(Through the Bible) Psalms 81-90 — Chuck Smith

Psalm 81 and the Feast of Trumpets

Let's turn to Psalm 81. On the first day of the 7th month in the Jewish calendar, which, because their calendar begins, the religious calendar begins the 1st of April, it usually coincides somewhere around the 1st of October on our calendar.

There is a blowing of the trumpets. It's called the Feast of the Trumpets to announce the most holy month of the year, the 7th month. And so the first day of the 7th month, the Feast of Trumpets, the blowing of the trumpets to inaugurate this holy month, followed then by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is then followed by the Feast of Sukkoth or Tabernacles.

And so this Feast of the Trumpets, the holy day, the sounding of the trumpets for the holy month, gathering the people in a holy convocation before God. Psalm 81 is the psalm that was read for the Feast of Trumpets.

And so the beginning of the psalm is sort of a proclamation for this day that has arrived. Sing aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel and the pleasant harp with a psaltery.

Blow up the trumpet in the new moon and in the time appointed on our solemn feast day. For this was the statute for Israel and the law of God for Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not.

I removed his shoulder from the burden, his hands were delivered from the pots. So thou callest in trouble and I delivered thee, I answered thee in the secret place of thunder, I proved thee at the waters of Meribah.

And so the first section of the psalm is concluded with this sealaw. They just stop and think about that. So it is a call to the holy convocation of singing unto the Lord with a psalm, the timbrel, the harp, the blowing of the trumpets.

For God has established this as a statute in the law of Moses for the people. God declares in verse 7, You called in trouble and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I proved thee at the waters of Meribah.

Or I was testing thee at the waters of Meribah. So God recounts for them some of their wilderness experiences. How that there in the wilderness they cried unto the Lord because of their thirst. And how that God answered them and proved them, tested them there at the waters of Meribah, which mean waters of strife, because the people did strive with God and with Moses.

Exclusive Worship and God's Call to Listen

Now God himself cries unto the people. And he declares, Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee. O Israel, if thou will hearken unto me. So God is now calling for his people to listen to what he has to say.

First of all, there shall be no strange God be in thee. Neither shalt thou worship any strange God. God has declared in the law, the first commandment, that thou shalt have no other gods before me. Now, we usually think that that sets out a priority.

God first and then all of my little gods afterwards. But no other gods before me that is in my presence. Not having any other gods around me. In other words, our heart is to be totally towards him. And our worship given completely to him.

There shall be no strange God. It is sad and tragic that the people did not hearken to God. And that their history was one of continual idolatry. From the time that they came into the land, they began to turn and to worship the gods of the Canaanites.

Bel, Molech, Mammon, Ashereth. And all of the gods and goddesses of the land. And they began to follow the practices of the people that dwelt in the land before them, that God had driven out. And so, the commandment of God, there shall be no strange God.

In thee, neither shall thou worship. And yet they would not hearken. I am Jehovah thy God which brought thee out of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it. God is declaring now the things that he desires to do for his people.

And of course, he is addressing himself to all my people. So, he's declaring those things that he desires to do for his people. I am certain that we limit that which God would do in our lives so many times.

We are told in Jude, keep yourselves in the love of God. Now, by that is meant, keep yourself in the place where God can demonstrate his love that he has for you. If you say, well, I've got to keep myself in the love of God, thinking I've got to keep myself real sweet and kind and generous and nice so that God can't help but love me.

You've got the wrong concept of God's love. God loves you good or bad. God's love for you is uncaused by you. God's love for you is because of his nature of love. In reality, I cannot do anything to make God love me more.

In the same token, I cannot do anything that would make God love me less. God loves me. But, it is possible for me to remove myself outside of that love of God. To put myself in the position where God really can't demonstrate that love that he has for me.

And that's what Jude is telling us. And God is saying here the things that he desired to do for the people. Just open your mouth wide, I'll fill it. I'll fill your life. Just open yourself completely to me.

And I will fill your life. But, he said, my people would not hearken to my voice. And Israel would have nothing to do with me. Those that God had chosen as his people just had nothing to do with God. They were worshiping these other little gods.

