(Through the Bible) Psalms 1-15

Shall we turn to the Psalms and beginning tonight with the first Psalm. The Psalms are actually divided into five books. It was really the hymn book for the nation of Israel.

They were sung in their original forms. In the Psalms there is much prophecy because we are told by Peter that David was a prophet and that he spake by the Holy Spirit and much of what he spake was prophecy in regards to the coming Messiah and did have its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. There are many Psalms that are known as Messianic Psalms, that is, Psalms that refer directly to Jesus Christ.

We'll get one of those tonight as we get into second Psalm. Each of the five books of the Psalms end in a doxology. The first of the books is from Psalm 1 to 41.

The second is 42 to 72. The third is 73 to 89. The fourth is 90 to 106.

And the fifth book of the Psalms is 107 to 150. The majority of them were written by David. Asaph was an author of some of them.

Moses wrote some of them. But they were the songs of the children of Israel. They speak of human nature, of man's cry after God, of man seeking to relate to God, and they cover all of the gamuts of man's feelings.

They are poetry, but as we have pointed out, poetry to the Hebrew was not rhyming words or sentences, nor was it a rhythm, but it was a rhyming of ideas or a contrasting of ideas. Many of the Psalms are known as acrostic Psalms. We'll point them out to you when we get to them.

That is that each verse begins with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And we have several acrostic Psalms with Psalm 119 probably is the best example of an acrostic Psalm. However, you find that about eight verses begin.

Each verse within the eight begins with the letter of the Hebrew alphabet successively, so that the first seven, eight verses begin with Aleph, and then the next begin with Beth, and then Deleth, and Gemil, and so forth. And so you go through the Hebrew alphabet with the 119th Psalm, and it of course is the longest chapter in the Bible. The first Psalm deals with the godly man and the ungodly man.

There's a contrast, and the contrast perhaps is best expressed by the first and the last words of the Psalm concerning the godly blessed, concerning the ungodly perished. Blessed is the man. The word blessed in the Hebrew has as a meaning, oh how happy is the man.

First of all, we see this happy man in a negative context. That is, he is walking not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standing in the way of sinners, nor sitting in the seat of the scornful, and there does seem to be a progression here. A person begins quite often just walking in the counsel of the ungodly.

The next thing he finds, he's standing around in the congregation of the sinners, and finally he sort of just settled down and is seated in the seat of the scornful. That's the negative side. The blessed man doesn't do this, but contrary wise, his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate both day and night.

So from a negative standpoint, the happy man is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, but from a positive standpoint is being directed by the counsel of God. He's meditating in the law of the Lord day and night. Now the effect or the results of this, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth its fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. So we see, first of all, like a tree planted by the rivers of water in contrast to a tree that's growing out in a barren wilderness, bringing forth fruit in his season. An interesting thing about unseasonable fruit, it never matures.

It never becomes ripe. You may plant watermelon seeds in August when you eat your watermelons, and the vine might grow and watermelons might come on it, but it's unseasonable. It will never get ripe.

It will always be green. There are some people who never mature. That is, really bring forth mature fruit.

Jesus tells us that the seed planted on various types of soil result in various developments of fruition. Some planted by the wayside, immediately is plucked up. On the stony ground may grow for a moment, but will never bear fruit, never develop, because it lacks the depth.

That which is thrown among the thorns will grow, but the thorns will choke out the fruitfulness of it ultimately. The cares of this life, deceitfulness of riches, the desire for other things. It is only that which falls on the good ground that brings forth fruit.

In varying degrees, thirty, sixty, a hundred fold. Now Jesus said, herein is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruit. And then later on in that fifteenth chapter of John, he said, you have not chosen me, I have chosen you and ordained you that you should bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain.

And so as children of God, we should be interested in being fruitful, bringing forth fruit. And then we should also be interested in bringing forth fruit that remains or lasting fruit in our lives. So often the test of a ministry is the lasting fruit that is brought forth from that ministry.

So like a tree bringing forth fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither. That is, there is a freshness to his life, a continual freshness. And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Now, what is this man doing? He's meditating in the law of the Lord, day and night. God has given to us the rules of happiness. God has given to us the rules of prosperity.

They are there in his law. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Moses, when he turned the reins over to Joshua, said unto Joshua, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.

For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Meditate, stay in the word, the law of the Lord. Then thou shalt be prosperous, you'll have good success.

So much the same is declared here in Psalm 1. Now the contrast, and here's where the Hebrew poetry comes in, in contrasting ideas. The ungodly are not so, but they are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Now this is contrasted to the tree planted by the rivers of water bringing forth fruit in its season.

But the ungodly is like chaff which the wind driveth away. Now when they threshed their grain, of course when you gather in your barley or your wheat, it has the hull on it. And so they would pick it up in their hands and they would get in a place where there's a good stiff breeze.

They'd rub it in their hands and then throw it up in the air. And the wind would take the hulls, the chaff, and blow it away. And just the grain would fall back down.

And that was their form of removing the hulls from the grain after they had harvested. Just rubbing it in their hands and then throwing it up into the air and the wind. And so it was a very familiar sight to the people of a fellow standing on a windy ridge, rubbing his hands, throwing the grain in the air and watching the chaff just blow away and just the grain falling back down again.

And so the ungodly are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

The second psalm deals with the kingdom age. The glorious kingdom age when Jesus reigns upon the earth. A messianic psalm.

Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? For the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. His anointed there is his Messiah. The word Messiah is the anointed one.

