God Hath Shined!

Intro:

Good evening!

For this evening, I want to begin by turning to the book of Psalms.

The family and I just got back from spending some real quality time in the beauty of God’s creation!

There’s a Psalm that I tend to think about when we go on trips to see the various beautiful places that are a part of His creation in this nation at least …

And it is Psalm 50.

Specifically, verse 2 says (KJV) - “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined!”

Isn’t that a poetic description of what all God has done?!

I want to start by reading this Psalm tonight, and comment through as we go.

Psalm 50:

This is a Psalm about the magnificence of God!

V 1 - Psalm 19:1–2 is similar:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.”

From the beginning, from the very utterance of the spoken (Capital W) Word (See John chapter 1), beginning with the Words “Let there be light,” the glory of God has RESOUNDED and REVERBERATED throughout Creation!

Just take a look around — And you MUST believe that there is a God!

And not just any God, but “God the MIGHTY One, God the LORD (Jehovah!)”

V 2 - This is the verse from which we get our title — Notice the connection to Zion or Jerusalem, the city of God in the O.T. and the birthplace of the N.T. church!

God’s glory has truly shined, not only in His Creation …

But also in His PROVISION for His Creation, ultimately by the fact that He would redeem it from the grip of sin!

V 3 - Again, just a description of God’s MIGHT — His POWER!

VS 4-6 - These three verses are about the Judicial authority of God.

He has ALL authority to judge His creation by the very nature of the fact that HE CREATED it!

If we were the judge, we would do things differently (for the worse) - We would make a mess out of things because we are imperfect!

But God is the PERFECT/all good/omnibenevolent God, and He always makes the right call in Judgment!

And God (and only God) can be the justifier of man through His plan of salvation revolving around His Son!

V 7 - Mention was made of those who had “made Covenant with God by sacrifice” in verse 5.

Now, we’re seeing in these next several verses that God wasn’t just about sacrifices for the sake of sacrifices alone …

He required them to make the sacrifices, sure.

But as we’re about to see, God already owned all the animals because God owned ALL of His creation!

So in the sacrifices that God required of them in the O.T., what was God REALLY looking for?

He was looking for their HEARTS! He wanted them to worship Him for the right reason!

(Which is the same thing He desires from us today).

(Read verses 7-15). (Emphasize and highlight vs. 14-15).

Now we’re about to find the contrast — It is a common theme in the psalms (and the rest of the Bible for that matter) to contrast the righteous from the wicked!

V 16 - God says: The wicked have NO PART in His blessings! Why? Because v. 17ff!

VS 17-20 - The wicked were guilty as charged!

V 21 - The wicked think they are going to get away with it for a time, but eventually they will find out that God is going to do exactly what He has said He will do to the wicked in His Word!

And then the final charge of the Psalm …

VS 22-23 - In other words, the choice is ever before us!

We can try to get away with mocking God and God will tear us in pieces for that! OR …

We can accept God’s terms of pardon through His Son!

So that’s the meaning of Psalm 50, but again, back to verse 2:

“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined!”

I’m here to tell you tonight that God hath shined from heaven by way of the beauty of His creation, too!

I want to show just a few pictures of some of the beautiful places we saw this past week.

There are THOUSANDS of beautiful places right here in the United States — You don’t even have to leave the country to see the beauty of what God has to offer!

For that matter, there are some beautiful places right here in Oklahoma, too! — You don’t even have to leave this state to see much of the beauty that God’s creation has to offer!

And I just want to say that every time I get to get out in His creation and witness it, I desire more and more to be with the One Who CREATED IT!

(Show Pictures from Trip)

Well, there’s a bottom line to the message for tonight, and it’s found in …

Romans 1:

We are WITHOUT EXCUSE, aren’t we?!

(Read Rom. 1:18-25).

And you can keep reading further to the end of the chapter for further details about the perversion of the wicked.

The point being for the lesson tonight though?

We are WITHOUT EXCUSE!

Just take a look around!

We’ve looked at some beautiful pictures of some beautiful places tonight, but I’ll tell you, the pictures are 1000% less beautiful than it was in person!

Regardless of where all we get to visit — We here tonight have all been to different places and seen different things — But we’ve ALL seen beautiful pieces of the beautiful puzzle that is the entirety of God’s Creation ...

And we must just say, “Wow! How great is our God?!”

We are without excuse!

We are accountable to Him!

And we will answer to Him one day when we sit before His throne to be judged!

So why not make up our minds to serve Him TODAY while we have opportunity to be pleasing in His sight?!

(Give invitation).