We're going to be looking at
Psalm 82. It's another of the Psalms of Asaph. It says, God
standeth in the congregation of the mighty. He judgeth among
the gods. How long will you judge unjustly
and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor
and fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and
needy. Deliver the poor and needy. Rid
them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither will they
understand. They walk on in darkness. All
the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said,
year gods, and all of you are children of the Most High, but
ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes. Arise,
O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all nations. Now this is a very interesting
psalm and one which has caused consternation for many and has been misread and misconstrued
over the years by many. If we had to summarize What this
psalm is about is about the supremacy of God. Now when you read the
first time that the word God is mentioned in the scriptures,
of course, is in the beginning, God. That's descriptive of God,
but it's also descriptive of what He has done. Because in
the beginning, God. I mean, He is. And that's who
we know him to be. The word that is used for God
most often in the Old Testament is Elohim. And that's the word
that is used here when it says, God standeth in the congregation
of the mighty, he judgeth among the gods. So it says, Elohim
standeth in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among
the Elohim. Now, that's an interesting thing,
you know, The Lord is not afraid to say He is the God of all gods
because the only gods that exist apart from the one true and living
God is the gods of men's imaginations. so you say when the scripture
says that god judges among the gods it's not saying that there's
like zoos over here and and uh... whoever back in the park of the
mind of some of these uh... podo gods that that men have
worshiped over the years it's not that god's saying i'm
the greatest among all these characters that's out here throwing
down lightning bolts and doing all these things that men have
imagined that God would do from time to time if they let him
or you know if he was in the right kind of mood or whatever.
That's not what he's saying at all. But it says, Elohim, that
one whom we know as God, the true God, the one who judges
among the gods, the God of all gods, he's that one with whom
we have to do. God standeth in the congregation
of the mighty. That is, He is in the midst of
those who are mighty, and He stands in that congregation. He's not just a God of the weak. Now, a lot of people say that,
well, you know, it's just because of man's weakness that he believes
in God. Such a foolish thing. Because
the implication is that some men are not weak. But you see,
in this comparison here, God standeth among the mighty, that
is, He is the one who is mighty among the mighty. And so that
whether or not a man thinks of himself to be weak or he thinks
of himself to be mighty, God stands among the mighty. The mighty are fallen. In fact,
the scripture says, how are the mighty fallen? the mighty do
fall, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess
unto him. So he is the God of all gods. Now I guess probably one of the
best, one of my favorite Psalms and probably the best commentary
on what this psalm is saying is found in Psalm 115. I want
to read that. It says, Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? Where is their Elohim? Because
you see, all these people of the earth, they each have their
own gods. Men have their own gods. But again, they're the
gods of men's imaginations. And that's what David's gonna
say. He said, wherefore should the heathen say, where is now
their God? Well, here's the answer. David's fixing to tell them.
He says, but our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. Now, wait a minute. That's not
in keeping with most men's concept of God, is it? I mean, God's
trying to get people to do stuff, don't you? Hadn't you heard that? I mean, you know, the Lord wants
you to do this. Well, brethren, let me tell you
something. When the Lord wants you to do something, you will
do it. Our God, David said, is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. But then he says they're idols. They're gods because that's
what they are, idols. They're the gods of men's imagination.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They
make it. See, any god that men make that's right where they
want him to be is not the true and living God. Now the Philistines,
they had a god, did they not? Oh, well, they had many, but
Dagon was their main one, you know. He was the mighty, the
mighty Dagon. And they had him all whittled
out and molded out of gold or whatever, and stood up in the
temple, in their temple, and they worshipped him. And they
knew right where he was all the time. If they wanted to worship
Dagon, all they had to do was go down there to the temple,
and there he was. He was standing up there, and
they said, there's Dagon, our God. But when the ark of God was brought
into that temple by the Philistines, and they got in there, they came
in there to worship one day, right after they put him in there,
and old Dagon was face down. fell off his pedestal because,
see, God stands among the mighty. And they stood him back up. They
said, well, something must have happened. What would have happened?