So they've taken counsel together against Jehovah and against his Messiah, declaring, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. And so man, rebelling against God and against Jesus Christ, the heathen raging, a vain thing, that they can cast God off from their lives. But he that sits in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision.

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. So we are looking at God's judgment upon the Christ rejecting world. And in spite of their gathering together to try to thwart the return of Jesus Christ, yet God will establish his kingdom upon the earth.

God declares, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. And I will declare the decree and the Lord has said unto me. Now this is Jesus speaking the king who was on the holy hill or rather beg your pardon.

God is still speaking. Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee.

Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the other most parts of the earth for thy possession. Now verse eight is often taken out of context and it is used by many missionary societies as sort of a key verse for the missionary society. Ask of me and I'll give you the heathen for thine inheritance and the other most parts of the earth for thy possession.

But this is not really a missionary scripture. It has nothing to do with present day missions. This scripture has to do with the kingdom age.

As the father declares unto the son, thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance and the other most parts of the earth for thy possession is talking about that glorious day when our prayers are fulfilled and his kingdom has come and his will is being done in the earth, even as it is in heaven and his kingdom covers the entire earth.

And so it is the father speaking to the son, promising to him the kingdom ruling over the whole earth. And then God speaks of the nature of that kingdom. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron.

Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now Jesus in his message to the church of Thyatira picked up from this particular Psalm and he said, he that overcometh verse 26 of chapter two of revelation, he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end to him, will I give power over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And as the vessels of a potter, shall they be broken to shivers as I have received of my father.

And so Jesus actually quotes from this Psalm as regards to the nature of the kingdom age. Now, when Jesus comes again to the earth in his second coming, the purpose is to establish God's kingdom upon the earth that the fulfillment of all of the old Testament prophecies of the kingdom age might come to pass as righteousness will cover the earth as waters do cover the sea and he will reign in righteousness in truth and in judgment, but it will be an iron clad reign. During this period of time, Satan is to be bound and cast into the abuso, the bottomless pit.

So he will not be one that we will have to contend with in the kingdom age. All we'll have to contend with is that inherent evil that is in man. Now, when Jesus comes again, the first thing that will transpire is that he will gather together all of the nations for judgment and he will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he'll place those on his right hand and he'll say unto them, come ye blessed of the father, inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundations of the earth, for I was hungry and you fed me thirsty and you gave me to drink naked and you called me sick and you visited me.

And to those on the left, he will say, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity into everlasting judgment that was prepared for Satan and his angels. For I was hungry and you didn't feed me. I was thirsty.

You didn't give me to drink. I was naked. You didn't call me.

Well, Lord, when did we see you in these conditions? And he said, inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me, speaking of his brethren, the Jews. So the nations will actually be judged concerning their treatment of his brethren. Now, those who are placed on the right side will be allowed to go into the kingdom age.

Now, when Jesus comes again in his second coming, we will be coming with him. Only we will be in our glorified bodies. We will have gone through the metamorphosis that Paul speaks about in the, in first Corinthians chapter 15.

I show you a mystery. We're not going to all sleep, but we're all going to be changed. The metamorphosis in a moment in the twinkling of an eye for this corruption must put on incorruption.

This mortal must put on immortality. And so Paul said, when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. We'll be coming back with Jesus to live and reign with him for a thousand years during his millennial reign upon the earth in revelation chapter one, verse seven, as it is speaking of Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us and all.

And it speaks there and we shall reign with him as a kingdom of priest. And then in the fifth chapter of the book of revelation, as he takes this sealed scroll out of the right hand of him who is sitting upon the throne, the glorious song that is sung at that point by the church is worthy is the lamb to take the scroll and loose the seals. For he was slain and has redeemed us by his blood out of all nations, tribes, tongues, and peoples, and has made us under our God, a kingdom of priests.

And we shall reign with him upon the earth. So we're coming back to reign with Jesus upon the earth in his kingdom for a thousand years. That's one company, the church in their glorified bodies, but it will be possible.

And there will be some who will actually live through the great tribulation period. They'll survive it. And providing they have not worshiped the Antichrist, providing they have not taken his mark and providing their interest in God's people, they will be allowed to enter into the kingdom age in these bodies like we presently have.

In an earth that will be renewed and restored as was the garden of Eden, in that again there will be a restored longevity of life. For a child will die being a hundred, but yet those that is evil, but those that are righteous will fulfill their years. They won't die.

They will live during this entire period of time. The longevity will be restored. But our position with Christ at that time, Satan will be bound, that force will be bound, and so Christ will be ruling, but we will be the enforcers of righteousness.

As he said to the church of Thyatira, to those that are overcome, they will be with me and they will rule over the nations with a rod of iron and all. And so here speaks of the iron clad type of rule that Jesus will have. In other words, people will be forced to be good.

Person is evil gets popped like a clay pot, broken in shivers like a potter's vessel and it's hit with a piece of iron. It will be an iron clad rule. We won't have any sob sisters carrying signs in those days of leniency for the rapist.

There will be absolute righteous judgment exercised and people will be forced, that is those who live in. Now those who survive and live into the kingdom age, being in these bodies will actually be able to bear children and there probably will be quite a population explosion during this period of time as the earth will be restored to such ideal conditions. However, at that point, we in our glorified bodies will be as the angels who neither marry nor are given in marriage, but we will just be with Christ reigning and ruling with him during the kingdom age over those people who have survived the great tribulation, who have survived the judgment of Jesus.

