The 92nd Psalm. Remember, these titles are inspired. They're part of the inspired
word. And he calls this a psalm or
song for the Sabbath day. And this has something to do
with public worship. Let's read this psalm together. It is a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High, to
show forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness
every night. upon an instrument of 10 strings
and upon the psaltery and upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, Lord, has made me glad
through thy work. I will triumph in the works of
thy hands. Oh, Lord, how great are thy works
and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not, neither
doth a fool understand this. When the wicked spring as the
grass and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is
that they shall be destroyed forever. But thou, Lord, art
most high for evermore. For lo, thine enemies, O Lord,
for lo, thine enemies shall perish and all the workers of iniquity
shall be scattered. But my horn shall thou exalt
like the horn of a unicorn. I shall be anointed with fresh
oil. Mine eye also shall see my desire
on mine enemies, and mine ear shall hear my desire of the wicked
that rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish
like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They
shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat
and flourishing to show that the Lord is upright. He is my
rock. and there is no unrighteousness
in him. Let's pray. Lord, how thankful we are that
your name is most high forever. We thank you for who you are.
We thank you for all your glorious attributes. Lord, what a blessed
privilege of grace to even be enabled to call upon your name
through your son. Lord, we stand amazed at the
greatness of your gospel. We stand amazed at the gift of
thy dear son and his willingness to be our savior. How we thank
you for the forgiveness, the complete forgiveness of sins.
Lord, we pray that you would meet with us, that you would
cause your gospel to go out in the power of your spirit, and
that we might be enabled to hear with hearing ears. Be with all
your people wherever they meet together. We pray for your blessing
upon them. Pray for those of our number
that are sick in mind and body and spirit, soul. We pray for
your blessing upon them. Lord, how we thank you that you
are who you are. Accept our thanksgiving for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen. Now this is the only psalm with
this particular title, Sabbath Psalm. Now, while they
did not work on the Sabbath, they did not work on the Sabbath,
they worshiped on the Sabbath day. It was a particular day
of worship. Now, Sunday is not taking the
place of the Sabbath. No one is making a claim like
that. But Sunday is the designated
day of worship called the Lord's Day. Don't you love that name?
The Lord's Day. It's the day, this day, is the
day set aside to worship him. Now, we worship him every day.
I realize that, but this is talking about public worship. And this is a psalm for the Sabbath. And you can see just reading
these first three verses that this is about public worship.
It's a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises
unto thy name, O most high, to show forth thy lovingkindness
in the morning and thy faithfulness every night upon an instrument
of ten strings and upon the psaltery and upon the harp with a Solemn
sound, so this is speaking of music. And I like the way it
says a solemn sound. A solemn sound. I wanna be careful
when I say this, but you know, I like rock and roll. Not in gospel music. That's not
a solemn sound. That's one of the reasons why
I hate what they call contemporary Christian music. I hate the drums
and the guitars and the, a solemn sound. And you can't make a solemn
sound with rock and roll music. I mean, you just can't. And I
also think it's interesting that he talks about these instruments
and there are whole denominations based upon no instrumentation.
You can't get that from the Bible. Not even close, I mean it's so
filled with exhortations to this. But it's to be done with a solemn
sound. Like I said, as soon as I see
a platform with drums on it, I just go down, I can't deal
with it. Can't deal with it. But notice
he says, it's a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and
to sing praises unto thy name, O most high. What I gathered from this with
regard to myself is I give far too little thanks. Far too little. And I'm ashamed of that. And
I give far too little praise. It's a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord. Is he good all the time? then
it's good to give thanks all the time. In everything, give
thanks. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
5, 18, for this, whatever it is, whatever it is to the believer,
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So we have
reason to give thanks all the time because he is good all the
time. and to sing praise unto thy name.
Now his name is the person behind the name that refers to his attributes,
his holiness, his sovereignty, his faithfulness, his omnipotence,
his omniscience, his omnipresence, his independence, his immutability,
all these glorious attributes. Aren't you thankful for his name?