I mean, how could our God have fallen down? We've got to pick
him up. Well, you see, that's the hue and cry of today. God
has no hands but your hands. He's got no feet but yours. He's
got no mouth but yours. You've got to go do the work
of God. But you see God, our God is in
the heavens. He does not need men. Now He privileges men and He gives
men the power to perform mighty works in His name. But He is
the one that does the work. He is not waiting on men. You
listen to some of these TV and radio preachers and they're telling
you to send you their money. Why? Because God needs it. I mean, we can't go on with this
work that we're performing in the Lord's name if you don't
just send us your money. God doesn't need your money.
And any preacher that will tell you that God needs your money
is a liar. He's a deceiver. God does not
need your money. He's not waiting for you to give
Him His money. He's not hoping you'll give Him
some money. Our God's in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever
He hath pleased. Their idols, however, are silver
and gold, the work of men's hands. But you know, they picked up
old Dagon and they put him back on the pedestal and he come back
the next day and his arms and head was cut off. And they said,
what in the world's going on here? We've got to get rid of
this ark of the covenant, because this God is the true God. I remember
reading in a book this many years ago, and it was written by, it
was the gods, the gods of the earth was the name of it. It
was like a scholarly work, I mean it was a big old book. And I
didn't take time to read all of it. Oh, in fact, I didn't
read much of any of it, but I read some of it. And they had the
different ones, Ashtoreth and who all, you know, ever they
had. I can't remember the names. I
don't care to know them. But anyway, they had all these
different gods and they told about what they'd done and this,
that, and the other. And so I said, well, I wonder
what this guy's gonna say about Jehovah. And so I turned over
there And he said, this God is the God of all God. And he got that right, did he
not? Now, he didn't quite understand the whole concept, but he understood
that there was one supreme God. Now, it might interest you to
go around here and search out a God that fits your imagination
and does just like you like him to do. I'm not interested in
having anything to do with anybody that's second in command. I want
to know who the one is. That's who David's talking about.
He said, Our God's in the heavens. Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but
they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk
not, neither speak they through their throat. And then he says,
they that make them are like unto them, so is everyone that
trusteth in them. And so this one with whom we
have to do and whom the psalmist writes about, he is the God of
all gods. He is not one who doesn't have
feet, doesn't have hands. He's not waiting on men. He doesn't
need men. Men need God. You see, all of
the gods of men's imagination, now they want him there when
they need him. You know of anybody that doesn't pray when they get
into a bind? Huh? I mean, have you ever met
anybody that in the right situation doesn't start calling on God?
Oh God, help me! And like Brother Al was talking
about, it caused me to cringe. and i hope that nobody in here
guilty of this of using the lord's name of saying my god as some
mean of expression why would you do that that's
one thing to fall on your face and worship god and call upon
him but it is a blasphemous thing to do to use the name of god
as a means of expression But we hear it's become commonplace.
Now you didn't ever used to really hear that much. You'd hear it
every now and then somebody say it. But it's just like, if somebody's
gonna make some exclamation, you can almost be willing to
bet that's what's gonna come out of their mouth. Because men
have no concept of who God is. They've got imaginary God. You
know, and God, you know, the imaginary God, he doesn't care
if you use his name like that. He doesn't mind. I mean, that's
all right. You know, that's just a word. I mean, we're just saying
it. But I'm telling you, when you're dealing with this one
whom the psalmist is speaking about here, it does matter. God will be worshiped. and he
will be praised. He standeth in the congregation
of the mighty, he judgeth among the gods. He's the judge of all
those of gods of men's imaginations. How long will you judge unjustly?
And I hear the Lord is speaking to men. He's speaking directly. He says, how long will you judge
unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked. Selah. Now he's
also speaking to the gods and we're going to find out who those
gods are in just a minute because he's going to tell you who they
are. How long will you judge unjustly?
