Studying The Psalms (part 3)

and gracious father we thank you lord for your word we thank you for giving us all that we need for life and godliness in your truth help us oh lord this morning as we open your word to be instructed by you on the precious truths that you've given us in christ's name we pray amen all right so uh just to prepare our minds uh this morning uh let's think of one particular trial or one particular temptation that either someone is approaching you with asking for counsel or someone that you see maybe more like a matthew 18 first step you see someone struggling in a particular area and you want to go and approach and talk to them or better still for yourself you're you're dealing with an area that's a struggle and you want to go to the scriptures and say what ought i to do now that i'm in this place what does what has god told me to do when i'm in this place uh we could pick a number of different um areas but let me just pick one just to get us started and then we will cover others let's let's take anger so let's say you are struggling with anger what would you uh draw from the scriptures as god's counsel to deal with sinful anger what does the bible say about it uh in your anger do not sin yes the same thing it's not simple to be angry yeah but it's simple to act excellent so anger by in and of itself need not be sinful but what you do in a state of anger can be and so the bible says don't sin i probably would start with praying so that they that's excellent so that goes one step next which is the first step you want to do is while you're the first thing you want to do is what does the bible say specifically to this do not sin so if i'm tempted to respond in anger sinfully then i want to stop that but the next step would be to go and examine why i'm angry or you know what is who am i in this context of my identity as a christian so peggy was saying you know i'm my identity is in christ i have been forgiven a lot so if i'm angry specifically uh yeah if you want to just raise your hands we'll get the so if if you know who you are one who is forgiven much and if your anger is directed towards someone who has maybe offended you you want to re -examine your motives for anger say you know based on who i'm who i am is my anger even justified to begin with how ought i to look at my brother what else could be a source for anger what i have what is that why else could we be angry look more inwardly in a sinful way what pride yes there was something else here yes bitterness yes so you have something that's been stewing and then out of that comes a bruise feeling like you can't control the circumstances like frustration sometimes because outside things are just changing so much and then because i'm frustrated from accomplishing what i want i can get angry that's that's very true covetousness yeah so if i want something and i don't get it want something sinfully and i don't get it then i can get angry as well so yes discontent and that's very very helpful going back to the identity in christ when i know that i have everything that god has given me and instead i look at it as i i deserve something more and i don't get it and that discontent can respond in anger so one of the things as i hope you're starting to see is the specific sins all have a certain root and they will all go back to your identity in christ who you are and what's drawing those sins out of you so this handout that we have you're just going to kind of walk through it this is just one of them in the next few weeks we're going to be looking at different aspects of how god counsels us in the various circumstances anger is a specific one we'll look at three weeks from now but we're going to use this aspect called the polemic in terms of dealing with circumstances where we may be tempted to sin or tempted to go under the trial so let me let me start by looking at the notes you have so what is a polemic we have developing a polemic against the gods of their world or our world we have certain gods in this world and this council goes through developing a polemic a polemic is an argument against an opinion or a doctrine it says here what it is is uh there is a we believe something as christians so uh when we talk about being content with certain things and then there is uh another opinion which says i deserve a lot of things and i will i have a right to be discontent with my state of life now a polemic says that view that that uh idea that controls people's lives is completely and absolutely wrong so it's not just like okay you know we both can kind of coexist and you know sometimes i'll slip here and i'll come back when i want this is to say this is god's view this is god's world and this is the the world under the sun if you will this is the devil's world this is the world i was formerly a part of and as a polemic what happens is i identify with what god says and i say i reject and i i tear down if you will anything that stands up against god's world so that's basically what a polemic is it actually um it strikes at the heart of what is unbelief what is contrary to god's world now the second point you have there is we have developed polemics for what stands against our faith now there are many examples of this i'm just going to give you one think of sovereignty of god when we think of god's sovereignty most of the time the first thing that comes to my mind is election which is the primary area in which we are most grateful for because god sovereignly chooses us we had nothing to do with it but god purposefully chose each of you who believes according to his grace now as a polemic you want to think the breadth a little broader what sovereignty means we could look at it in the election side but i'm going to look at it a little differently maybe you can answer me what does the truth of god's sovereignty have to do with you going through life especially maybe going through trials how does that impact your trials right god is in control very good