Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
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sermon. God bless. Let me pray for us again as
we begin Lord God, we have this psalm before
us this lengthy psalm This psalm that speaks
of your deliverance and your Establishing yourself
and your promised land and for your people and
the glory of Mount Zion Zion because you dwell
there and how all peoples will come and worship
you and we think Lord of how this psalm is most
fulfilled in Jesus. God, we pray that even as
we look at this long psalm, God, that we might
have a little bit better understanding of it,
but even more so, Lord, we might have a greater
awe of your grace and your kindness and your
love for us in Christ, in whose name we pray.
Amen. All right, I have mentioned before that
the last house that I lived in in college Had
a fair amount of beer brewing going on in that
house And it was above board. I'm not going to
get into all the details of it because it's not
really pertinent necessarily But some of you
know that when you're brewing beer you have some
downtime You know, there's different times where
you're supposed to put the hops in or the different
additives but then there's some times where you're
just waiting for it to do its thing and so One
of the things that we would do while we were
waiting is we as a group of guys living in this
house together would sing together and We had
a great front porch and the quite a few of us
played different most of us played different
instruments we would sing songs together and
One of the songs that we would sing was Psalm
68 And so for me this Psalm has this fond memory
And but for the most part that the the reason
for this was really just practical Psalm 68 is
pretty long Right. It took a little while to
read it through This is the hymnal that I have
it in currently And I'll show you how long so
Psalm 68 in this hymnal. This has most of the
Psalter in it. This is one verse Okay, it's one.
So this is six verses and then this is another
six verses, and I timed it. It's 12 minutes long,
so it kills a lot of time. It's a psalm with
a personal history there. Unlike a lot of psalms,
though, actually, that we're going to look at
even this summer, like what we looked at last
week and the one we'll look at next week, it's
not so much reflecting on the life of the individual
believer with our doubts and our joys and all
the different things that affect us in this life.
Instead, it sort of has this broad horizon of
what God has done, what he's doing, and what's
going to happen. That's more the idea of this
psalm, and specifically this psalm, we're going
to talk about this a little bit, is a psalm of
procession. It actually mentions that a couple
times. This was a psalm almost certainly written
by David for the procession of the Ark of the
Covenant to Jerusalem. So it's a psalm with a
history, again a bigger history, It's also a
psalm with an ecclesial history, a history within
the life of the Christian Church. Psalm 68 was
sung by Savonarola and the other Dominicans as
they were forcibly marched to the Great Plaza
in Florence where they would meet their death,
where they were burned to death. Why? Because
they preached against the excesses of the Pope.
Some of those excesses which I read about this
week are not even appropriate for a sermon with
most of our children gone If you want to hear
about them come ask me afterwards But this this
song was what he was supposedly singing as he
made his way to his death Having been sort of
a precursor to the Reformation calling out the
errors of the Pope This Psalm, also Psalm 68,
has been known as the Protestant Psalm of Battles.
So if you might know, what is the battle hymn
of the Reformation? Anyone? Psalm 46, particularly
Martin Luther's, a mighty fortress is our God,
is known as the battle hymn of the Reformation.
This Psalm is known as the Protestant Psalm of
Battles. Many of you probably at least aware
some of you may be maybe fairly aware of French
history and Protestant Reformation history one
of the more Kind of saddest parts of church history
is the second half of the 16th century in France
I Studied in France right after high school for
a year and then actually after college for another
semester and I attended a church there which
was called which is actually the church on the
road of the mass. And it was a church that was
founded by one of the seminarians from Calvin's
seminary in Geneva. They were then sent out through
the French speaking world to plant churches.
And this church was planted by one of those guys.
