
God was merciful to my brother. He received Christ as
His Saviour and told me recently that he had put it all “under the blood”. I
don’t know how true that is but I do know he does not want it to be a factor in
his life fifty years later.
Psalm 27:10
When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.
You see, when we are faced with things we did not
cause or ask for, terrible things, things that no one seems to understand or
take seriously that grieve our souls we have this;
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness.
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
In the Bible we see all sorts of examples of the
problems which we deal with in type in our lives. There is Adam’s rebellion
against God at his wife’s encouragement. There is the jealousy of Cain over
God’s acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice. There is Abram having to leave everything
he knew in a cosmopolitan city to a place he did not know hundreds of miles
away. There is the maltreatment of Joseph by his brothers, sickness, despair,
starvation, war, and misery all through the Old Testament. There is persecution
of those who trust Christ as their Saviour in the New Testament. And there are
many, many other situations that we can find some similarity to our own
circumstances in.
Let’s forget politics for a moment. Just bear with me
on this. I read a story about a young woman who tells her tale of human
trafficking across the United States and Mexico. Flor Turcio, from the age of 9
spent over two decades being abused then trafficked, escaping, and nearly being
killed. But all through it she knew that God was with her and survived her
ordeal relying on just that fact.
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness.
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
https://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/story/human-trafficking-survivor-shares-her-story/
There was a country song once, The Little Girl, by
John Michael Montgomery. The lyrics went like this;
Her parents never took the young girl to church.
Never spoke of his name never read her his word.
Two non believers walking lost in this world
took their baby with them what a sad little girl.....
Her daddy drank all day and mommy did drugs.
never wanted to play or give kisses & hugs.
She'd watched the tv and sit there on the couch
while her mom feel asleep and her daddy went out
And the drinking and the fighting
just got worse every nite.
Behind their couch she'd be hiding
oh what a sad little life..
And like it always does the bad just got worse.
with every slap and every curse
Until her daddy in a drunk rage one nite
Used a gun on her mom and then took his life
And some ppl from the city took the girl far away
To a new Mom and a new Dad
Kisses & Hugs every day!
Her first day at Sunday school
The teacher walked in
and a small little girl stared at a picture of him....
She said I know that man
there on that cross I don't know his name
but i know hes got arms
cause he was there in my old house
held me close to his side....
as i hid there behind our couch the nite my parents died......”
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/john-michael-montgomery/the-little-girl.html
I know that the story is probably fiction although we
can imagine it taking place in reality thousands of times with children not
seeing or feeling who was protecting them and many, many more children not
being delivered from that horrible situation. But it teaches us an important
concept, reminds us of an important thing to understand and accept.
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness.
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Richard Wurmbrand aka Nicolai Ionescu, was a Roman
Evangelical Lutheran priest in Romania. A descendant of Jews, he rescued Jews
during WW2. But the communist, atheist government of Romania after the war imprisoned
him and tortured him for fourteen years until he was ransomed for $10,000 in
1964. He authored the book Tortured for Christ.
According to an
internet source, Wurmbrand was released from his first imprisonment in 1956,
after eight and a half years. Although he was warned not to preach, he resumed
his work in the underground church. He was arrested again in 1959 and sentenced
to 25 years. During his imprisonment, he was beaten and tortured. Physical
torture included mutilation, burning and being locked in a large frozen icebox.
His body bore the scars of physical torture for the rest of his life. For
example, he later recounted having the soles of his feet beaten until the flesh
was torn off, then the next day beaten again to the bone, claiming there were
not words to describe that pain.
He knew what Paul knew,
don’t you think? Do you know what sustained him in such agonizing conditions?
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness.
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Now, back to politics. We have a duty as a Americans.
It is not only a duty to the Constitution that has lasted longer than any other
country’s founding document as being in force. It is a duty to our children,
grandchildren, and great grandchildren to resist the evil, corrupt tide of
Marxist-Leninism wherever it raises its ugly head. Marxism has been a factor in
our culture here since at least the depression of 1873, a depression that would
end Reconstruction’s efforts at racial equality and justice, and last until the
end of the century. Marxism is the operating principle behind many movements in
this country for the last hundred and fifty years. We must fight this
incredibly vile political process tooth and nail.
These are things we must do. We must vote and we must
resist, as Americans, to try to stop the leftist’s desire for us to slide into being
Venezuela.
But, we must understand one of the foundations of our
faith.
1John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that
is in the world.
While you are reading the news and laying awake at
night and shouting at the television when you watch TV. While you are
supporting a candidate or candidates. While you are thinking of what you
personally can do to make things better, not go back to some fictional olden
days when things were perfect, a time that never existed, or at least hasn’t
since before Adam and Eve’s fall, please also remember this. Keep it in your
mind. Write it over your door if you need to. When you lay awake in the wee
hours of the morning let it run through your head over and over.
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness.
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
When the doctor gives you bad news. When your body
fails you. When you just wish you could feel good again one more time. When you
aren’t sure if you can even get out of bed and maybe don’t even have the will
to do so. When life appears to be fleeing away and there seems to be no end to
the pain, the uncertainty, the regrets, the doubts, the anguish, the
gut-wrenching helplessness and sorrow keep this in mind. Put it on your
nightstand or over your bed. Let it sustain you through the darkness.
My grace is sufficient
for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
When you are praying for your children. When you are
worried for their health, their safety, or praying for a change of heart to
turn them back to Christ or simply to Christ in the first place. When every
late night phone call frightens you. When you see disaster in their future and
helplessly watch their lives unfold in slow motion like a car crash that you
have no ability to stop. When someone you love dearly is suffering and their
pain fills your heart and mind. And maybe when loss or grief or just experiencing
the missing of someone like Jonathan missed David.
1Samuel 20:18 Then Jonathan said to David,
To morrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will
be empty.
Make yourself remember. Make yourself be aware. Christ is with you. You might feel defeated
but He can never be.
My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.