Would you turn to the 83rd Psalm? Psalm 83. Keep not thou silence, O God, Hold not thy peace, and be not
still, O God, for lo, 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. For they have consulted together.
With one consent, they are confederate against thee. The Tabernacles
of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarins, Gebel
and Amalek, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre, Asher
also is joined with this. They have hope and helped the
children of Lot. Do unto them as unto the Midianites. Those are the people that Gideon
killed with his army of 300. As to Sesera and Jabin at the
brook of Chisholm, which perished at Endor. They became as dung
for the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb.
and like Zeb and all the princes of Zeba and Zilmana, 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, as the flame setteth 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 that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah,
art the most high over all the earth. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would give us the grace to praise you as we ought, to
believe your word, to believe your gospel, to love you more, and to love
one another more. Lord, we pray that you would
speak and keep not silence. Give us what we need according
to your will. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together and Lord, we. Pray for your blessing on
each one of us according to your will. Those that are. Sick and body, we pray for your
healing hand upon them according to your will. In Christ and we
pray. Now, I can see where someone
would read this psalm and think that's violent. That is harsh. And this is what is known as
one of the imprecatory psalms, where the psalmist prays for
the Lord's judgment on people. Now, what is going on in this
psalm? Verse one. Keep not thou silence, O God. Hold not thy peace and be not
still, O God. Now, this is what we pray. Lord, don't be silent to me.
Lord, speak to me. Lord, do something. When he says
keep not still, he's saying do something. Do something for me.
Do something for your glory. Do something against your enemies.
Now, one thing that is very important for us to understand, we speak as being on the Lord's
side, not on man's side, on the Lord's side. And if you know
him, anything he says, when you read a psalm like this, it doesn't
trouble you. It doesn't bother you. Now, when
we look at it in a fleshly way, we think, wow, this seems almost
hateful toward these people. But let's go on reading. Keep
not thou silence, O God, hold not thy peace, and be not still,
for lo, thine enemies make a tumult, and them that hate thee have
lifted up the head. Now the Lord of glory does have
enemies. People who are opposed to him.
People who hate him. You know who they are? Every
one of us by nature. We're actually born into this
world with a hatred to God as he is. We're born that way. Now, people don't hate the God
they can control. They don't hate the God they
can manipulate. They don't hate the God that they can get him
to do what they want. Nobody hates that God. But the
problem is that God's non-existent. The God of the Bible. You know, I was listening to
some kind of guy that's opposed to the gospel, and he made this
statement. He said, do Christians even read
the Bible? The things that are said about God, would they love
a God like that? Yeah, we do. I realize most religious
people don't love that God, but every believer does. We love
the God of the Bible. We love him as he is, as he's
revealed in his word. But his enemies hate him. Listen
to this scripture, the carnal mind, Romans 8, 7, the carnal
mind, the mind that you were born with. is enmity against
God. I think it's interesting. It
doesn't say it's at enmity against God. It says it is enmity against
God. That's the way men are born into
this world, hating God. That's heartbreaking, isn't it?
That men are so sinful, that I'm so sinful, that we're born
into this world hating him who is altogether lovely and glorious
and beautiful. All I got to point to is the
cross. The cross lets us know what men
really think about God. Now, the psalmist says, lo, thine
enemies make a tumult. They that hate thee have lifted
up the head, the head of pride against you. Verse three, they've
taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against
thy hidden ones. Now, thy people, I love this
term for God's people, thy people. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save who? His people from their sins. And I love the way he calls his
people, thy hidden ones. Hidden in Christ, hidden in the
cleft of the rock. Hit and hail sovereign love that
first began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless, free,
eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Hidden in Christ. I love being hidden in Christ.
You know what that means? When God looks at me, there's
only one person he sees. Jesus Christ, the Lord. And that
really is me in him. Hidden in Christ. Oh, what a
place to be. Now he says, they have taken
crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden
ones. And the reason they do this is
because of who they are. They're his. people. Verse 4, 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. Why? Because they're his people.
Now turn to hold your finger there and turn to John chapter
15. Now As long as I keep my mouth shut
and people don't know what I believe or who I believe, and I keep
a low profile, I'm not going to have anybody hate me, am I?
