Psalm 83, keep not thou silent,
O God. If we can enter in somehow to
the spirit of these psalms, you hear the cries in these psalms,
David and Asaph and all of the psalmists. Music is a beautiful
way to express yourself to the Lord or to people. And it causes the heart to kind
of flow, doesn't it? The music with it. And you hear
these prayers and these songs so heartfelt. Keep not thou silence,
O God. Hold not thy peace and be not
still, O God. For though thine enemies make
a tumult and they that hate thee have lifted up the head, They
have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against
thy hidden ones. They have said, come and let
us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be
no more in remembrance. You know, it's amazing to me,
whatever it means, people think it means different things and
have ideas about the way God is dealing with Israel throughout
the Generations, but this is still true of Israel, isn't it?
There's still people trying to make them go away For whatever
reason in God's providence They're still trying to cut them
off from being a nation For they have consulted together with
one consent verse 5 look at that and they are Confederate against
you You'd think he would say against us But he knows the bottom
line, I mean, the heart of the matter. He's cutting right to
the problem. The tabernacles of Edom, and
in these next verses, he mentions them by name. We'll talk a little
bit about that. The tabernacles of Edom and the
Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagareens and Gebel and Ammon and Amalek
and the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre. Asser also
is joined with them. They have hope in the children
of Lot, Selah. Do unto them as unto the Midianites
as to Sisera, as to Jabin at the brook of Chison, which perisheth
at Endor, perished at Endor. They became as dung from the
earth. Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeab. Yea, all their princes as Zeba.
Zalkyna, Zalmunna, who said, let us take to ourselves the
houses of God in possession. Oh my God, make them like a wheel
as the stubble before the wind, as the fire burneth the wood,
and as the flame seteth the mountains on fire. So persecute them with
thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces
with shame that they may seek thy name, O Lord. Let them be
confounded and troubled forever, yea, let them be put to shame
and perish, that men may know. Do all of that for this reason,
that men may know, that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah,
art the most high over all the earth. Well, some key verses,
key words in this song. A lot of it is Him naming these different countries
and we won't look into them, try to give any kind of history,
particularly on each of these. That would take so long and take
up so much time. But the key to this psalm, I
believe, is in just a few words of it. That's often the case
in the psalms. And this psalm expresses a phenomenon
that's evident in all of scripture and in our experience as well.
And that is that people who are enemies naturally are friends
with regard to one cause. Those who disagree in other ways
all agree on one thing. They all hate and oppose the
God of the Bible, his son, Jesus Christ. Verse five, they've consulted
together with one consent. When do men ever do that? You
look at The leaders of this country never agree on anything. It's
hard to get two people to agree on anything. Husband and wife
can't agree on anything, it seems like. Without the Lord's grace,
we're all at enmity with one another. But they've consulted together
with one consent. They are confederate in this.
What is it? They're against you. against
you. And as I said, this is all in
the scriptures. They're not confederate in any
other way. The word means in alliance with one another. But
they're agreed in their enmity against their Creator and Sovereign.
In Acts 4, you know that scripture. I was going to have you turn
there. Acts 4, 23 through 28, if you want to jot that down.
They all rose up, didn't they? The kings of the earth rose up.
Pilate and Herod And the Jews and the Gentiles hated one another. Pilate and Herod, according to
history, hated one another. But they all rose up against
thy holy child, Jesus. But they did whatsoever thy hand
and counsel determined before to be done. And this is an interesting... I'll tell you what, let's turn
over there, because I want you to see something in Acts 4. That's
interesting. I never saw before looking at
it. X 4 23. I never noticed this
before. I've always seen, you know what
we what our point is right now in this that the people of the
earth though there they disagree on everything. Can't decide where
to go to dinner. But everybody's of one consent
in hating the Lord Jesus Christ. I see that, but there's another
alliance in this verse. Look at verse 23. And being let
go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief
priests and elders had said unto them. And when they had heard
that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord. You see that? and said, Lord,
thou art God, which has made heaven and earth and sea and
all that in them is, who by the mouth of thy servant David has
said, why did the heathen rage? And the people imagined vain
things. The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were
gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.