I am. I'm thankful for who he is. He's glorious. And it's a good
thing to give thanks unto thy name. He says in verse two, to
show forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness
every night. Now, once again, this is public
worship. And somebody even suggested that
this has something to do with, on the Sabbath day, they would
have morning and evening services. Now, I don't know if I believe
that, but I do believe this, it is the Lord's day. And I think
it's interesting, interesting is not the right word, but 20
years ago, every church had Sunday morning and Sunday evening services. And now it's kind of gone out
of vogue, and there's so many, I don't think that's right. The
early church met on Sunday evenings. That's when they broke bread.
And I believe in what's called the regulative principle. You
do what the Bible says. Like when we take the Lord's
table, why do we pass out the bread first and the wine second?
Why don't we just do it both at once? Because they didn't
do that in the Bible. And we do what the Bible says
to do, by God's grace, I hope. I want to do only what scripture
says and what scripture gives a precedent for. So, but he says,
we show forth thy loving kindness. Now, his loving kindness is how
he saves. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy loving kindness. according to the multitude of
thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions." We celebrate
his way of salvation, his loving kindness, and we show forth his
faithfulness every night, his faithfulness to execute his salvation
with regard to us, his faithfulness to glorify himself. That's who
we're celebrating. Verse three, upon an instrument
of 10 strings, and upon the psaltery, and upon the harp with a solemn
sound. Now, there is musical instruments. And you know, music is emotional.
I mean, it adds to, it's a feeling. And I'm thankful for it, and
I think there'll be music, there's mighty singing in heaven, isn't
there? I mean, I love to think of the singing of that great
choir in heaven. And the music is to be done with
a solemn sound. Once again, that's why I think
rock and roll has no place in the church. And I'm not saying,
you know, I'm not, go burn your records, that's foolishness.
You know, all the stuff people have done in the past, A solemn
sound, a solemn sound. Verse four. For thou, Lord, has
made me glad through thy work. Aren't you thankful that salvation
is the work of God? Doesn't that make you glad? Makes
me glad. I'm glad that salvation is his
work. Every aspect of salvation is
his work. How much did you have to do with
your election? How much did you have to do with
your sins being redeemed, other than you did the sinning? How
much did you have to do with his effectual atonement? How much did you have to do with
your being born again? Were you consulted about it?
Why, that's absurd. Of course it is. Salvation's
of the Lord. Amen? And what makes us glad? The salvation's of the Lord.
It's His work, and we... I'm glad. I'm glad. If it wasn't
for that, I wouldn't be saved. I know that. So I love the way
he says, for thou, Lord, has made me glad through thy work. And here's the gladness I want. I want him to make me glad. I
don't want to come up with some kind of artificial gladness. I want that true gladness that
comes from him making me glad. I will triumph in the work of
thy hands. I love that scripture. Thanks
be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. How
often is always? Always. Well, he's leading a
defeated Christian life. I hate it when I hear people
say stuff like that. There's no such thing. Thanks be unto
God who always causes us to triumph victorious in Christ. We're more than conquerors, the
scripture says. Do you hear that? More than conquerors through
him that loved us. Then he says in verse five, oh
Lord, how great are thy works. His work of creation, how great. Simply as an act of his will,
he speaks the universe into existence. How great his work of providence. Everything he's the first cause
of. And it's not hard for him. He
doesn't forget anything. And how great is his work in
salvation. I can't even. How great. And thy thoughts are very deep.
When's the last time you thought about the thoughts of God? The
thoughts of God. My thoughts, he said, are not
your thoughts. Isn't that so? He said, I know the thoughts
I think of you, Jeremiah 29, thoughts of peace and not of
evil to bring you to an expected end. Look back at Psalm 40 for
just a second. Now this is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. Yes, it's David speaking. It's
a psalm of David, but it's Christ speaking. We know that particularly
from verse seven through nine that is quoted in Hebrews chapter
10. It's the direct words of Christ. But in verse 5, he says,
Many, O Lord, my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast
done, and thy thoughts which are to usward. Now, when the
Lord Jesus Christ speaks of God's thoughts, he says they're to
usward. He's including me and you, his people. He's always
an us. His people are always united
to him. And how great, how deep are the
thoughts of God? I like what Paul said when he
came back from the heavenlies. He said, I heard unlawful words. or unspeakable words rather,
unspeakable words, which are not lawful for a man to utter. What is the language of heaven?
