(Through the Bible) Psalms - Part 2 — Zac Poonen

Psalms 73–77: Doubt, God's Presence, and His Ways

We'll commence again, we'll continue our study in the book of Psalms. We now move to the third book of the Psalms which begins in Psalm 73. Psalm 73 again I'd just like to quickly go through some of the really good verses in the rest of the Psalms.

Psalm 73 deals with this big question, why do the wicked prosper and why do the righteous people suffer? It's a question that many many people have asked through the centuries and Esau who wrote the Psalm, many of the Psalms in this section is written by Esau the song leader and he's very honest and he says in verse 2, my feet almost slipped.

There's an honesty in the Psalms which is why the Psalms are so good to read. People are absolutely honest, there's no pretense there. I almost slipped, I had questions, I was jealous of the prosperity, verse 3 of the wicked and he says at one time I thought what is the use, verse 13, keeping my heart clean, it's a waste of time living a holy life but he says I kept quiet about it, I kept these thoughts to myself, verse 15, I didn't tell anybody.

If I had told anybody then I would have offended a lot of other younger believers. See a lot of people sometimes when they have doubts they are so foolish they go around airing it and afterwards maybe five years later they get the answer to that but in those five years they have destroyed the faith of so many people with their doubts.

If you have some doubts keep it to yourself, don't stumble other people. There is an answer for it. You know where the answer is? He says I couldn't understand it, verse 16, until I went into God's presence.

Then I understood. Some of those things that cause you doubt, there is an answer to it. You may not know it because you're so far away from God. The closer you come to God the more you get an answer. There are many things in my past life I never knew what the answer was.

As I've come closer to the Lord I've begun to understand the answer to many of those questions that plagued me but when I had those doubts I didn't go around talking about it with weaker believers and he discovered that God has set these wicked people in slippery places, verse 18.

Now this beautiful verse in verse 25, this is one of the finest verses in all the Psalms and perhaps in the entire Bible. Psalm 73 25, where the Psalmist says to the Lord at the end of it, Whom have I in heaven but thee?

There is no one and nothing on earth I desire beside thee. If you can keep that before you all your days, I tell you, you'll be a worshiper and you'll be a most useful servant of God, man or woman, young or old.

If you can say Lord you're the only person I desire on earth. I don't desire anything or any person other than you. My heart may fail, verse 26, but God is the strength of my heart. This is a good verse for those who have weak hearts or who have heart problems.

To say God is the strength of my heart. My heart may fail. God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Remember these verses. Someday you may be asked to call, asked to pray for somebody who's got a heart failure and you can have got a verse ready for him.

Psalm 74, the Psalmist is concerned about the destruction of the ruin of God's Church. Lord, verse 4, your enemies are roaring in the midst of your church. Your enemies have got into your church. They have put up their ensigns.

They've defiled your holy place, verse 7. They have burnt up the synagogues and here is the mark. It's very important for you to notice this. It's the only verse in the Bible that teaches that. One mark that God has forsaken a people is, verse 9.

We don't have a prophet in our midst anymore. You don't send us a prophet anymore. When God doesn't send you a prophet, it's a pretty bad state you're in. When God gave up on Israel, he never sent them a prophet anymore.

For 400 years, from the time of Malachi to John the Baptist, there's no prophet. We don't see any prophet. We don't see any miracles, verse 9. God is a God who answers prayer, does wonderful things. God is a God who sends you prophets.

So please remember that. Be thankful when you get answered prayer. Be thankful if you have a prophet coming and speaking to you. Psalm 75, don't look for promotion from man, verse 6. Promotion doesn't come from the east or the west.

It comes from God, verse 7. God is the one who exalts and God is the one who puts down. Don't look for exaltation in the church to man. Don't think a man can give you a ministry. God can give you a ministry.

Psalm 76, verse 10. The wrath of man will praise you, surely. Which means, oh God, even all the anger that people have, which they show against me or against others, you will make it to bring praise to you.

Ultimately, it will work for good. That's why we are not bothered when men are angry. Psalm 77, verse 13. Thy way, oh God, is in the sanctuary. If you want to find out God's way, get into the most holy place.

You can't find it hanging around with the outer court believers. You know, there are some believers, all they know is forgiveness of sins. The rest of the time, they joke and they laugh. And if you spend your time, I want to say this to you seriously, there's some believers who are just jokers.