So, he said, I gave them up to their own heart's lust. In Romans, the first chapter, we read also, Wherefore, God also gave them up. And it's always a tragic thing when God says of a people, I've given up.

Wherefore, I gave him up. God said to Jeremiah, he said, look, don't pray anymore for their good. Because if you do, I'm not going to listen to you. God said, Ephraim is joined to her idols. Let her alone.

They join themselves to idols. Just forget it. Where God says, I've given them up. I'm no longer going to deal with them. And, of course, we are told that God's spirit will not always strive with a man.

And when God gives a man up, it's always a very tragic thing. God gave them up to their own heart's lust. You think that you want it so bad. You think that that's going to be the answer of your life. And you do everything you can to achieve or to attain.

And sometimes God just gives you up to go ahead and says, All right, if you want to eat it, eat it, you know. But it's going to make you sick. And he gives you up to your own heart's lust. But that can be one of the most tragic things that ever happen.

For you to get your own heart's desire. Because many times we desire things that aren't really beneficial for us. God knows that they're not good for us. And when God gives us up to our own heart's desires, many times we find that the most bitter experience of our lives.

They walked, he said, in their own counsel. They wouldn't have anything to do with me. They wouldn't follow me. Oh, God said that my people had hearkened unto me. And Israel had walked in my ways. Now God is lamenting over the people that would not walk in his way.

Oh, if they would only have listened. I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries. If they'd only have listened to me. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him.

And their time would have endured forever. They would have remained in the land. They wouldn't have gone into captivity. I would have subdued their enemies. And I would have fed them with the finest of wheat.

With honey out of the rock. I would have satisfied them. But they would not hearken to God. And that's the cry of God. Because they would not hearken to him. Instead of knowing God's best. Instead of experiencing the fullness of the demonstration of God's love.

Because they would not hearken unto God. They went into captivity. And then they were destroyed by their enemies. When we get over to Israel this year, for the hearty ones, I'm planning to take a hike from Gihon Springs on up to the Dung Gate.

Because a lot of new archaeological excavations have been going on this past year. And some of the most exciting archaeological discoveries around the city of Jerusalem have been made on this hillside.

As they have uncovered areas that date back to David's time. Areas that date back actually to the Canaanite period. When the Jebusites had this city. But the interesting thing as they have gone back in the various times of the history of Israel.

They have uncovered many houses that were torn down by Nebuchadnezzar's army. When he besieged Israel at the rebellion of Zedekiah. And in the debris of the houses of the people, they have found multitudes of little gods that the people had carved out.

Ashtar, the goddess of fertility with her exaggerated breast. And all these little idols that they've uncovered. In all of, it seems in all of the houses, they were just full of these little idols. The very thing that the scripture cried out against.

The very thing that God was crying out against here. Don't serve strange gods. Hearken unto me. Oh, if they would only have hearkened unto me, then I would have kept them in the land. I would have preserved them.

I would have subdued their enemies. But they would not have anything to do with me. And so God was weeping because the people were going to go into captivity. God was weeping because of all of the hardship that they were bringing upon themselves.

Because they would not walk in the ways of the Lord. And I'm certain that as God looks at us. And he sees us as we so often follow our own self-willed path. And God can see where that path is leading.

That God just weeps as we refuse to listen. As we stubbornly say, but I want this. And I'm pursuing the desire of my own heart. It's a tragic thing when God gives me over to my own lust. My own heart's lust.

And he just has to stand there and weep as I go into captivity. As I am bringing all of the sorrow and hurt upon myself. Because I won't hearken to him. Because I won't listen to him. Because I don't want anything to do with his law.

And so God's lament. It's a very beautiful psalm. As we see God really just his heart broken. Over the failure of the people. Over the worshiping of these little gods. And how actually even in this last year.

God has allowed evidence to be uncovered. That just so vitally proves this psalm. And makes the whole thing so real. As they've uncovered the houses that were destroyed by the Babylonians. And found all of these strange gods.

And we understand how the people had turned from him. As David said, you know, they've taken and they've carved gods out of stone. Eyes they have but they cannot see. Ears they have but they cannot hear.