and what is that yes he's gonna say god ordains all things for my good and for his glory romans 8 28 so these circumstances god is in control and he is the one who is uh bringing ordaining these events in order for them to be purposeful in my life that i may grow in godliness now that's that's the biblical worldview so if you look at it from the world who doesn't know god these are products of chance they just randomly happen like bruce you were telling earlier about circumstances that are out of our control when the worldly person sees that he's like these are all the world is against me people are against me things are going on and if you believe like most of the world does in evolution it's like these are all chance these are just random stuff that happens and i just happen to be caught in some something that i don't i have no control over and here yeah i don't have control over either but i know someone who does god is sovereign and you you develop a polemic against that worldview its world is not governed by chance world is not random the world is completely governed by a sovereign and gracious god so what happens here is i train my mind from the scriptures so that when i am in this particular circumstance i don't start to think like the world i say this thinking is completely antithetical to the scriptures and so when i'm counseling someone i try to help that person know what the truth is but more importantly for myself remind myself of what is true because when i'm caught in the trouble i sometimes forget and i can slip into that way of thinking so polemic stands here and says that is completely wrong so before i have to deal with my own responses i may actually have to tear down that thinking that is that can insidiously come back and corrupt my old my own worldview that's biblical so a few other examples you know for example evangelism is the same thing when you go tell people there is only one god you're basically saying all other gods are false there is no other god so you are actually breaking down their worldview by doing evangelism now the psalmist so now coming to the psalms these guys were actually champions of their faith um now what that means is this uh you know deuteronomy 6 4 hero israel the lord your god the lord is one and you shall love the lord your god with all your heart soul mind and strength you know that's the that's the jewish understanding the old testament saints knew this they believed this but if you just look at the old testament history you can see not everybody lived by it if there were times when they they followed the lord faithfully and other times they just went for every other god except the one true god of the bible and that is the same challenge that we have today as well and the psalmist went through that the particular psalm you're going to look at is going to be at a time when they knew the old testament they had the old testament but instead of following the one true god they were going to be following all the gods little g's in uh of the period and now the psalmist that records for us he is um going to do two things one is he's going to do an offensive thing and the other one is defensive so when he um uh and this is one of the things that is going to be a little bit of a challenge for us and i'll work that through the psalms when we read the psalms sometimes the psalms don't give the historical context so it's hard for us to know what specifically was going on in israel at that time so um but the the sounds we're going to see there is either a time of apostasy or there is a time of an external nation coming down and bearing upon israel and the psalmist here as a champion of god's truth is going to give an offense against whatever it is that is encroaching against the people and himself at that time so if there is about pagan gods he's going to attack those pagan gods and say these are falsehood these need to be exposed for what they are and do it and clearly and boldly and so that for himself and also for the others and on the flip side he's also going to be defending uh who how yaweh is the only true god so he needs to remind himself that this is the god he worships and this is the only god that truly exists and this is whom under whom he is going to submit so he's going to be tearing down the false gods as well as defending the god that he worships so this is basically how the song is going to be a champion of his faith in that particular circumstance and we are going to draw from there to see how we too will have to do something like that when we deal with challenges to our faith number four actually i just kind of drew on this the prevailing threatening pagan gods of their time now some 19 is a little harder because i was not able to find additional references for this but why don't we just turn to some 19 we're going to look at a few songs here quickly before we get into the main one um in psalm 19 verse 1 the heavens declare the glory of god and the sky above proclaims his handiwork now this obviously is talking primarily about general revelation god made these things and each of these things are extolling god and the psalmist exalts with looking at nature and saying you know this is the great god i worship now and that is the primary sense the psalm 19 has three sections to it the first section is mainly general revelation but in verse 4 it says their measuring line goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world and in them he has sent set a tent for the sun and from my understanding from what i heard from here like again this particular psalm i couldn't get additional references apparently during this time this is still david's time they are surrounded if you remember david um saul was the king before him the nations are still you know all around and david is now going to be fighting against these other king kingdoms and then establishing the kingdom of god and the boundaries and then you have these nations that worship their own gods all around