God and Country Day
Notes
Transcript
Psalms 33:8-12
Four Reasons Our Nation Should Fear God
Four Reasons Our Nation Should Fear God
Maybe talk about the Cold War and the fear of a nuclear attack and the purchase of bomb shelters. During the height of the Cold War, particularly in the 1960s, there was a significant surge in the construction and purchase of bomb shelters in the United States due to fears of nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union. While exact numbers can be difficult to pinpoint, here are some key insights:
Public Interest: At the peak, it is estimated that over 200,000 bomb shelters were built in private homes across the U.S. Many families invested in these shelters as a precautionary measure.
Fear is the main them of the news outlets which say to the American people, “Be Afraid, be very afraid!”
We find things to be afraid of in this day and age, as a two time combat medic, when I go to the movie theater I find the exits, determine the best area’s of cover and how I would be able to help those in the theater escape and what I might use to eliminate the threat.
I. Because of His Power
I. Because of His Power
Vss 8-9 – Power in Creation
Only the Righteous have the Right to praise Him (Vs 1)
1 Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones; Praise is becoming to the upright.
But all the Earth should fear Him
To the Godly – awe and true Godly fear
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
The true Christian fears God with a trembling reverence and yet he is not afraid of God at all. He draws nigh to God with full assurance of faith and victory and yet at the same time is trembling with holy awe and fear.29
A. W. Tozer
To the ungodly – object of terror and submissive fear
9 Worship the Lord in holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth.
He Spoke and it was done
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
God makes things happen!
II. Because of His Abilities
II. Because of His Abilities
Vs 10 – Able to Baffle human counsel which opposes Him
Lit. frustrates the counsel
10 “Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; State a proposal, but it will not stand, For God is with us.”
Isaiah: Crossway Classic Commentaries Chapter 8
Having spoken of the forces of the enemies, he now comes to their counsels, as if saying, “Although the enemies may abound not only in armor and in strength but in counsel and wisdom, still they will accomplish nothing.” He forewarns them that the craftiness of the enemies and all the plans by which they endeavor to gain advantage over the people of God will in the end be unsuccessful; they will accomplish nothing, though they lack nothing and though they may have a great abundance of forces, counsels, and crafty designs.
For God is with us. Literally, “For Immanuel.” For my own part, I have no doubt that he is alluding to the name he gave to Christ; although he means that God assists his people, yet as the majesty of God is not of itself sufficient to support us, he contemplates God himself in the person of the Mediator, in whom alone he has promised to assist us.
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Reminds me of a story I heard about a young woman who came to church...
III. Because of His Consistency
III. Because of His Consistency
Vs 11- Nothing can alter His Counsels
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
21 Many plans are in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand.
The word translated counsel is related to the verb “to steer a ship.” Counsel is wise guidance that moves one’s life in the right direction.
Warren W. Wiersbe
IV. Because of His Blessing
IV. Because of His Blessing
Vs 12- Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord
Two Reasons:
Because they know Him
Because He Chose them
Because the know Him
15 How blessed are the people who are so situated; How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!
Because He chose them
6 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Peter pulled from both Isaiah 43:20 and Exodus 19:5-6
As individuals have a choice, so nations have a choice. As individuals can be blessed when they submit to walking Yahweh’s way, so nations can be blessed when they submit to walking Yahweh’s way.
John Goldingay
