Psalm 47. Again, this is a Psalm
for the sons of Korah. Psalm 47. Oh, clap your hands,
all ye people. Shout unto God with the voice
of triumph. For the Lord Most High is terrible. He is a great king over all the
earth. He shall subdue the people under
us and the nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance
for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved, Selah. God is
going up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises unto our King, sing
praises. For God is the King of all the
earth, sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen,
God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness. The princes of
the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of
Abraham. For the shields of the earth
belong unto God. He is greatly exalted." Now this
is of course a very glorious psalm having to do with praise,
giving praise unto the Lord. And it's generally considered
by many that this psalm was written in description of the bringing
of the Ark of the Covenant unto the tabernacle, as David was
privileged to do so, several reasons that that is considered
to be one of the things, and surely you know stuff like that
we can't definitively say that that's the case but we see some
reasons in this psalm to believe that but more importantly as
we think about the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant by David
to the tabernacle is That was a glorious thing, and in their
time it was a wondrous occurrence, as that ark, you know, had fallen
into the hands of the Philistines, and of course, they couldn't
do anything with it. The Lord struck them with disease,
and they said, man, we've got to get rid of this thing. And
so, anyway, ultimately, the ark was return back. And David, as you
remember, he thought that he'd do something for the Lord. And
he would, you know, fix this thing up. He was going to have
a Fourth of July celebration, you know, with planes flying
over and all that. I mean, in that kind of context.
I mean, he was going to do something that was really spectacular.
And he had a brand new ox cart built. And got two of his finest
young men that he was really proud of. He says, I'm going
to let you all drive this thing. Huzz and a howl. And so they
loaded this thing up. And they started out the procession. And the wheel of the ox cart
went into a hole. And the ark rocked on the thing. And Uzzah reached out his hand
to steady the ark. and the Lord struck him dead. And that ended the celebration. And the scripture says that David
was displeased. And then it says he was afraid
of the Lord. And that same word that's used
to describe David's fear is the word that's used here
in Psalm 47 verse 2, it says, for the Lord most high is terrible. It needs to be feared. Now, you
know, when we think of something terrible, we think of something
like if you eat something and it don't taste good, you say,
man, that was terrible. I mean, we have kind of a bad
connotation in our mind as to what terrible is, but the word
as it's used here just means dreadful. The Lord said, I'm
dreadful. You know, we sing a song, how
sweet and awful. is the place. Now when you think
of with Christ within the doors, now when you think of the word
awful, there again, you might think of something that you tasted
or something that you smelled or some experience that you had
and you say, oh man, that was awful. But as it's used in those
contexts, it means a thing so greatly wondrous that it strikes
awe and fear into the hearts of those who were there. I remember
Brother Curtis Collins telling me one time, and he went to a,
he was visiting a church somewhere, but I know where it was, but
I won't mention the name of it. And in the Sunday school lesson,
it was on the fear of God, and he said the teacher of the Sunday
school lesson got up and said, well I don't, he says, I'm not
afraid of him. And that's about true, that's
about the way most people consider God. They think of Him as like
a big puppy dog. You know, He's just wanting somebody
to pet Him. And he is running around with
his tail wagging and his hoe comes up to somebody and he,
you know, licks their knees and his tail is beating on their
leg and he is wanting them to pat him. Now that is the picture
that most people have of how God is going about trying to
get something to happen. Oh, won't you pay attention to
me? Most preachers, they preach in such a fashion as trying to
get folks to do something. Well, this psalm is not about
trying to get folks to do something. This psalm is about telling who
God is. And He's not a puppy dog. He's
not trying to get folks to do anything. He's an awful God. He's a terrible God. He's a God
who does according to His will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and there's none that can stay
His hand. he said the whole i'm the lord i feel and i'm michael
he said i might be some are creating a lot of the lord do all these