All the time, they're making people laugh. Please don't waste your time with such people because they will ruin you. These are people in the outer court, God's ways in the sanctuary. Spend your time with those who are wholehearted and not with the jokers in the midst of the church.

Psalms 78–89: History, Faithfulness, and God's Work in His People

Okay, Psalm 78 is a historical looking back upon the past, the way God led them in the past. Marvelous things. Verse 12, God did in Egypt and he split the rocks. Verse 15, in the wilderness, smote the rock.

Verse 20, the waters gushed out. Man ate angel's food. Verse 25 and so on, the whole thing. And when we're only when they kill, when he slew them, verse 34, then they sought him. Verse 36, true of many believers today, they flattered him with their mouths.

They told lies. But verse 38, he was full of compassion. Verse 39, he remembered that they were flesh, but they, he remembered that they were flesh. But verse 42, they did not remember that when he delivered them from the hand of their enemy.

Verse 53, he led them on safely and he gave them David. We're 70 to be their leader who guided them were 72 by the skillfulness of his hands. It's a good Psalm, which reminds us that we must often look back and think of the wonderful things God has done for us in the past and think of the times we have rebelled and been unfaithful so that we have a spirit of gratitude to God.

Psalm 79 again, a concern about the church being destroyed. Verse one, Lord, your holy temple has been defiled. Please do something. Help us. Oh God. Verse nine, for the glory of your name, for your namesake.

Verse 11, let the sign of prisoners come before you. A prayer to God, Lord, who can be by people who are concerned that the church should be kept pure. Psalm 80, a beautiful expression. Verse one, Oh, shepherd of Israel, you who dwell in the midst of the cherubim shine forth and lead us on.

Verse 17, let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the son of man whom thou made a strong for thyself, referring to Christ and also referring to us. Say, Lord, let your hand be upon me so that I can be a witness for you in this generation.

Psalm 81, verse 10, lovely verse. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. Why? You do not have because you do not ask. Open your mouth. Ask. Open it wide. Lord, I want this. Ask for great things like William Carey said.

Expect great things for God from God so that we can attempt great things for God. And the Lord says in verse 13 and 14, Oh, it's one of those few places where we read, Oh, like we saw in Deuteronomy, Oh, that my people had listened to me.

If only they had listened to me and walked in my ways, I would have, verse 14, quickly subdued all their enemies. I would have solved their problems. I would have delivered them. Oh, that they had listened to me and trusted me.

Psalm 82, verse six is a verse that Jesus quoted in John 10, 34. I have said that you are gods and all of you are children of the most high. Jesus was quoting that verse to the Pharisees. You know, the it doesn't mean we are God.

It's showing us the position we have as children of God. Psalm 83. This is talking about all the people who have tried to destroy Israel in past years, who have said, verse four, let the name of Israel be wiped out.

There are many nations that have tried to do that. Even in the last century, they never succeeded through the years. They have not succeeded. People have tried to wipe out the church. The Roman Empire tried it.

So many people have tried it, but it's never succeeded. The church continues to stand for the Lord. The Jewish nation survives so that, verse 18, all men may know that Jehovah is most high over the earth.

Psalm 84. The sparrow has found a house to swallow a nest. Verse three. Blessed are those like those birds who spend their time in your house and those who live in the most holy place will always be praising God.

Verse six. Even when they pass through a time of weeping, the valley of Becca is the valley of weeping and sorrow. They fill it. They make it a well. They make it a spring in the place of sorrow. They produce glory to God, a spring that springs up.

They go from strength to strength. Verse seven. A lovely verse. Verse 10. A psalm of the sons of Korah. A day in your court standing with Moses is better than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper standing with Moses in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness with our father Korah, because the earth is going to swallow them up right now.

They were very grateful for having been delivered from the tents of wickedness. And they say, verse 11, the last part of beautiful promise. Please listen to this. No good thing will God withhold from those who walk uprightly.

You must know these promises of God's Word. These are the promises that help us, that encourage us to follow Jesus. Psalm 85. A cry for revival. Verse 6. Will thou not revive us again, O Lord? Your people are grumbling and complaining.

Send us a revival of joy and praise. Verse 8. I will hear what the Lord is saying. The Lord will speak peace to his people. Verse 10. Mercy and truth are met together on Calvary. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other on Calvary.

God's mercy and truth met together. The righteous demands of his law and his mercy. Righteousness and peace with God and men. Speaking of Calvary. Psalm 86, verse 11. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and I will walk in thy truth.

