WWUTT 1069 If I Had Cherished Sin in My Heart?

Psalm 66 as a Song of Praise and Repentance

Psalm 66, 18, if I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. God doesn't hear our prayer when we cherish our sin. We must confess ourselves before him when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the Psalms, and picking up where we left off last week, that would be Psalm 66. If you wanna open up your Bible and join with me there, just 20 verses to start out, and I'll begin by reading the whole thing.

To the choir master, a song, a psalm. We'll talk about the difference between those two things here in a moment. Verse one, shout for joy to God. All the earth, sing the glory of his name. Give to him glorious praise.

Say to God, how awesome are your deeds. So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and sings praises to you. They sing praises to your name. Say la. Come and see what God has done.

He is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. He turned the sea into dry land. They passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations.

Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Say la. Bless our God, O peoples. Let the sound of his praise be heard who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip. For you, O God, have tested me.

You have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net. You laid a crushing burden on our backs. You let men ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

I will come into your house with burnt offerings. I will perform my vows to you. That which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals.

With the smoke of the sacrifice of rams, I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Come and hear all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth and high praise was on my tongue.

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened, but truly God has listened. He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.

This Psalm has kind of a little bit of everything, doesn't it? Just about everything that we would see thematically in the Psalms. We see that in Psalm 66. We even have it at the very start described as a song, a Psalm.

Well, what is the difference? Because I thought that a song was a Psalm or vice versa, that a Psalm was a song. So why is it said here that this is both? Well, a Psalm has a little more sacred meaning to it than just being any kind of song.

But very specifically that word Psalm means praises. That's the way that the Hebrews referred to the Psalms. They referred to them as their book of praises. So this song is very specifically a praise unto God.

It is a song and it is a song of praise. We see that right from the very beginning. Shout for joy to God, all the earth. Sing the glory of his name. Give to him glorious praise. It's almost like Psalm 66 could be starting off as your quintessential Psalm.

It is a song of praise. But even more than that, it's kind of like everything that we would see thematically come up in the Psalms comes up here. I mean, we have it being an imprecatory Psalm. We have it even praying unto God and saying, hey, you've laid a crushing weight on us.

Deliver us from this weight. And then coming back to praising God yet again. So we hit all the ups and downs here in Psalm 66. Verse three, say to God, how awesome are your deeds. So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

All the earth worships you and sings praises to you. They sing praises to your name. Now, the interesting thing about that particular part is there is a sense of an immediate application to that. They do see nations that would otherwise be pagan or people from those nations come about and praise the Lord.

So therefore he is the God whom all the earth worships. There are people from all over the globe that will come about praising this God, not just from Israel. We saw that in the Exodus from Egypt. For the people who left Egypt were not strictly Jews.

There were even some Egyptians that went with them. And then in the promised land where they settled, there were some of those nations that surrendered to the Jews and then they became integrated in. They give praise to God.

So anyway, that's a few examples of how Israel, even up to this point, has seen that people from all over the world will give praise to the Lord because of the way they see how God has dealt with Israel.

But there's even something beyond this. It's almost prophetic in the sense that there's gonna be a future fulfilling of this. All the earth worships you and sings praises to you. They sing praises to your name.

The fact that you and I right now praise God, love him, worship Jesus Christ, walk in godliness, pursuing holiness. The fact that we're doing these things shows the fulfillment of this, that people from all over the world will worship God.

Now, Israel did not know how this was gonna be fulfilled. They thought it would be, well, just the way that they saw nations worshiping God at the time that this Psalm was written. They thought it was, hey, the way God blesses Israel.

Whoever blesses Israel, God will bless. Whoever curses Israel, God will curse. That's what they thought. But now we know that we have come into the blessing and favor of God, the worship of God through Israel in the sense that Jesus Christ is true Israel.

He who is from the line of Israel, that would be the savior of mankind. So in this way, having been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, now all the earth worships God, sings praises to you and sings praises to his name.

Selah, ponder this. Ponder how God has worked throughout all the world to bring glory unto his name. Verse five, come and see what God has done. He is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man, not just Israel, but all who will call upon the name of the Lord.

He turned the sea into dry land. They pass through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him. Now we get back into heritage of Israel in the sense that their deliverance from slavery was through the Red Sea, and then they come out on the other side praising God.

That would certainly be the immediate application, but we have an application to this as well, for we've been baptized. We have passed through the river and have come out on the other side, having been buried with Christ in our sins.

We've risen again to new life, passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him. Now we walk in this new life that we have in Christ Jesus, who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations.

Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah. And this is the case even now. This is a comfort that we can have now, that God is indeed watching over the nations. In the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ is described as one who will rule the nations with a rod of iron, and he is doing that even now.

There is nothing in the world that is happening outside of the sovereign will of God. All of these things are transpiring ultimately for his glory. So we have nothing to fear, even though the wicked exalt themselves, and even though the righteous may be persecuted, the Lord is bringing all things together in the fullness of time, and he does have control.

Nothing is outside of his grasp. So the nations are not without a watcher, not without a judge who will bring judgment upon the wicked and deliverance for the righteous. Verse eight, bless our God, O peoples.

Let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip. Even though, and where we're going next in this Psalm, even though the Jewish people might be turned over to their enemies for a period of time, this is to purify them.

This is to sanctify them, and the deliverance of God will come for them. Even though they had to be turned over to be disciplined or punished, the Lord did not let their feet slip into hopelessness or into the ways of their pagan captors, but had delivered them.

For you, O God, have tested us. You have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net. You laid a crushing burden on our backs. You let men ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

Lamentations 3, 31 through 33 says, the Lord will not cast off forever, but though he caused grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of man.

