A God-Centered Worldview - [Psalm 97]

Thank you, ladies, so much. No one can harmonize like sisters. It's just something that God does.

He gives them a little something extra when they are sisters. I want you to know, in heaven,

I'm going to join them and add my holy with that.

That is so appropriate, not only in what they sung, but how they sung it.

And it's not only the text that's important, but the tone with which it is sung is important,

I believe, to God. And so that was so appropriate and so well done.

Thank you, ladies, so much. Bless you for that. Well, I hope you're having as much enjoyment as I have, as I am having, in being with you here.

Thank you. You're so attentive and so long -suffering with this long -winded preacher.

Thank you for hanging in here. And I trust that it will be for all of our edification and all of our good.

I want to invite you to take God's word and turn with me again to the Psalms, to Psalm 97.

Psalm 97. And let's look yet again at another enthronement psalm.

Psalm 97. And I have entitled this message, A God -Centered

Worldview. A God -Centered Worldview. And I would like to begin by reading this psalm that you might hear it in your ears, that you might see it with your eyes, you might receive it into your heart.

Psalm 97. The psalm begins, The Lord reigns.

Let the earth rejoice. Let the many islands be glad.

Clouds and thick darkness surround him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries roundabout.

His lightnings lit up the world. The earth saw and trembled.

The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. At the presence of the

Lord of the whole earth, the heavens declare his righteousness. And all the peoples have seen his glory.

Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, who boast themselves of idols.

Worship him, all you gods. Zion heard this and was glad.

And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord.

For thou art the Lord most high over all the earth. Thou art exalted far above all gods.

Hate evil, you who love the Lord, who preserves the souls of his godly ones, who delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Light is sown like seed for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart. Be glad in the

Lord, you righteous ones, and give thanks to his holy name.

How each one of us sees the world around us is what is referred to by educators and philosophers and teachers and theologians as one's worldview.

It is how you view the world. It is the lens through which we see the reality of the world around us and all that is in it.

One's worldview is the paradigm through which one sees everything around him and her as one tries to make sense of life and tries to understand the flow of human history.

One's worldview answers such philosophical questions as, who am

I? Why am I here? Where did I come from? Where am

I going? What is truth? What is reality? What is the state of the world in which

I live? And there are, of course, no shortage of worldviews around us from which to select.

There is dualism, which says that everything in life is explained by two equal forces.

One is good, one is evil. Sometimes one is God, the other is

Satan, and each are pulling in the opposite direction, and each have the same power, and man must step in and stand with one of the two sides so that either good or either evil will prevail, and it hangs in the balances, and this is dualism.

There is humanism, which states that man is the captain of his own ship and is the master of his own soul, and everything revolves around man, and he worships at the shrine of the unholy trinity, me, myself, and I.

There is fatalism, which believes that the circumstances and the successes and the failures of life are governed by some impersonal force known as fate, or known as luck, or known as happenstance, or is governed and controlled by the position of the stars and the alignment of the planets.

There is deism, which states that God has created everything but has adopted a hands -off policy and never intervenes and never influences the flow of events upon the earth.

There is spiritualism, which consults the spirits to learn of the future.

There is mysticism, which says that there is some secret knowledge that is out there that is not privy to all mankind, and it is known only by a few, and it is received intuitively, and it is received through inner impulses, and you hear voices that no one else hears, and you are receiving data that no one else is receiving.

That is mysticism. There is pluralism that says that there are many accepted philosophies of life, and what works for you works for you, and what works for me works for me.

There is paganism, which says that there are many different gods. There is atheism that says there is no

God. There is agnosticism that says, I am not certain if there even is a

God. There is ecumenicalism that says all religions are good, and there are many roads going up the proverbial mountain, and we are all worshiping the same

God. He just has different names and different religions. And there is synergism, which believes that everything is explained by the cooperation of God and man together, and there are checks and balances, and God can only do what man allows him to do.

There are two co -pilots in the cockpit, and if you are to run the world and run your life, both must sign off.

There is secularism, which ignores the eternal values.

There is relativism, which ignores all moral values. There is pragmatism, that whatever works for you is right.

There is positivism, which says seeing is believing. There is hedonism, which says it's all about the pursuit of pleasure, and you must grab for all the gusto you can.

There is an endless number of isms, and every one of them ought to be wasms.

It's not in the notes. But for the

Christian, there is only one worldview. For anyone who is a serious student of God's word, there is only one worldview, and that is the worldview of theism, which believes in a

God who actively, moment by moment, rules over all things, both big and small, for His own glory, and for the good of His own people.

