The Love of God
Notes
Transcript
Pluralism
The Olympics demonstrated a great example of this. I didn’t watch the open ceremonies. I don’t watch the Olympics - but as I’m sure many of you saw either by watching it or by hearing of it from the news, or on the internet - the Olympics…
Olympics - Blasphemous representation of the Last Supper. On the one hand, I wasn’t all that offended. Because I’m a bit uneasy about paintings of Jesus as it is - I don’t have any in my home - we have one sculpture that was a family heirloom o my wife’s that but the intent of the performers was to blaspheme - however, what really perplexed me were some of the justifications of the “art” were “They are not dishonoring God, they are merely honoring Dionysius.”
Now the weird part is when people began to make the connection that it blasphemed the Lord’s Supper there was a claim that it wasn’t mocking Christianity it was celebrating Dionysus by displaying a pagan feast.
If that’s indeed the case - then they are dishonoring God by honoring a false god unworthy of worship or honor - they are wasting their breath.
Gaslighting…
The person who was at the center of the display posted a photo on Twitter which she caption “oh yes! The gay New Testament!” said photo was the Olympic display with davinci’s photo underneath.
The title of the sequence was: ‘La Cène sur la scène sur la Seine.' Translation: ‘The Last Supper on the stage on the River Seine.'
Unite our hearts that we might boldly stand against sin, unrighteousness, pluralism, blasphemy… and any other ways that we might shy away from properly fear God.
When the world around us says “chill, it’s just Dionysus.” We ought to respond with “why should I chill when people are honoring an impotent god, when they should be worshiping the One True God? Jesus Christ is Lord and Dionysus is feeble.”
We don’t have to be quiet about our faith. In fact the Bible tells us not to. But the world around us is literally waiting to show their religion down your throat - which gives us every reason to bold stand up for our own declaring that Christ is King - and that my God rose from the dead - meanwhile Dionysius needs a silly Olympic display that celebrates debauchery to remind people of his myth because we all forgot about the Greek story of the drunken son of Zeus.
God will not share his glory with another.
I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
this is why Christians have no reason to be silent when the Lord is blasphemed - we aren’t defending ourselves we’re proclaiming that God is real, he is holy, he has done mighty things and will not share his glory with another. And David does very much the same in this Psalm. However, there is a complexity to this Psalm as David writes three movements:
Petition for protection
Praise for God’s character
And a proclamation of God’s Mercy and Grace
Petition
Petition
1-7 - The Psalmist is calling out to the Lord in his distress. Petition
David begins with identifying himself as poor and needy - this is seldom how we think of David. Though there are certainly many times in his life that we see him desperate - and that is his attitude in many of his psalms.
I am godly - now in English this sounds a little conceited doesn’t it? Preserve my life because I am so godly. Yet at the same point, maybe we can understand David saying this. But also maybe we can’t understand David saying this.
And also if that is what this verse is saying - it makes it a little hard to pray. I will admit that I don’t feel comfortable praying “God keep me safe - preserve my life because I am godly.”
Well the good news is that it’s not what David is saying. It’s not really a translation error but rather a limitation of the English language.
And what - this word either means “the wing of a ostrich” or more likely the recipient of God’s loving kindness.
And since “Preserve my life, for I am the wing of an ostrich” does not make any sense - it must be the other one.
The word is a modified version of the word that we translation as steadfast love or loving kindness.
So what David is saying Preserve my life because I am the recipient of your loving kindness.
And this is how all God’s elect ought to pray. If you are a Christian then you can pray this way - “God, you have saved me, I belong to you - keep me safe.
Historic Creeds and Confessions (Question 1)
Question 1
What is thy only comfort in life and death?
That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.
(1563)
First Question of the New City Catechism… (This is a shortened version of the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism)
“What is your only hope in life and in death?
That we are not our own but belong to God.”
That is the status from which David prays in this Psalm - and the posture we ought to take in prayer.
If you are have been saved by faith in Jesus - if you believe that God came in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, died on the cross to save you from your sins, rose from the dead, then ascended into heaven as is seated at the right hand of God the father where he is reigning as king - then you are a recipient of his lovingkindness - and you can pray as David does here.
Protect me because you have saved me. Protect me because I am loved by you. God does not only care about your soul. As David shows here, and in many of his Psalms, and as the catechism above shows - body and soul - belong to God - and that not even a hair falls from your head without the will of our Heavenly Father.
And that is what David argues in the rest of verse 2… save your servant, who trusts in you - you are my God.
Verses 3-4
Now lest we think that this is about David - David is appealing to God’s attributes in this Psalm, not his own deeds. This becomes very clear in the second section of this Psalm - but even before that as he transitions his plea to God in verse 5. David demonstrates this focus on God’s attributes by quoting Exodus 34:6-7.
6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
David will quote this again in verse 15. This is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible - it is the most quoted in the OId Testament. Exodus 34 is the text where The Lord makes new 10 Commandment tablets. This is after Moses breaks the first set upon seeing that the people had literally broken the commandments by creating an idol, worshipping it, and blaspheming the name of the Lord. That happened in Exodus 32. Then in Ex 33, the command to leave Sinai comes. So as God is giving them these new tablets he is confirming his identity with them. So as the people begin to make their preparations to head toward Canaan he reminds them that he is gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
What a remarkable statement for a stiff necked people who have so quickly abandoned the God who has saved them.
Verse 6 mirrors verse 1 in David asking God to be listen to his prayer. And while David is approaching the Lord as a servant approaches a master - he also approaches with confidence knowing that God will answer him.