things he is indeed a terrible and the man who does not fall
on his face before him and worship is full david said he said that
The fool said in his heart, there is no God. Now even a fool cannot
deny that there is God. I mean a man really has to work
at it to believe that the world just happened. that all this
complexity of the creation. I mean, if you just took one
thing, take an ant, take a bee. I was with a fella in the store
the other day, and he's a beekeeper, and we were talking about bees,
and all the different things, and of course, it's just an incredible
creature. Now, how did the bees, how did
they know to do the things that they do? How do they know when
it's time to get another queen? What brings that to pass? Now
the fool that says in his heart there's no God, what he really
says is there's no God for me. It's not so much that he doesn't
believe in the concept of God. Because you see, there's a lot
of people running around out here that wouldn't ever say they
don't believe in God. They would say, I believe in
God. But what David's saying, the fool said in his heart, there's
no God for me. He said, I believe in God, but
I'm not going to serve him. I believe in God, but I'm not
going to worship him. What a fool. What a fool. Because he is indeed a terrible
God. And he is that one who strikes fear and dread into the hearts
of those whom he is pleased to visit. Job thought he knew some things about
the Lord, didn't he? I mean, he told all of his friends,
and he was right in a lot of things he said, and some of his
friends said some pretty good stuff, too. But see, when all of the men
got through saying all of the things that they got through
talking about, you know, they just expounded on all their wisdom. Job told them his and Eliphaz
and all of them, they told all they knew. And they was thinking,
man, you know, we've really discussed this subject. And then the Lord
showed up. And he said, Job, I want you
to sit down and shut up. He said, where were you when
I created the world? And he went through three chapters
there telling Job just how little he really knew about anything.
And by the grace of God, the Lord brought Job, I don't know
about any of those other guys that were so wise, but I know
this, the Lord loved Job. And he brought Job to this place.
to know that the God with whom he was dealing with was terrible
and Job said this he said I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee and I abhor myself Daniel said it when he saw the
Lord he said I saw the Lord by the river Chebar And he said,
I fell on my face. And he said, all of my comeliness,
all of my beauty turned in me into corruption. Same thing Job said. I hate myself. I see myself for what I am, see,
in the presence of the glory of Almighty God. And he feared. And he says, I repent in dust
and ashes. this place in a man's brawl or
place a man can be brought their brethren when a man has been
brought face to face with the glory of almighty god there's
only one place he can go and that's the fall on his face
before and cry out for mercy because when the lord shows a
man his glory and when he shows him how terrible of a god he
is A man made to fear and he can't
do anything but cry out for mercy. He can't make a pact with God.
He can't make a deal with God. You see, the God with whom we're
talking about here, He doesn't make deals with men. He doesn't
go part of the way and you come the rest of the way. No, that's
not the God we're talking about here. Oh, clap your hands, all
you people. Shout unto God with the voice
of triumph. Now, what is the triumph? Our
triumph is in Him. See, He is the one that causes
us to triumph. For the Lord Most High is terrible.
See, He is that one who rules over all things, and in Him we
have our triumph, and in Him is our glory. Not we are, we're
glorying around one another because we know something. We don't know
anything. Paul said, we know nothing as
we ought to know. You ever get thinking about what
you know? Oh buddy, I know that. We get in an argument with somebody. Buddy, we know something, don't
we? We're going to tell them. We're going to straighten them
out. Father, we don't know anything as we ought to know. When the Lord brings you face
to face with Him, He'll strip you of what you think you know. For the Lord Most High is terrible.
He is a great King over all the earth. He shall subdue the people
under us and the nations under our feet. The Lord does cause
His people to ride in glorious triumph, not so that they might
bask in their own glory, but to bask in His. See, He's the
champion. He's the one who has conquered
and done that which we could not do. He shall subdue the people
under us and the nations under our feet. He has indeed brought
our enemies at our feet that we might know that He is indeed
the God of all gods. He shall choose our inheritance
for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loves, say the Lord.
