1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,280 Psalm 97, we've been going through some of these Psalms the last few weeks and they're 2 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:12,800 all really kind of similar. 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,200 I probably won't say too much on this tonight. 4 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:21,120 It's just kind of more of the same type of language, just rejoicing in God and praising 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:27,080 God for his power and for his justice and bringing judgment on the evil and delivering 6 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:28,080 the righteous. 7 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:33,320 That theme is what we've kind of seen in a lot of these Psalms here in the 90s. 8 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:37,120 And so we'll go through another one tonight. 9 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:43,400 Psalm 97, let's pray and we'll get started. 10 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,280 God, we come to you and we thank you that we have the freedom to come in here tonight 11 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:49,600 and to read your word. 12 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:51,560 I thank you that we get to sing these songs. 13 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:56,200 I thank you that it's a lot of smiles, dear Lord, and a lot of love that's in this place. 14 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,960 And we just thank you for letting us be part of this church. 15 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:04,280 And I pray that your Holy Spirit would speak to us through these words, that we would rejoice 16 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:09,240 in you, dear Lord, and that we would just recognize that you are with us and help us 17 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,080 to grow in these words in the next few minutes. 18 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,640 And I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. 19 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:22,080 As with many of these recent Psalms we've read, it really doesn't say in the Psalms 20 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:23,080 who wrote it. 21 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:29,440 Usually, most of them, people would say David wrote them and probably so. 22 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:33,520 Last week, we certainly didn't see that it was David that wrote it in the Psalms, but 23 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:39,280 it was almost word for word what we saw in Chronicles, a passage there that David did 24 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:40,280 write. 25 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:45,960 And so this is probably a Psalm written by David, but it could have been written by anyone. 26 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:47,320 It doesn't really matter. 27 00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:49,880 We still can get some good out of it. 28 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:56,000 Psalm 97 verse 1, the Lord reigns. 29 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,180 Let the earth rejoice. 30 00:01:58,180 --> 00:02:02,480 Let the many coasts and islands be glad. 31 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:05,620 This is a good reminder for us. 32 00:02:05,620 --> 00:02:07,120 The Lord reigns. 33 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,880 And if the Lord reigns, then we have reason to rejoice. 34 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:16,640 We don't live in a world in which evil reigns or which the devil reigns or any of the bad 35 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:18,200 things that we see. 36 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:19,880 Those things don't reign. 37 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,520 Even the bad things that we go through that we're up against today, they do not reign, 38 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:28,120 praise the Lord, because the Lord reigns. 39 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:34,120 And so there is reason to rejoice that the Lord is going to have the final say for everything 40 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:38,840 that happens in this world and everything that happens in our life. 41 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:42,440 And he says, let the many coasts and islands be glad. 42 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:47,880 I think that may be just another way of saying let everybody, the whole earth, from all the 43 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:53,040 land to the coast, and then keep on going past the coast to the islands and the sea. 44 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:57,920 Let every part of creation, everything, people on the land, people in the islands, wherever 45 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:03,400 you are, let everyone rejoice that the Lord reigns. 46 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:08,840 Verse 2, clouds and thick darkness surround him. 47 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:13,400 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 48 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:19,040 Now this idea of seeing clouds and thick darkness and fire, as we'll see in the next verse, 49 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:26,560 around God, these are descriptive terms that we see oftentimes applied to God in the Old 50 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:31,000 Testament, that when God comes in judgment or when God's guiding his people or when God's 51 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:36,000 on the mountain, we see that there's clouds and there's thick darkness. 52 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,640 And part of that was for the protection of the people, that God's glory would be kind 53 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:46,200 of shrouded because you couldn't see the glory of God and survive. 54 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:50,320 Even Moses, a pretty godly man, wanted to, and he couldn't do it. 55 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:56,760 And so God, he appeared to the people in some form in the Old Testament, but not in a form 56 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,520 that they could really see him in all of his glory. 57 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:06,280 And so we see this same kind of language in describing God here, clouds and thick darkness 58 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,320 surround him. 59 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,320 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 60 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:16,880 So when God sits on the throne, he is a just God. 61 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,400 He is a right God. 62 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:21,960 Everything he does is morally right. 63 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:22,960 It is good. 64 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:29,040 And his whole kingdom, his throne is established because he is a just God. 65 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:34,760 And that's a good thing because a just God is going to deal with all of the evils in 66 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:35,760 the world. 67 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:36,760 Praise the Lord. 68 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,920 There's no evil that's going to go unpunished. 