Because they don't know what I believe. They don't know who
I believe. But look in John chapter 15, beginning in verse 16, The Lord says, you've not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. That's a strong statement, isn't
it? I heard somebody say, if you choose God, it's because
he chose you. Well, that's not what this says,
is it? It says you've not chosen me. but I have chosen you. What a humbling, he chose me? That you should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever
you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you that
you love. one another. If the world hate
you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were
of the world, the world would love his own. But because you're
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they
persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they've kept
my saying, they'll keep yours also. But all these things will
they do unto you for my name's sake. Because they know not him
that sent me. You see, it's not really you
they hate, it's me. And when you confess me, they'll
hate you for it. For if I'd not come and spoken
unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for
their sin. For he that hateth me, hateth
my father also. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. But now have they both seen and
hated, both me and my father. This cometh to pass that the
word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, they
hated me without a cause. They hated me freely. They hated
me because of who I am. Now, the point is, If I confess
him, if I identify with him, the world will hate me too. May
God give us grace to find it a privilege and a blessing of
grace to be persecuted for righteousness sake. That's a thing to be desired. I'm not talking about just trying
to make people mad and trying to be offensive. I'm not talking
about that at all. But if it means being persecuted
because I maintain that his righteousness is the only righteousness there
is, oh Lord, give me grace to do so willingly, counting it
to be a privilege and blessing of grace. You know, Paul said
to the Philippians, it's given unto you. not only to believe
on him, but to suffer for his sake. Now, back to Psalm 83. Verse four, 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. For they have consulted together
with one consent. They are confederate against
thee. Now these are the people he's praying against. Yeah, they
want to cut off Israel, but the reason they want to cut off Israel,
because they hate Israel's God. Now he goes on to name, look
in verse six, the tabernacles of Edom, the Ishmaelites of Moab,
the Hagarins, Gebel, and Ammon, and Amalek, and the Philistines,
with the inhabitants of Tyre. Asser also is joined with him.
They have hope in the children of Lot. Selah. You know what
I thought about when I thought about all these people he names? Denominations. Have you ever thought, and I
don't want to be harsh, I really don't, but where in the world
do you get denominations in the Bible? I mean, they're just not there.
There's not even a hint of anything like that. And the emphasis,
look, Edom, they're the people that wouldn't let Israel in passed through the land when
they were leaving Egypt. They're the descendants of Esau,
the Ishmaelites. Well, what does Ishmael represent?
The law. The law, mixing grace and works.
The law. Remember, Ishmael was the product
of Abraham and Hagar. Moab, the Product of the incestuous
relationship between Lot and his daughter. The Hagarins. Hagar. Mount Sinai. Always a mixture
of grace and works. Giebel. Now, this is the only
time Giebel is mentioned in the scripture, and there's not really
any where to go to see what he means
by Giebel, except looking at the name. You know what the name
means? Boundaries. We're going to put boundaries
on God. God can't move past our free will. Here's the boundaries
we're putting on him. Giebel and Ammon and Amalek. Ammon was another descendant
of the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters,
and it actually means inbred. Amalek represents the flesh.
You remember in Exodus chapter 17, when Moses lifted up his
hands to the Lord and Israel won, and when his hands dropped,
Amalek would win. Amalek is the one that God said,
I've declared war against Amalek forever. That's all about our
flesh. our flesh, our sinful flesh. You look to Christ, you
win. You look to the flesh, you lose. You remember Saul. God said,
you kill every one of the Amalekites, and Saul didn't do it. He didn't
do it. He spared Agag, the king, and
the good livestock. You know what Agag means? I will. Isn't that where most religion
spares the flesh, free will? I will. He names all these different
people, and then he says in verse 9, do unto them as unto the Midianites. Do you remember when God told
Gideon to destroy the Midianites and he had 10,000 people in his
army? No, hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands. And he said,
and he cut it down to 10,000. God said, that's way too many.
And he cut it down to 300. And he destroyed that vast army. He said, due unto them as you
had Gideon due to the Midianites, as to Caesera and to Jabin, they
were the kings at the brook of Chison, which perished it into,
they became as dung for the earth. Now that's what he says about
these people. Somebody says that seems, Harsh. Well, once again, if I look at
things from the Lord's perspective, if God gives me grace to do that,
everything he does is right. Amen. Everything he does is right. Don't ever look at, well, how
can God do? Whatever he does is right. Let God be true and
every man a liar. And so here we have this. Make their nobles like Oreb and
Zeb. Kings that were put to death,
yea, all the princes of Zeba and Zalmah, who said, here's
what they said, let us take to ourselves the houses of God in
possession. That which belongs to God, let's
take it. That's pretty much what Adam
did when he was given the temptation by Satan. You'll be like God.
