The Mighty One, God the LORD

Don’t pray

Introduction

Thankfully, I’ve never in my life had to stand before a judge, and my hope is to keep that track record going.

Now, I’ve come somewhat close because back in the day, I wasn’t the slowest of drivers. During my college years I accumulated a good number of speeding tickets and actually ended up having my license suspended for a good 6 months because the state of Illinois thought that’d be best for me and for me to learn to slow down. Now, that was actually the law because I received a certain amount of tickets within a fairly short time frame.

Now, I learned right before my suspension was to go into effect that I could appeal the suspension or one of the tickets and if that ticket was thrown out it would cut my suspension down in half. Now, I was tempted to go before a judge and plead my case on why I shouldn’t have received my last speeding ticket but I decided not to because, in all honesty, I had no case to plead. I was guilty. It was just my arrogant, youthful self that wanted to see if I could talk my way out of a ticket. Can I manipulate a judge into feeling bad for me and throwing out the ticket.

But, for a second I had a moment of maturity because I understood that I’m guilty, and in reality I’m just some punk 19 year old kid that needs to learn his lesson. And to be honest as well, I was intimidated by the thought of having to stand before a judge.

We’ve all seen images of courtrooms and more than likely, many of us have watched certain high-level trials play out on tv. There’s a seriousness and solemness in a courtroom. There’s order in a courtroom. It’s not a light-hearted environment. It’s heavy. And when we observe these trials, there’s probably a moment when we think to ourselves, “I’m glad that’s not me sitting there facing accusation and if found guilty having to hear the sentencing handed down from the judge.”

Many, if not most of us will never find ourselves sitting in a courtroom facing accusation and judgment.

However, Scripture is very clear that no one will escape God’s judgment. We will all be held to account before a Holy God, the judge of all the earth. And for those who do not turn from their sin, and turn in faith to Jesus Christ will forever bear the wrath of a holy God.

This psalm before us this morning, Psalm 50, the last psalm we’ll go through this summer is a judgment psalm. But it’s a judgment psalm that we might not be expecting.

Problem

And the reason for that is we typically think of judgment as something that is solely reserved for those outside the covenant relationship with God. Judgment is something reserved only for unbelievers. Right? Well, not so fast.

Even though many of us here in this room this morning have been saved by God’s grace, that does not mean we now have a license to live, act, and respond however we would like. We have been saved by God’s grace, not through works, yes and amen, and now He calls on us to put to death that which is wicked and worldly in our lives. We’re called to crucify the flesh, pick up our cross and follow Christ.

This is a daily responsibility of all who belong to God, and we do so through the power of the Spirit and His grace, but we must now work to become more and more like Christ.

Philippians 1:27 (ESV)

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Philippians 2:12 (ESV)

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

1 Timothy 4:7 (ESV)

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;

Romans 6:12–13 (ESV)

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

These passages and others like it teach that those who now belong to God must live lives worthy of the gospel to which we claim and have been changed by while at the same time remembering that our right-standing before God is not based upon our performance to live perfectly but upon the perfect life and sacrifice of Christ.

But Christ’s perfect life does not excuse us from living as God has called us to live.

Listen, I have two children. They will always be my children. There’s nothing they can do to lose my love for them and their place in our family. That cannot be changed. They belong to Amy and I. But, we have standards and expectations within our home and standards and expectations on them of how we want them to live.

Now, they know that mom and dad will always love them but that doesn’t now mean they have free reign to do whatever they want. When they fall short of these expectations in our home, as parents, we render judgment and sentencing.

Psalm 50 is a judgment psalm of God’s people. It’s a call to God’s people to examine their lives against the Word of God and to repent where they fall short.

This psalm is taking us before the judge of all the earth. We’re entering His courtroom and it is a solemn experience calling us to sober reflection as God’s people.

He’s going to issue two charges against God’s people. Charges are never easy to hear but if we want to experience fullness of life and joy we must hear them, admit where we’re guilty, and repent. The promise is, that those who respond favorably to God’s charges will find fullness of joy.

So, let’s enter the courtroom and hear from Him.

Body

In these opening six verses,

God enters the courtroom as judge of all the earth.

Hear what the psalmist says.

Psalm 50:1–6 (ESV)

The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people: “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!” The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! Selah

Do you see in verses 4 and 5 God’s summoning of His covenant people to stand before him in judgment? This psalm was obviously addressed to Israel, His covenant people, His beloved. And we now, as the church, bought and paid for by the death of Christ now belong to Him as well. We are His covenant people, His beloved.

This is a solemn moment here as the judge enters the courtroom and summons all people to hear from Him. Verse 1, “The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth.”

We see three names of God here in verse 1. He is “El” or the Mighty One. The one who leads and is strong over all. We have “Elohim” or God, the one who rules over the universe, the object of religious fear. Lastly, we have "Yahweh” the self-existent One. He exists because He says He exists. This is power, this is might, this is serious.

Verse 3, “Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest.”

This scene reminds me of Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne room in Isaiah 6.

Isaiah 6:1–5 (ESV)

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

This is the judge of all the earth entering the courtroom. All mouths are shut at his appearance and at the hearing of His name.