And this is the Christian worldview that is taught in Scripture. And sometimes there are

Christians who have not been brought up in churches that teach the full counsel of God, and have not been exposed to the breadth of biblical teaching, who have put their arms around not only theism, but also some of these other isms from the world, and they don't know that they don't know.

And what they need to do is come to a fuller understanding of the word of God, because there is only one paradigm through which to view reality.

There is only one way to see the world, and it is through the paradigm of God Himself.

To see God correctly is to see the world correctly, and to misread

God is to misunderstand what is going on in the world.

The attributes of God, the character of God, the eternal decree of God, that is the ultimate paradigm, the lens through which we see with accuracy.

And so, at its essence, having a correct worldview begins with having a correct view of God.

And so, in Psalm 97, which we shall look at now in this session, there are four truths about God that we must come to embrace and come to understand.

And as these four truths about God are put in place before us, then we can see reality correctly, then we can see the world around us.

Have you ever gone to the eye doctor and they put different lenses in front of your eyes?

That is a humbling experience. And I have monovision, and I have one contact to see close up, and I have one contact to see far away, and sometimes

I get them flip -flopped when I put them into my eye. But as I go through that exam, they keep saying, can you read this?

Can you read this? Can you read this? And I finally get to a point where I can read it.

But what is important is to get the lens correct. And when the lens is correct, then my vision is sharpened and the letters are clarified.

You need the right lens. I need the right lens to be put in front of me so that I can see with accuracy the reality of what is happening around me.

I want to give you four truths about God. And there are many more that we could add. This psalm simply brings to the forefront four of these attributes of God, qualities of God.

And when these are put into place, they give 20 -20 vision of the world around me.

I want to lay them out for you before we begin to work our way through this psalm. In verse 1, I want you to see that God is a sovereign

God, a sovereign God. Verses 2 through 6, He is a severe

God. In verses 7 through 9, He is a solitary

God. And in verses 10 through 12, He is a sanctifying

God. These are necessary in order to come to grips with reality around us.

So, here is our Christian worldview. It begins with the sovereignty of God.

If you don't understand the sovereignty of God, you will always see with blurred vision.

If you understand the sovereignty of God, you are enabled to begin to see well.

And so, I want you to note in verse 1, this psalm begins with the declaration of the most fundamental tenet of the

Christian faith, the truth of the sovereignty of God. This is not incidental, this is fundamental.

This is not subsidiary, this is central to the Christian faith.

This begins, the Lord reigns. This, as you know, is the key phrase of these enthronement psalms.

We looked at the last one, Psalm 93, verse 1. This will be continued through Psalm 99, the

Lord reigns. It is a proclamation, it is a declaration, it is an announcement.

It is not something that is subject to debate. It is a statement of fact. It is a statement of faith that God is absolutely sovereign over all human history.

This God does only and always as He pleases, and He is constantly and continually exercising

His sovereignty. He has absolute authority to rule over His creation, and He does exercise that right moment by moment.

Listen to this. This is the center of gravity of the system of Christian truth.

If this is not the center of gravity of what you understand the Bible to teach, your equilibrium will be off and you will be thrown out of perspective.

This is the core doctrine that is the sun around which all of the lesser planets in orbits of truth are grouped and do circulate.

This foundational truth, as I said, is the continental divide of theology that separates those who ultimately see with 20 -20 vision and those who see with lesser sight.

And regarding this sovereign rule of God, I simply want to remind you of what I said last time, as you note, verse 1, that the

Lord reigns exclusively. There it is again. It's not the Democrats that are reigning. Praise God.

It's not the Republicans that are reigning, and we can say praise

God to that. It's not the media that is reigning. Three times I will say praise

God for that. And I want you to know it's not the terrorists that are reigning.

It's not Satan. It's not the Lord and Satan. It's not circumstances. It's not man. It's not God and man.

It's not luck. It's not blind fate. It is the Lord exclusively who is reigning.

He is reigning constantly. I will tell you again, it's in the present tense. He is always reigning. It's not that he once was reigning, but is not now reigning.

He's getting old. He can't quite do what he used to could do. And it's not that, well, he will begin to reign one day when

Christ returns. No, right now, presently, he is reigning.

He is reigning actively. We talked about that. He is reigning irresistibly. There is no one who can stay his mighty right hand.

He does all his good pleasure. Here again, Psalm 103 verse 19, the

Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all.