So you see there are two alliances. They're gathered together against
Christ And we gather in his name and are of one accord by his
grace. That also doesn't happen naturally,
does it? God's people were all of one
accord, and so were his enemies. So realizing what he was up against
now in this world, the psalmist, keeping verse five in mind, that's
in his heart when he says verse one. He's crying out to God,
why? Because we're surrounded by enemies. Surrounded by enemies. So that
in his heart and mind, seeing what he was up against, what
the believer is up against, he cries to God in verse one. Keep
not thou silence, oh God. Hold not thy peace and be not
still. Oh God. God's people need the
word of God. Got to have it. Got to have a
word from God. David said in Psalm 28, one to
thee will I cry, Oh Lord, my rock be not silent to me. Lest if thou be silent to me,
I become like them that go down into the pit. As we've said before, in that
verse, there's one difference. David said, I'm just like those
that go down into the pit, except for one thing. God has spoken
to me. Don't be silent. Don't stop,
Lord, speak to me. Speak to me. Matthew 4, 4, the
Lord answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God. Is that true of you? Is that honestly now before God?
Is that true? Could you not live without his
word? That's what our song is to say.
Oh God. I always remember that. Version
in the Beatitudes. Matthew Chapter 5, I believe
it is. It says the Lord sat down and opened his mouth. The Son of God opened his mouth
and the first word that came out of it was blessed. This is good evidence now of
who's alive and who's dead spiritually. Living people eat and they have
one spiritual food. Turn to Job chapter 23 because
I want you to see the context of this. I could quote the part
that that directly relates to my point
here, but I want us to see the context of it. Job 23, 8. Behold, I go forward, but he's
not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. See, this
is the idea in our song. Don't be silent. Don't hide. Don't don't. Don't make me wonder. On the left hand where he does
work, but I cannot behold him. He had it himself on the right
hand that I cannot see him, but he knows the way that I take. I have no evidence of God's presence. But by God's grace, we have faith.
He knows me. I can't see him, but he knows
me. Isn't that beautiful? That's my hope. Where's God? I don't know. But He knows where
I am. He knows the way that I take. And when He has tried me... What
trial? Oh, you're going through some
bad thing? We just read it. You can't find God? What worse trial
is there? When He's tried me, though, I'll
come forth as gold, because He doeth all things well. My foot hath held His steps,
His way have I kept and not declined. Even though I don't see any evidence
of His presence, His favor, I know. I know He knows me, and I know
His purpose toward me is good, even in this. Neither have I
gone back, verse 12, from the commandment of His lips. I have
esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. Job's not bragging now. He's
just telling it like it is. Is it that way with us, honestly?
How long could you go without a word from God? And when that's true, it's evident,
isn't it? Maybe not to me, but concerning
myself. But sometimes God is silent.
Sometimes He's quiet. When the disciples were on that
ship in the storm, our Lord was asleep on a pillow in the bottom
of the ship. Why did he do that? He was still. He was laying there still. Our psalmist said, be not still,
oh God. Rise up. Help us. Save us. But he lays there for a while.
He's still and quiet for a time. He could have immediately calmed
the storm before anybody was ever troubled by it. But he was
the one that brought the storm. And he was silent for a time,
and we know why, to try their faith. He gives faith, and he
tries it. We just read that in Job 2310.
He knoweth the way that I take, and when he tries me, when he
hath tried me, I'll come forth as gold. And that's not because of some
inherent quality in us, This is because the reason that the
Lord gives us faith to begin with, and tries it, is that he
might bring us forth as God. We're his treasure. He said,
you're my jewels, my precious jewels. So when the Lord is quiet
and still, while we're in trouble, let's trust him. He's proven
so many times that He's worthy of our trust. Hasn't He? Has
He tried you before? Has He ever forsaken you? But we also understand this prayer.
Lord, don't stay silent. Don't remain silent. Don't leave
us there. Verse 2, For lo, thine enemies
make a tumult. They're not quiet. We don't have
any problem hearing them, do we? They that hate thee have
lifted up the head. I said there's a few key words
now in this psalm that tell the story, that give us the message. We could sit there and talk about
who all these different ites are and talk about the history
of it. But God has a message in this
book. One message that's told over
and over in this book, and you know what it is? It's not a history
lesson. It's a revelation of his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's who this psalmist
is crying to. If God speaks, who's speaking?
The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the word, the living word.
And he's crying out to him, and he says here, there's one key
word in this verse They that hate thee have lifted up. Here's man's simple problem by
nature. They hate God. They hate God. It's not that we just disagree
on something. You either love God or you hate God. He put his
finger on it, Peter. Do you love me? That's what it
boils down to, doesn't it? Let's decide right now whether
you're going to be a fisherman or a fisher of men. What's going
to settle the matter? Do you love me? But man by nature hates God.