Unite my heart to fear your name. Here is a prayer that my whole heart, which is going in different directions, will be united to have only one desire. To fear God. Psalm 87 says of Zion, verse 5. This is of the church.

It will be said, this man and that man was born in her. The Lord, when he counts up the people, will say, this man was born in Zion, in the church. All my springs, verse 7. All my joy comes from the church.

I value God's people. Psalm 88 is another psalm where he says, Lord, you have allowed, you have made me, verse 8, the middle of like an abomination to the people of the earth and I'm suffering. Verse, he's praying, Lord, why have you cast out my soul?

Verse 14, I'm afflicted from my youth up. He's speaking about a man who has gone through deep sorrow. Verse 3, my soul is full of troubles. And he says, Lord, deliver me before I go into the grave. After I die, how can I praise you?

Lover and friend, verse 18, you have put far from me. It's like a messianic psalm about Jesus, what he suffered when he walked through this earth. And that's the pathway that we will have to go also. Psalm 89 is a psalm of God's tremendous faithfulness.

It's talking about Jesus again. Verse 27, I will make my firstborn higher than the kings of the earth. A lovely verse is verse 7, God must be greatly reverenced and feared in the church. And he must be had in reverence.

The church must be a place where God is reverenced. And that's the end of book 3. It ends with verse 52, blessed be the Lord forever and ever. This is a psalm written by a man called Ethan the Israelite.

We really don't know who he is. He's one of those people who wrote a psalm inspired by God. Now, Psalm 90 is the one psalm that's written by Moses. It's the fourth book. And I said this is some connection with numbers, the wanderings in the wilderness.

And he's the one who says, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. The psalm of Moses. And he's the one who says a thousand years, verse 4, are like one day. It is not Peter who said that first.

It was Moses who said it first. A thousand years are like one day. And Lord, verse 8, you have set our iniquities before your secret sins. He's talking about all the years in the wilderness. And verse 10 is not saying, and it's been misunderstood, I think, by many people as though God will allow people to live only up to the age of 70 or 80.

Because the man who wrote it himself lived up to 120. But he's thinking of the people in the wilderness. Lord, these young 30, 40 year old people who came out of Egypt, who should be living to a ripe old age like me of 120.

They're all perishing. They're 70 years old and they're dying. They're 80 years old and they're dying in the wilderness because it was a judgment because they did not enter Canaan. That's what he's referring to.

So he says, Lord, a wonderful verse, two wonderful verses, or three wonderful verses. Verse 12, first of all, teach us to number our days, to know how few they are so that we can spend our days acquiring wisdom.

Second verse, Lord, let your glory, let your work appear to your servants and your glory to their children. Let me see more of the work you do, Lord, and your glory. And the third verse is, verse 17, let the beauty of the Lord be upon us.

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. That's based on that verse. Psalm 91 is, of course, a wonderful psalm. I wish I could spend a whole session on it. It's dwelling in the secret place of the Most High.

You know, the most wonderful thing is to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. The shadow of the Almighty means God is going in front of me and I'm just walking in his shadow. And I trust in the Lord.

He will deliver me from all the snares that come in the daytime and in the nighttime. I will put my feet, verse 13, upon the devil. God will answer me. Verse 10, no evil will ever befall me. People may trouble me, they may kill me, but no evil, no evil, no sin need rule me.

He will keep me. He will put the devil under my feet. When I call unto him, he will answer me. Verse 15 and 16, in something, in something which may be a bit humorous. But you know, nowadays, a lot of people think that they don't understand godliness.

They want shortcuts, you know, like instant coffee and instant tea. They want instant holiness. And so they go to a meeting and somebody lays hands on them and they fall back. And people think this is the Holy Spirit.

See, in the New Testament, when people fell before God, they fell with their face down before God. That's worship. What is this falling down and showing your feet to God? That's not worship. It's an insult.

Supposing I come here and I show you my feet. That's insulting you. I believe it's an insult to be like that. I've seen people when demons are cast out of them, they fall down flat. The Holy Spirit doesn't do that.

So if ever you go to a meeting like this, don't be scared. Because there's a promise here. Verse 7, a thousand will fall on one side and ten thousand on their right hand. But it will not come near you.

It has never come near me all my life. Okay, Psalm 92 is another wonderful Psalm about people who can be fruitful even when they are old. Don't think you can serve the Lord only when you're young. I want to serve the Lord even if I'm 90 years old.