Psalm 135 verse 6, whatever the Lord pleases, he does.

He doesn't have to consult with us. He doesn't have to have the circumstances just right. Whatever he pleases, he does.

And then this expanded statement, in heaven and in earth, in the seas, in all the deeps, from the heights of heaven to the depths of the ocean, the

Lord is reigning. R .C. Sproul has said, there are no maverick molecules in the entire universe.

Every molecule is obeying his executive orders.

Psalm 115 verse 3, but our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.

Just very quickly for a moment, turn to the book of Proverbs. Turn to Proverbs chapter 16. And let me go just a step beyond and add to what we have already been saying and just show you some very practical ways in which the sovereign reign of God overrules even the decisions of men upon the earth.

God will have his way. Proverbs 16 and verse 1 shows his sovereignty over men's decisions.

The plans of the heart belong to man and we do make our plans, do we not?

But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. And by the time it comes out of our mouth,

God has worked and God is at work within us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

And he is involved in our decision -making processes. We are responsible to wrestle and to pray and to consult a council of wise men, but it's every answer is from the

Lord. Look at verse 4, God's sovereignty over men's destinies, over eternal destinies.

The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Some would think that God's sovereignty is a limited sovereignty and it only deals with certain aspects of life.

Listen, God is so sovereign, his sovereignty towers over not only every detail of life, but it includes his reign over the eternal destinies of men.

And this is a tough verse to swallow, but it says what it says, that God has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.

There it is. Look at verse 9. He is sovereign over man's steps.

The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

And the Lord has directed your steps to be here today, and in his expression of the benevolent reign of God in your life, who is constantly and continually doing good things for you, to bring you to the house of the

Lord where you would hear the word of the Lord and where you would be directed in his way.

And ultimately, it is God who has directed you here. You have a divine appointment to be here today.

It has been orchestrated by almighty God. No one simply rambled or stumbled into this meaning.

It is God who has brought you here. Look at verse 33. God is sovereign over the most minute details of circumstances in one's life.

It says, the lot is cast into the lap. We understand what that's like.

It's almost like rolling dice or casting dice. And many times in the

Old Testament, they would seek to know the will of God as they had lesser revelation to work with by the casting of the lot.

And they believe that God was so sovereign that God would control the turning up of that lot that would indicate the determinative will of God in that decision.

And in fact, even into the upper room with the replacement of Judas and the inclusion of Matthias into the 12 disciples, even then, that was how they came by his name.

And look, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the

Lord. That's extraordinary. Every little turning up of that lot is from God.

And this is critical as we go through life to understand that there are many things that happen, but nothing just happens.

Who is sitting on the right of you? Who is sitting on the left of you? Where you will go after this meeting?

Who you will meet along the way? The condition of your car along the way?

And if your car breaks down, just assume God has someone for you to witness to who will come to your aid along the way.

But it is very helpful as you go through life to understand that God is in control over all of this.

Look at Proverbs 19, verse 21. It says, many are the plans in a man's heart, but the counsel of the

Lord, it will stand. I am so grateful for this.

If God had left me to my own way to make my own decisions,

I am certain that I would not be here today standing in front of you with an open

Bible, preaching and proclaiming the word of God. And neither would you be here today in this house and a place of blessing where the word of God is coming to you and God has opened your ears and opened your eyes to hear and to see what he is saying to you.

It is the goodness of God that although there were many plans in our heart that would have taken us in other directions, yet it is the counsel of the

Lord that will stand. Look at Proverbs 20 and verse 24. It reads, man's steps are ordained by the

Lord. How then can man understand his way? This is so inscrutable.

These lines intersect so far above our heads. This is such lofty and transcendent truth.

And as we would come to be taught the sovereignty of God, for all of us in this room, there are 50 questions that we then want to ask.

Well, what about prayer and what about witnessing and what about my human responsibility and what about this and what about that?

And those are all legitimate questions. And for the most part, there are good biblical answers.

But we can only go so far. Deuteronomy 29, 29 is in the Bible that the secret things belong to the

Lord and the things revealed belong to us and he hasn't dealt the whole deck to us just yet.

And so we believe these things by faith and we see this verse and we understand that our steps are or are ordained by the

Lord. And yet we must realize how can man understand his way?

But listen, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater just because you can't understand how all of these dots connect.

Do not think that gives you a free pass to reject the truth of the sovereignty of God just because you don't understand how it all comes together.

I hate to break the news to you, you don't understand how anything else comes together either.