And they actually had the original letter that
Calvin had written to this young church, encouraging
it to continue on in the proclamation of the
good news. That you're saved not by what you
have done, but by the work of Christ alone, the
necessary work of God. When I was there also,
we went on a little university student retreat
for a weekend down to the Seven Mountains, which
are in the south of France. The Seven Mountains
were one of the Huguenot holdouts. Because it
was so mountainous, they could hide in order
to preserve their life, and that was one of the
places where they hid. Well, if you're familiar
with sort of that part of French history, which
I I know that's sort of like a niche thing. OK,
but maybe you've heard of the Saint Bartholomew's
Day Massacre because the actually the situation
had gotten so bad in the second half of the 16th
century between the Catholics and the Protestants
that actually, as was done, the king's sister
Margaret, who was a devout Catholic, was fell
in love with a Huguenot prince, probably not
forcibly. Asked to marry Henry the third of Navarre
who was a Protestant king in order to in some
ways repair What this great schism that had happened
violent violent wars that were taking place between
the Catholics and the Protestants in France Well,
what happened is that many of the many of the
Huguenot which is the French Protestants came
to Paris to celebrate this Union this marriage
that was supposed to repair these breaches that
had led to all these battles and about 30 ,000
Protestants in France were slaughtered on St.
Bartholomew's Day there in Paris. The wars of
religion in France lasted from about 1562 to
1598, which was a few years after Henry IV, Henry
III's, of course, son, signed the Edict of Nantes,
which gave a lot of the Protestants certain rights
in France, which was supposed to lead to the
end of the wars of religion. Anyway, that same
year that began the wars of religion, which is
1562, there was a tune that was put to Psalm
68 in the Geneva Psalter. And that is the tune
that I just showed you. It goes, God shall arise
and by his might put all his enemies to flight.
In conquest shall he quell them. That was written
by Mathis Greider. He was the church musician
living in Strasbourg in German speaking France,
okay? There's a good reason for why I'm telling
you all this and it's not so that I can give
you a weird church history quiz afterwards, okay?
What I'm saying is that Psalm 68 is a Psalm with
a history. And some of that history is very wonderful.
For me, it brings back just these great joyous
times with my friends in college some of it brings
back for me fond memories and then actually there's
another part of it that actually makes me deeply
sorrowful because my primary teacher that taught
me French history when I was living in France
her name was Madame Sarati she said that she
was among the millions and millions of French
people that said this je suis catholique mais
je crois pas en Dieu which means I am a Catholic
and I do not believe in God." And she said, why
would I say that? Why would she say that? Because
of the violence done in the name of religion.
I mean, that's probably not lost on anyone today.
I would guess that all of you have people that
you think they would say, okay, culturally I'll
say blah, blah, blah, but this is a farce because
of the violence. done in the name of God that
tune was actually outlawed for a little while
particularly in Paris because whistling that
tune meant that you were part of the Protestant
Reformation and it led to conflict to violence
God shall arise and by his might now here's the
odd thing I want you to keep your Bibles open
okay Please keep your battles open. We're gonna
we're gonna try to look at this long text and
I know we we don't have a lot of time The things
I want you to see first is that Psalm 68 is the
celebratory psalm If you look up what category
of psalms the psalm 68 fall into it falls into
the psalms of praise Psalms of praise it begins
God shall rise his enemies be scattered But then
quickly it says verse 4 sing to God sing praises
to his name Lift up a song to him who rides through
the deserts. His name is the Lord Exult before
him if you go down actually to the next real
significant section break actually verse 19 blessed
Be blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up
God is our salvation. Ascribe power to God, whose
majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in
the skies. Awesome is God in His sanctuary, the
God of Israel. He is the one who gives power
and strength to His people. Blessed be God. It's
a psalm of praise. It's a psalm of praise that
is celebrating how God led his people through
the wilderness Kind of has these echoes of Mount
Sinai where the Ark of the Covenant itself was
built and how he brought them through the wilderness
how he brought them in to the promised land Nearly
everybody as I said says that psalm 68 was most
likely written to commemorate the event of when
David and the whole procession brought the Ark
of the Covenant from Obed -Edom up to Jerusalem.
Which is to say, what they're singing is, finally
God, you did. You're at home now. You're settled.
You've brought us in to this promised land and
we're following you to your home in Jerusalem.