And I do believe that that is what the 45 day thing is in Daniel, where he says, Daniel saying how long Lord to the end. And he said from the time that they cause the daily sacrifices and oblations to cease, it'll be 1290 days. But blessed is he who comes to the 1335 day, which the blessedness of it is that you've made it through the judgment period.

You can enter into the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ. During this thousand years, as we live upon a renewed earth under ideal conditions, it will be glorious. Annually, we'll be all taking a trip to Jerusalem to sit at the feet of Jesus and just to worship there together in a glorious annual holiday.

As the Kings of the earth, which will be the church come and sort of present themselves before the Lord in Jerusalem, bringing the fruits of their section of the earth. And the Lord said that in the parable, when he had distributed the talents to the one, he gave five, he brought back and he said, Lord, you gave me five. I've increased them in here are 10.

And the Lord said, well done now, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful in a few things. Now I will make the ruler over 10 cities, enter into the joy of thy Lord, enter into the kingdom age and ruling over 10 cities. So the degree of our reigning and ruling with Christ will be in relationship to the degree of our faithfulness to those things that he's entrusted to us.

Now, if I am faithful now in the little things that God has entrusted to me, but he said, if he was entrusted the little things and we haven't taken care of them, then why would he entrust to us the greater things of the kingdom? And so we live in reign with Christ. Now, at the end of that thousand year reign, Satan is going to be released and we'll go around the earth and deceive many people. Now, there is no way that Satan at that point could deceive you or drag you down because you're already in your glorified body.

And you see the only real angle that Satan has with us now is in is the body. If it weren't for this body of flesh, Satan would be no problem to me at all. But it's because of my body of flesh, my fleshly desires that he appeals to, to get me to trip up, but I'll be in my glorified body.

So people say, oh, you know, many deceive. Will I be deceived? No, not if you're a child of God, your glorified body, no way. But those who have come into the kingdom, who have been forced to be righteous, those who were born during this thousand year period will then have their time of testing.

And God, just to prove through all eternity, the human depravity of man will allow Satan to be released after men have lived in the ideal conditions under the reign of Christ for a thousand years. Satan will actually be able to gather together a great army to rebel against Jesus, to come against Jerusalem, to try to drive him out. If you can believe that, the human depravity, God will have proven it once and for all so that no one throughout all eternity will question the judgment of God in that he has cast certain ones out from his eternal kingdom.

There will be no challenging of the fairness or justice of God, because every man will have his chance and man will prove what is in him. So the kingdom age, this is what we're referring to here. Ask of me, I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession, as Jesus shall reign, as we sing, where the sun doth their successive journeys run.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Now he's talking really to us who will be reigning with him as kings, as judges, as enforcers of his righteousness.

Serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

The bottom line, blessed are those who put their trust or happier those who put their trust in him. The third psalm is the psalm of David when he was fleeing from Absalom, going over the Mount of Olives and out towards the Judean wilderness on news that Absalom was coming from with an army from Hebron. And David pours out his heart to the Lord.

Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me. Absalom had been able to gather much of Judah against David. Many there be which say of my soul, there's no help for him in God.

God won't help him now. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of my head. O God, there are a lot of people that have risen against me.

A lot of people going around saying, God won't help him now. But O God, you're my shield. You're my, you're the one who lifts up my head.

You're my glory. I cried unto the Lord with my voice. He heard me out of his holy hill.

Now know all the tension that is there. He's running. He doesn't know what the future holds.

This could be it. But he said, I laid me down and I awaited for the Lord to sustain me. He was able to sleep under these conditions.

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for thou has smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou has broken the teeth of the ungodly.

Salvation belongs to the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people. So the psalm begins with a cry of despair from all of the trouble, those which had risen up against him, those who said there was no hope.

But he turns to God in this condition and he is assured of God's strength and help. And the psalm ends really with a glorious note of victory. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Thy blessing is upon thy people. The fourth psalm is to the chief musician on Niganath. Now, Niganath is a stringed instrument and it's mentioned in connection with several of the psalms, 3, 5, 53, 54, 60, 66, and 75.

So it's some kind of a stringed instrument that they had in those days. And so this psalm was to be accompanied as they sang it with this particular stringed instrument. David probably wrote not just the psalm, but the music and also scored for the Niganath so that the Niganath player could play along the chords with them as they were singing.

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.

This is really a prayer of the evening as David is calling unto God. O ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity and seek after deceitfulness or deception? But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call unto him.

Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still in the evening. Just lying there.

Commune with your own heart. Just be still before the Lord. Just let your heart be in communion with him.

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. There be many that say who will show us any good. Now again in the last psalm we were talking about those that say there's no help for him in God.

There are always those negative people around. And there are always those that say who's going to show us any good. David's answer, Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

For thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. That is those people who are negative about God. Ah what good does it do to pray? What good does it do to worship God? Who's going to show you any good? David says Lord you put happiness, gladness in my heart more than theirs when they are in the midst of their thanksgiving, their harvest, their wine.

I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only make safety. So the glorious ability of the child of God to sleep even in the midst of problems because of our trust in the Lord. Psalm five is a prayer of the morning.

Psalm four was the prayer of the evening and now for the morning. Give ear unto my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation.

Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God. For unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord.

In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and look up. This again is upon a nigga not the song of David and he said for thou art not a God that has pleasure in wickedness. Neither shall evil dwell with thee.

