All right, returning to Psalm
50, I want to preach a message that
centers around verse 21, primarily the first couple of lines. These things you have done, And
I kept silent. You thought I was altogether
like you. Now, virtually everyone believes
there is a God, even those who claim to be atheistic. I would say most of them have
a nagging feeling that they're wrong. I won't say that there
can't be such a thing as someone who truly believes there is no
God. God can allow a person to go
into the utter darkness of atheism. But I think many people that
claim to be atheists, what they're really saying is, I don't see
any sort of scientific evidence that God exists, and it's very
convenient if I just take it that he doesn't exist. The thing is, while most people
believe there is a God, they don't know what he is like. It is written that when God created
the heavens and the earth, he created man in his own image. And since man fell, man has created
God in his image. Most people perceive God to be
very much like themselves, just bigger. Whatever things they value, they
believe God values. Whatever things they tolerate,
they believe God tolerates. But God says that such thoughts
are the thoughts of the wicked. You see, this psalm is divided
into three sections. The first six verses set forth
God in his power and dominion. And then verses 7 to 16 is a
word to the faithful people among the Jews. It's a word of rebuke,
but not a strong rebuke, just some correction they needed,
and a kind of rebuke that would preserve them from becoming like
the last group that God addresses, which are the wicked, the unfaithful
among those who claim to be the people of God. Now all the humans
spoken of here were among those, they were Jews, this was addressed
to the Jews, and all of them would have said, we are the people
of God. But he divides those who profess
to be the people of God between those who really are and those
who are the people of God in word only. And to those whose
relationship to God exists only in their profession, he says, you thought I was like
you. Now notice what God declares himself to be like. Verse 1, the mighty one, God
the Lord speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the
sun to the place where it sets. Now, notice it does not say that
he invites the earth. He did not send out engraved
invitations. in some old language that makes
things sound more dignified than they normally would, and say
that the God of heaven and earth desires your presence at a judgment
he is going to hold. God, in truth, has never invited
anybody to anything. God summons people. This past week, I got a very
official-looking letter from the, I think it was the Federal
Circuit Court, that I'm in the batch of people they're considering
for jurors. Had to answer a lot of questions.
Now, they did not invite my attention. They demanded it. And if they
decide that my argument as to why I shouldn't be used as a
juror, if they don't agree with that, there's a chance I'll get
another summons from them to appear at such a court on such
a date, and it's not an invitation. If I ignore it, I'm in contempt
of court. God says he speaks and he summons the earth. The
whole earth. Paul said this, God has appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ. Now this is going to
happen. And you and I are going to be
there along with every other human being that has ever existed. They'll be there. Now, already this shows that the people that
the Lord rebukes with, you thought I was altogether like you. It
shows how He's different because He said in verse 21, these things
you have done, all these acts of wickedness, and I kept silent. Here's one of the fallacies that
natural man allows himself to fall into. He says to himself,
well, I did this thing that's considered wicked and God didn't
do anything about it. I guess it's okay. Or at least
he tolerates. He'll never do anything about
it. For 120 years, God sent Noah among the people of his day. He was called a preacher of righteousness.
And he told them what God had told them. And all the time that he was
doing that, well, really, I don't know how much time he spent building
the ark. But somewhere along the line, he started building
the ark. If that ark did not testify of
anything, it did testify of this, Noah believed what he had been
preaching to everybody else. Actions always show what a person
believes. Now, Noah could have gone out
and given a very accurate representation of what God had said to him.
He could claim he believed it. He could have held tent revivals,
filled arenas, or whatever, and had this so-called successful
ministry. But if he didn't build an ark,
then he was just saying words that he didn't believe. But despite his faithful words
and his faithful actions based upon those words, people were
saying, Old Noah, he's been telling us now, well, what's it been,
dear? A hundred years now, he's been saying, God, you're going
to flood the earth. And it hadn't happened. And it is never going
to happen. Because you see, that's how we
are. We promise things or threaten things. And then don't come get around
to doing it. And you know, I remember when
I was in junior high school, me and another fella got in a bit of a fight. It wasn't
really serious, because neither one of us liked fighting. But
you know, pride will make you do things you wouldn't do otherwise.
And the vice principal stepped out. And he saw us shoving each other
or something like that. And he pointed and says, See
me in my office tomorrow." Well, I knew what this vice principal
was like. He had a paddle, and he knew how to use it. All the rest of that day, I was
in agony. Mr. Childress is going to turn
my rear end red. Next day, I go to school. Now,
I wasn't going to voluntarily go to the office. I was going
to wait and see if he called us. But the whole day, I'm sitting
there wondering. You know, the day went by, he never did call
us. Next day, I wasn't so worried. Following day, even if I left,
he doesn't even remember it. And now it's what, coming up
on 60 years later, not worried about it at all. People think God's like that.