Selah. Defend the poor and the fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and
the needy. Now, the mercy of God is manifested
in these words, and he would have men to know that he is a
God of great mercy. Because he does defend the fatherless.
He does defend those who are helpless. That's the only kind
of folks that he does help. See, the people that can help
themselves, everybody's heard this. I grew up hearing people
say, well, you know God helps those that help themselves. What
a lie. I mean, if a man can help himself, he doesn't need God.
No, God helps the weak. He helps the beggars. He's the
Savior of sinners. He's not the Savior of the righteous.
He said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And so He is that One who defends
the poor and the fatherless. Deliver the poor and needy. Rid
them out of the hand of the wicked. because they can't do it themselves. They know not, neither will they
understand. They walk on in darkness, all
the foundations of the earth are out of course. That is when
men disregard the precepts of God, when they have no regard
to the mercy of God, and who Who are those that are sent into
the earth to be the standards of mercy, that is, those who
would show mercy, but the people of God? I mean, we've been called
to show mercy, have we not? The Lord said, do good to those
that persecute you. Pray for them. If a man smites you on the right
cheek, turn to him the left. Now, that doesn't fit in well
with the natural thinking of man, does it? I mean every child,
he grows up, you don't have to teach him this, he'll grow up
and he'll know it if somebody hits him, what does he want to
do? He wants to hit them back. And that will never leave you.
I mean if somebody busts you in the mouth, even if it didn't
mean it, your first thought is you want to just knock the fire
out of them. You know? Why is that? Because
that's bound in the heart of men. It's the way men are. They
show the work of the law written in their heart. Brother Al read
it just a moment ago. An eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth. Everybody believes that. All men believe in an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Because if somebody does something
to you, you want to do something back to them. You're not going
to let them off the hook. But you see, God would demonstrate
that we are to be those who walk in mercy, kindness one towards
another. I have said, ye are gods and
all of you are children of the Most High. Same word, ye are
Elohim. Now, isn't that amazing? But God judges among God, the
true God, judges among the gods. Now, how are men gods? Well,
the word Elohim means powerful, purveyor of power. Now, when
the Lord appeared to Moses, see, Moses knew that he was Elohim.
He knew that. He knew he was in the presence
of God. But he said, well, you know,
who am I going to go back and tell these people sent me? Because, I mean, there's a lot
of Elohim. I mean, everybody's got their
own one. Who am I going to tell them sent
me? I mean, when I go before Pharaoh and I say, Elohim sent
me, he's going to say, well, who is the God of the moon or
the sun or which one? And the Lord said to Moses, He
says, here, you tell them, I am. He said, I am that I am, Yahweh. That one who is the self-existent
one. He says, I will be what I will
be. He's that very present God. He
doesn't wait on anybody else. He doesn't need the imagination
of men. See, men think that they can, like I say, that they can
make God after their own image. But you see, that's getting the
order reversed. God made man in His image. And I want to talk about that
a little bit. Now, there's a lot of misunderstanding, I believe,
of what Scripture means when it says God made man in His own
image. Now, a lot of people have said,
well, that means that man is like, he's got a little bit of
God in him. Well, the scripture says here,
ye are gods. You're powerful. And we do have a place of power
that the Lord gave to men. God made us gods in this sense. He said, I'm going to give you
dominion over the earth. And He made man in His own image,
in that man is a God in the earth. The elephants aren't. I mean,
none of the creatures, the dogs aren't. But God gave man the
ability to rule over these animals and over the plants and stuff
in the world. I mean, a plant can't cut you
down, but you can go cut it down, can't you? I mean, you've got
power over that. You're powerful in that sense. You control things that you can
control. Now, you're not an absolute God,
because there ain't but one. But you see, you're able to control
a lot of things in your life. You can control when you get
up in the morning, unless the Lord calls you not
to be able to sleep. You have to get up when He says
get up. Now we know we get up when He
says get up all the time anyway, but you do have control over
things and you are gods in that sense. He said, you are gods and all
of you are children of the Most High. We sprang from Him. He
didn't sprang from us. He didn't come from us. We came
from Him. We are the children of God. All
men are the children of God in that sense. Now, He has an only
begotten Son. You see, this is why the Scripture
is specific to say that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son
of God, because He is the only man that has ever walked upon
the earth that is God. We can't be God who is absolute. But we are God's in the sense
in which God has been pleased to cause us to be and to have
that power. But listen to what he says, ye
are God's and all of you are the children of the Most High.