Now, you ever known of a man that was able to choose his own
inheritance? Huh? I mean, can a man choose
his inheritance? I mean, all what what can you
do i mean if you if you can course this is not a fortunate thing
but uh... most times and and many families not all but and
i'd say probably most when the parents die and it comes down
to you know everybody's good friends and buddies until it
comes down to the time to divide everything up and then it becomes
a different thing. I've seen it with my own eyes,
families that I thought got along well, and all of a sudden, you
know, they're just the worst enemies that could ever be over
what? Some money, some land, or some possession, or whatever. But you see, that's what men
would do when they would choose their inheritance. They would
cause an uproar, wouldn't they? But you see, the Lord is the
one that chooses our inheritance. He said, Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated. Now what can you say about that? I know there's plenty of folks
out there that they can tell you, oh, well, he didn't really
mean that. See, he just meant that he loved
Esau less. Because he loves everybody, you
know. He said, I hated Esau. He said
it twice in the Scriptures. He said, I mean, it can't be,
you can't really make it say something that it doesn't. It's
just like that passage of Scripture that says, and when the Gentiles
heard this, and they rejoiced, and as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. That's an inconvenient passage.
Most preachers just like, they like to read through that and
then they go on to something else. Or either then they try
to make it, they tell you, well that doesn't really mean this.
Well it does really mean that. And when the scripture says he
shall choose our inheritance for us, he means that. What did he say to his disciples?
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen You. You didn't have anything
to do with choosing me. He says, I chose you. We love
Him. Why? Because He first loved us. Now dear brethren, if it's true,
as we hear, that God loves all men, then all men must love Him. Is that correct? If we love Him because He first
loved us, well, He first loved everybody, then everybody must
love God. Is that true? Not true at all, is it? The fool
has said in his heart, there is no God. But you see, the Lord loves His
people. He first loved us. If we love
Him, it's because He first loved us, dear brethren. No other way
you can go about that. He shall choose our inheritance
for us. He shall mark out our path. The
excellency of Jacob whom He loved. There it is, isn't it? Now, the
excellency of Jacob whom He loved. What did He say? He said, Jacob
have I loved. I did love him. I chose his inheritance. It belongs
to him. Now, Esau, he didn't like it. when Jacob got the inheritance,
did he? It says he sought a place of
repentance with tears. I've heard that. You know, here's
Esau, he's supposedly up here trying to repent and he can't.
No, he wanted Isaac to change his mind. He didn't want... Esau
wasn't sorry. Esau was only sorry that he didn't
get what he wanted. That was the only thing that
he sought. He sought a place of repentance. That is, he sought
for Isaac to change his mind. A lot of people want God to change
his mind. A lot of people think that's
what prayer is. You know, prayer is where we
all get together and we're going to change God's mind. You ever
thought, I mean really, and what kind of how people approach it?
Well, you know, this is fixing to happen, but we've got to change
God's mind, so come on, let's all get together and do it. Now
you see, prayer is a place where God changes your mind. God doesn't
change His mind. He says, I change not. I'm glad He didn't because He
said, I change not thou worm Jacob, because otherwise you'd
perish. He said, the only reason you
haven't been killed right now is because I loved you. And so it is. he shall choose
our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loves a lot. Now what is the excellency of
Jacob? He said the Lord loved him. That's what made Jacob excellent. Jacob was a conniver. He wasn't
somebody you'd want to be in business with. I mean, you'd
come out on the short end of the stick every time if you was
in business with Jacob. But the Lord loved Jacob. God has gone up with a shout,
the Lord, with the sound of a trumpet. Now the scripture says when they brought the Ark of
the Covenant, in the end, after David was kind of brought down
an ostrich toot, and then he said, We're gonna do this how
the Lord said to do it. And isn't that such a difference
in when men do things according to the way the Lord says to do
them and the way that they want to do them by their own self?