and one of the nations is the worship of the sun and here the the psalmist actually talks about how all of these created things are made by god they point to god and they have a parameter a sphere in which they exist these gods are not omnipotent omniscient like the god of the bible they have a specific place and again in this particular case it's a little bit tangential but i'm going to take another psalm here psalm 29 where we will see a little bit more of this issue this one will be very clear psalm 29 is a polemic against the storm god and this is actually a canaanite storm god and there if you look at the the original canaanite language of ugaritic these are actually phrases that the canaanites used to extol their god if you want to think of exodus the 10 um um plagues and how these their egyptian gods are torn down by uh by the true god likewise here in psalm 29 the storm god of canaan all the ways that they used to extol are used here except that they are reversed it is who is the one who is in control it is the lord and if you just look at verse one ascribe to the lord glory and strength ascribe to the lord glory to his name and then verses three onwards you see this voice of the lord is over the waters it's the god of glory thunders over many waters voice of the lord is powerful voice of the lord full of majesty it's like who is the one who does this it is not your storm god that is breaking the cedars and causing the storms but it is god himself who is in complete control of all that that occurs and here again you want to look at it this is what the canaanites were worshiping this is what the canaanites were believing and especially if you're on the border lines of israel you're going to be in contact with these people and and and the is saying reject that there is no such storm god there is only one god and that is the god of the bible and he's the one who does all this so for us when we look back we may not without that context it'll be like we just worship the um the beauty of god but i think when you look at the context it is not just extolling our god but it's actually tearing down the false gods bruce i was going to psalm 29 over exactly yes you have the yahweh the covenant keeping god over and over again in the psalms and there is that personal relationship god has covenanted he relates to us in a way different than these pagan gods and the same thing in psalm 93 the floods have lifted up oh lords their voice but then mightier than the thunders of many waters mightier than the waves of the sea verse 4 93 verse 4 the lord on high is mighty and then it goes on to say not just the fact that these are against the sea god but these poor people who worship the sea god had a certain view of the god of the bible and then in verse 7 you see they say the lord does not see the god of jacob does not perceive and then he responds that's what you think understand what dollars of people fools when will you be wise he who planted the air does he not hear and then he is now talking about the god of the bible so we're going to see this polemic these are just a few examples so you see how the contrast of the pagan beliefs and the true belief of the scriptures and how the psalmist deals with unbelief from the outside as well as what can come toward himself now let's now uh take a minute to say so how does this apply in our circumstances the the psalmist dealt with um like idols and gods that were very obviously worshiped by the false people now what kind of prevailing threatening views or gods are we challenged by we don't have a storm god that comes and threatens our faith what are the little gods that come and threaten us our own happiness happiness that's and that's very key because sometimes we don't realize it that while it's not sinful to be happy but my happiness can become a little god that i put incense to every morning if i don't feel happy today then my god is not pleased with me and you know i need to somehow get the happiness from this god otherwise my day is not good we'll we'll unpack that a little bit any other yes government so i my trust is on those whatever the government is that is established and they are the ones who need to provide for my well -being and if that goes off then you know my whole world has collapsed my my party lost the election or my guy didn't make it and now i'm doomed and that is again we could look back against the sovereign god of the bible versus my trust put in this little god of this world work work and we will unpack that a little bit more because when we think of providence of god sometimes it just becomes god is provident he is provides in the big picture but you know my work is the one that actually provides for me and i have to worship my work if i get laid off you know my god is unhappy with me because my work just kicked me out family and again nothing sinful with family it's a good blessed thing to have a family in the lord but then i can elevate my family to the point where my god becomes lower and my family becomes higher and when i do that i'm going to be looking for something from this family that it can never ever provide only god can provide genuine satisfaction but when i make my family my satisfaction i'm it's going to be a very poor god maybe one more really an idol is anything that um removes god in your mind from the top spot and put something else there in place of it that's exactly right so and i think that's the connection you want to make so when you look at these uh pagan gods these idols that people worship to these more subtle gods that we make in our own mind and we switch between these many many gods so we don't really realize how we are sometimes bound by these false gods uh you want to have this thought who is lord yaweh over my life and when we ask ourselves maybe end of the day you know the way i live this day today did i live as if i was worshiping my god or was i just bowing my knee to a thousand others through the day um let's actually