I don't know. I don't know, but I know this. His thoughts are deep, aren't
they? Verse six, a brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool
understand this. What a description of an unbeliever,
a brutish man, like a brute beast. And that's what somebody says,
that's harsh, that's unloving. No, it's not. A brutish man has
no love for God, no understanding of who he is, no love for who
he is, actually a hatred of who he is. And the psalmist calls
this a brutish man, a man who's a fool, who has no understanding
of the things of God. Now, this is how he describes
this man. A brutish man knoweth not, they have no appreciation
of your thoughts, neither does a fool understand this. Verse
seven, when the wicked spring is the grass. When all the workers
of iniquity do flourish, it's that they shall be destroyed
forever. The great commentary on this
is Psalm 73. Turn with me there for a moment. Psalm 73. David says in verse three, I
was envious of the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Everything was going well for them. For there are no bands
in their death, but their strength is firm. They're not in trouble
as other men, neither they plague like other men. Therefore pride
compasseth them about as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than their heart
could wish. They're corrupt and speak wickedly. Concerning oppression,
they speak loftily. They set their mouth against
the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore
his people return hither, and waters of the full cup are wrung
out to them. And they say, how does God know? And is there knowledge
in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly
which prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Verily,
I've cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency.
For all day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning.
If I say I'll speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation
of thy children. When I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of
God. Then understood I their end. Surely thou did set them in slippery
places, thou castest them down unto destruction. I'm envious
of these men and then I went into the sanctuary. And I understood
their end, and that's what the psalmist is saying in Psalm 92.
When this wicked spring is the grass and when the workers of
iniquity do flourish, they seem to prosper. It's that they shall
be destroyed forever. But thou, Lord, are most high
forevermore. You know, I love the way the
psalmist is always calling the Lord the most high. Don't you
love that title for him? The most high. He says you are eternal. That means you've always been,
you are, and you always shall be. God's not bound. He has no limitations. He's not
bound by space. He's not bound by time. He is
the eternal God. What a glorious description. Thou, O Lord, are most high forevermore. Verse nine, for lo, thine enemies,
O Lord, For lo, thine enemies shall perish. All the workers
of iniquity shall be scattered. Now, the Lord has enemies. The Lord has enemies. That's
a sobering thought, isn't it? Now, here's the proof of that,
the cross. When men were allowed to do what
they wanted to do, what did they do with the Lord Jesus Christ?
They nailed him to a cross. Now when I talk about the Lord
having enemies, here's what this means. If it were in the power
of the enemies of the Lord, which is everybody that's an unbeliever,
everybody that doesn't believe the gospel, if it were in their
power, they would rip him from his throne and take his place.
Every natural man. That's the enemies of the Lord. I'm thankful men aren't able
to do what they want to do, aren't you? But the Lord knows these people
and we're all this by nature. Scripture says we were by nature
children of wrath, wrathful children. hating him even as others. So if the Lord has made us not
his enemies, what a reason to praise his name, that we love
him rather than want to rip him from the throne. We love him
being on the throne. We love him being in absolute
control. We love who he is. Wouldn't change
him if we could. Verse 10, but my horn, that's
talking about his strength. Shalt thou exalt like the horn
of a unicorn. Now that's not a horse with one
horn. That is a strong bull. A strong
bull, that great emphasis of strength. I shall be anointed
with fresh oil. Now this is talking about I can
do all things through Christ which strengtheth me. He strengthens me. And I have
the strength of a strong bull. Somebody says, I don't feel very
strong. Well, I realize that, but. You've been born again. And greater
is he that's in you than he that's in the world. In that sense,
every believer has, he said, my strength is made perfect in
weakness. And he said, I'm anointed with fresh oil, the fresh anointing
of the Holy Spirit every day that causes me to continue to
look to Christ. Dreams of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Verse 11, mine eye also shall
see my desire on mine enemies and mine ear shall hear my desire
of the wicked that rise up against me. Now, who are my enemies?