He, in mercy, withholds judgment, delays it. And for that reason,
people fool themselves. Well, he's like us. He forgot
about it. Or what he said, he just said
because he was mad. And he hauled off and made a
threat and later thought better of it. You thought I was altogether
like you. Verse two now, from Zion, perfect
in beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes and will not be
silent. Now he's been silent, hadn't
done a thing. In their wickedness, they've
ignored him. They have broken his laws that
he gave them. at every opportunity. When men
sent by God to confront the people of God, when they would speak,
these wicked would ignore them. And God was silent for a long
time. He said, our God comes and will not be silent. Peter said, People say, where's
the promise of his coming? For everything continues just
as it has since the fathers. And that's exactly what's being
spoken of here. Our Lord promised from way back,
I mean, we have it way back in the message of Enoch, the Lord
comes with 10,000s of his angels. And God's judgment on this world,
from as far back as humans have been around, that has been spoken
of. And then when Jesus Christ comes,
he reiterates that. And he says, in an hour that
you don't expect it, I'll show up. When they are saying peace
and safety, disaster will come. Well, some years went by, and
actually, it kind of seems like the apostles themselves thought
that the Lord was talking about coming back really, really soon
and winding up human history as we know it. They were mistaken
in that. Now, they never directly said
that, but you kind of pick that up. But those who were skeptics
Peter calls them scoffers. He said they will arise in the
last day and say, where's this promise slash threat of his coming? Everything's going on just like
it always has. Peter went on to remind them,
just remember that in the days of Noah, God waited. while Noah prepared the ark.
Do you know why Judgment Day hasn't come yet? There's only
one reason. Well, I could say two. First of all, God already
appointed that day and it hadn't got here yet. But judgment has not fallen on
this world because the ark has been prepared. Jesus Christ. And God's still loading it. With
those whom he will preserve through the judgment. But the day will
come just like is in the days of Noah. And the Lord said people
will be eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage.
You know, and people have tried to use that saying that there's
going to be gluttony and drunkenness and adultery. That's not what
the Lord meant by it. He's saying all the normal things
of life are going to keep going on. Folks are going to be eating
just like they always did. There's going to be folks getting
married. Nothing is going to look any different until judgment
comes. Brother Henry Mahan made this
point, said, Noah built the ark and got in it before one drop
of rain fell. Now, if the Lord had sent out
Noah to preach, and as near as we can tell from the scriptures,
it had not rained up to this point. The ground was watered
differently. And if the Lord, though, had
told Noah, here's what you tell him, gonna be water from heaven. And
if every once in a while he'd send a thunderstorm, Well, some
people might have paid more attention. But see, that's not how God operates.
He expects us to believe his word. And so nothing that looked like
judgment came until all the judgment came. And it's interesting, on
that day, Noah had finally gotten all the animals in the ark that
were supposed to go, and he got his wife and his three sons and
their wives, they were all in the ark, and then Noah went in,
and the Bible says, God shut them in. It doesn't say, and
Noah pulled up the gangplank. It says, God shut them in. And
that's what God is doing right now. There is that ark, Christ
Jesus. And he is gathering his people
into that ark, and the day will come when God shuts the door,
when he shuts them in. And then, quite literally, all
hell is going to break loose. But those who are in the ark,
they won't even get wet, not even a mist. It's coming. He's silent so far. One time, I remember listening
to Brother Scott Richardson, and he says, he mentioned that
people keep saying, I just want God to speak. He said, do you
know what you're asking for? He said, God spoke to Noah and
never said another word for 120 years. And the next time he spoke,
it was the end. Now God has spoken to us in his
son, says the book of Hebrews. The next time God speaks, it's
all over. It's done. He comes and will not be silent. A fire devours before him and
around him. A tempest rages. Our particular culture starting
with us baby boomers, we got kind of soft. You know, you that
are in my generation, remember I'd like to teach the world to
sing in perfect harmony, you know, and if it wasn't the commercial,
they didn't mention Coke, but it was used, but it was to all
this peace and harmony, and we're all Going to get along. It's the age of Aquarius, you
know. Peace and understanding just around the corner. And we celebrated cuteness. And religion kind of followed,
Christian religion. They turned the God of justice
into an old grandfather that doesn't have the will to rebuke
his grandchildren. No matter what they do, that's
a good boy. But that's not what God is like. Fire devourers. He summons the
heavens above and the earth that he may judge his people. means you and me. You say, well,
preacher, you said before judgment won't come. Judgment means different
things. Sometimes we speak of judgment
when what we're really talking about is punishment, the punishment
that results from the judgment. But judgment, strictly speaking,
just means determining whether or not someone is guilty. And God will judge his people.