And this God calls all the earth before Him. “He calls to the heavens above and to the earth below. From the east to the west.” No one escapes his judgment.

Church, do we see God as holy, holy, holy? Brother and sister here, do you fear God and treat Him with awe and respect? The awe and respect He is deserving of? Do you see him as glorious? When we see God in his holiness, his might, his strength, his power, his rule over the universe, do we respond like Isaiah, “Woe is me, I am a man/woman of unclean lips, and I’ve seen the King.” Do we see the grotesqueness of our sin and betrayal? Do we see our need for grace and marvel that he’s been merciful to us?

In R.C. Sprouls’ book “The Holiness of God” he said,

“When we understand the character of God, when we grasp something of His holiness, then we begin to understand the radical character of our sin and hopelessness. Helpless sinners can survive only by grace. Our strength is futile in itself; we are spiritually impotent without the assistance of a merciful God. We may dislike giving our attention to God's wrath and justice, but until we incline ourselves to these aspects of God's nature, we will never appreciate what has been wrought for us by grace. Even Edwards's sermon on sinners in God's hands was not designed to stress the flames of hell. The resounding accent falls not on the fiery pit but on the hands of the God who holds us and rescues us from it. The hands of God are gracious hands. They alone have the power to rescue us from certain destruction.”

Verse 6 ends with the word, Selah. Selah seems to typically indicate a break in thought or what’s been said and then I believe a call to quiet reflection and meditation. If that’s true, then there’s no better time to pause and meditate here as we reflect on the holiness, might, and glory of the King of the universe, the judge of all the earth; to be silent before him as Habakkuk says,

Habakkuk 2:20 (ESV)

The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

Let’s do that now. Before we hear God’s charges, His indictments, let’s be silent before Him and meditate upon His holiness. Would you bow and pray with me?

Pray

Let’s hear God speak to us now.

Verse 7.

Psalm 50:7–15 (ESV)

“Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

This here is,

The First Charge: Formalism.

Now, what is formalism? Formalism is strict adherence to prescribed or external religious forms.

Meaning, the thinking behind religious formalism is that by simply doing what is asked of me regardless of motives or my heart engagement, that I can appease a holy God through religious piety or acts.

Okay, so what’s happening here in these verses? Well, we need to remember that in the books of the law, which include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy that God gave His people, the Israelites His law. He gave instructions for the building of the tabernacle, where he would reside with His people. He gave instructions for the role of the High Priest. He gave detailed instructions regarding the sacrificial system and what was required of His people to have their sins atoned for.

Now, God’s people misunderstood the purpose of the law, the purpose of the Priest, the purpose of the tabernacle, the purpose of the sacrificial system. Now, I don’t have time to go into all of this but from a very high level, God instituted the sacrificial system to reveal the ugliness of sin, the need for redemption and atonement, the need for a true and better sacrifice than just the sacrifice of lambs and goats. The need for a better High Priest who could enter into the holy of holies and make atonement for God’s people and draw them back into relationship with Him once again.

All of this was pointing to a future Messiah, Jesus who would be the final sacrifice for sin.

The people missed this, they missed that God was after their hearts being engaged with him and they instead entered into formalism thinking, as long as I make this sacrifice, go through the motions, then God has to be okay with me. Their hearts were not engaged. There was no true repentance, no true desire to put sin to death, to pursue and love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. There was no desire to obey and follow him. They just lived how they wanted and thought, I’ll just make my sacrifice and God and I will be good.

Here’s a really simple illustration to try and show the problem with this.

When siblings fight each other or one sibling does something to the other to hurt them, what do we typically have them do to make things right? We say, "Go over there to them, tell them you’re sorry and give them a hug.” What do they typically do? (begrudgingly) “Sorry, (and give them a lame hug.)”

Now, let me ask you. Did they do what was asked? Yes. They said the word, “sorry” and they technically gave what was considered a hug.

So, why do we as parents have a problem with what they just did? Because there was no heart engagement. It wasn’t real. They just went through the motions of what was asked or expected. They’re not thinking through what they did to harm the other person and their need to truly make things right.

Now, before we get too far down the road here, let me bring us back to the text. In verse 8 God says, “Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.”

So, let me say this. Ritual is not a bad thing. Tradition is not a bad thing. Healthy rhythms in our lives are very good. We here as a church have a certain liturgy that we walk through ever single Sunday. In fact, my devotional life follows this liturgy that we have here. A call to worship. A prayer of confession and assurance of grace. Hearing from God’s Word and then responding to it.

There’s nothing wrong with ritual, liturgy and tradition. We practice baptism and the Lord’s Supper here often.

God’s saying here in this psalm, “I’m not rebuking you because you’re making sacrifices. I’ve asked you to make sacrifices.” But you’re failing to understand that the rituals I’ve given you are for your benefit, not mine. What’s he say in verses 9-13? “I don’t need bulls and goats and birds. They all belong to me anyway. I’ve made them all.” “Do you really think you’re giving me something that’s not already mine?”