Who are your enemies? Your sins. Are your sins your
enemies? I'm gonna hear my desire on my
enemies. They're all gonna be put away
and made to not be. And I'm going to stand in perfect
likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ. My enemies, they're put away. They're made not to be. I'm gonna
hear my desire. In the hearing of the gospel,
I'm gonna hear my desire on the people who rise up against me.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? I'm gonna
hear that. God justified me. Who is he that can condemn me?
Bring it on. My ears shall hear my desires upon my enemies. My sins are my deadly enemies. I hate my sin. Thank God the
Lord Jesus Christ has dealt with my sin and I'm going to hear
my desire on mine enemies and those that rise up against me.
Look in verse 12, the righteous shall, and don't you love the
way that every believer is described by God as the righteous, altogether
righteous, perfect in Christ Jesus. The righteous shall flourish
like a palm tree. Now, what is the analogy here? Have you ever looked at a palm
tree in the sand and wondered? Where do you get his nutrients?
I mean, you got sand, and there it stands upright, facing the
heavens, green. You think, wow. And I'm sure
there's a scientific, because God causes it to be, but I'm
sure they get their nutrients somewhere, I don't know. But
a believer is like a palm tree. Here they are, only grace can
cause this. Only grace can cause them to
persevere. a palm tree, standing upright, green, looking to the
sky, looking to the Lord, and they're like a cedar. That represents
strength. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. The righteous shall flourish
like the palm tree. They shall grow like a cedar
in Lebanon. Those that be planted, not those that plant themselves,
Those that be planted. Remember when the Lord said every
plant that my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Those that be planted. I think
of Psalm 1, planted like by the rivers. Those that be planted
in the house of the Lord, the body of Christ, shall flourish
in the courts of our God. Oh, they're going to flourish.
Verse 14, I love this. They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. I think of this, what fruit is
he talking about? He's talking about the fruit
of God, the Holy Spirit. Oh, the fruit of the Spirit,
love, joy, peace, long suffering. gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance, the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. And I love the way he calls it
the fruit of the spirit. Every believer possesses the
fruit of the spirit and what is our desire? Don't you want
to love him more? Don't you want to rejoice in
him more? Don't you want to have a peace
that increases? Not that the ground increases,
but your realization of it increases. Don't you want to be long-suffering
and patient? Don't you want to be filled with
goodness and gentleness toward your neighbor. Don't you want
to have faith, increase my faith? Don't you want to have this meekness
before God to continue and temperance control from within by the grace
of God? Now, it said of God's people,
they shall bring forth fruit in old age. Old age, I think about it a lot
more. I guess I'm thinking it's, I
want to be gracious in old age, don't you? I want to be someone
who's gracious, not old, crotchety, bitter. I want to be a gracious
person in old age, experiencing the grace of God. They should be fat and flourishing
to show, here's what this shows, to show that the Lord is upright. You know, he's righteous, altogether
righteous all the time. You know, when people complain, I was watching a TV show just
last night where it was talking about, do you remember the song
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lockwood? It's a song
about a wreck that took place in Lake Superior in 1975. Always
a haunting song. But I remember the words, does
anyone know where the love of God goes when something like
that happens? And I thought, and you know,
I bet I've sang that a hundred times since then. I'm a hate
mob. Why does something like that get in my mind like that?
I thought that's blasphemous. And what it is, here's, here's
the deal. Whenever we set in judgment on whatever God does,
where, where was God's love there? Where was it? You know, people
do that all the time. We're saying God's not good.
That's what we're saying. God's not good. God is good all
the time, all the time. To show that the
Lord is upright, he is my rock, unmovable, and there is no unrighteousness
in him. What a psalm, a psalm for the
Sabbath day, okay.