And by this, I take it to mean all who claim to be his people. He will judge them. He will examine
them to determine whether or not their profession is real
or just a profession. Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, did we not do many wonderful works in your
name, and in your name cast out demons? And the Lord never denied
that they did those things. He just said. I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. These were people that claimed
to be his people. These were people that claimed
that all that they did, they did in his name. And in so doing,
they did some remarkable things. But he says, I don't know you.
Not meaning he didn't know who they were. Speaking of knowing us in the
sense when Peter says we're elect according to the foreknowledge
of God, and that indicates a knowledge
of love, an intimate connection. He never knew these people. He says, Verse five, gather to
me my consecrated ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice. So these are all those who offer
their sacrifices all according to the rules. If the Bible said they were,
or if the law told them on such and such a day, you offer this
sacrifice, got to be this kind, they were all doing that. And
they entered into covenant with God. And he said, so all of you
come here. And you know, we make much of
the fact that we are determined to know nothing in this world
other than Christ and him crucified. That's our sacrifice. We're not
offering the sacrifice because it's already been offered, but
it's the sacrifice to which we appeal. And therefore, God gathers all
those who make a claim upon the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then verse six, and the heavens
proclaim his righteousness for God himself is judge. Now men think that God's like
them. They think that because they
go through the motions, God is pleased. Because, you know, if
people go through the motions of treating us right, we just
kind of accept the fact that they must be favorably disposed
to us. Or we really don't care. You
know, if you go to buy a car, Part of the method of a salesman
is to make you think that he really likes you and that he
is very interested in getting you the best deal. And they're pretty good at it.
We like to hear people speak kindly to us. And they'll even
make a show of things that are pre-planned. They'll act like
it's spontaneous, you know. And this isn't true just a car
salesman, but that's kind of a kind of person that's commonly
referred to. But you're looking at that car,
and he can tell you want it. But you're bucking a little bit
at the price, and he'll say, tell you what, because it's you. And I know you want it, you know? I can probably knock $2,000 off
of that, and I can get it past the boss. What's he doing? He's acting like you're special.
And that's what's motivating him to knock $2,000 off the price. And it makes you think, this
guy likes me. Yeah, I'll take that car. When
all along, anybody walks in can get that price if they'll, you
know, just hang on long enough. But when people do that, We're
satisfied with it, because we got the $2,000 off, and that's
what we were looking for. God's not like that. God is not interested in what
you say. He's not interested in your recited
prayers, your obligatory thank yous. He's looking in your heart. Wicked men think that God can't
see what's really going on inside. Men and women go to church and
they sit there bored to tears. They sit there looking at their
watches because they can't wait until it's over. But they think
God's noticing. I'll wait it out. He won't do
anything to me as long as I show up at church. God's not watching your attendance. He's looking at your heart. That's why I've made the statement
before, and it needs a proper context, but you know what I
mean. If you don't want to come to church, you may as well not. if you're coming to church to
earn points with God, because you are wasting your time. Now, if you don't want to come
to church, come to church, because you might hear something that'll
make you want to come. There have been plenty of times
Bonnie said, dinner's ready, and I had no appetite. But I got my food. and started to eat, and an appetite
showed up. So I'm not saying, you know,
on any particular Sunday, I don't feel like going to church, that
you shouldn't. No, go ahead. If you can get here, be here. It will do you good. But I'll
tell you one thing it won't do. It will not gain you points with
God. Churches used to have, at least
churches where I came from, they'd have this fancy scroll work type
thing. They'd have one on one side that
told you what the hymns for the day were going to be. On the
other side, it would have attendance a year ago, attendance last week. Of course, you didn't know what
attendance this week was until next week because I hadn't finished
counting. Why? Well, that's kind of a brag board
or a shame board. Oh, our attendance is going down. We got to do something. Oh, attendance
going up. God's blessing us. God doesn't
read that. He reads your heart. You thought I was altogether
like you? People think that what God has
disallowed at one time He has now decided is OK. Now, there
are things in old covenant law that changed because the covenant
changed. There were things that were binding
on the Jewish nation that are not binding on us. But they were
ceremonial matters. What God has considered to be
sin has never changed. Now, I'll give you an example
of how we do that, and probably everyone who has been a parent
or is now a parent, particularly of teenagers, will understand
that. When you get married and you're
considering having kids, there's probably this thought in your
mind, I'm going to raise them kids right, and they are going
to turn out right. Here's the rules. They're going
to do this, and they're going to do that. You get your kids,
and while they're little children, you know, you can kind of enforce
that because the little kids are afraid of you. And you think,
boy, I am going to have a model family. And then they turn 13. And you find out that they've
got a will. And what they don't have is the maturity to keep
their will to themselves. And all these rules you set up,
they are testing them and they test them to the limits. And
because we're imperfect, we discover sometimes, you know, that rule
really wasn't necessary. And so we change it. God never
has that problem. Everything he ever called a sin
is still a sin. He is not modernized. People
are telling those of us that hold to a rather conservative
view of morality, oh, you're on the wrong side of history. Well, thank God. Because history
always goes in the wrong direction. You thought I was altogether
like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse
you to your face. The judgment's coming. And to
such people as that, he said, I'll accuse you to your face.