And David talked about the things that people were doing even in his time. And the folly of them. And so we hope to look at these ruins. When we're over there this time. Psalm 82 is a psalm that is directed to judges.

Psalm 82 and the Judgment of Judges

And it is a very solemn psalm that God directs to judges. And basically God declares that he is not happy or satisfied with men's judgment. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty and he judges among the gods.

Now the word gods there is the same word Elohim, translated gods. But it is also translated judges. In Exodus chapter 22 verses 8 and 9. As God is giving instructions in the law for how the judges are to determine certain cases.

And God calls the judges gods. Because a judge has such authority over a person's destiny. And because he holds the power of a person's life and destiny. God called judges gods. So God stands in the congregation of the mighty.

He judges among the judges. Or God will be judging the judges. I'm glad for that. I'll be glad to see a few of the judges judged. Not that I have ever gotten a bad deal from a judge. Fortunately I haven't had to face them.

But I do not believe that justice has prevailed always in our courts. I think that our judicial system is at times a disgrace. Now God judging among the judges said how long will you judge unjustly. And you accept the persons of the wicked.

In other words he's a famous person. He's a wealthy person or he's a powerful person. He's a mafioso. So they judge unjustly because they accept the persons of the wicked. To be true in judgment you'd have to look at every man alike.

Rich and poor. You couldn't have any respect to a person's past or anything else. You'd have to be judging simply on the basis of the charges that are brought against him as he stands there. Just like he was anybody.

But yet judges were judging unjustly because they were accepting the persons. God said to the judges, hey defend the poor and the fatherless. One of the problems with our judicial system today is the fact that money really is the thing that counts it seems.

If you're poor then you can't afford a good attorney. And you know you can't afford to put up a good defense. But if you're rich then you know you can afford to put all kinds of delays and appeals and on and on and on.

And justice doesn't prevail on an equal basis throughout our whole society. And that isn't true justice. And God is saying to the judges, now look don't accept a person just because he's wealthy. You take care of the poor.

You take care of the fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and to the needy. Deliver the poor and the needy. Rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not neither will they understand. They walk on in darkness and all of the foundations of the earth are out of course.

I have said that ye are judges or ye are gods. And all of you are the children of the Most High. So this is of course I have said ye are gods. This is a direct reference to Exodus chapter 22 where God does refer to them as Elohim which is translated as I said judges but it is the Hebrew Elohim God.

Now Jesus quoted this in the Gospel of John when the Pharisees were getting ready to stone him. He said I've done a lot of good things among you. For which of these things are you going to stone me? And they said not for the good things but we're stoning you because you being a man are continually making yourself the son of God.

And he said well you know I said that ye are gods. Why should you stone me? Because I say I'm a son of God. Now he said ye are gods here in Exodus 22 as he is speaking to the judges. He's speaking to men that he appoints or that were to be appointed who have the power over a person's life.

And that's what your God is. Whatever it is that's holding power over your life is your God. So if this man sitting on the bench has your life and his power, the control of your life in his hand, then he is a God.

He's controlling your destiny. And so the Mormons of course have taken this up and they've made a whole fanciful doctrine out of it. The idea that ye are gods and they say well if you are a good Mormon and if your marriage is sealed in the temple and if you'll wear the proper underwear to ward off the evil and all and if you are faithful to Mormonism and if you remain faithful to Mormonism, then you and your wife when you die ascend into the God level.

And you and your wife can go off to some planet in the universe and you can bear children there and you will be God over that planet and you can watch your children grow and develop and you can have, you'll be God over the whole scene and watching over them and caring for them.

And people like you and I who haven't followed the teachings of the Lord and the teachings of Joseph Smith or the angel Moroni, we become your angels if we're good people and all. We don't get cast out completely but we'll become the angels and we'll be there to serve the good Mormons and to run the errands for them and all when they are operating their planets.

Now I guess if you are gods you can create whatever kind of people you want to exist in any kind of an environment and from the recent flyby of Saturn that wouldn't be such a bad planet, you know. It'd be very beautiful sitting there looking at rings.