Man by nature is enmity against God. The reason religious people
speak of a God who tries to do things but can't do anything
unless man lets him, you know why they talk about that? Because
they hate the God who does as He pleases, with whom He pleases,
when He pleases. They hate Him. That's why they
talk about the God that can't do anything without you. Why
did you think they took? They didn't get that from the
Bible. They do that because they hate the true God. The reason
that man talks about a God who loves everybody the same is because
they hate the God of electing love. Who says, Jacob have I
loved and Esau have I hated. That's why they could conjure
up and produce this false God, because they hate the true God.
They didn't get that nonsense from this book. Where'd they
get it from? Out of their heart of hatred
for the true God. That's where it came from. It said, in Luke 19, 14, listen
to this. Do you remember that parable
our Lord told in Luke chapter 19? Here's the part of it that
applies to what we're saying. His citizens hated him and sent
a message after him saying, we will not have this man to reign
over us. The reason they speak of a Jesus
who died for all of mankind is because they hate the Christ
of God who laid down his life for his sheep. The certain result
of which being, they shall never perish. They shall never perish. If the Lord Jesus Christ laid
down his life for you, you shall never perish. They hate that
Christ. And so they invent one who did
his best, and now it's up to you. Verse three. They have taken crafty counsel
against thy people, consulted against the hidden ones. What
do you think I'm going to talk about in this verse? We already
know about the first part of the whole theme of the chapter
kind of has that throughout it, doesn't it? And there's some
truth there that we could obviously talk about. The crafty counsel.
The true preacher is not crafty. I hate a crafty message, don't
you? It was clever, you know. He came
up with some interesting ways of... There's nothing crafty
about the gospel. Error is crafty. Paul said, we
didn't come with wisdom of man's word. Satan is called subtle
in the garden. He was subtle, he was more subtle.
God's people are subtle or crafty, God's spokesmen. But this last
part, you're hidden ones. We're described as God's hidden
ones. It's an interesting name for the people of God, wouldn't
you say? Though our enemies are confederate against us and our
God, we're hidden from all danger. As Satan acknowledged regarding
God's servant Job, he said, what? You've hedged him about. You've
hidden him. I can't get to him. What a blessing
that is. We're hidden in the cleft of
the rock. and covered with the very hand of God there. Why did
God have to do that with Moses? Why did he have to hide him in
the cliff to the rock? Because he said, if I don't, it'll kill
you. You can't live. You can't see
me and live. I'll have to hide you. This is
mysterious but wonderful. Seeing God, anyone seeing God anywhere but
from the cliff to the rock. You can't you can't see you can't
do but doing business with God without being hidden in Christ
Would be destruction wouldn't it? We can't see God. We can't speak to God or he does
we can't have any dealings with God whatsoever Unless we're hidden
in the rock No man cometh unto the father but by Christ You
must be hidden in the cleft of the rock We're hidden from the
avenger of blood in the city of refuge Hidden from the law. The law says we deserve to die.
And the law is right. But there's a place of refuge. We're hidden from the storm,
from the flood. Where? In the ark. There's just
one hiding place. You call it the city of refuge,
the ark, the rock. It's Christ. Colossians 3, 2
sets your affection. on things above and not on things
on the earth. How come, Paul? Because you're
dead. You're dead to this world. You're
dead to the fashion of this world that passeth away. You're dead
and your life is hid with Christ in God. In these next verses, as I said
already, ten nations are mentioned which surrounded Israel on every
side to picture the state of God's church in this world. Again,
this is not a history lesson. This is God's people surrounded
by enemies. Are we still that way? Absolutely. He said to his disciples, I send
you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore, be you wise. Be you
wise as serpents and harmless as doves. We're without question
surrounded by enemies in this world. Our Lord said they hated
me, they're gonna hate you too. And that is the problem, isn't
it? Hate. And neither should we be any
more reluctant to name our enemies than the psalmist is here. He
calls them by name. People say it's unkind, you know,
to call specific denominations anti-Christ. Whether it's kind
or unkind is irrelevant. The question is, is it true?
If it's true, it's true. And we make no bones about the fact
that we want God to put them out of business. Verse 17. Put
them out of business. That's pretty strong language
there in verse 17. But, we have to remember too,
we have a reminder in verse 16. Surprised me to see it there.
We've seen this before in the Psalms. How can the Psalmist
say, in one verse, afflict them that they might
seek thy name? And in the very next verse say,
let them perish. Well, there can only be one answer
to that. He's speaking of nations, not individuals here. Nations
and he understands as we do from the Word of God that in all nations
the Lord has and they like people There's no such thing as a Christian
nation we understand that don't we I mean come on But In every nation God has chosen
people A remnant, however small or great, has been redeemed by
the precious blood of Christ. Didn't they sing that in heaven?