Okay? Do you really understand how there is one God in three persons?

I know you don't, I don't, none of the great minds throughout the history of the church have been able to put their arms around that truth.

We just believe it and accept it by faith, do we not? In fact, if you deny it, you are a rank unbeliever.

The old saying is, you know, try to define it, you'll lose your mind. Deny it and you'll lose your soul.

Jesus, is he God or is he man? The answer is yes.

Is he 50 % God and 50 % man? No. The Bible teaches he is 100 %

God and 100 % man, as much God as if he's not man, as much man as if he's not

God. Do you understand that? If you think you understand it, you don't even know what the issues are.

You don't know that you don't know, okay? Ignorance is bliss.

It's just a wonderful way to go through life. The inerrancy of Scripture, who wrote the book of Romans?

Did God write it? Did Paul write it? Thank you. The answer is yes.

Now, do you really understand exactly how that all worked out? We can begin to put some sentences together, but there comes a point of mystery beyond which we can go no further.

Every word is inspired by God, yet Paul's vocabulary is different than Peter's.

His vocabulary is different than Luke's. His personality shines through, yet every word is the word of the living

God. Let me tell you, every major doctrine in the

Bible has realms of mystery beyond our understanding in which we can enter no further, yet we believe in the

Trinity. We believe in the deity of Christ. We believe in the humanity of Christ.

We believe in the inerrancy of Scripture. We believe in the sovereignty of Almighty God, and we believe in man's moral responsibility to obey the commandments of God, and we must pray, and we must seek counsel, and we must seek the

Lord with all of our heart. And yet, there is this overriding truth that what they meant for evil,

God meant for good, that God causes all things to work together for our good. The steps of a righteous man are established by the

Lord, and he delights in his way. Though he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong, because the

Lord is the one who holds his hand. I have been young, and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

Listen, God has ordained our steps, and yet I fall, yet he holds me, and he pulls me back up, and he keeps me moving down the paths that he has marked out for me.

One more proverb, next chapter, Proverbs 21, verse 1, and then we'll return back to Psalm 97.

But I just wanted to give you another paradigm, another perspective of God's sovereign reign.

Look at Proverbs 21, verse 1. What a verse this is. Sometimes people say, well,

God is only sovereign to a certain point, but he's not sovereign over the hearts of men.

And God has given every man a free will, and God is not sovereign over the will of man.

And there is a do not enter sign that is put up over man's heart, and God is not allowed to penetrate into the heart of man.

God is sovereign over the weather, and he is sovereign over the sparrows and the hairs of your head, but he cannot enter into your heart.

All he can do is pace back forth in heaven and plead. Well, look at this verse.

It's not that simple. It's not that way. The king's heart.

Now, this is an argument from the greater of the letter to the lesser. The king who is untouchable, the king who has many attendants, the king who speaks and it is so, the king who gives executive orders, the king says, let it be said, let it be written.

The king's heart, how much more so my heart and your heart.

The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the

Lord. He, referring not to the king, the antecedent is to the

Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes.

Oh, God's sovereignty extends over even the king's heart, and it extends over even your heart and my heart, and I praise

God that he has turned my heart to himself, and he has turned your heart to himself.

This is God's sovereign reign that the psalmist announces. Come back to Psalm 97.

Come back to Psalm 97. The Lord reigns.

That's the sovereignty of God. Now, notice the response.

Let the earth rejoice. Let the many islands be glad.

This is a glorious truth. This is a joyful truth. This is a truth that should cause our hearts to rise up and to bless his holy name, for he is a benevolent dictator.

He is a good sovereign toward his people, and he says, let the earth rejoice.

Let the many islands be glad. This is the only rightful response that should be given to this grand truth of divine sovereignty.

Now, the earth here represents the large land masses of the globe where people live, the continents of the earth, and the many islands represent the smallest land masses, the smallest land areas on the earth out in the middle of the oceans where people live.

And this is saying from the massive continents with the large population masses down to the smallest islands where only but a few live, let all the earth rejoice that God reigns.

Let the large land masses rejoice. Let the smaller portions of people rejoice that God reigns.

And before we go any further, this presupposes that you and I will do what the previous

Psalm tells us to do. Look across the page. In verse 10 of Psalm 96, say among the nations, here is the great commission in the book of Psalms.

As this Psalm was written, it was with an eye upon the great commission.

Say among the nations, this is to be at the heart of our message, the

Lord reigns. He reigns in grace. He reigns in forgiveness.