There's a big difference in that. David discovered it. And so when
they finally did what the Lord said to do, he never said to
put the ark on an ox cart. he said the levites are going
to carry the ark of the covenant. Ain't nobody else going to be
doing this. Now I've often thought, you know,
how'd the ark get on Doc's cart? Now, I don't know if the levites
put the cart on the thing or not, but see at that time this
was not a mystical thing. In other words, Uzzah was struck
dead when he touched it, but there was probably, likely, some
other people that touched it, maybe, when he loaded it on the
ox cart. But, when the time came for the
Lord to teach David the lesson that he wanted to teach him and
the nation of Israel, that was when he struck Uzzah dead. See,
Uzzah didn't, it wasn't like the ark was sitting there like
it was radioactive or something. and he touched it. Uzzah didn't
die because he touched the ark per se like I'm touching that.
Uzzah died because the Lord would demonstrate that that was his
ark and he would have it moved like he wanted it to be moved
and not like they wanted it to be moved and he killed him to
prove it. David said, I don't like this.
God, this is just terrible. then he got things that you know
i'm about stupid and then he was afraid because he said you
know the lord may kill me just like he killed him what can i
do about it not a thing in the world people say oh well you
make people that'll get people all upset well you need to be
upset when you think about the power of almighty god I mean,
you want to tremble when you think every night when you lay
your head down in the bed, you need to tremble and remember
that you will not wake up from that slumber unless God Almighty
is pleased to cause you to wake up from that slumber. He is the
God of all gods. He kills and He makes alive.
He is a terrible God. He is the God of the Scriptures. He is not one we made up. See,
you wouldn't have ever made one up like that, would you? I mean,
the God you'd make up would be one that's always your buddy.
And if you ever need anything, He'll be right there, just like
your puppy. You know, you call Him. Whistle. Here He comes! He'll lick you in the face, make
you feel good. See, that's what God is to most
people. He just makes them feel good. Let's go down to church,
and then we'll come away feeling good. Well, there's nothing wrong with
feeling good. And when God makes you feel good, that's a glorious
thing. See, that's what happened here.
He made the people of God feel good because He chose their inheritance. God's gone up with a shout, the
Lord, with the sound of a trumpet. Now, the bringing in of the ark
into the tabernacle is typical of the ascension of the Lord
back into the heavens. As the ark was brought up with
great shouting, so did the Lord ascend back into the heaven.
Now, the scripture doesn't say anything about over in the book
of Acts that there was any shouting that took place, that they just
looked and saw him go up. But did not the angels say, in
like manner in which you have seen him go into heaven, shall
he so come again? Now how does the scripture say
that he shall come again? with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel and the trump of God, He shall come. And so we have reason to believe
that there was shouting that took place, maybe not by those
that stood there on the ground, but there was something that
happened. I don't think it was just I mean, we are talking about
the Lord of glory ascending. Lift up your head and lower your
gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King
of glory shall come in. You see, He is that King of glory. Who is the King of glory? The
Lord God Almighty. He is the King of glory. Oh,
you see, He has gone up with a shout. God has gone up with
a shout. The Lord with the sound of a
trumpet. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto
our King. Sing praises. Oh, you see, men, we are not given
to praise. Only as the Lord moves men to
praise. Now, you can get people jived up, don't get me wrong.
Now, what a lot of people think of as praise is whenever everybody
really gets to rocking and rolling and moving, boy, we're just praising
God. Well, maybe you are, maybe you're
not, I don't know. I know one thing, wherever Christ
is, He will be the center of all praise. It won't be how good
the band's playing today or whether they're not playing. It won't
be how they did it or what they didn't do. It won't be any of
that. It'll just be that the Lord is in the midst of those
whom He is pleased to give a heart to praise Him. And He will be
praised. He will be praised. Sing praises
to God. Sing praises unto our King. Sing
praises. For God is the King of all the
earth. Oh, what a glorious God we serve.
He's the King of all the earth. Of all the earth. Not part of
the earth. Well, what about all in those
lands where all this wickedness and stuff going on? Well, show
me a nation on earth where wickedness is not going on. You know, we look about, oh man,
all that wickedness is going on over there. All that wickedness
is going on up north around California, all that. Brethren, the wickedness
of man is evident throughout the earth. But you see the Lord,
He reigns over the heathen, the scripture says. Now a lot of people think that
there's a lot of people that's running around out here and they're
just disobeying God. Now on the one hand, that's true.
