Give Thanks to the Most High
Notes
Transcript
Disclaimer: I’m going to use the word “stupid” this morning… several times. This word is used in Psalm 92. It is not a word that I use commonly. I also do not use it from the pulpit very often. I searched all of my sermon manuscripts and prior to this morning I have only written this word 3 other times in my sermon manuscripts. One of those was a quote, and while I cannot be certain the other two were written in Sunday school lessons and may have been substituted for another word… however, one of them was referring to Jepthah’s vow so I would have been justified in using this word.
Now there may be a question concerning the translation and using a word like senseless or brutish as other translations use. And all of those are acceptable translations. But when we are looking at what is being described, I think we ought to be a bit unsettled so I think it will better grab all of our attention - to use the word that the ESV translators felt was best here. So I will use the word stupid. Now, this isn’t encouraging the use of calling people that - so I don’t want to hear of any of the children who may be listening justify their use of this word because “Pastor said it,” or “The Bible says it” or “Dad said it.” Remember that the book of James encourages us to tame our tongues.
But in demonstrating how senseless our sin and rebellion toward God is - I will use the word stupid. Since that is exactly what sin is. And if you’re more bothered by my use of the word stupid than you are with your own sin and rebellion towards God… then well that’s… you know.
So far in book 4 of the Psalms we have see a stark contrast to book 3. Where book three was the dark book with the saddest of all Psalms. The temple falls, the people are in sin, the kingdom collapses, and it seems that the Lord has all but abandoned the people. And now in book 4, we see a continued response to that. Psalm 92 appears to be a response to Psalm 73, or maybe better started a counter perspective.
In Psalm 73 the Psalmist laments that it appears the wicked around him are flourishing while the righteous seem to perish. Then in verse 17 of Psalm 73 the Psalmist goes to worship - and leaves with a right perspective and is reminded:
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
But here in this Psalm it is the opposite. Instead of lamenting the success of the wicked - he begins by noting that God is great, the wicked are dumb, and the evil will not prosper, but the righteous will prosper.
The Title: For the sabbath
This is a Psalm that is set aside for a specific day of rest and worship. While I do not agree with the language of the Lord’s Day being the Christian Sabbath, but rather that Jesus is our Sabbath Rest, however, we do see that the church has historically taken the first day of the week, Sunday, the Lord’s Day, when Jesus rose from the dead as the primary day of worship. And how appropriate is it that each and every Sunday, we as a church gather to celebrate the greatest thing that God has given us - salvation by grace through in Christ, and his substitutionary atonement.
Sabbath as a reminder of your need for rest. Sabbath as a reminder that God is God, he is all powerful, he is eternal, he is all knowing, and that you are not. The Lord’s Day is a reminder of what your salvation costs.
So it is appropriate that this Psalm begins in a manner as to describe what we do each Sunday when we gather.
The Most High
The Most High
We give thanks to God. We humble ourselves in worship of him, knowing that we are lowly and that he is God Most High. We declare his steadfast love, and proclaim him faithfulness. We do this as verse 3 states with accompanied music. We praise God for who he is, and what he has done.
But God Most High is not the only addressee in this Psalm. There are three people addressed in this text. The first is God the Most High, the second are The Stupid, and the final is the righteous person. This righteous person in this Psalm points to Jesus.
In the first section of this text verses 1-5, the focus is on God, The Most High. This is the same title we read for God in Psalm 91. It is a confession that God is high above everything else. That God is the Supreme Being. Without threat, or rival. He created it all, he is over it all.
1-5 - The Works of the Lord
The Psalm opens with a exclamation that it is good to give thanks to the Lord.
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
It is an acknowledgment that God is worthy of thanks. Give thanks to God for who he is, and for what he has done.
This sort of introduction is a recurring opening praise in the Psalms.
Psalms 106 and 107 both begin with:
1 Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
This is the right and appropriate duty of the creature to give thanks to the Most High Creator, because he is worthy of praise, and we ought to also give thanks to him - for his good deeds.
2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,
When you wake up in the morning is your first thought to smack the alarm, grumble and roll back over - or do you begin your day by declaring the Lord’s steadfast love? When you turn in for the night do you end your day by thanking God for his faithfulness throughout the day? And I don’t mean by stating “Thank God this day is finally over.”
The psalmist here teaches us to greet the day with the praises of God’s steadfast love, and to close the day by declaring God’s faithfulness.
A few weeks ago we read:
164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.
This may refer to a literal 7 times a day of praise. Or it may convey the idea of aspiring to a day complete with praise of God.