He reigns in redemption. And He reigns in judgment. And He reigns in wrath.

For the earth to rejoice and the many islands to be glad in verse 1 of Psalm 97 presupposes that you and I will go to the nations and to declare that the

Lord reigns in salvation and that the nations will be brought to a place of repentance and submission and they will join their voice with a hallelujah chorus and they will join with us in this proclamation that the

Lord reigns. Psalm 97 verse 1 presupposes the missionary enterprise of God's people to take this message to the nations.

And as we go, we do not go with a deluded message. We do not go with a seeker -sensitive message.

Smile. God's all about you. We go with the message that the

Lord reigns. And God, by His grace, will call people out.

And God, by His grace, will bring people to Himself. And there will be a great multitude out of every nation and out of every tongue and every tribe and every kindred of people for whom

Christ has died who will be brought to the Savior and who will rejoice.

God Himself is undergirding the entire missionary enterprise.

God Himself is guaranteeing the ultimate success of the proclamation of the gospel and the response in the hearts of God's people.

Let the earth rejoice and let the nations be glad. There is a people around the globe who will be brought by God's grace to saving faith in Himself and who will lift their voice and they shall and they will rejoice and be glad.

In this anthem, the Lord reigns. Now, we know from last time, from Psalm 2 and Psalm 93, there are many who will gnash their teeth at this truth, who rise up in rebellion against this truth.

But there are those on the islands and among the nations who will respond.

It was this truth that sent William Carey to the mission field. He believed that a sovereign

God would open the eyes and open the ears and open the hearts of people to believe in India and in other places at the proclamation of the gospel.

It is this worldview that really thrusts us out into gospel preaching and out into worldwide missions and out into evangelistic endeavor.

We believe that the Lord reigns and He will turn many hearts to Himself and there will be the ultimate triumph of the gospel in the hearts of those whom

He has appointed for Himself. Now, all of that leads to second.

I want you to see not only a sovereign God, but I want you to note a severe

God beginning in verse 2. This sovereign God holds the entire world accountable to Him and will render account to Him in the final day with inflexible severity.

And these next verses look ultimately ahead to the end of the age and God's final settling of accounts.

And the fact that God is sovereign in no way removes from man

His moral responsibility and His accountability to give account of Himself to the

Lord for all of His actions and deeds. And so we see in verse 2 the wrath of God.

We see in verse 2 the beginning unfolding here of the vengeance of God.

I have a firm belief that if the Supreme Court of the United States could preside over these verses, they would rule this as cruel and unusual punishment.

But God is a God of perfect holiness and His holiness necessitates the expression of His wrath against all that does not conform to His perfect image.

Listen, you need to understand this before we look at these verses. Every sin will be punished. There is not one sin that will ever go unpunished by a holy

God. God will never look the other way. God will never sweep sin under the carpet.

God will never pretend like it never happened. In fact, God Himself would become a sinner if God did not judge every sin.

Every sin will either be pardoned in Christ or punished in hell, but every sin will be fully paid for before the holiness of God.

And so we see in verse 2 represented a violent storm of divine wrath that is building around the throne of God and it will soon break upon the horizon of human history.

Right now around the throne of God there is a violent storm of wrath that is brewing and is being prepared and it will break at the end of this age and it will be extraordinary.

Look at verse 2. Clouds and thick darkness surround

Him. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all, but surrounding the throne of God above there is a dark cloud metaphorically representing here the building fury of the wrath of God.

Edwards spoke of this in that sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And Edwards rightly said that the dam of God's mercy is holding back the river of His wrath and that river is building and it is building as it is being held back by mercy and being held back by common grace.

But the day is coming when the dam of His mercy will be pulled back and His wrath will be unleashed with even greater fury as it is building and growing in its intensity.

That is what is being projected here. That is what is being pictured here. Cloud and thick darkness surround

Him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

And this righteousness means that God will execute righteous judgment, which means so much sin, so much judgment.

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth means that the punishment will fit the crime. It is not an eye for a tooth or a tooth for an eye.

It is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And God will weigh every man in the balances and in the scales.

And every man will be found wanting. And to the degree that there has been sin committed against the high court of heaven, there will be a corresponding punishment and execution of that sentence that will be given.

And perfect righteousness and perfect justice are the very foundation of His throne.

And it is a firm, immovable foundation of justice and righteousness.

Justice and righteousness. Verse 3, fire goes before Him.

And this represents the flickering flames of His divine fury that rises up before Him in the face of man's rebellion against Him.