So here's here's what I sort of want to do I
want to give you a little outline of this psalm
But I want us to particularly sit in the second
section for a little while Okay, because I kind
of want to speak to something that is prominent
there, but if you have your Bibles open still
Well, you'll you'll see some breaks here and
I want to kind of point them out to you verse
1 through 6 most people take to be sort of the
introduction of this psalm. You know, this is
a long psalm, it's kind of giving you a little
introduction, and even in that introduction,
it's giving you a short outline for how the psalm
is going to go. So it says, you know, they praise
God, they speak of how his enemies are nothing
before him, they speak about how life is lived
as it's meant to be lived. It says specifically
that his enemies scattered before him, he's the
hope of the the helpless. It says the father
to the fatherless, defender of widows in their
distress. That's verse five. Verse six, he cares
for the lonely. God settles the solitary in a
home. He cares for the prisoners. He leads out
the prisoners to prosperity. And he actually
deals with the rebellious. What we have here
in this little bit are sort of marks of what
a great leader does. But it's also introducing
it for us the entirety of the rest of the psalm
It's breaking up the rest of the psalm which
is broken up into primarily God dealing with
his enemies and God being established as the
true king for which we long so then we turn and
verse 7 to 18 then recount for us much of this
kind of movement of God first with his people
at Sinai through the wilderness and then into
the promised land And then verses 19 through
31 again speak to us about that idea of God being
on the throne. So, verses 7 to 18 first, which
is recounting for us this movement from the wilderness
into the promised land. Verse 7 there speaks
specifically of God being in the wilderness.
when you marched through the wilderness. But
then verse eight moves to actually God establishing
his people in the land. And specifically that
verse eight actually quotes from part of the
song of Deborah that is found in Judges chapter
five. Okay. When Sisera's army is destroyed by
the heavy storm. So it actually verse nine kind
of follows on this idea. Well, let me read verse
8. So that word inheritance is referring to the
land, the inheritance of Abraham and his disciples,
and saying he brought them in in part through
this destruction of other people, namely Cicera
and through the prophetess Deborah. By the way,
we don't have a lot of children here that story
is one of the crazy stories of of the Bible too
because maybe some of you remember jail taking
the tent peg and Actually pounding it into the
head of the commander to kill him So it's inviting
us to remember how God actually brought his people
into the land, into the promised land through
the judges like Deborah. And of course, you're
supposed to also think of some of the other judges
and you're supposed to think of Joshua and all
this other story. But part of what it's doing
for us is bringing to mind some of the very violent
things that took place when God brought his people
from the wilderness into the promised land. And
how specifically God does it. How are they saved?
But it's by a rainstorm. God brought that. Okay,
we're gonna get to some of that. Let's continue
on. Verses 11 to 14, they repeatedly reference
the kings. The women who announced the news are
great. The kings of the armies, they flee, they
flee. Down below. This is kind of interesting.
It's talking about how the mountain of God is
not the mountain that you expect, but it's Mount
Zion, but it also references how God has his
chariots, which should have evoked in us the
memory of the chariots of King Pharaoh, right?
There's this dynamic between the different kings
that are taking place and how God is establishing
himself against the kings there in Canaan, which
is supposed to invite you to think of, you know,
the King of Ai. Joshua, or maybe you're supposed
to remember the story of Jericho. You're supposed
to call to mind the story of Sisera, like we
just heard with Deborah, God leading his people
into the promised land. When we think of Bation,
we're supposed to think of the Og, King of Bation,
of which God, you know, in the story there where
God brings his people again into the promised
land by conquering those other kings and their
kingdoms. Okay, now here's the thing. As you
sit in those stories and as I try to bring some
of these stories to your mind, I'm guessing that
most of you know that this subject that we're
talking about is one of the hardest subjects
in the Bible. I mean, my guess is that actually
I would guess that every single person in this
room at least knows someone that would say one
of the reasons why they think the Bible is not
to be trusted and the story of scripture is not
to be believed is because of the Canaanite conquest
of which this psalm is is is bringing to mind
for us. That's actually partly why I wanted you
to hear this story even of how this psalm has
intertwined with these wars of religion and these
religious conflicts that led to so many deaths.