The foolish shall not stand in thy sight and thou hate us. All of the workers of iniquity thou shalt destroy them that speak deceitfully. The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

Now the bloody, this is an old English kind of a word. Over in England to say you know you're a bloody bloke is really a bad thing. Where's Malcolm? He'll tell you that in England you know the word bloody is really a gutter type of word.

You've got to really watch your language when you go really from one culture to the other because you can be saying things that are sort of weird. When I was over in England I was speaking to a group of ministers and I was sharing with them a little bit about the history of Calvary Chapel and how before we came the group of people that were praying whether or not to try to keep going or just to quit and they were discouraged. There were only about 25 people here and they had a little church down here on Church Street in Costa Mesa and they had gone for a couple of years and were actually just deciding whether or not to try and go or not and so a prophecy came to them and in the prophecy the Lord said that Chuck Smith is going to come down and be your new pastor and the church is going to be blessed.

You're going to have to move on to the bluff overlooking the bay. The church will be going on the radio nationally and it will be known around the world. Twenty-five discouraged people ready to quit in a prophecy like that and you have the same attitude as the guy upon whom the king leaned when Elisha said tomorrow they'll be selling a barrel of wheat for 60 cents in the gate of the city and he said if God would open up the windows in heaven could such a thing be.

It seemed utterly impossible. The prophecy went on to say as soon as Chuck comes down he's not going to like the the church he's going to suggest that you remodel it remodel the platform and all and and you know it was just encouragement get in and do it. They didn't tell me anything about the prophecy in fact when I finally said yes I will come down they call me back the next day and they said don't bother we've decided to quit.

We just have had it is you know and I said hey I've already resigned I'm on my way you know. So the first Sunday all of us went out for lunch together to the Sizzler and I took the napkin on the table and I said to the guys we really need to remodel the church and here's what we need to do the platform and I began to draw on the napkin remodeling design for the for the church. Now they didn't tell me about the prophecy I didn't know anything about it but they all began to get real excited and I said that sounds great let's start this week and I thought wow this is all right I've got an eager crew here you know and so I was relating this to the ministers in England how that I took out a napkin I began to draw the plans on the napkin.

Afterwards my host over there said in England we call baby diapers a napkin. So he said all of those ministers were giggling because they pictured you drawing plans on a baby diaper. Though it is interesting how one culture changes the thoughts and the meanings of course that's not quite as bad as when I was in New Guinea and I decided to use one of Romaine's phrases but never again.

As I at the close of the missionary conference told those Wycliffe missionaries how the conference was just such a great blessing to us said I've just been blessed out of my gourd since I've been here. Not realizing that New Guinea tribesmen often wear gourds over a certain part of their body. The place broke up.

Now I don't know what the word bloody means really but it's a dirty word in England. So being an English translation of the Hebrew word it's a it's a word that doesn't really connotate to us you know the dirtiness of it that that it is that it's a dirty kind of a man but it doesn't really connotate in our in our minds. But it is used that David used it several times in the psalm concerning the deceitful man and and and the evil man.

So he speaks the Lord will abhor the bloody and the deceitful man. That'll mean much more to an Englishman than it does you. But as for me.

Now here's the contrast and as I told you poetry to them is contrasting ideas or compounding of an idea. Here comes the contrast but as for me I will come in to thy house in the multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Lead me O Lord in thy righteousness because of mine enemies.

Make thy way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness.

Their throat is an open sepulcher. They flatter with their tongue. Destroy thou them O God.

Let them fall by their own counsels. Cast them out of the multitude of their out in the multitude of their transgressions for they have rebelled against thee. Contrast but let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.

Let them ever shout for joy because you defend them. Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. This is a beautiful psalm really.

That all of those that put their trust in thee rejoice. If you put your trust in the Lord then you should be rejoicing. Shouting for joy.

Why? Because God defends you. Those that love thy name let them be joyful in thee. God does want the consciousness of our daily walk in life to be that of joy.

For thou Lord will bless the righteous. With favor will you encircle him as with a shield. The sixth psalm is to the chief musician on this stringed instrument and upon the shemineth.

Now the shemineth is a word that means the eighth and so it was to be played in octaves. So on a stringed instrument played in octaves. So David no doubt made these notations on the psalms as he wrote them and wrote it as a hymnal for the people.

Oh Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Now here is where David is I'm certain carrying over a human characteristic to God. For we as parents are often guilty of rebuking our children in anger and chastening them in hot displeasure.

That's a human characteristic and it is a failing many times on the part of us as parents. We're angry and we sometimes over discipline because of our anger. Have mercy upon me oh Lord for I am weak.

Oh Lord heal me for my bones are vexed. My soul also is sore vexed but thou oh Lord how long. Return oh Lord deliver my soul oh save me for thy mercy's sake.

For in death there is no remembrance of thee. In the grave who shall give thee thanks. Now this is David crying out of a soul that is vexed according to the words of Jesus.

These words of David are not correct. He is expressing as did Job his own ideas his own thoughts of death. For Jesus tells us that when the rich man in hell lifted up his eyes being in torment and seeing Abraham afar off and Lazarus being comforted in Abraham's bosom said unto him father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus unto me that he may take his finger and dip it in water and touch my tongue for I am tormented in this heat.

And Abraham said unto him son remember that thou in thy lifetime had good things and Lazarus evil. Now he is comforted while you are tormented. Besides this there's a gulf that is between us and it's impossible for you to come over here or those that are here to go over there.