It is the fire of His wrath, the flames of His vengeance. And notice, burns up His adversaries around Him.

Literally, all of God's foes will be burned up like a log in a furnace place and consumed by His fury.

And not for a moment and not for a season, but throughout all of the ages to come in a real place called hell with the gnashing and the weeping.

And there they will be the object of His wrath. They will not be delivered from God's presence.

For God Himself will be in hell, inflicting the wrath upon those who are under His fury.

This is the very scene that John himself saw in heaven in Revelation chapter 4 and beginning in verse 2, a throne seated in the heavens.

Verse 5, listen to this. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and peals of thunder and seven lamps of fire that are burning.

There is this building, thunderstorm, this violent turbulence of God's wrath that shall soon be unfolding.

And I tell you, it is marked, it is on the horizon and what terror it should produce in the hearts of men.

I live in Mobile, Alabama. And one thing unique about living in Mobile, Alabama is hurricane season.

And I live in Hurricane Alley. And it is a somewhat intimidating thing to live through hurricane season.

And I almost wish there was not the weather channel that tells me that off the coast of South Africa there is a storm that is brewing.

And there is an inevitability about the movement that it will take concerning El Nino, but really the invisible finger of God.

As it will come across the Atlantic Ocean and as it will come into the Gulf of Mexico and there it will come into the warmer waters and there it will build in its intensity and it will go from a

Category 1 to a Category 2 to a Category 3. Or as I went through Hurricane Katrina, as it would go up and escalate to a

Hurricane 5 and to literally cancel church and say every man get in a car and drive out of town and to drive as far as you can go to get out of the path and to get out of the way of this approaching storm.

That is what this psalm is saying. There is a storm that is brewing off the course of heaven, off the coast of heaven.

And when it hits the warm waters of this age, it will not decline, it will increase.

And this is the world view that we must have. That there is coming a final day of accountability with God.

And there is coming at the end of this age the outpouring of the infinite fury of God upon Christ rejecting sinners.

And God will have the final say on every issue that is being pontificated upon now by talk show hosts and on the radio and on television.

God will bring down the hammer on every issue and God will crush and consume every foe who would speak against His word.

Look at verse 4. His lightnings lit up the world. The earth saw and trembled.

And it is so certain to happen that it is spoken of here in the past tense as if it has already broken.

The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. At the presence of the

Lord. God is in this wrath. God is in this vengeance. There is nothing to apologize here about God.

His wrath is pure and holy. It necessitates this expression.

At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The severity of God will be felt in every corner of this planet.

In the last days, God is going to shake down everything that is not tied down to Him.

And there will be the beginning of an eternal meltdown. Look at verse 9.

The heavens declare His righteousness. The heavens have not shrunk from declaring this.

Those who are in heaven, the redeemed saints, many of whom have already been martyred by this

Christ -rejecting world. They are around the throne of God saying, How long, O God?

How long, O Lord, will you endure this insanity here upon the earth?

And those who are in heaven around the throne of God are declaring His righteousness and saying,

It is so. There will come a day of accountability with God. He will bring in this day of recompense.

And all the peoples have seen His glory. And God's glory will put on display.

And those objects prepared for wrath, it will be vengeance. And in those objects prepared for grace, it will be salvation.

This is a part of a Christian worldview. And nothing makes any sense without seeing a sovereign

God and a severe God. Let us not forget that our

God is a God of absolute, infinite wrath and vengeance upon those who are unholy.

And it will be a vengeance that will be inflicted forever and ever and ever within the depths of hell.

Stand amazed, O people of God, at the fury of the

Lord upon those who rise up against Him.

Number three, we have seen a sovereign God. We have seen a severe

God. We have heard the rolling of the thunder.

Of the coming storm. Third note, a solitary

God. There is but one God in the heavens. There is only one true

God. And it is the God revealed in the Bible. This God alone is

God. His name is the Lord. His name is Jehovah. His name is

Elohim. His name is Adonai. His name is Jehovah Jireh.

His name is Jesus Christ. His name is the Holy Spirit.

He is the one true God. And every other

God is but an imposter, but a fraud, but a fake.

Look at verse 7. Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, who boast themselves of idols.

Oh, how ashamed they should be that they have masqueraded their satanic shams and their lethal lies and their damning deceptions of false gods.

All religions and those who follow these damning lies should be ashamed that they have bowed down to worship that which does not exist.