It says in verse 14, even in old age they will bring forth fruit and they'll be flourishing. When it says they'll be fat, it doesn't mean they'll eat a lot and become fat. That's not the meaning. That's not a good thing.

It means that they will be full of oil and anointing. It's a word connected with anointing. They'll be anointed and flourishing even when they are old. Psalm 93, wonderful verse. Verse 5, holiness is becoming of your house, O Lord.

This is what should characterize God's house, holiness. Psalm 94, verse 12, blessed is the man whom you chasten, O Lord, whom you teach out of your law. It's a blessed thing to be disciplined and chastened by the Lord.

Psalms 95–106: Holiness, Judgment, and the New Covenant Gospel

Psalm 95, middle of verse, last part of verse 7, today if you hear his voice, harden not your heart, quoted in Hebrews chapter 3, a verse that we must remember every day. The Bible says in Hebrews 3 13, exhort one another every day.

That means listen to God's Word every day. Either you listen it through somebody preaching to you or you listen to it by listening to a tape or you listen to it by reading a book or best of all, you listen to it by reading the Word of God and the Holy Spirit speaking to you every day because it says in Hebrews 3 13, if you don't listen to it, 24 hours is enough for you to be a backslider.

Exhort one another daily, lest you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Psalm 96 speaks about the coming of the Lord and his judgment. Verse 13, before the Lord, because he's coming, he's coming to judge the earth, he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth.

He's going to judge the world and he's going to judge his people. Don't forget that. He's going to judge the unbelievers and he's going to judge the believers to see how they lived. Psalm 97 verse 10, you who love the Lord, hate evil.

If you really love the Lord, you must hate evil with all your heart. You cannot say you love Jesus if you don't hate evil. Now there's a lot of difference between avoiding evil and hating evil. You know, here's a man, I avoid him.

Here's a man, I hate him. You know, there's a difference. Sure. So some people avoid sin. Those are the people who very often fall into it. The way to overcome sin is to hate it. The Bible says the one who hates his brother is a murderer.

When I hate a sin, I murder it. You who love the Lord, hate evil. Psalm 98, here's a repetition of what we read in verse, Psalm 96 verse 9, the Lord is coming. The Lord has made known his salvation. Verse 2, therefore make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

Verse 4, all the earth make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise with trumpets. Verse 6, and cornets and make a joyful noise. Let the floods, verse 8, clap their hands because the Lord is coming. In other words, there should be a spirit of praise in our hearts, always expecting the coming of Jesus Christ.

And when the psalmist wrote it, he did not understand it so clearly as we understand it today. Psalm 99, verse 5, worship the Lord our God at his footstool. The footstool is the earth. Worship him at his footstool.

Psalm 100 is a psalm which is just full of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. And verse 2 especially, serve the Lord with gladness. Don't just serve the Lord. A lot of people serve the Lord. But it says here, serve the Lord with gladness.

Always rejoicing in your service for the Lord. I've seen people who serve the Lord and they're grumpy and sad. I want to say it, to tell you absolutely honestly, and I'm not pretending, every year as time goes on in my own life, it has become a greater and a greater joy to serve the Lord.

It's never boring. It's never a pain. It's never too much to live for God, to serve him. It's a joy. May you be a testimony like that. Psalm 101, David says in the last part of verse 2, I will walk, I will behave myself, he says, first of all, in a perfect way and especially in my house.

Verse 2, I will walk inside my house in a perfect way. I believe the Lord's servants need to say that. I will conduct myself wisely, not only outside to get a good testimony, but in my house I will walk with a perfect heart.

That means if I hurt my wife, I won't wait till tomorrow to ask her forgiveness. With a perfect heart, I will go and say, I'm sorry, please forgive me. If I punish my children wrongly, I will ask their forgiveness.

If I have a servant working in the house and I was a bit angry in what I said, I would go and ask forgiveness from that servant, please forgive me, I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you. See, to be, to live in your house with a perfect heart, your financial dealings, your bank accounts, your financial transactions you've got in your house, walk with a perfect heart there.

That is the secret of ministry. Psalm 102, here's a picture of salvation. Verse 19 to 21, God has looked down from the height of his sanctuary and beheld the earth to hear my groaning as a prisoner and to lose me those who are appointed to death.

Why did he lose me? So that I can go around now declaring the name of the Lord and his praise. That is the purpose with which he delivered me. And not only me, verse 28, the children of thy servants shall also continue and their seed, grandchildren, will also be established before thee.