move on because i want to make sure we get to the text here today so uh good examples guys so the next one we're going to look at is the new testament principles now the psalms are a little challenging only because they're going to be talking about a lot of stuff and the application can get you could probably apply to a lot of different ways and sometimes not so biblically so you always want to go to the new testament to say what scriptures would guide my application of what i'm studying from the psalms and so one of the uh applications that i have here is consider the lust of the flesh i had matthew 15 17 to 20 you can just take it down we won't read it and there it talks about how what comes out of your mouth uh comes from the heart and that defines a person and you want to be considering what is in your heart in terms of the lust of the flesh and how it is that you want to uh deal with with with temptations that come your way and uh and and so maybe the next step that i have here is the goal of the christian these are the issues we deal with the lust of the flesh and what should the goal of the christian be and that's in second corinthians 5 9 so whether we are at home or away we make it our aim to please him we are here to glorify god our goal here is to please god and that is what we ought to be doing we we struggle with the lust and our and our and our aim ought to be to please god um with our lives so we talked about family it is not while we want to please our family it is subservient to pleasing god and it should pleasing god should always be foremost in our minds and in our hearts now i have the steps here of how we want to use the psalm in a polemic i'm just going to walk quickly through this and then in the back side we'll slow down and and talk about it so the first step a is to find a psalm that develops an argument against a pagan attitude that is hostile to the faith so and in this particular case i'm going to give you a few few psalms that have this polemic already in them so you don't need to do that and what you have to do in the first step is to find the prevailing pagan thought that is hostile to yahweh i gave you the example of 29 of how the storm god these people were thinking that the storm was in control of storm god was in control and yahweh was not and and the psalmist is first going to and you want to first identify what is that this psalmist is struggling with that is a hostile to the faith now that hostile faith let me put it this way if i had a chart i would draw it so we said this is the world of yahweh of our true god of the bible and here is one of the pagan gods that is in that this is claiming to be in control so this is the view that this world has and this is the god that this is the bible now the person who ascribes to this view has something to say against the person who is in the christian world so i think a good example of this would be when the assyrian army was outside of israel uh outside and he said you know my god is the one who has destroyed all these different kingdoms and he will destroy your kingdom too because our god is more powerful than yours so he's talking on a human plane and that's basically what we are we are looking at so what that pagan thought has a hostility which is directed toward you and here in this example we will see in the psalms the pagan asked where is your god and that's basically the challenge that the and and especially if you are in maybe captivity that would be a it would be one thing if you were you know in peace and comfort but when you're in trial and that is us you would have that same doubt where is my god you know and that's basically what the psalmist is going to deal with and then in the third point there is the psalmist goes back to the scriptures and he's able to respond and he said my god is in the heavens he does whatever he pleases it's like right now it may not seem that way to you but i know where my god is and he is absolutely in control and he can do what he wants it and i and i reject your your your worldview and i'm going to talk about what the god of the bible says so that's basically the psalms context of what happens and we'll draw that from psalm 115 and once you understand the psalm structure then you look at how it applies into your own circumstances so in point b we look at the parallel attitudes and tensions so today's you know we i have a few examples atheism skepticism unbelief i mean we're just surrounded by it so if you try to go and talk in your workplace like we're talking here today you know you'll either get laughed ridiculed or you know maybe kicked out if you said things that people didn't like and and and these worldviews have an influence upon the way you think whether you like it or not and you need to be very careful to identify what are those hostile elements to your own faith to say you know here is what this is happening to me and then say in what way can i now be a champion of my faith for righteousness just like the psalmist was in his time and place now i'm not speaking this in the more abstract sense we're going to draw it down to specific trials specific temptations so how can what are some of these worldviews that have crept in these little gods into my own thinking or the thinking of the person i'm helping and how can i go back to the scriptures go back to my god and bring them out to bear upon this particular circumstance so we want to then apply this truth in these persons lives so with that i think uh the if you turn your sheet over there's a questionnaire so you you want to help yourself and i mean if it's for yourself you just want to intentionally walk through this because i think sometimes we read the scriptures we meditate on it and sometimes when we do the application we want to maybe just take the time to say you know what are all these areas in which i need to work this out and the questionnaire is one of those that helps you and we have that questionnaire below for psalm 115.