Taunting, mocking almost. At the end of verse 7, the psalmist says,

Worship Him, all you gods. May Baal and Nebo bow down before the one true

God. May Marduk bow down before the one true God. May the gods of the Assyrians and the gods of the

Babylonians and the gods of the Egyptians, may they all bow down and declare the supremacy of the one true

God. And may all in these kingdoms of darkness and may all in these realms of rebellion, may they join with them and fall down before this one true

God. Verse 8, Zion heard this,

Zion representing Jerusalem, Zion representing those who have truly called upon the name of the

Lord in Mount Zion. Zion heard this, referring to the reign of God.

Zion heard this and was glad, glad that God is a God of sovereignty, glad that God is a

God of severity. And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced.

This scene will be carried out in the future at the end of this age. Romans 11, verse 25 and 26 says that all

Israel will be saved, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel now until the time of the fullness of the

Gentiles. And there is yet coming on God's calendar at the end of this age, a turning of Israel to the

Lord Jesus Christ and weeping over Him as one would weep for a firstborn son and a turning to Him in repentance and faith.

And in that day, the daughters of Zion will rejoice and Zion will be glad in their

Messiah. Notice, because of your judgments, oh

Lord. You know what the Hallelujah Chorus is about? The Hallelujah Chorus is rejoicing in the damnation inflicted by God upon His enemies.

Read Revelation 14, read Revelation 19, read what it is that is causing the saints to lift their voices in heaven and sing

Hallelujah to the Lamb upon the throne. It is because the smoke of the great horror has arisen and God's wrath is unleashed upon this false harlot.

And those in heaven are rejoicing that God is doing this. And they are glorified and they see as God sees and they feel as God feels.

And they are glad for their God to vindicate Himself and to show

Himself mighty over all who would rise up against Him.

No apologies in heaven for the wrath of the Lamb that is poured out upon the earth.

Verse 9, look at the end of verse 8. Why are they glad? Why are they rejoicing?

Because of your judgments, oh Lord. For You are the

Most High over all the earth. You are at the top of the organizational chart of the entire universe.

There is no one that is above You. You are accountable to none. There is no one off to the side of You in the organizational chart.

Everyone is reporting to You. Everyone is under Your authority. You are not only high and lifted up,

You are the Most High, Lord. You are exalted far above all gods, infinitely above all gods.

Is this your worldview? Does your worldview need to come more into focus with reality?

Do you have a Pollyanna worldview? Do you have an ostrich worldview with your head stuck in the sand?

Or do you have a worldview that conforms to the testimony of Scripture, that sees a sovereign

God and a severe God and a solitary God who is melting down all the idols of the nations?

Finally, in verse 10, I want you to see a sanctifying

God. Beginning in verse 10, we see the emphasis upon holiness in the lives of God's people.

And it is because God is holy. Leviticus 11, verse 44, I am holy, therefore you shall be holy, declares the

Lord. Leviticus 20, verse 9, I am holy, therefore you shall be holy, declares the

Lord. 1 Peter 1, verse 16 and 17, The Holy One who has called you, you shall be holy, for I am holy, says the

Lord. The fact that God is holy means that God is high and lifted up.

God is transcendent over all the works of His hands. There is an infinite chasm that separates

God from all that He has made. God is holy other than us.

God is distinct from us. God towers over all of us.

And as God is transcendent and God is majestic and God is separated from us,

God is also morally pure and God is sinless and God is blameless.

And everything about God is holy. His Son is holy. His Spirit is holy. The Scriptures are holy.

And all that God does, God does with absolute moral perfection. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

His judgments are holy. His grace is holy. And as God has regenerated us,

God has taken out our heart of stone and has put in a heart of flesh and He has put

His Holy Spirit within us and He has written His Word upon our heart and it is Spirit now that causes us to keep

His commandments. And we, having gone through the narrow gate, can only walk down a narrow path.

And God's purposes for us now are that we would be sanctified and holy as God is holy.

Listen, this church does not need to become as much like the world in order to reach the world.

This church needs to become as much like God in order to reach the world.

We must be different from the world if we are to reach the world. And if we're just trying to blend in with the world in order to reach the world, we're absolute fools to compromise and to dilute the distinctiveness of the holiness that belongs to us.

We ought to raise our children different. We ought to go to work different. We ought to look different.

Smell different. Sound different. We are to be set apart from the pollutions of this world.

And while we are in the world, we are not to be of the world. And this does not mean we withdraw to the holy huddle and just keep here and never go back out there.