What this psalm is celebrating is what many people
find to be one of the great reasons for rejecting
the Christian faith and rejecting the Bible What
this psalm is celebrating in at least in a way
is the conquest of the Canaanite So of course
we have folk like the very well -known atheist
Richard Dawkins who writes things like this The
God of the Old Testament is arguably the most
unpleasant character in all fiction. Jealous
and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving
control freak. A vindictive, bloodthirsty, ethnic
cleanser, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal,
genocidal, filiacidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal,
sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
I did practice reading that out loud because
there's a lot there. And what we must do as people
who actually say the Lord does reveal himself
and he's given us his word because he loves us
and actually longs to live life with us. We must
say, what do we do? How do we have a text that
celebrates this story in a way? And it also leads
so many people down that kind of road. Because
here is the fact, throughout the centuries of
the Christian Church and the Christian life leaders
have used texts like this for all kinds of evil
I Mean it's unquestionably the case. I mean many
many people believe that the French Revolution
actually had its beginning more in how the French
Reformation happened in these wars of religion
and the rejection of God But of course we can
think of the effects of these kinds of texts
not just the Crusades against the Muslims We
can think of genocides of the Native Americans
here in North America. They're aboriginals in
Australia. We can think of apartheid in South
Africa We can of course think about the various
discriminations Here racially in our own country
primarily against African Americans, but plenty
of others We can think about the troubles in
Northern Ireland. We can list so many ways So
many ways in which some of the story that is
alluded to here and celebrated here Has led to
so much violence and so much harm. It's a long
list And here's the truth actually I can't speak
to all I can't give you all the reasons why I
still would say believe in the Lord Trust his
word. His ways are good He is full of love and
truth and goodness and beauty can't speak of
all the things that I would like to speak to,
because you guys would probably leave for lunch.
I mean, I would love to show you how the judgment
on wickedness is not just an Old Testament thing.
In fact, Jesus, you know, the word for Gehenna,
the place of fire outside of Jerusalem, where
things would be burnt out, that is a reference
to hell, the New Testament. Of the 12 times that
that's talked about, 11 are from the mouth of
Jesus. So that's something you got to think about.
I mean, I'd love to show you, as we've looked
at in our adult Sunday school class somehow,
the New Testament is always saying the Old Testament
is authoritative and those stories are true and
good and therefore our learning and our belief.
I would love to show you how these cannot be
taken as allegorical stories. These are not made
up for some moral lesson. I can't go into all
those things, but I think I can go from this
text into a couple things that I think are important,
okay, as we address the question of the Canaanite
conquest. And the first thing is that this is
God's doing and not ours, which is to say this
isn't just some holy war, but it's God's doing.
The whole psalm actually, right from the very
beginning, right, it says, God shall arise and
by His might. Put his enemies to flight or it
says God shall rise his enemies shall be scattered
and those who hate him shall be flee before him
the whole emphasis in this psalm is what God
does and I wonder if you were very attentive
when Don was reading for us from the book of
numbers this verse this first verse in in Psalm
68 is nearly a direct quote from Numbers chapter
10. Verse 35, it says this, and whenever the
ark is set out or sets out, Moses said, arise,
O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered and
let those who hate you flee before you. This
Psalm is beginning with the very phrase that
Moses said every time the ark of the covenant
went out and led God's people. It's saying, we
are following you. You're the one doing the action.
Where are your people that you're bringing into
this land? From the very outset of this psalm,
what it's telling us is this, this is not God's
people saying, we're gonna go and conquer them.
They need to submit to us. You look down at verse
seven, you see this idea again, of course. It
says, oh God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness. It's
saying God's leading his people in this way,
okay? Verse 21 it says but God will strike the
heads of his enemies the hairy crown of him who
walks in his guilty ways So this is not like
hey God deal with just with my enemies like this
just saying actually God is the one who is the
actor here, okay? Which is why if you think with
me again back to the story of AI you should also
think with me about the story of Aiken who was
a part of Israel, but he took some of the plunder
of the city and was judged for it. Because this
whole God bringing his people in was not so that
they could just align their pockets. This was
not about them. This was about God. He was the
commander. He was the one that was in charge.