This should be our goal, you know, to teach our children also the ways of the Lord and make them teach their children the ways of the Lord. Psalm 103 is a very well-known Psalm. It says about the benefits we have received.

One thing that David could not say was, he could not say, bless the Lord who gives me victory over sin. He could say, bless the Lord who forgives my sin, all my sins. Verse 3, which proves that forgiveness is available under the old covenant, who heals all your diseases.

That was also available under the old covenant. What were the things available under the old covenant? Benefits, verse 2. First of all, forgiveness, verse 3. Second, healing. Third, redemption from hell.

Fourth, his mercies satisfied with good things means material blessings. Fifth, physical health. Not just healing, but your youth is renewed like the eagles. Basically, it was forgiveness, healing, and material blessing.

This is old covenant. Bless the Lord and forget not all his benefits. Now, if you got all these things and you preach this as a gospel, Jesus can forgive you, Jesus can heal you, Jesus can give you all the good things in life, materially bless you.

What are you preaching? You're preaching what David preached 1 ,000 years before Christ. What is the new covenant gospel? Jesus can give you victory over sin, Romans 6, 14. Jesus can make you partake of God's nature, 2nd Peter 1, verse 3 and 4.

That's the new covenant gospel. You can have the devil under your feet, Romans 16, 20. But very often we don't hear this being preached. You can build the church as the body of Christ, Ephesians chapter 4.

So don't go to this old covenant gospel when you go out and preach the gospel. Preach the new covenant gospel. There are many wonderful things here which says, for verse 14 for example, like verse 13, he pities us as a father, pities his children, he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust.

Psalm 104, verse 4, God makes his ministers, his servants, a flaming fire. It's a wonderful verse. God makes his servants a flaming fire. If you are a servant of God, you must never be cold. You must not even be hot.

You know, you touch a steel tumbler of coffee and it's hot. No, more than that, you must be a flaming fire. And you know, like when Moses saw that flaming fire in the bush, he stopped. And I said, hey, this is different from all the other bushes.

And he listened. And when you are a servant of God like that, baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire, and where God has made you a flaming fire, you'll be different from all the other bushes in the wilderness.

And when you stand there as a bush aflame, somebody will pass by and stop and say, hey, this is different. And God spoke out of that bush to Moses and God will speak through you to the people. Psalm 105, here is another review of Israel's history and a wonderful verse.

Verse 15, don't touch my anointed and don't do any harm to my prophets. Be very careful when you speak against God's anointed or God's prophets. It's better to say, I don't want to say anything. People may ask you, what do you think about this person?

What do you think about that person? I say, I don't know. I don't want to say anything. You can say if you like that you disagree with his methods and the way they are doing, but don't ever speak against any man.

The Bible says speak evil of no man. There are many people, I'll tell you honestly, many American evangelists and all who television evangelists whom I don't agree with their methods at all. I don't believe they are representing Christ correctly, but I will not speak evil of them because I'm afraid that God will not be with my tongue if I speak evil of people, even people who I cannot understand why they do things differently.

I say I will not speak evil of them, but I will say I don't agree with their ministry and I cannot, I don't understand the scriptures that way, that this is the way Jesus wants his work to be done, but I will not speak evil of them.

Touch not my anointed and don't do any harm to my prophets. And then he speaks about Joseph. Joseph, it says here, it's a wonderful verse about Joseph. Verse 17, he was sold for a servant. His feet was in irons until the time came that the word of the Lord tested him.

And in one, uh, in the margin of my Bible says iron entered into his soul. That means the purpose why Joseph was put in prison was so that iron may come into his soul so that his soul may become as strong as iron until the time came that the word of the Lord tested him.

That was a particular time. He had to be 30 years old when he was 28 years old. He told us the Pharaoh's butler, you'll be freed in a few days. Please remind Pharaoh about me. And he forgot about it. Why?

Because Joseph was only 28 years old. He waited for two years. Then God reminded him. So don't complain when people forget to help you. They, God is, God's got a particular time. Then when the time came, verse 19, the king sent and loosed him and made him lord over his house.

So that's a beautiful verse there. And verse 39 tells us why he gave them a cloud and a pillar of cloud and fire. The cloud was to cover them from the heat of the sun and the fire was to give them light at night.

It had a practical purpose. Also, besides leading them into Canaan, it was to cover them all. It was a huge cloud that protected them like a shadow from the heat of the sun during the day and lit up the whole way during the night.