Then I pray thee if he cannot come to me send him back that he might warn my brothers lest they also come to this horrible place. There is a consciousness. There is awareness.

There is a memory. It isn't an oblivion as some people would like to think. That is from the word of Jesus and I would say that he probably knows more about it than anybody else.

And I'll take his opinion and his word for it above anybody else's. I think that that's prime when you can get the word of Christ on an issue. Especially issue of death and after death and what lies beyond the grave.

Man may speculate but Jesus speaks. I am weary with my groaning all night. And of course I would have to say that David is exaggerating.

He said I make my bed to swim with my tears. It's a lot of crying David. I water my couch with my tears.

And so this is known as speaking in a hyperbole. It's writer's license. David is just talking about and David must have been a melancholy I guess.

He speaks a lot about crying. I am weary with my groaning. My eye is consumed because of grief.

It waxes old because of all of my enemies. Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my supplication.

The Lord will receive my prayer. Let all my enemies be ashamed and sore vexed. Let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

So David prayer unto the Lord out of a spirit that is vexed, that is downcast. But it is interesting how the Psalms always seem to end on a high note. The Lord hath heard my supplication.

The Lord will receive my prayer. The seventh Psalm is Shigyon, which means the loud crying of David, which he sang unto the Lord concerning the words of Cush, the Benjamite. O Lord, my God, in thee do I put my trust.

Save me from all of them that persecute me and deliver me. Now David had his share of enemies, poor fellow, always crying out against the oppressors, against the enemies. Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces while there is none to deliver.

O Lord, my God, if I have done this, if I'm guilty of his accusations, if there be iniquity in my hands, if I have rewarded evil to him that was at peace with me, yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy. Now evidently this is the accusation that David had rewarded evil for a guy who was at peace with him. David said, that isn't true.

I, I actually delivered him who without cause has become mine enemy. Let the enemy, if it's true, the accusations are true, then let the enemy persecute my soul. You remember in, in Job, Job said much the same thing.

You know, if I've done these things, then if I've committed adultery or sin with my eyes and so forth, then, you know, let my wife be unfaithful. I deserve it. But Job was protesting his innocence.

I haven't. And David is much the same as did Job. If I'm guilty, then let this thing happen.

Let the enemy persecute my soul and take it. Yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth and lay mine honor in the dust. Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies and await for me to the judgment that thou has commanded.

And so shall the congregation of the people encircle thee about for their sakes. Therefore, return on high. The Lord shall judge the people.

Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me. Now that's far from what David prayed in the 51st Psalm. Here it's on this particular issue and he felt he was righteous in this issue.

I'm not guilty here. So, Lord, judge me here concerning my righteousness. But where he was guilty and knew he was guilty in the 51st Psalm, have mercy upon me, O God, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

He wasn't crying for justice there. He was crying for mercy. I have never cried for justice.

Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity that is in me. Now David knew he was innocent of the charges that Cush had been making. And so, God, you know and you judge.

Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just. For the righteous God trieth the hearts and the reins. And God is going to try the hearts.

Our motives will one day be judged. Actually, our works are all to be judged by fire to see what sort they are and those that remain after the test of fire, we will be rewarded for. But much of man's work will be destroyed.

God judges the heart. God knows the motive, something that we're not even always aware of. My defense is of God, which saves the upright in heart.

God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will wet his sword or sharpen his sword. He has bent his bow and made it ready.

He has also prepared for him the instruments of death. That's sort of a heavy scripture. God is already prepared for the wicked, the way by which he's going to die.

He's bent his bow. He's sharpened his sword. He already has planned the method of the destruction of the wicked.

Behold, he travaileth with iniquity and conceives mischief. He brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, he dug it and it's fallen into the ditch, which he made.

His mischief shall return upon his own head and violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high. So again, ending on a high note as he tells of the judgment of God against his enemy.

And I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness. Sing praise to the name of the Lord most high. Psalm eight is to the chief musician upon Githyth.

Now Githyth means wine press. And so you have the thought of the harvest in the sense actually of judgment. The time of harvest has come.

Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. The first Lord, all capital letters signifies that it is a translation of the Hebrew name for God. That name which we do not know exactly how to pronounce.

Perhaps it is Yahweh. Perhaps it is Jehovah. Nobody really knows for sure.

People have taken sides on the issue, but it's a mute question. We really are not certain of the pronunciation of the name. The Jews felt the name was so sacred that they would not write it in their script.

They would only write Y H V H the consonant. So it remained unpronounceable. They didn't want a person to even pronounce it silently as they were reading.

So when a Jew would come to this particular verse to read it, Oh Lord, our Lord, reading it out of Hebrew, he would just say, Oh, and then he'd bow his head and say the name. But he would not try to pronounce the name. Just the name.

For it was the name of God. It is a Hebrew verb, which means I am that I am. I am the name of God.

I am the or more literally the becoming one. It is a name by which God describes his desired relationship to you as God desires to become to you whatever you may need. He has become our peace.

He has become our righteousness. He has become our healer. He has become our provider.

God becomes to us whatever we need. And so it is. It's a beautiful name because it is a name by which God describes his relationship to you.

He wants to become to you whatever you need. The second Lord here, our Lord, capital L small or D signifies that it is the translation of the Hebrew word Adonai, which means master. And thus it is a title and thus it signifies our relationship to him.

The first one signifies his desire relationship to us, the becoming one. The second indicates our relationship to him, master. Oh, Jehovah, our master.