69 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:46,200 But we also praise God that there's hope for us even in that truth, because if God served 70 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,480 justice on us, well, we deserve punishment as well. 71 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:54,240 But God says, look, I'm going to offer you a way that you can be forgiven of your sins 72 00:04:54,240 --> 00:05:01,620 so that your sin can be paid for and the punishment for your sin can be taken by another. 73 00:05:01,620 --> 00:05:03,320 And that is Jesus Christ. 74 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:08,560 And so we rejoice that the Lord reigns and in his reigning, even though he is a just 75 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:16,120 God and righteous, he still offers us a way of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. 76 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:22,400 Continues on in verse three, fire goes before him and burns up his foes on every side. 77 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:27,980 His lightning lights up the world and the earth sees and trembles. 78 00:05:27,980 --> 00:05:35,320 So when God comes onto the scene and all of his power and all of his majesty, his enemies 79 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,080 cannot stand against him. 80 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,900 So God is always going to reign supreme. 81 00:05:40,900 --> 00:05:45,480 And sometimes it may not seem that way because we do see a lot of evils that have taken place 82 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,760 in the world and we see a lot of evils today and we see a lot of sickness today and we 83 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:51,840 see a lot of death today. 84 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:57,880 And some people would say, well, it sure doesn't look like God reigns, but God reigns and everything 85 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:02,040 that occurs is because God allows it to occur. 86 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,360 But none of these things will have the final say. 87 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:10,280 All of these things will be dealt with and fire, that is something that consuming, something 88 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:11,560 that destroys. 89 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:16,600 This represents when God is showing up onto the scene, those things that are enemies of 90 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:19,640 God will be punished, sin and death and evil. 91 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:23,880 And all of these things will be destroyed. 92 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:31,200 Verse five, the mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence 93 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:32,680 of the Lord of all the earth. 94 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,240 The heavens proclaim his righteousness. 95 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:37,980 All the peoples see his glory. 96 00:06:37,980 --> 00:06:42,480 Now here we see this language, the mountains melt like wax. 97 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:48,600 Now this is all kind of figurative language and symbolic language describing God and the 98 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:53,160 power of God and the presence of God in ways that we can understand. 99 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:58,760 And showing the power of God by saying the mountains melt like wax. 100 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:01,680 Now I don't think that there's ever going to be a day that the mountains will melt. 101 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:08,680 I could be wrong, but I think it's just symbolic language showing us the power of God. 102 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:14,460 Things that are so big, that are so difficult for us are nothing for God. 103 00:07:14,460 --> 00:07:18,560 You take the biggest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. 104 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:23,400 It is big and it is tall and there are hundreds of people who have died trying to climb it 105 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:29,320 because it is tough for us to try to master the biggest mountain in this world. 106 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,120 But yet we contrast that with the power of God. 107 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:37,320 The things that are the biggest to us, the hardest to overcome are things that melt like 108 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:39,320 wax before the Lord. 109 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,220 Psalm 121 says, I lift my eyes to the mountains. 110 00:07:42,220 --> 00:07:44,280 Where will my help come from? 111 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,080 My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. 112 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:54,280 And so sometimes there are mountains in our life that are like Mount Everest for us. 113 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,400 Things that are so hard and so scary and so difficult. 114 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:01,760 And we say, I don't know if I can make it to the peak of this mountain or not. 115 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,400 And even if I get close, I may die along the way. 116 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:08,360 But we have to remember that we serve a Lord that reigns. 117 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:13,240 And what mountain may seem too big for us is a mountain that will melt like wax in the 118 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:15,040 presence of God. 119 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:19,680 And so when we go up against our mountains and try to climb our mountains in life, we 120 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,080 need to do so in the presence of God. 121 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:27,600 Because while it's difficult for us to overcome our mountains on our own, in the presence 122 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:31,920 of God is something that we can do in his power. 123 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:40,000 Verse seven, all who serve carved images, those who boast in idols will be put to shame. 124 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,160 All the gods must worship him. 125 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:48,280 Now, we see this idea of worship and carved images and false gods throughout the Old Testament. 126 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,040 And here the Psalmist says, look, those gods are nothing. 127 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:52,240 They're going to be destroyed. 128 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:54,040 Those idols will be destroyed. 129 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:59,560 And even maybe even kind of mocking them here saying that even these gods will worship Yahweh, 130 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:01,000 will worship the one true God. 131 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,560 Now, certainly these gods don't exist. 132 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:04,760 They've never existed. 