But they base this doctrine of ascending into a God status to this one scripture where God is referring to judges. Now Brigham Young carried that idea back one step. The Mormons all carry it forward one step and they look forward to, you know, their chance in their celestial kingdoms take their wives and have their children and, you know, spiritual children or whatever on this planet and be their gods.

Brigham Young took it back one step and he said, Adam came to the earth with one of his celestial wives Eve and they began populating the earth. And therefore Adam is our God and the only God with whom we have to do because he was the one that started procreation here on the planet that makes him a good Mormon in some other planet somewhere back.

And so he came with one of his celestial wives Eve and it's all the progression into Godhood. Brigham Young carried it back one step and of course that upsets the Mormons completely that he would carry it back one step.

But it's only a logical perception that he had if logically you have the capacity to be God and you're going to go have your planet, then why do we think that this is the only step? You see, no doubt back on other planets and all.

And so Adam was just a good Mormon somewhere and came to the earth with one of his celestial wives Eve and they started the whole thing and they're overseeing it now and watching it and he is our God, the only God with whom we have to do.

And one day the whole world will realize that your salvation depends upon your believing this fact according to Brigham Young, not according to the word of God. Except that they are bound to accept the statements of Brigham Young as the word of God because he was speaking as a prophet of God and when their prophets speak that what they say is on equal par with the written word.

So they've really dug themselves a hole and it's really, yeah, they dug a pit and fallen into it. But anyhow, God is addressing himself here even in this chapter to judges where he makes reference, you are gods, you are judges.

But ye shall die like men. Now they just didn't go on far enough in the verse. God said, I said you are gods, but you're going to die like men and you're going to fall like the princes. You may have a lot of authority and power.

You may have the control of people's lives, but you're going to die just like any man. And so the cry of the psalmist, arise, O God, judge the earth. The only true justice that shall ever arise is when God judges the earth.

For God will judge the earth in righteousness. For thou shalt inherit all nations. Psalm 83 is a psalm where he is speaking out of the calamities that the enemies have brought upon them and asking for God's deliverance as he had in their past history.

Psalm 83 and the Cry for Deliverance

Asking God to work, O God, help us now. Lord, don't keep silence, O God. Don't hold your peace. Don't be still, O God. God, do something. For lo, thine enemies make a tumult. They that hate thee have lifted up the head.

They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones. One of the difficult things today is more or less the silence of God. When I see the corruption that is being foistered upon the United States through the Hollywood movie industry, I see how that crafty people are making God seem like, you know, making the worship of God or people believe in God, making them look like fools.

Making a person who believes in righteousness or morality to look like an Archie Bunker type, you know, a real nut. And deliberately casting a person who would stand up for good in a bad light and glorifying the evil kind of person.

Making heroes out of those that are engaged in evil. Poisoning the mind of the nation. I sometimes with the psalmist say, God, don't keep silence. Do something, Lord. Stop them. Break their teeth in their mouths, Lord.

Smash their noses against their face. God, don't keep... Do something, God. I look at these ads that have been promoted by the National Council of Churches that are against the evangelicals, Norman Lear.

And I say, God, stop these evil men. The National Council of Churches hires this atheistic humanist, Norman Lear, to make these ads that are against the evangelicals. And I think, God, stop them. It's terrible that the National Council of Churches...

Now, I know that on Sunday nights we have an extremely large radio audience. In fact, the radio surveys that are made have discovered that the Sunday night broadcast here at Calvary, our service, is the most listened to radio program in Orange County.

It exceeds all the news programs, rock stations, or anything else. And we praise the Lord for the opportunity of being on the radio and to broadcast the Sunday night services so that a lot of the people who have small children can stay home and put the kids to bed and listen to the services.

But yet, you think of all, well, the people that are listening, and you, a lot of you come from other churches. A lot of you are involved with churches that are related to the National Council of Churches.

And I'd like to say, personally, I wouldn't want the slightest relationship or association to the National Council of Churches. And I would not contribute one dime to any church that supports the National Council of Churches or the World Council of Churches.

And I'm just laying it out to you straight. And I think that if some of the people will just quit supporting some of these churches that do support them, that they'll start taking another look at their relationships.