Do you remember the story of the woman taken in adultery?
And after he had said, you without sin cast the first stone, and
all those that had rocks in their hands dropped their rocks and
turned around and walked away, the Lord said, woman, where are
your accusers? He said, nay, Lord. And as it
appears in the King James, he says, neither do I condemn you.
Go and sin no more. But in all reality, it's the
same word he used when he says, where are your accusers? He said,
neither do I accuse you. Now, did Christ not accuse this
woman because she had not done the things she had been charged
with? No. That wasn't his reason for saying,
I do not accuse you. He did not accuse her for two
things. Remember, he said, you without
sin cast the first stone. He was the only person there
without sin. He's the only one that had the
right to cast a stone at this woman. So when he says, neither do I
accuse you, it means something. And he said, neither do I accuse
you, because he knew full well that all her sins, whatever they
may be, no matter how severe they were or how often they happened,
how stubborn they were, he would bear them in his body on the
tree and he would be accused of them. Therefore, he wouldn't
accuse her of them. But there is a people. who may be on the outside or
upright, finest folks in town, leaders in churches, preachers,
deacons, Sunday school teachers, men and women who are held in
high esteem in the circles of Christian religion, and yet They
don't know God. And what does God say to them?
I will accuse you to your face. Can you imagine what that will
be? Can you imagine what it is like
to stand before the God who knows all and who has all power And
he accuses you, and he does so in righteousness. Therefore,
his accusation means you are guilty, and your guilt means
you will be punished. And there is no court above that
to appeal to. He says, consider this, you who
forget God, or I will tear you to pieces with none to rescue. We don't want to end on that
note. And God didn't end on that note.
He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me. And he prepares the way that
I may show him the salvation of God. Now, we like to apply everything
to our Lord Jesus Christ, and this certainly has application
to Him. But I want to keep with the point that I've been making. You'll notice that the Lord says,
he who offers sin offerings honors me. He who offers whole burnt
offerings honors me. That's not what he said. He said, he who sacrifices thank
offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him
the salvation of God. Why would he say that? Well,
earlier he said, he really, you know, and this is to the faithful
back here, he says in verse eight, I do not rebuke you for your
sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have
no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens. And
he said, I'm not rebuking you because you offer these sacrifices. I commanded you to do it. But
understand, I don't need them. They do not improve my lot in
any way. They do not change my mind in
any way. And why is that? Well, the blood
of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. They merely point to
the one sacrifice that did. And that's the sacrifice that
our Lord, if you will, our God needed. It was necessary for
him that Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, die in the place
of his elect. It was necessary because God
is just. And though someone be the elect
of God, if his sins are yet upon him, then he will come under
the judgment of God. God will never be merciful at
the expense of his justice. God didn't need bulls for that.
He didn't need sheep. He didn't need goats or pigeons.
He needed his son. Now in the old covenant economy,
once the sin offerings had been offered and all that, all that
business was clear, they could offer thank offerings. These offerings were not required, but they were available. And
what were they for? They were the offerings made
by those who were thankful to God that their sins had been washed
away. They were giving thanks for the
sacrifice that the bulls and the goats simply typified. Now here we are. It's been 2,000
years approximately since the last God-sanctioned sacrifice
of an animal happened. And here's the reason. Jesus
Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, was sacrificed. And God doesn't need any bulls.
He doesn't need any goats, and neither do we. By the death of Christ, our sins
are gone. He will not accuse us. Despite our many sins, they'll
never be brought up. What should that make us do?
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. Every morning it should be that
the first thought that crosses our mind is, thank you, God,
that you didn't send me to hell last night, because I deserved
it. But by the blood of your Son,
you have preserved me and will continue. That's a sacrifice
of thanksgiving. We don't bring an actual sacrifice,
but in our hearts we give Him praise and glorify Him as the
God of grace and mercy, for He preserves us. And in so doing,
we recognize He's not like us. He's not like us in judgment,
because we negotiate with those that offend us. God never negotiates. And He is not like us when it
comes to grace and mercy, because generally speaking, we're not
very gracious and merciful. Thank God He's not like us. You don't have to worry about
offering a sacrifice to put away your sin. You who believe, you
don't have to worry about that. That's done. Our Lord said, it's
finished. But when we find ourselves cold-hearted
toward Christ and God, what's the way back? Thanksgiving. Give Him thanks for all the good
He has done, especially for putting up with you. Does that make sense
to you? See, it's never hard for the
believer. We're never given a burden to bear. We are just told, give thanks
that someone else bore your burden. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for what
You have done. Make Your word profitable and powerful. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.