We're going to have to break the huddle and go run the plays out there. But as we go, we are going as people who are distinctively different made by the holiness of God.

Now, that is no license to be weird. And some

Christians think that there's some virtue in just being odd. No, we are to be different.

We are to be winsome. We are to be compelling. We are to be the light and the salt out there.

And we are to make a difference. And we must be holy and pure.

This church must be as much like heaven. In order to reach the world for Christ.

So that is why verse 10 says this. A sanctifying

God. Who is sanctifying his people and setting them apart unto himself.

And if that is to be the case, then we must love what God loves.

And we must hate what God hates. And so verse 10 says hate evil you who love

God. And if you love evil, you hate God. And if you love

God, you hate evil. And the two are mutually exclusive.

And when love for God moves in, sin moves out. And love for sin moves out.

And when love for sin moves in, love for God moves out. The two cannot coexist in the same heart.

Hate evil. Don't massage it. Don't pet it.

Don't pamper it. Don't say, oh that's just my little sin.

Hate. Reject. Denounce.

Cut off. What did Jesus say? If your right eye makes you stumble, go get contact lenses.

If your right eye makes you stumble, pluck it out. If your right hand causes you to sin, chop it off.

It's a call for radical repentance. Deal with it.

Hate evil you who love the Lord. We cannot have a

Christian worldview and think that God is not holy. We cannot have a Christian worldview and think that we should not be holy.

Hate evil you who love the Lord. And concerning the

Lord, note the next line, who preserves the souls of his godly ones.

That is the perseverance of the saints. That is the preservation of grace. He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

And the more we are holy, the more it will arouse and provoke the wrath of the world.

But we must know that God will preserve us, sometimes through the water, and sometimes through the fire, and sometimes to deliver us into his presence in heaven.

But the Lord will preserve his godly ones. Light is sown like the seed for the righteous.

This light is holiness. This light is truth, and it is the truth that produces holiness.

Light is sown by the seed for the righteous. Who sows this seed? It is ultimately God himself, who is shining light into your once darkened soul.

It is God who is radiating holiness, and God who is beaming enlightenment and illumination of the truth into your mind and into your heart.

It is God who is sowing light into the righteous. And what will be the harvest of the seeds of light that will be sown?

It will be a harvest of understanding, of the knowledge of the truth, and it will be a harvest of the fruit of righteousness in your life.

And the truth and holiness in your life will cause you to rejoice and to be happy.

You will never be happy with evil in your life.

You will only be glad and only be happy when you hate evil and embrace the seed of light of the truth of the word of God, and it produces gladness.

The happiest people on planet Earth are those who rest in the arms of their merciful, loving

God. Light is sown like seed for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart.

So, he concludes in verse 12, calling out to you and me in this psalm, this is an invitation to your heart.

This is an application for your soul. This is the action point, the imperative for you to act upon.

All of this truth should have its effect in your life. This should not go in one ear and out the other.

This should not remain simply on the paper of your notes. This should be engrafted into your heart.

This should be etched into your soul. And it should come out of you with this expression based upon verses 1 through 11.

Be glad in the Lord. Be glad that your God is a sovereign

God. Be glad that your God is a severe God. Be glad that your God is a solitary

God. Be glad that your God is a sanctifying God. You could not rejoice if God was any less than this.

Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, and give thanks to His holy name.

Can you rejoice that God is reigning in the heavens this day? Can you think about the different complexities of your life?

Can you think of what you've left behind at work? Can you think of the difficulties in your family?

Can you think of loved ones that are coming to the end of their life? Can you think of trials and adversities that are pulling you in different directions?

Can you think of all that which would cause stress and anxiety except you know that the

Lord reigns and that the Lord is in control and that the

Lord will work things, all things together for good? Should you not rejoice in your heart today that what we have discovered here is more true and more real than anything you will ever hear in this world?

Rejoice in the Lord. Again, I say rejoice because your

Lord reigns in the heavens and there's a brewing storm that will settle accounts at the end of this age.

He alone is God and He is sanctifying you unto

Himself. Rejoice in this God. Let us pray.

Father, we do find our greatest gladness in You. Our heart celebrates this fact that You are enthroned in the heavens and it also causes our heart to be filled with awe and silence and reverence that You are a severe

God and it causes our hearts to tremble. But we know that what

You reveal of Yourself in the Word is true and it is right and we embrace it.

God, we long for that day when You will put Your righteousness on display and You will show

Yourself to be God and there is no other. We bow before You and humble ourselves in Your presence.