In the book of Revelation, John saw it. He heard them singing
it. Glory and honor unto thee. You're worthy. Worthy is the
Lamb because He was slain. And He's redeemed us to God by
His precious blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and
nation. Habakkuk 3.2 says this, Lord,
in thy wrath, remember mercy. And surely in our wrath, our
pitiful wrath, such as it is, we must remember that God has
had mercy on the worst of his enemies. And he may yet do so. So yes, there's harsh language
here, because of course we want God to triumph over his enemies.
And those who are God's enemies unto the end, to be God's enemy
unto the end means absolute destruction, wrath, and damnation. And it'll
be just. And we'll be for it. We are for
it. But we also pray as our Lord
taught us. He said, pray for your enemies. Listen to the language,
Matthew 544. I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do
good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you. Do you understand the difference
The nations of the earth considered as God's enemies. When God says
the blood's gonna run bridle deep, we say, hallelujah, amen,
it should. This world is wretched and foul. And like the psalmist, we say,
how long, Lord, are you gonna put up with it? Put him out of
business. When we're speaking of nations, speaking of man in
general, the enemies of God in general, but when we're dealing
with people, individuals, Maybe friends in this world that we
hesitate to even call friends because we know they hate our
God. And yet, I just love them, don't you? There's not that many. But the ones that somehow God has caused me to love them, pray
for them. But not just our friends. Not
just our friends now. He said that you may be the children
of your father in heaven, because did he not love his enemies?
We were never enemies on his part, but on our part, we're
enmity against God. So if we're gonna be his children
and be like him, we don't have to love some enemies. For he
maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth
rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which love
you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the
same? If you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven,
is perfect. I'm still learning what that
means, aren't you? But the message of that's pretty
clear, isn't it? Don't be so quick to bring down
the wrath of God on everybody. Yes, His enemies considered as
His enemies. Do not I hate them with a perfect
hatred? And yet, when you think about
people that the Lord, for whatever reason, has caused your path
to cross with theirs in this world. Oh God, cause us to love
them. Verse 18, that men may know that
you, whose name alone is Jehovah, are the most high over all the
earth. You know, when it boils right
down to it, that's kind of what this whole thing is about. Wherefore God hath also highly
exalted him, And given him a name which is
above every name. You know that verse, the part
that I just quoted, you could have quoted that. But I want
to read the context of it. Because we need to know why he's
exalted. Look at Philippians 2, 5. Wherefore God hath also highly
exalted him. What's that wherefore, therefore? Philippians 2, verse 5. Let this man be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. The very express image of
God, Hebrews 1 3. But made himself of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God hath also highly
exalted him. Why did God exalt him? We just
read it a while ago from the Song of Eternity. Thou wert worthy. Why? Because you were slain and
you redeemed us. Not you were slain and You know,
maybe somebody will avail themselves of that. No, you were slain and
you redeemed the people with your precious blood. Wherefore
God hath exalted him high. That's what this, our psalm is
talking about. That at the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow. Things in heaven and things in
earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ, the man Jesus, the one who humbled
himself, it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren, Jesus. But Jesus Christ, God's anointed,
God's Savior, Jehovah's Savior, a just God and a Savior, He's
Lord. Can you picture this? The psalmist said, do all of
this, Lord, do, do. Don't, don't be still and silent
forever. Don't, don't be, don't remain
that way. Move and speak and do all of
these things for this reason. And this is all you need to know.
You know what you need to know? God is God. Jesus Christ is God. And everything else, when you
know that, when you know Him, everything else will fall into
place. Be still, He said, and know that I'm God. I'm still
knowing that, aren't you? I'm still learning it. I'm still
learning it. And whether you are God's enemy, or his friend, you will bow. And God's gonna make you say
it. Isn't that interesting? He'll make you say it. Enemy
or friend. Some will rejoice to say it.
For some, it's crying to be said. But for others, can you imagine?
What would make Wretched rebellious enemy of God say Jesus Christ
is Lord. I'll tell you what He's Lord
the one who is Lord's gonna make him say it Every knee will bow and every
tongue is gonna say what the psalmist said here Now whose name alone is Jehovah
at the most high I over all the earth. Amen. Let's say it every
opportunity we have to say it until we can say it with a perfect heart. Let's bow.