You know what that means? He won't be your Lord and ruler. You'll be your own God. You'll
be like God. You'll see right now. I know
you haven't sinned, but you're just obeying your nature. There's
no merit in that. If you eat this fruit, you'll
be like God. You'll have a free will. You'll
be able to choose the good over the evil. That's going to make
you like God. That's trying to take God's possession, isn't
it? That's what every natural man does. who said, let us take
to ourselves the houses of God in possession. Verse 13, oh my
God, make them like a wheel. Something that never takes root
is what that means. Something that never gets grounded. It's always rolling. There's
no stability to it. Make them like a wheel as the
stubble before the wind, the wind blowing away stubble. As
the fire burneth the wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains
on fire, so persecute them with thy tempest, thy hurricane, and
make them afraid with thy storm. There's a tornado and a hurricane. Fill their faces with shame. Why? That they may seek thy name,
O Lord. Now he's not praying do this
and let them be tormented forever in hell. He's saying do all this
that they might seek thy name. Now the Lord's name is the person
behind the name. Every time we see the name of
the Lord, and it's mentioned so many times, the name of the
Lord, what that means is the person behind the name. The name of the Lord is His holiness,
it's His justice, it's His omnipotence, it's His sovereignty, it's His
immutability, It's his utter independence. It's his omnipresence. It's his omniscience. It's every
attribute of God. When we call upon the name of
the Lord, what are we doing? We're saying, Lord, save me.
Save me as an act of your will. Save me as an act of your justice.
Save me as an act of your grace. Save me as an act of your love.
I'm calling upon all of his attributes to save me. Lord, do something
for me. Remain silent, do something.
Don't be inactive, do something for me. Isn't that what we pray
when we pray? Lord, do something for me. By
who you are, we're calling upon all that he is to do something
for us. Now, when the psalmist is praying
these, what are known as imprecatory prayers, he gives us his reason
he wants the Lord to do this to these people, that They may seek thy name, O Lord. Now you take the person in your
life that gives you the most trouble. Everybody here's got somebody
like that. You take the person in your life that gives you the
most trouble. Do you want them to go to hell?
No. No. You want them to know the
Lord, don't you? You want them to bow the knee
to the Lord Jesus Christ and rest in him and see his glory
and his beauty. Now that's what the psalmist
in praying this prayer, he says, here's why I want you to do this,
that they may seek thy name, O Lord, Let them be confounded. Verse 17, let them be confounded
and troubled forever. Yea, let them be put to shame
and perish. Be lost is what the word means. Be lost. The Son of Man has come to seek
and save that which is lost. You know, the best thing that
can happen for me or you is for us to become lost. Because everybody
that's lost, the Lord saves. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. Wherever there's a lost sinner,
there is a seeking Savior. Verse 18. Here's what we want
men to know that men. May know. that thou, whose name
alone is Jehovah. Jehovah, you know, that's the
personal name of God. Jehovah. Most of the time when you see
it in the scripture, you see L-O-R-D, Lord, in all caps. The writers thought the name
was even too glorious to articulate and say verbally, out loud. Jehovah. And this name was most seen. It's where we get I am that I
am, the self-existent one. I am that I am. I love it when
Moses sees that bush on fire and probably doesn't think that
much about it. Probably lightning struck it and he sees a bush
on fire. And he's out there in the desert
tending the sheep and a couple hours later, that fire's still
burning. And then he says, I'll go see
that great site, why this bush continues to burn and is not
consumed. And he went to see that great
site. When the Lord saw that he went to see the great site,
he spoke to him out of the bush. Now that's a glorious thing.
He's looking at this bush that burned and could not be consumed.
And I don't think there's a more simple, glorious type of Christ
in that bush that couldn't be consumed. That bush didn't need
the energy of the wood to stay on fire, did it? Utterly independent. Jesus Christ is independent God. He has no needs. Isn't that glorious? He has no
needs. He doesn't need me. I need him.
I need him. It didn't need the energy to
keep going and it couldn't be consumed. Now this is what is
so glorious with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. He could not
be consumed with the wrath of God. Why? Because of who he is. The wrath of God came down upon
him. It didn't consume him. He consumed
the wrath and made it to be no more. And he said, Making himself
to Moses, Jehovah, I am that I am, the self-existent one. And you know what? We want everybody
to know that he is the most high. I want everybody in the world
to know that. That he is the most high. Don't you love that
name for God? The most high. There's none like
him. That's why idolatry is so evil,
because any image we use, anything we do to say, well, this is like
God, no, it's not. No, it's not. There's none like
him. That men may know that thou whose
name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all thee.