See, Adam disobeyed God, did he not? But don't forget this,
that Adam fulfilled the purpose of Almighty God by doing exactly
what he did. The devil, when the Lord She
issued the challenge to him, and he said, Have you thought
about my servant Job? And the devil said, Yeah, you
let me get my hands on him, and I'll show you a thing or two.
And the Lord said, Well, go ahead. Because you see, the Lord would
demonstrate that He's the God of all the earth. And though
Satan rages, though the powers of darkness mount up together
to overthrow the King of kings, Yet the Lord said, the gates
of hell cannot prevail against my kingdom, because I established
it, and it cannot be overturned. He's the King of all the earth. He reigneth over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of
His holiness. He is indeed that One. who is
holy. I remember when I was a young
man, one of the things the Lord used to really get my attention
was a man who preached on Isaiah chapter 6. In the year that King
Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord high and lifted up and his train
filled the temple. And he said the angels, They
had six wings. With twain, they covered their
face. With twain, they flew. And with twain, they covered
their feet. And they said, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come. They ceased not day and night
to say these things. The Lord created the host heavenly
beings for one purpose, and they gladly fulfill that
purpose forever, day in and day out, without ceasing. Now you and I would wear out
pretty quick. But you see, the Lord is able
to make things according to the good pleasure of His will, as
He would. And it says, He reigns over the heathen. He sitteth
on the throne of His holiness. What is the throne of His holiness?
That means He is set apart from men. Now what sets God apart
from men? He is the High and Lofty One
who inhabiteth eternity. You see, there's a dividing line
that cannot be crossed between God and men, and that's it. God's eternal, and we're not. We're creatures. Now, the glorious
thing is that he has been pleased to grant to us eternal life. But where is that life? in his
son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not seen life. What a glorious gift it is to
be given eternal life. Now a lot of people, when I was
just a little kid and they used to talk about everlasting life
and eternal life, I was just thinking about, man that's just
going on and on and on. And that verse in the Psalms
often sung, when we've been there 10,000 years by it shining as
the sun. I mean, we think of it in terms
of how long it is, but dear brethren, eternal life is a quality of
life. It's not about, it is, it cannot
end. Why? It can't end because God
is eternal. See, we have eternal life because
He's eternal. We don't have eternal life because
we've been made eternal. You can't be eternal. Your life
will always be hidden with Christ in God. I mean, you are what
you are as He has made you to be. But He, dear brethren, what
did He say to Moses? He said, I am that I am. He doesn't need your help. He
doesn't need my help. I'm glad of that. What would
I ever bring to the Lord that He could use? You ever thought
of that? I mean, a lot of people have
a lot of stuff. They think, man, we're gonna help the Lord out.
We're gonna do God a favor. You know, you're never gonna
do God a favor. May you be called to fall on
your face and ask Him to do you one, to help you, to show mercy
to you. Because if He doesn't, you're
gonna perish. But He does give mercy, and He does show grace. The princes of the people are
gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham, for the
shields of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted. Oh,
he causes people to love him. We love him because he first
loved us. The shields of the earth belong to the Lord. Shields of the earth. What is
the shields of the earth? The defenses. that that word
in fact is often translated defenses in this inscription a shield
butler defense the shields of our belong to
the world their breath he's our defense and if we don't have
him we don't have any defense if we have his defense if god
be for us who can be against us what a mighty god we serve
him Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who
for the love which he had for his people, laid down his life, paid the price for the sin, for
their sin, satisfied the claims of God's justice. And he presently
calls them by his grace. And he says, come unto me, all
you that labor and are heavy laden, and i will give you the
lord carl and he said my sheep in my voice and uh... and uh... all for grace to do to follow
christ people of mercy all who call upon his name what a glorious
god and their brethren You know, when we consider Him as that
absolute God who does according to His will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, what need we fear? For if He be for us, who can
be against us?