So verse 30 tells us, Trample underfoot those
who lust after tribute. Scatter the people who
delight in war. God is saying you cannot delight
in war. This is not about Taking joy in another's
misfortune This is related to the second point
that I want you to see this morning and this
is this is an important point This is not about
some human conquest. This is divine judgment,
but this is also a reference to divine grace
a divine judgment, but also divine grace So if
you know this that God had told Abraham that
this would be his land but actually way back
in Genesis chapter 15 he says the sins of the
Amorites which were you know related to the Canaanites
living in Canaan there has not yet reached its
full measure so way back in Genesis when God
had first called Abraham he said you can't have
this land yet because their sin is actually not
so bad that that their land should be taken from
them That means that the wickedness of that society
at the time of Abraham was not yet so wicked
as to morally justify God acting on complete
judgment. God himself actually says, they are
not so evil that it would be right for me to
act this way. And yet, so we can say this, okay,
all humans in all societies are sinful in one
way or the other. But there are times when the
extremes of wickedness call for a particular
judgment. And I would actually say that pretty
much everybody in this room agrees with that
idea. Whether you want to admit it or not, there's
a time when there's an extreme of wickedness
that invites a certain judgment. I have stood
in the furnaces built for human bodies in Dachau.
I'm telling you, if you stand in that place,
it is hard to deny that fact. that there is an
extreme wickedness that invites an action. We
know that the time had come when the wickedness
of the Canaanite people had arose to a state
where God must bring about its end. We know that
actually from the Old Testament. We actually
also know it from other histories outside of
the Old Testament. The Canaanite people were
a particularly wicked people, even in sort of
ancient Near Eastern standards. Here's an interesting
thing. Those evils that they were particularly
known for are these. Cult prostitution, so fertility
cults, and child sacrifice, so offering up their
children to be burned in their cultic practices.
So you had the combination of massive sexual
sins that were related to worship their fertility
cults along with the idea that many of those
people who were expecting babies were killing
them to their very gods those were those that's
what we know what was going on particularly in
the canaanite culture okay so hold those things
together and when you come okay hold hold these
two things together god is the one who's doing
it He's saying this like a lot and it's not about
lining their own pockets think of Aiken in in
Joshua chapter 6 or 7 Think of that story of
God actually bring judgment on his own people
for trying to take from these wars And now I
want you to think about so I want you to think
about how God is doing this and also how it's
a particular judgment Primarily because of the
wickedness of the Canaanites had gotten so bad
particularly around the idea of cult prostitution
and child sacrifice And then I want you to think
about what is the very first thing that happens
when God's people cross the Jordan into the promised
land? What's the battle that takes place? Jericho.
Jericho. What do the people of God do at Jericho?
Do they draw swords? No, they don't. They walk
around and they blow trumpets and God does the
rest. It is not about them. Not about them. Who
is saved at Jericho? I feel like I heard some,
Rahab. Yeah, Rahab. What does Rahab do? What's
her job? She's a prostitute, which means that
she is the very embodiment of the evil of the
Canaanites. She's it. I mean, cult prostitution,
child sacrifice, she would have been the one
that embodied what God said, you deserve my judgment.
And frankly, very few people would totally say,
yeah, somebody like that doesn't deserve some
level of stopping. Who gets grace there right
have actually in her whole family it extends
beyond her I'm suggesting to you is that even
in this story? Did you notice that the maidens
are the ones that are playing their tambourines
as the procession is making its way in? Can't
you imagine that maybe some of those are Rahab's
very descendants? Who are celebrating what God
has done bringing an end to such evil, but also
extending unbelievable grace to the world All
you have to do is turn to him Actually, that's
part of the story later on in the Gibeonites
to right they Come and be part of this family
God's it's not an ethnic. It's obviously not
an ethnic cleansing. Otherwise the very first
story would not include say hey, you can totally
be part of our Not about ethnicity. None of it's
about it But God acting and God bringing an end
to evil but also God extending his grace the
very embodiment of that evil So I'm gonna wrap
this up We come to the second half of this this
psalm, right? I said it kind of breaks up verses
1 to 6 7 to 18 19 to 31 and then you have the
end there which kind of wraps it around but the
second, that second section we have in the second
section is, you know, this procession comes up
to Mount Sinai and then they celebrate that God
is on the throne, that he's the one that's there
and you have everybody coming and you have them
offering tribute and you have the nations. Verse
20, you know, I mean verse 18 talks about, or
17 rather, you know, the Ark of the Covenant
is now in the sanctuary and what you have is
that the the virgins are celebrating, you have
all this kind of stuff, but then also it says
you have the princes, the princes of Judah and
Benjamin and Zebulun and Naphtali, they're all
coming and they're worshiping and they're bowing
down, they're saying, you're the true king, you're
the one who reigns properly, not us, because
if we do it in our own power, it only leads to
destruction and chaos and all this. But then
interestingly, you also at the very end, or near
the very end, verse 27, Verse 31 it rather it
says noble shall come from Egypt Again, it's
the place of God's enemies actually They're being
welcomed into this family. It actually says also
Kush which is even beyond Egypt think of South
Sudan. Maybe that that area actually is probably
Kush Everybody you're all welcome here. The very
enemies of God are welcomed into the very place
the abode the house of God everybody together
there at the end says blessed be God. Why? Because
if you think through this great story and if
you think actually of the conquest and even beyond
actually if we have our sort of historical lens
on we know that God actually does bring the same
judgment on Israel when they go against God's
ways and go and worship as the nations worship.