How excellent is thy name? You see the name Jehovah. How excellent is that name in all the earth. Now we are told in Philippians chapter two that Jesus, even though he was in the form of God and thought it not robbery or something to be grasped to be equal with God, emptied himself or made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a man and coming in likeness of a man was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore, God has also highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jehovah Shua, the compound name of Jehovah, where he has become in Jesus Christ, our salvation. The angel said to Joseph when he was worried about whether or not to expose Mary or put her away privately. The angel said, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife.

That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She's going to bring forth the son. Thou shall call his name Jehovah Shua or Yahshua in Hebrew for he shall save his people from their sins.

A name that is above all names. How excellent is thy name? The name of Jesus, the most excellent name in all of the world. Yahshua, Jehovah has become our greatest need, our salvation.

Now in the kingdom age, he's going to have a new name, Jehovah Tisidkenu. I would just as soon stick with Yahshua because Tisidkenu is hard to pronounce. But Jeremiah tells us that that is the name in the kingdom age, which is he has become our salvation.

Jehovah, our salvation. How excellent is thy name? A name which is above every name in all the earth. Who has set thy glory above the heavens? Now the heavens are glorious.

The heavens declare the glory of God. They are not the glory of God. They declare the glory of God.

His glory is even above the heavens or higher than the heavens. And yet perhaps the most glorious thing that we as man can observe are the heavens. But God's glory is even above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hath thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. It is interesting to me that that glorious God has revealed himself in such simple terms that even a child can comprehend and begin to know God and have faith in God. And to me, the purest faith probably that we can find is that faith within a child.

How beautiful is that that faith of a child? When our kids were growing up, I always wanted them to pray for me when I wasn't feeling well. Such pure faith, simplicity, as Jesus took a child and put it in the midst of all the scholars. And he said, unless you become like a little child, you're not going to catch on.

You're not going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, God has perfected praise. He's ordained strength.

Then David said, when I consider the heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man? Now the first philosophers and man today is seeking to understand what is man. That is a basic question of the philosophers. What is man? But the mistake that the philosophers make is that they start with man, rather than as with David, starting with God.

Oh Lord, our Lord, when I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers, the moon, the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man? If I start with God, then I have man in his proper perspective. If I start with man, I have no perspective. I have no place to go.

I don't know where to go. I have no perspective. I can't see man in any perspective unless I start with God, and then I see man in his proper perspective.

When I consider the heavens the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man? That thou art mindful of him. How often I've sat at the seashore, watching the sun go down when I was a child. I lived in a seacoast town, Ventura, north of here.

And I used to love to get my fishing pole and go down and dig for soft-shelled sand crabs. And I had a neat Corbina hole. And I'd cast out there, and I'd just watch the surf, and I'd watch the sun as it would go down.

And I'd be all alone on the sandy beach, and I felt so small. As it was getting dark, I felt so small. As Venus would start to come out, and then some of the other stars.

And I'd look up and I'd think, wow, I'm alone here on the beach, looking out at that portion of the Pacific to the horizon, seeing the sun go down, and thinking how vast the Pacific Ocean was, how vast the world was. I knew just to ride my bike the two miles back to my house seemed like a long way at that point. And to realize, you know, just how vast the earth is.

And I felt so small in relationship to the earth. But then I thought of the earth in relationship to the sun that had just set. And then the relationship to the earth, to the stars that I saw coming out.

And what is man that thou art mindful of him? Here I am, a speck of dust down on this little planet, and yet God thinks about me. All the time he thinks about me. And sitting there in the sand, it was exciting because I'd look up the beach and see all the sand dunes.

And my mother had taught me the scripture concerning thy thoughts, concerning me. If I should number them, they are more than the grains of sand on the sea. And I'd think of the greatness of God.

And I would just sit there, just over awed that God, the one who created this vast universe that I was looking at, was mindful of me, this little kid sitting on the sand, on a beach by myself. What is man that thou art mindful of him? God is thinking about you all the time, and his thoughts concerning you are good, not evil. He's not thinking how he can give you a bad time this week and make it really tough on you.

See how much he can make you squirm? God is thinking, how can I show them how much I love them? How can I show them that I care? What good thing can I do for them this week? That they'll know that I'm there, that I know I'm concerned, that they know that I love them. He's thinking about you all the time. And the son of man that thou shouldest visit him.

What is man that God should come down to visit him? Who am I that God should seek to visit with me, and yet he desires to visit with me? I don't always have time for him. Sometimes he's called to me and said, Chuck, come, let's have a little visit. And I said, no, Lord, I don't have time.

I'm so busy, Lord. Can't you see how busy I am? Catch you later, Lord. But you know what? He has never once said that to me, I'm too busy for you.

In fact, he seems always so happy whenever I come around. So glad that I came, as though he was longing for my fellowship when I had everything to gain from it. And he has so little to gain.

Oh, how excellent, Lord, is the Lord that is thy name in all the earth. Who is a pardoning God like thee? Who is a God that is so merciful and so kind and so loving and so concerned as our God? What is man that God should visit him? And yet he did. Thou hast made him.

Man is not the product of accidental circumstances. Man is not the product of a series of chance, random chance through billions of years. But the psalmist declares, thou hast made him.

But brilliant men who don't want to acknowledge God because they don't want to keep God in their minds have had to create theories and theories by which they have sought to explain the existence of man in, quote, scientific terms. And these brilliant men tell us that God was created by man in man's own image and after man's own likeness. That because man needed to believe in something, he created the idea and the concepts of God.