133 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:10,480 But again, the author is using language to whoever may read this, especially in those 134 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:16,400 days when other people would have had lots of gods they could have worshiped, to know 135 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:22,680 that, look, the Lord that I'm writing about, the Lord that reigns, reigns over every God. 136 00:09:22,680 --> 00:09:26,160 And he is the one that we need to seek. 137 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,640 Verse eight, Zion hears and is glad. 138 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:35,000 All the towns of Judah rejoice because of your judgments, Lord. 139 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:41,120 Now, we see Zion a lot in scripture and sometimes it may be referring to heaven, but a lot of 140 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:43,600 times I think it's referring to Jerusalem. 141 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:48,560 And so when we see this language about Zion and about Judah, simply talking about God's 142 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:51,480 people, it's God's people here who are rejoicing. 143 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:57,040 And some have suggested that this Psalm was written after the Babylonian captivity, that 144 00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:02,000 God had delivered his people and they had something to rejoice and that the enemies 145 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,160 of God's people and the enemies of God were not going unpunished. 146 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:11,480 And so we see Zion and Judah here who are the people who are rejoicing that God is bringing 147 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:13,200 about judgment. 148 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:19,040 Verse nine, for you, Lord, are the most high over all the earth. 149 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:22,280 You are exalted above the gods. 150 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,040 You who love the Lord hate evil. 151 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:28,040 He protects the lives of his godly ones. 152 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,280 He rescues them from the power of the wicked. 153 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:35,240 Now in the first part of verse 10 there, that's good instruction. 154 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,000 You who love the Lord hate evil. 155 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:43,560 If we love God, then we should not be okay with evil. 156 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:45,500 There should be a hatred of evil. 157 00:10:45,500 --> 00:10:48,300 And so we can't say we love God and love evil. 158 00:10:48,300 --> 00:10:50,360 If we love God, we have to hate evil. 159 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:53,520 And if we love evil, then we must hate God. 160 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,440 Those two things cannot, they don't go together. 161 00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:00,720 And so he says here, you who love the Lord, is that any of us tonight? 162 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:04,520 If we love the Lord, then the call is for us to hate evil. 163 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:09,120 But really the temptation is that we put up with a little evil. 164 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:15,440 And we're probably all guilty of that on some level of being too accepting of some level 165 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:17,520 of evil in our lives. 166 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:21,920 But the scripture says if we love the Lord, we need to hate evil. 167 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:28,360 Verse 11, like dawns for the righteous, gladness for the upright in heart. 168 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:34,680 Be glad in your way, you righteous ones, and praise his holy name. 169 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:36,800 So who's going to have deliverance? 170 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,640 Who's going to see a light dawn in the darkness? 171 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:43,720 It is going to be those who are righteous. 172 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:48,880 So light dawns for the righteous, gladness for the upright in heart. 173 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:53,920 So if we want to, if we want to see some light in our life, if we want to experience some 174 00:11:53,920 --> 00:12:00,080 gladness in our life and some joy in our life, then that comes when we love the Lord, when 175 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,560 we seek God, and when we flee from evil. 176 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:07,320 And we rejoice in him because he is the one who reigns. 177 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:11,760 And there's nothing that we go up against that we will ever be up against in this world 178 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:14,280 that will be too big for God. 179 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:16,720 It'll be too big for us on our own. 180 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:22,600 But if we seek God in the midst of our struggles and our troubles and our trials, we will be 181 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:24,880 delivered for all of eternity. 182 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:25,880 Let's pray. 183 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:31,600 God, we thank you for these good words, and I pray that we would just rejoice in you and 184 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:34,760 worship you, dear Lord, and knowing that you reign. 185 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:39,880 I pray that we would always remember that as we go through life, as life is difficult, 186 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:44,480 and sometimes it may appear that the enemy is reigning and the enemy is winning, dear 187 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:45,480 Lord. 188 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:47,520 The enemy has never won and will never win. 189 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:48,520 He's already lost. 190 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:54,240 And so, God, I pray that we rejoice in that, that we know that that is our light in the 191 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:59,200 darkness, and that is Jesus Christ that has come to die on the cross for us so that we 192 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:00,200 could be forgiven. 193 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:04,280 So, dear Lord, I pray that we would rejoice in that truth today, that if there are any 194 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:08,520 that do not know Jesus Christ, that they would repent and they would seek him. 195 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:12,720 God, maybe there are some today, and there are some mountains that are before them in 196 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:15,160 life that are really hard. 197 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,920 And I pray, God, that in your presence that they would seek you, that they would draw 198 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:24,880 closer to you, and that those mountains would melt like wax before them, that the fear and 199 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:29,400 the worries and all that they think about, whatever's before them, dear Lord, that that 200 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:32,040 will melt away in your presence. 201 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:34,120 And I ask these things in Jesus' name. 202 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:45,560 Amen.