There’s a place of appropriate reflection here… is your day filled with praising God? Do you rejoice in the Lord’s new mercies each day? Or do you only think of God and praise him at church on Sundays? Do you rejoice in God’s goodness throughout the day, or do you act like you don’t want him around?
The entirety of our lives should be devoted to the praise, glory and honor of the one who created us, and yet in many cases we are too busy to be inconvenienced by the reason for our creation.
5 How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep!
Verse 5 celebrates God for his thoughts being very deep. God’s ways are better than our ways. What God is doing in time and in creation is better than what we would have considered. We may scheme and plan - and even think that our ways are better. But God’s thoughts are very deep. In chess, it is said that the best players are thinking two steps ahead. They not only know what they are going to do, they have considered how their opponent is going to respond and then how they will respond to that. God’s thoughts are far beyond that. God is not merely thinking two steps ahead but God knows exactly how he is working. He knows what is happening in your suffering, in your sorrow, in your misery, in your poverty, in your prosperity, in your joy, in your thankfulness, and how he is going to use everything that results from that for his glory and for your good, and for the good of others.
The Psalmist immediately contrasts that with the stupid man. The one whose thoughts are not very deep. While there is a comparison between the wicked and the righteous the comparison for the wicked is how they think of God.
The person who does not know that God is higher than them, the person who does not understanding that God’s thoughts are deep. The person who thinks that they know better than God is stupid.
Consider what our culture celebrates - and how many ways in which they think that God did not think about the future when he inspired the Scriptures.
Pride. Fornication. Sexual immorality. Homosexuality. Pornography. Infidelity. Adultery. Divorce. Transgenderism. Murder. Abortion. Anger. Obscene talk. Drunkenness. Lying. Gossip. Slander. Deceit. Malice. Gluttony. Covetousness. Boastfulness. Disobedience to parents. Idolatry. Theft.
(Galatians 5:20-21, Col. 3:5-8, Romans 1. 1 Cor 6:11)
And Scripture shows us that all these things are the fool telling God that they know better. This is the statement that God’s thoughts are not deep enough.
That is stupid. That whole list of things i just mentioned are stupid.
Sin is stupid.
Years ago, an acquaintance of mine made a statement on social media “I just spent an hour yelling at God.” One of the dangers of social media is how easy it is for people to post foolish things - and not realize until it is too late - or at all. Yet according to this text here that is the definition of stupidity. The Stupid do not understand that God is holy. That God is all knowing. That God is working all things for your good. You may not like what God is doing in your life but he knows better than you do. To think you have a place to come before the creator of the world, the giver of life and yell and scream at him because things are not going your way is a bold move. One that should cause you to wake up in the morning (if he is so gracious) and thank him that he didn’t strike you dead in your sleep.
The Stupid
The Stupid
The Psalmist however continues to describe these stupid, foolish wicked people. And yet contrary to the struggle of the psalmist in Psalm 73, the Psalmist here does not struggle with the idea that they are flourishing, rather he knows that they will perish.
He compares them to grass. They appear to flourish. But they are doomed to destruction.
When you look around at the world and you see the people who are successful, those who are wealthy, those who are seemingly flourishing… be reminded that they are like grass.
Now think about grass for a moment. We like green, well kept grass. But how easy is it for grass to die? How long does it last?
What do we do to keep that grass. We cut it. What do we do with grass clippings? We throw them away. We compost them. Or we leave them in the grass so that it may decompose on the ground. It dies. The grass sprouts up but it dies. And grass dies pretty easily - especially here in Arizona. So the wicked being described as sprouting like grass is not a good thing - rather it emphasizes that they are not going to flourish, but rather that they are here for a season and will perish in another.
One commentator wrote: “The Psalmist seems to suggest that the only possible purpose of the prosperity of the wicked is to establish once again the indisputable righteousness and the all-powerful judgment of YHWH the king of the universe.”
v. 8 - though the wicked may seem to prosper now - they are dust and to dust they shall return. Like the Kansas song sings “Dust in the wind, all we are in dust in the wind.”
The Psalmist is quick to remind us that men are finite and that God is eternal. And therein lies the real point of this statement it is not so much about man being foolish and wicked - but about God being most high, eternal, and that he is the Holy and Righteous judge who will judge his enemies.
it is also a reminder that in the end, when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead - and the wicked will perish. And that as he is seated at the right hand of God, all of God’s enemies are being put under his feet. That is the promise of Psalm 110 that all of God’s enemies are being made into Jesus’ footstool - and that he is reigning over them and will reign until his enemies are put under his feet.