This discipline that we go through, it is for our good. As we read about in Hebrews 12, the Lord disciplines those whom he loves. If he did not discipline us, then we would be illegitimate sons and daughters and would not be the sons and daughters of God.

But he disciplines those he loves. And so we must receive this discipline for we love God. As it says in Proverbs 12, verse one, whoever loves reproof is wise, but he who hates correction is stupid. To know that we are being trained up in godliness, raised up in the wisdom of the Lord.

Let us love those moments of testing. For it is through this testing that is produced in us endurance and steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect. Verse 13, Psalm 66, 13. Now, I will come into your house with burnt offerings.

I will perform my vows to you. That which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble, I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals. With the smoke of the sacrifice of rams, I will make an offering of bulls and goats.

The statement that's made here, I will, that which my mouth promised when I was in trouble. It basically was like, Lord, please deliver me from this and I will give you the praise that is due your name.

And so in fulfillment of the fact that God has delivered them out of trouble, they are offering those sacrifices that the heart longed to offer, longed to give God, but in a land of oppression, they were not able to do.

So I make an offering of bulls and goats with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams so that our sins would be atoned for. That smoke or the fragrance that goes up into the heavens signified a propitiation, an atonement had been accomplished and that God was satisfied, was pleased with the offering that had been given.

Verse 16, come and hear all you who fear God and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Over and over we have in the scriptures that we must express our cares and our concerns to God with thanksgiving, not with an anxious heart, as Paul points out in Philippians 4, but with thanksgiving present your request to God.

If we are anxious, if we want to blame God for something, well, then we're sinning. And our offering, our sacrifice to God doesn't mean anything. So if we cherish iniquity in our heart, instead of coming in repentance and a spirit of thanksgiving, the Lord is not gonna listen to our prayer.

But verse 19, truly God has listened. He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Why? Because I came with a heart that was praising unto God, one that was humble before the Lord, seeking repentance and praised him for his wondrous works.

And therefore with a right heart before God, he has indeed attended to the voice of my prayer. If we are continuing in a way of sinfulness, of sinful living, of withholding our praise and our thanksgiving to God and repentance that we must do before God, repenting of our sin and asking for forgiveness.

If we're not doing that, then we're cherishing sin in our hearts. And the Lord is not gonna listen to our prayers. God is not with us when we value sin over the Lord for what we are doing is idol worship.

We're worshiping a false God. We are coveting in our hearts and the Lord will not honor our request. But where David says here, truly God has listened, he has listened to the voice of my prayer. Though David had sinned, or in this particular case, Israel, though Israel had sinned, because it doesn't actually say at the beginning of Psalm 66 that David is the writer of this, though it does say to the choir master.

So anyway, Israel before God confessing their sin demonstrates that they're not clinging to their sin. They are not cherishing sin in their heart, but they are humbly coming before the Lord and laying their requests before him.

Psalm 67 as a Benediction for the Nations

Truly God has listened because this is the humbleness of their estate. Verse 20, blessed be God because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me. We go on to Psalm 67. This one, a rather short Psalm, just seven verses.

To the choir master with stringed instruments, a Psalm, a song. We have that distinction again. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us. Selah. That your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God.

Let the peoples, let all the peoples praise you. The earth has yielded its increase. God, our God shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him. It's not just a great song of praise, but also makes a very nice doxology or benediction at the conclusion of a worship service.

Psalm 68 and God Rising to Judge and Save

Here's Psalm 68. To the choir master, a Psalm of David, a song. God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered and those who hate him shall flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away.

As wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God. But the righteous shall be glad. They shall exalt before God. They shall be jubilant with joy. Sing to God, sing praises to his name. Lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts.

His name is the Lord, exalt before him. Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

Oh God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain before God, the one of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. Rain in abundance, oh God, you shed abroad.

You restored your inheritance as it languished. Your flock found a dwelling in it. In your goodness, oh God, you provided for the needy. The Lord gives the word. The women who announced the news are a great host.

The kings of the armies, they flee, they flee. The women at home divide the spoil, though you men lie among the sheepfolds. The wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold. When the almighty scatters kings there, let snow fall on Zalman.

Oh mountain of God, mountain of Bashan. Oh many peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan. Why do you look with hatred, oh many peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode? Yes, where the Lord will dwell forever.

The chariots of God are twice 10 ,000, thousands upon thousands, the Lord is among them. Sinai is now in the sanctuary. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up. God is our salvation. Selah. Our God is a God of salvation and to God, the Lord belong deliverances from death. But God will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.

The Lord said, I will bring them back from Bashan. I will bring them back from the depths of the sea, that you may strike your feet in their blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.

Your procession is seen, oh God. The procession of my God, my King into the sanctuary. The singers in front, the musicians last. Between them, virgins playing tambourines. Bless God in the great congregation.

The Lord, oh you, who are of Israel's fountain. There is Benjamin, the least of them in the lead. The princes of Judah in their throng. The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. Summon your power, oh God.

The power, oh God, by which you have worked for us. Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings shall bear gifts to you. Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.

Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute. Scatter the peoples who delight in war. Nobles shall come from Egypt. Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. Oh, kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.

Sing praises to the Lord, say la. To him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens, behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice. Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel and whose power is in the skies.

Awesome is God from his sanctuary. The God of Israel, he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God. Amen.

Final Encouragement to Find a Gospel-Teaching Church

This is when we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours. But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family.

Find a good, gospel-teaching, Christ-centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we understand the text.