And this is a posture that we ought to have in prayer - humble confidence.
Humility knowing that you are a servant approaching your master asking for mercy. Confidence knowing that he hears your prayers and gives you exactly what you need.
David in the midst of his distress is calling on God to be gracious to him and to help him in the day of trouble.
Prayer for protection driving home from seeing family in Fort Mohave yesterday. It was a rough drive.
Lord Willing we make it back - praise God that we did.
Praise
Praise
8-13 - Praise of God.
In this second section, David does not only sing God’s praises, but he also demonstrates why YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the only one worthy of praise.
There has been this common objection that has become popular among atheists to say that “There are millions of Gods our there, I just believe in one less God than you do.” Now I’ll be honest, I have no idea what that argument is supposed to accomplish. However, the very core of Christian doctrine is that there are many false gods, and many not-gods claiming to be gods - but there is only one true God. So we don’t have an issue with that argument - however, when David is making this statement he is stating that even though every tribe had their own deity, and even though the Philistines had Dagon, and the Canaanites had Moloch and Baal, and regardless of Egypt (and later Rome) celebrating and worshipping hundreds of gods - David is standing firm in the face of all of them to say The Lord alone is God.
And yet we saw a display of this in the last 2 weeks.
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
And yet within the context of the Olympics we see this attempted, yet failed, and desperate attempt to celebrate different aspects of greek and french culture - but ultimately just celebrating immorality and perversion.
Thus at the Olympics the nations were gathered to witness a mockery of God only for that to be the antithesis of reality.
9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
God is not merely the Christian God. Nor is he merely the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - he is the God of all creation.
Those who re-enacted the Last Supper in order to mock God may have been laughing when they created it, they may have been laughing that night - they will not be laughing into eternity. God will not be mocked.
Every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Christ is Lord. Those who blaspheme today will in the eschaton confess Christ is Lord - they may grit their teeth and do it now - and they may hate the words they are uttering but God will not be mocked.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
Thus us like David stand in the face of Dionysis, in the face of Allah, in the face of
And boldly proclaim - Jesus is God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.
Plea for instruction and protection - but not protection in the same sense as above. Here in verse 11, he speaks of a spiritual protection. It asks that same sort of request that we find in the hymn Come Thou Fount “prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, here’s my heart Lord take and seal it, seal if for thy courts above.” And we ought to pray for the Lord’s instruction and
Unite my heart - our hearts are often divided - even after our salvation we still have moments when we desire to sin rather than glorify God. Though the Christian is justified - declared innocent - and they are being sanctified (or made holy) - they are not yet glorified (as we will be in eternity) - so on this side of cross where we eagerly await the 2nd coming of Jesus - we pray that God would teach us his word, that we would learn his law, and seek to glorify him with every fiber of our being - and that he would unite our hearts to praise and worship him.
What a wonderful guide for how we ought to prayer - and that should drive us to thanksgiving…
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
And in verse 13 David points to one of our greatest reasons for thanksgiving - David celebrates how God has saved him from Sheol. God has spared his life and protected him from death - from lions, giants, and bears… from enemy nations, jealous kings, even his own son’s plot to kill him - God was gracious and merciful to David -
For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Gospel -we understand this in a much greater sense
what we have in Christ is better.
Proclamation
Proclamation
14-17 - God is greater than his enemies.
in verse 14, David returns to the issue that is pressing him at the moment in mentioning the insolent men that have risen against him - but David takes the rest of the Psalm to proclaim that God is bigger than his problems.
God is bigger than all your problems.
your stresses,
your loved one’s drug addiction, maybe your addiction that no one knows about…
Verse 15 -
Earlier I mentioned that David quotes Ex. 34 in both verse 5 and in verse 15. And upon seeing things like the blasphemous display of the olympics - you might wonder - why doesn’t God immediately and swiftly bring his justice?
The answer is found in these texts.
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
God is not brash or swift to bring judgment. God is not hasty. God brings judgment exactly when he intends to. This is why vengeance belongs to him - and not to us.
And it seems that David understands this as well. In this Psalm David has asked God to protect him from his enemies, but he also in other Psalms has spoken of God’s outpouring his wrath upon David’s enemies. David seemingly understands that God will pour out his wrath at exactly the right time. The time in which it glorifies God most to judge sinners is when he will do so.
Turn to me and be gracious to me;
give your strength to your servant,
and save the son of your maidservant.
Show me a sign of your favor,
that those who hate me may see and be put to shame
because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
David concludes his Psalm by asking once again that God would show him favor - that he would give him grace.
and as we have seen in other psalms this summer -David is asking for God to judge sinners that God
Application
What does David ask of the Lord in this Psalm?
That he would listen. v. 1, 6,
That he would preserve his life
That he would be gracious to him. (x2) (v 3, v16)
Show me a sign of your favor. (v.17) (be gracious.)
Teach me your ways. (v. 11)
There are four unique requests.
Plea for God to listen, a plea for protection, three requests for God to be gracious, and a request that God would teach him his ways.
David spends more time celebrating God, and praising him for who he is than he does asking him for things.
Is your prayer life similar to David’s? When you pray is it only asking the Lord for what he can give you? We don’t like it when our children or grandchildren only come to us with “gimmie, gimmie, gimmie.” Yet for some reason it is often the case that our prayers are much like what we dislike from our children. When we pray do we celebrate God for who he is, or only for what he has given us?
And even when David is asking for something he isn’t just asking for possessions.