But God is only the figment of man's imagination. He was created by man. But the scriptures said not so.

Thou hast made him. God created man in his image and after his likeness. So you have the choice to believe that man created God or God created man.

But to me, if I'm going to have any kind of a logical base for existence, I must believe that God has created me. Otherwise life is without purpose. I'm living in a puzzle in the middle of a muddle and there is no reason, rhyme, purpose for existence or being.

I came by an accident. I'll go by an accident. Tough.

Life becomes completely empty, dehumanizing. If you try to take away from thou hast made him. Now it's made him a little lower than the angels.

Now the angels are God's ministering spirits. They've been sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of salvation. We see the order now of beings in the universe.

It is God, angels, man, animals, plants. Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, but you've crowned him with glory and honor. I look around the earth in which I live.

I see all of the life forms upon the earth and I realized that I have been crowned with glory and honor. I am the highest order of God's observable creation here on the planet earth and I see the accomplishments of man. Think of what the world would be if man wasn't here.

Both good and bad, isn't it? If man wasn't on the earth, they wouldn't have polluted streams, polluted skies and threat of destruction by nuclear warheads. And yet also if man wasn't here, there would be no music, there would be no poetry, there would be no beautiful paintings, the earth would miss so much as God has placed in man the music and the beauty of expression. You've crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. God has given us dominion over that work of his hands. The earth showeth forth his handiwork.

So we have dominion over the plants, we have dominion over the animals, over the earth. God gave it to Adam, have dominion over it. Now that is dominion in the sense of dressing it, keeping it, taking care of it, developing it.

It isn't dominion in the sense that I can destroy it if I please, I can waste it if I please, I can recklessly, carelessly destroy the natural resources if I please because I have dominion. Not at all. The idea is to dress it, to keep it, to take care of it.

You've given him dominion over the works of your hands. You've put all things under his feet, crowned him with glory and honor. Now, this in a broader sense, of course, applies to Jesus Christ and is used in application to Jesus Christ in the book of Hebrews, the second chapter, verses six and eight, and it has been made to apply to Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.

You see, he was God, not Michael the archangel. If he was Michael the archangel, then he wouldn't have to been made a little lower than the angels. He would have been an angel and he would have had to been made a little lower than the angels, but he made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him for the suffering of death.

As an angel, he could not die. As God, he could not die and thus he had to be made a little lower than the angels angels for the suffering of death. And God has put all things in subjection unto him.

But the author of Hebrews said, we do not yet see all things in subjection unto him, but we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. So all of those things that God has put under man, the sheep, the oxen, the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the path of the sea. A sea captain was one time in the hospital and the nurse was reading to him the psalms.

And when she came to the eighth psalm, she read that last, she read the eighth psalm. And when she read the last verse, he said, read that or the next to last verse there, verse eight. He said, read that again.

She read it again. He said, read it again. And she read it again.

And he said, that's interesting paths in the sea. If God has declared that there are paths in the sea, there must be paths in the sea. And so he began to put out bottles and he began to chart the sea currents and discovered that there are definite paths in the seas, the sea currents.

And from that time on the shipping industry began to follow the sea currents, saving thousands upon thousands of dollars in fuel because they go with the currents. There are paths through the sea. Oh Lord, Oh Jehovah, our master, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.

The ninth psalm is to the chief musician on Muthlaban. Muthlaban is the death of a son. This could have been when Bathsheba's first son died.

I will praise the old Lord with my whole heart. I will show forth all thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee.

I will sing praise to thy name. Oh thou most high. When my enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.

For thou has maintained my right and my cause. And you sat in the throne judging right. You have rebuked the heathen and you have destroyed the wicked.

You have put out their name forever and ever. Oh thou enemy destructions come to a perpetual end and thou has destroyed cities. Their memories is perished or their memorial is perished with them.

But the Lord and his contrast, they have perished, but the Lord will endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment and he shall judge the world. Now you're building thought upon thought.

He's prepared his throne for judgment. He shall judge the world with righteousness. He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in time of trouble, and they that know thy name will put their trust in thee. For thou Lord has not forsaken them that seek thee. Sing praises to the Lord, which dwells in Zion.

Declare among the people his doings. When he make his inquisition for bloody, remember them and forget it. Not the cry of the humble have mercy upon me.

Oh Lord, consider my trouble, which I suffer of them that hate me. Now let this me up from the gates of death that I may show forth all the praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in thy salvation.

The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made in the net, which is hid for their own foot. Their own foot is taken. The Lord is known by the judgment, which he executed.

The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. And that Hegion is meditate on that. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hand.

Just meditate on it. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God for the needy shall not always be forgotten. The expectations of poor shall not perish forever arise.

Oh Lord, let not man prevail. Let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear.

Oh Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Oh God, answer that. Put the leaders, the heathen in fear that the nations may know themselves to be but men.

We so often get an exalted idea of ourselves. Why do you stand afar off? Oh Lord, why do you hide yourself in the time of trouble? You ever prayed that Lord, why aren't you doing something about it? Why do you seem to hide yourself when I'm in trouble? The wicked in his pride does persecute the poor. Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined for the wicked boasts, his heart's desire and blesses the covetous whom the Lord abhors.

The wicked through pride of his countenance will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous.

Thy judgments are far above out of his sight. As for all of his enemies, he puffs at them. He has said in his heart, I shall not be moved for I shall never be in adversity.