You are His creation. He made you and you have power. But listen to what he says next,
but ye shall die like men. You're gods. You've got power. You control a lot of things.
But you see, He's the God that judges among all gods. And He
says, Though ye are gods, ye shall die. Why is that? Because it is appointed unto
man once to die. And after this, the judgment.
And nothing that a man does will prevent him from doing it. You
can get your head cut off and they can freeze you and keep
nitrogen or whatever it is they pump through you and you can
have your head up there or your body or whatever, but you're
going to die. You're going to cease to be.
Your body's going to go back to the dust from which you were
made. You shall die like men. Why? Because he's God. And he said, ye shall die. The soul that sinneth shall die.
Now find me a man that's not a sinner, and I'll show you a
man that won't die. But if a man is a sinner, he'll
die. The only man who wasn't a sinner
by nature did die. Now this is an amazing thing,
see, this is the thing that the world cannot see. The man without
spiritual understanding cannot have any comprehension of, and
we have very limited of it, is how that He who had no sin took
upon Himself our sin and paid the sin debt for us that though
we die we shall they begin because why he's far from them those
about those who are have no life and power of their own say when
you die you don't have any power at all i mean you lost all that
i mean you get the data that don't matter worms on each year
or whatever happens to you i mean you go back to the best for what
you made you show that i like me Job asked the question, he
said, if a man dies, shall he live again? Now, most people
say, well sure, because they believe that man is somehow or
other eternal. Scripture never says that. Men
are not eternal. The only way that a man will
live again is if he has been given life in Jesus Christ. That's the only life that you
have. The only life that will sustain us. The only way we'll
come forth from the grave is that we have that life which
He is pleased to give. Oh, what a glorious thing. If
a man dies, shall he live again? Not by nature. If you cut down
a tree, it might sprout back up. But if a man dies, he will not
live again apart from the mercy and kindness of Almighty God,
who does give unto his people eternal life. And there is coming
a day when the dead in Christ shall rise from the earth, and
so shall we ever be with the Lord. Arise, O God, Judge the
earth, for thou shalt inherit all nations." The inheritance of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the earth. The earth is the
Lord and the fullness thereof. It all belongs to Him. And He
gives just as He gives eternal life
to whom He wills. We have been made inheritors.
Now, the Scripture speaks of a new heaven and a new earth,
and I don't, I wouldn't begin to try to tell you exactly how
all that comes to pass. I don't really care, because
I know this. The same One that made it to
start with can make it again, according to His own good pleasure. and so shall we ever be with
the Lord." You see, that's the hope of God's people. It's not,
will there be rivers and trees and will my dog be in heaven
and all that kind of stuff. Christ will be there. And that's
all that really matters to those who love Him, that desire to
walk in His way, that don't have a God of their own imagination.
Now, you know, when I was growing up, I remember every time somebody
died, people sat around and talked about it. And of course, as a
kid, you know, I soaked all this stuff up, listening to them and
whatnot, and believed most of it. You know, that grandma and
grandpa sitting up on the front porch of heaven, and sitting
there rocking chairs, and they're talking about old times. Listen,
the former things shall be forgotten. And God shall wipe away all the
tears. the place in which god is pleased
to call his people to come and dwell with him is far superior
to anything we've ever imagined i don't know what it is but i
know this christ will be there because he said if it wasn't
so he would have told us i believe him may the lord help us somebody
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