Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
February 18, 2004
Psalm 98
A Psalm.
Spurgeon calls this the “Coronation Song” – the crowning of the Messiah, to
save Israel and
rule over the nations
:1-3 Sing because of Salvation
:1 his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
victory – yasha‘– to save,
be saved, be delivered
:1-3 … The LORD hath made known his salvation …
salvation – y@shuw‘ah –
salvation, deliverance; this is a word very similar to the Hebrew name Joshua,
or in English, Jesus.
Lesson
Recognizing God’s salvation
For the Jews, this spoke of the Messiah that they would be looking for.
He would one day save their nation and rule over the world.
Simeon
There was on old man named Simeon who loved God.
(Luke 2:25-32 KJV) And,
behold, there was a man in Jerusalem,
whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the
consolation of Israel:
and the Holy Ghost was upon him. {26} And it was revealed unto him by the Holy
Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
Tradition has it that Simeon was 110 years old at this
time.
He expected to see the Messiah. He felt that God had made him a promise.
I wonder if he had been expecting to see a conquering king
riding into Jerusalem on a white
horse. That’s what most Jews were
expecting.
{27} And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the
parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Jesus would have been eight days old.
{28} Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
{29} Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
{30} For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, {31} Which thou hast prepared
before the face of all people; {32} A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the
glory of thy people Israel.
Did you notice the similarity between what Simeon said and
how Psalm 98 starts?
Simeon may have been looking for a powerful king, but he
found a baby.
Will you see God’s salvation?
For some of you, the immediate issue is whether or not you are going to
trust Jesus with your life.
You have a problem.
You are a sinner like the rest of us.
Your sins keep you from having a relationship with God.
Jesus died on a cross to pay for your sins.
You need to receive God’s forgiveness and follow Jesus.
For others of you, you already follow Jesus, but there are things going on
in your life where you need some help.
Illustration
There was a man who was walking along a narrow cliff on a
dark night. It was so dark that he couldn’t
see what was over the edge. Suddenly he slipped and found himself falling off
the edge. As he started to fall, he caught a tree branch sticking out, and
managed to just barely hang on. But there was no where to go. He didn’t have
enough strength to climb back up. He cried out, “Oh God, if You’re really
there, please help me!” Nothing. He cried out again, “Oh God, I’ll go to church
every Sunday and read my Bible. Please
help me!” Nothing. He cried out again, “Oh God, I’ll do whatever you tell me
to. Just please help me!” And then he
heard a still, small voice, “Just let go.” He thought about it a little bit. He
cried out again, “Is there anybody else up there?”
Sometimes we’re not willing to do what the Lord wants us
to do, so we look to other things to help us instead of Jesus.
They may not necessarily be bad things. But the problem comes when we look to those
things for help instead of looking to Jesus.
Jesus may very well use those things, but He wants us to come to Him
first.
Will you see God’s salvation when it’s there?
Salvation is in Jesus.
:4-9 Joyful noise for the Judge
:6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise
Lesson
Joyful worship
Look at all the instruments! Worship
ought to contain joy!
Some say there should be no instruments in worship. That’s not what the Bible says.
:8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together
When Jesus entered Jerusalem on
the Sunday before His crucifixion…
(Luke 19:37-44 KJV) And when he was come nigh, even now at the
descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to
rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had
seen; {38} Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord:
peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. {39} And some of the Pharisees from
among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. {40} And he
answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace,
the stones would immediately cry out.
Jesus must be praised. If the
disciples kept silent, Creation would cry out.
It would have been an awesome “rock concert”.
{41} And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over
it, {42} Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the
things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. {43}
For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about
thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, {44} And shall
lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not
leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy
visitation.
This was the actual day that Daniel had predicted the Messiah would show up
(Dan. 9:25 – that’s another study …)
They didn’t recognize Him when He showed up.
:9 Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth
This phrase was also used in Ps. 96:13
Lesson
Run to the finish line
The Psalm ends with reminding us of how things are going to turn out.
Jesus will one day judge this earth.
Everything we do ought to be aimed at that day.
The life we lived is like a race – and this is the finish line.
What is the end of your “race”?
Is it retirement? The end of the semester?
Paul said it was the resurrection – 1Cor. 15
1Corinthians 15 is all about the resurrection and why it’s
important. Paul talks about how our
faith and salvation depend upon the fact of the resurrection.
The resurrection is also a reason why we ought to keep
going in life, even when it’s tough:
(1 Cor 15:32 KJV)
If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it
me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
(1 Cor 15:58 KJV)
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not
in vain in the Lord.
Keep running to the REAL end of the race.
Psalm 99
:1-5 Praise the Great God
:1 The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble
Lesson
Serious worship
Worship at times should be joyful.
Worship should also have a serious side as well.
I have a friend who was leading worship at another church. The pastor kept
telling him to do more and more “upbeat” songs. He wanted the worship to be
“joyful”. But it seemed that the pastor couldn’t get enough of the “upbeat”
songs. He said he didn’t want so many “funeral dirges”.
There is a place for serious songs in worship.
When we realize we’re in God’s presence, there’s a place for trembling.
When Isaiah had a vision of God, his response was one of “trembling”:
(Isa 6:5 KJV) Then said I,
Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the
LORD of hosts.
:6-9 God answers prayer
:8 Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God
(Psa 99:8 NLT) O LORD our God, you answered them. You were a
forgiving God, but you punished them when they went wrong.