His mouth is full of cursing deceit and fraud and under his tongue is mischief and emptiness. He sits in the lurking places of the villages in the secret places that he murdered the innocent. His eyes are privately set against the poor.

He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den. He lies in wait to catch the poor. He does catch the poor when he has drawn him into his net.

He crouches and humbles himself that the poor may fall by his strong ones. He has said in his heart, God have forgotten. He hides his face.

He'll never see it. And so he describes the wicked in his deeds. And the idea of the consciousness is that God has forgotten.

He hides his face. He doesn't see. There is a mistake that people oftentimes make and that is they mistake the patience of God for blindness because God hasn't already smitten them, hasn't already destroyed them.

They begin to get a comfortable feeling like, well, God doesn't know or God doesn't see. It's always a dangerous position to be in. David says, Arise, O Lord.

O God, lift up your hand. Forget not the humble. Wherefore does the wicked contemn God? He has said in his heart, Thou will not require it.

Thou has seen it for that you beheld the mischief and spite to requit it in thy hand. The poor commits himself to thee. Thou art the helper of the fatherless.

Break the arm of the wicked, the evil man. Seek out the wickedness until you find none. The Lord is king forever and ever.

The heathen are perished out of his land. Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble that will prepare their heart, that will cause an ear to hear, to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, and the man of the earth may no more oppress. Psalm 11 is to the chief musician.

It is the Psalm of David. In the Lord put I my trust. How do you say as to a bird to my soul? Flee is a bird to your mountain.

My trust is in the Lord. Why should I flee to the mountains? Why should I try to hide from trouble? My trust is in God. For lo, the wicked bend their bow.

They make ready their arrow upon the string that they might privately shoot at the upright in heart. Now, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? I think that this is a very interesting question that we need to ask ourselves at the present time as we look at the state of our nation and we see the foundations being destroyed. The moral foundations upon which our nation was built are being destroyed.

The liberal politicians are undermining and destroying the foundations upon which this nation was built. And if the foundations are destroyed, what are the righteous going to do? The thing is going to crumble even as Rome was conquered, not from without, but it crumbled from within because of the rotten planks that once held the nation Rome strong. The law and so forth became corrupt, rotten.

The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in the heaven. His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men.

The Lord tries the righteous, but the wicked in him that loves violence his soul hates. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, a horrible tempest, and this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loves righteousness and his countenance doth behold the upright.

The chief musician upon octaves, the psalm of David, psalm twelve, help Lord, for the godly man sees it, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. Remember when Elijah said, Lord, they've all bowed their knee to Baal and I only I am left. Lord, the righteous man sees it.

There's none left. Help Lord. The faithful fail from among the children of men.

They speak emptiness, every one with his neighbor with flattering lips and a double heart do they speak. He's been around Hollywood. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue of those that speak proud things who have said with our tongue we will prevail.

Our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us? For the oppression of the poor and for the sighing of the needy. Now will I arise, saith the Lord.

So God's answer is praying. Help Lord. The godly sees it.

People are just, you know, speaking vanity, everyone with his neighbor flattering and they're saying, Hey, we'll do it with our lips, you know, or we'll prevail with our tongues and all. And so God answers for the oppression of the poor and for the sighing of the needy. Now will I arise, saith the Lord.

I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. And so the psalmist responds. The words of the Lord are pure words.

As silver tried in the furnace of the earth purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.

The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. The 13th Psalm to the chief musician, Psalm of David. How long will you forget me, O Lord, forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? The cry, O Lord, how long do I go on in this trial? How long, Lord, before you deliver? Consider and hear me, O Lord, my God.

Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest the enemy say I've prevailed against him and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in thy mercy.

My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. Comes on strong at the end. He speaks of the confidence of the victory that shall be his.

I will sing unto the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt.

They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God.

They are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good.

No, not one. God's estimation of man. None righteous.

None that seeketh after God. None that are good. No, not one.

Paul quotes this in writing Romans chapter 2 as he is laying out his premise and developing the theme of the whole world guilty before God. Paul then quotes this. There is none that seeketh after God.

There is none that is good. There is none that is righteous. No, not one.

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord? There were they in great fear for God is in the generation of the righteous. You have shamed the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his refuge. Oh, that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion.

Oh, that the Messiah were come. When the Lord brings back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad. Looking forward actually to the kingdom age, when God finally restores the people from captivity and the rejoicing that shall take place.

Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? The psalmist asked the question. Who's going to dwell in the holy hill? Who's going to dwell in the Lord's tabernacle? And he answers the question. Thomas Jefferson says of this answer that it was the picture of the true gentleman.

As David answers his own question, who shall abide in God's tabernacle and in his holy hill? He that walks uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaks the truth in or from his heart. He that backbites not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor. In who eyes a vile person is contend, but he honors them that fear the Lord.

He that sweareth to his own hurt and changes not. A lot of times a person will take an oath, but when they find out that they made a mistake, they'll change it. But a truly honorable person, if he said he'll do it, he'll do it, even if it cost him.

He who swears to his own hurt. Yes, I'll do it. And then finds out, hey, it's going to cost me, but he goes ahead and does it anyhow.

He doesn't change. A man of his word, something that God really looks up to. He that puts not out his money for usury, charging an exorbitant interest, nor takes reward from the innocent.

He that doeth these things shall never be moved. This is the man who will dwell in the Lord's tabernacle and in his holy hill.