they're going to get kicked out of the land too
if they don't actually abide by God. But everybody,
they're invited to say, hey, God is full of grace,
but he does not permit wickedness. He doesn't
love the ways of just doing whatever you want.
Come to him and turn and repent and have new
life. This is what's on offer here. The Egyptians
are welcomed. The Rahabs are welcomed. The Peter
Rowans are welcomed. You're welcomed into this
new family. Where God reigns with justice and
with grace hating wickedness loving righteousness
I'm saying is that this Psalm is a psalm of a
history Of course, it has like my own personal
history and it has the history of the church
But it has this great history that God tell that
is telling us of how he brings his people into
the promised land How he does away with evil
how he cares about? things being done right,
but he also extends grace to the worst of the
worst, invites them into his family. And all
of this we see most of all in Christ. It is.
This is a story almost everybody reads. This
is about the ascension. Jesus finally going and
sitting on the throne. And if you have ears to
hear, you might have heard the echoes from this
Psalm even that we hear in the book of Revelation,
where the nations themselves bring their tribute
before the true King. Where people from every
tribe and tongue and nation, right? This is not
ethnic thing come and fall down before the Lord
their God Where grace is extended beyond Any
border that you might think people are brought
in? Where the healing of nations exists because
the tree of life is there because the lamb is
slain The lamb who is slain is right there in
the middle this Psalm prepares us for what we
are all actually most longing for the true King
Father to the fatherless the defender of widows
one who meets the lonely Brings them into his
family Friends I wanted to kind of give you this
sermon in a way as to say the difficulties of
scripture are real They are That does not mean
that we do not worship the true God, the God
who is full of grace and love. And it does not
mean that there may not be actually answers to
some of our great challenges that could actually
challenge us in how we think about it. But I
also wanted to invite you into seeing that this
text is actually just speaking what we most long
for, which is Jesus to be on the throne, to rule.
To welcome the nations to his throne To invite
you as a sinner that's saved by grace Changed
and transformed from your evil ways brought into
the kingdom of our Lord Let me pray for us Lord
God I do thank you for psalm 68 even though it
does speak to a subject which is deeply difficult
Recalls to mind stories that are violent tent
pegs being drilled through enemy commanders skulls
God things It recalls for us the history in your
church, which is often So violent that we blush
and that we are ashamed I'm got to think of The
two million or so people that died there in France
during the wars of religion God we think of our
day now, where people use such violent rhetoric,
such violent action in the name of God. Lord,
we pray that you would bring your peace to the
world. Jesus, that you would reign from your
throne. God, we pray that this text might even
move in us that we might desire your return and
your reign more and more. God, I pray that this
text might remind us that we were once outsiders.
We were once sinners, deserving your just judgment.
And yet you have welcomed us into your family
with glad arms. That we might be with the procession
going to the house of the Lord, singing your
praises, saying aloud, blessed be God. God, I
pray that as difficult as it is, Well, as difficult
as texts like this are, and as easy it is to
want to dismiss them or to push them aside, God,
I pray that we would be those who say, let's
take on the hard questions. Let's wrestle. Spirit
of God, move in us. Give us faith and understanding.
Help our unbelief. God, do this in us, please.
Now we thank you for your word. We pray that
we would hide it in our hearts and that it would
teach us more and more of the word made flesh,
Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Thank you
for listening to Second City Sermons podcast.
We hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship
God and to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please
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for listening. God bless.