“What you need is to be reminded that you’re offering a sacrifice because of your sin and betrayal of a holy God and that instead of destroying you because of your sin, God’s saying, I’m accepting the destruction of another, the sacrifice of another, the death of another in your place and giving you grace.” And all this should result in what we see God desiring in verse 14: thankfulness, which is a spirit of worship. That’s what God’s after.

When we ask our child to say “sorry” to their sibling, we’re not after them just saying the word. We want them to recognize that they’ve hurt and offended another. They need to own up to their mistake and confess it. When we want them to hug it out, we’re saying, you need the relationship to be restored.

Formalism thinks, “I did what was asked, that’s good enough. I’m doing God a favor.” God’s calling us to a spirit of thankfulness and worship that should be continually welling up in our hearts as we meditate upon Him and His goodness and deliverance.

We celebrated communion today. The formalist believes, “Scripture tells me to do this often. I did this today. I’m good and I did God a favor.” Meanwhile, God is in the heavens saying, “I don’t care that you ate a styrofoamish piece of bread and little plastic cup of juice. I don’t need that from you. I own it all anyway! This is for you, for your good. I want these elements of the bread and juice to remind you of what I’ve done for you which should result in a heart attitude of thankfulness and worship.” Which then leads to a life that glorifies God as giver and sustainer and deliverer of all, as verse 15 points to.

gathering together as the church - God doesn’t need your attendance as if it is helping his reputation in the world. You need this!

And so, charge number one is a charge against God’s people who are misunderstanding what God is after in their lives. Thinking we earn or maintain his favor through ritual and religion. A mindset that believes that God somehow needs our religious or ritualistic acts. When in reality, what God is after is a thankful heart which springs up in worship of Him.

But there’s also a second charge in verses 16-21, and there’s a change in who he’s addressing.

Look at verse 16.

Psalm 50:16 (ESV)

But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?

This brings us to,

The Second Charge: Hypocrisy.

The first charge was given to those who are truly God’s people and have just meandered away from God’s expectation and standard for them. It was a heavy charge, but a loving one meant to draw them back into His presence.

This charge is different though. It’s addressed to “the wicked.” This charge is levied against those who think they can belong to God through saying the right thing out of one side of their mouth but living in direct and defiant disobedience to God. This is hypocrisy.

In public, when surrounded by others they say the right things. They probably sound very religious and very upright. But in secret, their true selves are revealed.

Verse 17 says they “hate discipline.” They “cast aside God’s words.” These are people who are not interested in obeying and submitting to God’s word. They say they are but do the opposite instead. And verses 18, 19, and 20 all give evidence of their hypocrisy. They’re thieves, adulterers, lustful both in mind and heart, they’re deceitful and slanderous.

Now, this doesn’t mean if you’re a follower of Christ that you never sin, but I’ve loved how Mark Dever puts it, I’ve slightly paraphrased it.

He says,

“The difference between Christians and non-Christians is not that non-Christians sin and Christians don’t. The difference is found in what side we take in the battle. Christians take God’s side against sin, whereas non-Christians take sin’s side against God.

A Christian will sin, but turn to God and his word and say “help me fight my sin.” A non-Christian, even if he recognizes his sin, effectively responds, “I want my sin more than God.”

These are strong words here, but we need to hear them. You cannot continue in unrepentant sin, in direct disobedience to God’s Word and still claim to be a Christian.

And I’m not talking about perfection. Christian’s sin and fall short of God’s standard. But what reveals that we belong to Christ is that we fight sin in our lives by the power of the Spirit. We don’t excuse it, we don’t justify it, we slay it.

And so, if you are an unrepentant slanderer of others, if you’re living dishonestly with others or cheating others in your business, if you are living in a sexual relationship with someone who is not your spouse, if you are indulging in pornography and lustful thoughts, if you are abusing alcohol, if you’re an unrepentant gossip, stirring division without warring against sin, siding with God against it, engaging in community with others to put this sin to death but instead are approving of it, ignoring it, justifying it, or thinking that your other religious acts somehow overshadow your direct disobedience to God’s word then you are a hypocrite, and Scripture would say, you’re not a true follower of God.

I know those are hard words to hear, but God’s Words are harder in verse 21.

Psalm 50:21 (ESV)

These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

My rebuke is weak. I’m just trying to draw your hearts to God’s Word. But God’s rebuke, the Mighty One, the God who reigns over the universe, the self-existent one should send a shiver down our spine. If this is you? How will you respond?

The charge is meant to awaken you to your need for God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Conclusion

In the remaining two verses God the judge makes his final statement to all. Both those who truly belong to Him, but have become misguided and those who are hypocrites and imposters.

Psalm 50:22–23 (ESV)

“Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver! The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”

There have been two kinds of people in this psalm. The formalists and the hypocrites. Both forget God. The formalist forgets that what God truly desires is a heart that is thankful for his grace which then springs up in worship of His great and glorious name. The hypocrite mocks God thinking they can manipulate him through their pious words while their lives live in direct disobedience. They forget that God is judge over all the earth and their sins will not be forgotten.

And so, though there are two kinds of people addressed here, the response from both should be the same. Repentance.

gospel proclamation