And verse 9 reminds us of just that:
9 For behold, your enemies, O Lord, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.
His enemies shall perish. Evildoers will be scattered. The enemies of God, are by no means any threat to God.
The Psalm then moves from a promise of judgment on the foolish evildoers to a promise of flourishing for the righteous.
The Righteous
The Righteous
10-15 - The Flourishing of the Righteous
The Psalmist writes himself in here in verses 10-11.
10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil. 11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
And though it references the Psalmist here - this ultimately points us to Christ.
The only one who is truly righteous is Christ Jesus.
Jesus is the one who is exalted. God has lifted him up, and given him the name above every other name. The one who has had his horn exalted like that of a wild ox is Christ. Those who are anointed with oil are the kings, the priests, the prophets - Jesus is our prophet, priest and king - The Messiah, the Christ, is the Anointed One. And he is a conquering King.
Jesus has already been victorious over his enemies in the cross - but he is still working to put an end to satan, sin and death once and for all. And he is doing it in his good time - when it glorifies him most.
Contrary to the wicked being like grass, the righteous are compared instead to palm trees and the cedars in Lebanon. These trees are planted in the house of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of God. The righteous are flourishing, healthy, palm trees and cedars decorating the temple of God. The bear fruit into old age. They endure. Instead of being grass that is cut and blows away and dies - the righteous are like a firm beautiful tree.
Psalm 1 has similar language: The blessed man is the one who heeds the counsel of the wicked, nor walks with sinners… but
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
The righteous are the ones who see the good works of God and rejoice in them.
The purpose, delight and duty of the righteous are to:
15 to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Jesus does this fully. He declares and demonstrates God’s righteousness. But he also enables us to do this.
Though the Scriptures tell us that no one is good but God alone, no one is righteous not even one - we rejoice that Jesus, God in the flesh, lived a life of perfect obedience to God’s law. her perfectly sang praises to God - he declared the Lord’s steadfast love in the morning and his faithfulness by night. But he also demonstrated those on the cross. We know love because he first loved us - and God showed his loved that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
To put the words of this psalm back in place… when we were stupid, dead in our trespasses and sins - Christ died for the ungodly.
The application of this Psalm is not: Don’t be stupid, instead be righteous. Rather the application of this Psalm is outside of Christ you are stupid - look to the one who is righteous. Look to Christ, the anointed one - whom God has exalted - God has lifted up his horn. And through Christ, you will be made righteous. Those who believe in Jesus are justified. Justification is the legal statement of being forgiven and free in Christ Jesus.
So now those who are in Christ, out to live lives of righteousness. Because of Jesus you can be the flourishing righteous palm tree in the house of God. You can bear good fruit into old age - you can joyously do good works for the kingdom of God - that God might be glorified.
Because of Christ, you can wake up in the morning and give thanks to the Lord. You can rejoice because Jesus has taken you from sinner who deserved the wrath of God - took the fullness of the wrath of God on himself - and he has given you his righteousness. You can prosper rather than perish because of what Christ has done.
But Christ has not made you righteous to leave you there, but so that you might proclaim the good news of his victory. That you might be wise. That you might put to death your sin.
What about the days when we wake up and we do not desire to bring praise to God for what he has done in our lives. You’re tired, life is hard, you’re sore, you’re done… turn to the Lord and ask him for wisdom. Be thankful that you have the breath to be done, that you woke up to be tired. That you have a body to be sore. But also remember the Psalms:
That is exactly where the context of this Psalm brings us. In the previous book, we read of the fall of the temple (74), we read of the collapsing of the kingdom (89), and in Psalm 88 we read of the darkest of the Psalms. It is 2 pages later that we come to Psalm 92. While last week I referenced Psalm 90 and 91 being Psalms to cure your depression - Psalm 92 serves the purpose to ground you in reality and properly point your attention, affections and actions toward the one who is worth of all honor, and glory and praise.
When you’re wallowing in self pity and misery and don’t even want to get up the morning nonetheless praise God for creating the new day.
And while you may audibly tell everyone “Well I know God knows better than I do.” Yet when no one is listening your attitude is “Well if I had my way…” While the Psalms will redirect you toward praise.
Now as I close, I want to point to one last passage of Scripture. I read off a list of sins earlier I tried to be as comprehensive as possible - so I pulled from several texts. Romans 1 lists sins for which the wrath of God is coming and yet our culture uses it as a playbook. In Gal. 5 we read of the deeds of the flesh and Paul tells us to put them off, and instead put on the fruit of the Spirit. And in another text - Paul lists sins that condemn us all and states that these will not inherit the kingdom of God - and then he writes in 1 Cor 6:11:
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