Lesson
Answered Prayer
There are some ingredients here to answered prayer.
Priests
A priest is a “go-between”.
He stands between the people and God.
He speaks to the people for God.
He speaks to God for the people.
Jesus is our Great High Priest.
(Heb 4:14 KJV) Seeing then that we have a great
high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold
fast our profession.
You and I have also been called to be priests.
(Rev 1:6 KJV) And hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his Father…
God wants to use us to speak to people. He wants us to
learn to intercede for others.
Ask
Sometimes we haven’t asked.
(James 4:2-3 KJV) Ye lust, and have not: ye kill,
and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not,
because ye ask not. {3} Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye
may consume it upon your lusts.
Sometimes we’ve asked for the wrong reasons.
We need to ask – call on Him.
(Mat 7:7-11 KJV) Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: {8} For every
one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened. {9} Or what man is there of you, whom if his son
ask bread, will he give him a stone? {10} Or if he ask a fish, will he give him
a serpent? {11} If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things
to them that ask him?
Obedience
They kept His commandments
When Jesus taught about learning to ask, seek, and knock, it’s in the
context of Him speaking to people about learning to obey God’s Word:
(Mat
7:24-27 KJV) Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: {25}
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon
that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. {26} And every one
that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: {27} And the rain descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and
great was the fall of it.
Jesus said,
(John 15:7 KJV) If ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
If we let Jesus’ words find a home in our heart, it
changes us. We find desires changing. We find our requests changing.
John wrote,
(1 John 5:14-15 KJV) And this is the confidence
that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he
heareth us: {15} And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know
that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
We need to learn to ask for the things that God wants us
to ask for, the things He wants to do. That requires that we keep a growing,
living, close relationship with Him. To learn to hear His voice.
Psalm 100
:1-5 Enter and Praise our Good God
:2 Serve the LORD with gladness
Lesson
Attitudes in serving
Sometimes in Old Testament times a person could fall onto hard financial
times. One of the ways to remedy this situation would have been to sell
yourself to another Israelite as an indentured servant. You were not allowed to
be an indentured servant for more than six years.
(Exo 21:2-6 KJV) If thou
buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go
out free for nothing. {3} If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself:
if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. {4} If his master have
given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her
children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. {5} And if the
servant shall plainly say, I love my
master, my wife, and my children; I will
not go out free: {6} Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he
shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall
bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.
When we first come to the Lord we too are often overwhelmed with a sense of
necessity, being pressed into slavery to the Lord. We see our great need, we
don’t want to go to hell, and we begin to serve the Lord. But hopefully we get
to the point where our serving the Lord isn’t a “have to” but a “get to”. Hopefully
we too fall in love with our Master and make a choice to serve Him for life.
Do you serve Him because you love Him?
Sometimes we lose our joy in serving because we make the mistake of serving
people rather than serving the Lord.
We ought to serve one another. But we serve one another because it’s the
Lord that we’re serving.
We look for the Lord’s reward, not people’s reward.
:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise
Lesson
Attitude in worship
We’re actually already in God’s presence. But the sense of “coming into His
presence” is that we’re the ones who
are realizing we’re actually in God’s presence.
Be careful about complaining – do we come into His presence with grumbling?
When you’re around people who nag and complain all the time, doesn’t it
drive you crazy?
Illustration
A newlywed farmer and his wife were visited by her mother,
who immediately demanded an inspection of the place. The Farmer had genuinely
tried to be friendly to his new mother-in-law, hoping that it could be a
friendly, non-antagonistic relationship. To no avail, she kept nagging them at
every opportunity, demanding changes, offering unwanted advice and making life
unbearable to the farmer and his new bride. While they were walking through the
barn, the farmer’s mule suddenly reared up and kicked the mother-in-law in the
head, killing her instantly. At the funeral service a few days later, the
farmer stood near the casket and greeted folks as they walked by. The pastor
noticed that whenever a woman would whisper something to the farmer, he would
nod his head yes and say something. Whenever a man walked by and whispered to
the farmer, however, he would shake his head, no and mumble a reply. Very
curious as to this bizarre behavior, the pastor later asked the farmer what
that was all about. The farmer replied, “The women would say, ‘What a terrible
tragedy’ and I would nod my head and say, ‘Yes, it was.’ The men would ask,
‘Can I borrow that mule?’ and I would shake my head and say, ‘Can’t. It’s all
booked up for a year.’
God isn’t thrilled with grumbling either.
When Israel
was in the wilderness, they tended to complain a lot.
They murmured about water (Ex. 15:24)
They murmured about food (Ex. 16:2-3)
They murmured about the dangers of the Promised Land (Num.
14:2)
Finally God says,
(Num 14:27 KJV)
How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against
me?
God loves it when we come to Him with an attitude of thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving demonstrates faith.
Faith pleases God.
(Heb 11:6 KJV)
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to
God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him.
Thanksgiving says that we trust Him. Even when our circumstances are difficult, we
trust that God knows what He’s doing.
How can we give thanks when our circumstances are difficult?
He is good. His
mercy endures forever. (vs. 5)
Also …
(2 Cor 4:16-18
KJV) For which cause
we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. {17} For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; {18} While we look not
at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the
things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are
eternal.
We can thank God because we know He’s got a purpose for
the things we’re going through. He can
take our temporary pain and turn it into permanent treasure.