But I believe that the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches have done more against Christianity than perhaps almost any other groups in the world. They are not representative of the true evangelical church at all.

They represent humanistic concepts in religion, and they are promoting evil causes. Oh, don't keep silent, God. Don't hold your peace. Don't be still, God. Do something. For, lo, your enemies are making a tumult.

Those that hate you have lifted up their head, and they've taken crafty counsel against your people, hired crafty counselors. They have said, come and let us cut off, cut them off from being a nation.

And actually, they've taken a position against Israel, is what he is saying. You know that the World Council of Churches supports the PLO to the tune of over two million dollars a year? A lot of the terrorist activities of the PLO are sponsored and paid for by the World Council of Churches that receives its monies from the churches that are related to the National Council of Churches, which part of the money goes to the World Council of Churches.

And if you belong to a church that is contributing to either the National or World Council of Churches, you are actually contributing to such things as Angela Davis's defense fund, you're contributing to the terrorist groups that are in Africa.

You're contributing to those terrorists that are coming in and killing missionaries and missionary children. You're contributing to the terrorism of the PLO. You're contributing to those that are seeking to destroy the nation Israel.

And I wouldn't want to have any part in the contribution to any of those causes myself. But they've confederated against you. Let's cut Israel off that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

They've consulted together with one consent. They are confederate against God. The Tabernacles, and he names the nations now that have gone together, Edom, the Ishmaelites, those of Moab, the Hegerenes, Hegerenes, Gebel, and Ammon, and Amalek, the Philistines, and Tyre.

Asher also is joined with them. And they have the help of the children of Lot. Now he's saying, God, wipe them out. Do unto them like you did to the Midianites. In the time in the book of Judges when the Midianites came against the children of Israel and Gideon went out against them.

Do as you did to Sesera and as to Jabin there at the Brook Hison. Oh, Sesera and Jabin. God, he's, I mean, as you've driven a spike through their skull, you know, get them, God. Make their nobles like Orib and Zeb who were in the book of Judges also.

Orib and Zeb are about the eighth chapter or seventh chapter of the book of Judges. And unto the princes of Zeba and Zalmunna. These were all princes that were slain of the Midianites who had come against Israel at the time of Gideon and were destroyed by some by Gideon and others by the Ephraimites who came to help Gideon.

Who said, let us take ourselves the houses of God in possession. Oh my God, make them like a wheel as a stubble before the wind. As the fire burns wood and the flame sets the mountains on fire. So persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraid with thy storm.

Fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and troubled forever. Yea, let them be put to shame and perish. And men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth.

God, do these things in order that men might know that you are over all things. And that was the real cry behind. Oh God, it seems that these people have gathered against you, against your purposes. Now God, put them to silence.

Psalm 84 and Longing for God's Presence

Stop them, Lord, that people might learn to respect you. Psalm 84 is a beautiful psalm of the tabernacles of God. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the Lord.

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Jesus said, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. What a beautiful expression this is of the psalmist.

My heart, my flesh cries out for the living God. Dr. Henry Drummond, in his book, The Natural and the Supernatural, says there is within the very protoplasm of man little tentacles that are reaching out for God.

My heart, my flesh crying out for thee, O Lord. And then he said, yea, the sparrow hath found a house and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will be still praising thee. So he had noticed that the swallows had returned to Capistrano and made their nests in the house of God. And he is excited over this.

No, they're in the tabernacles. They didn't first come to San Juan. They came to the tabernacle and they're in the altars of God. They made their little nest to lay their young. We don't have swallows, thankfully, around here because they are dirty.

But we do have sparrows that make their nest in the eaves over here. And every time I walk past and I hear little sparrows and I see them going up in the eaves and all and carrying grass up in there. And I think of this particular Psalm of David, how that the birds, the sparrows that made their nests and all, they're, you know, at your altar.

Oh, how blessed it is to be there in the place where praises are going up to God continually. How blessed it is to dwell in the tabernacle and the sanctuary of the Lord and just a place where praises are being offered.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. Now, the word blessed is happy. Happy is the man whose strength is in the Lord. The man who has learned to draw his strength from the Lord. In whose hearts are the ways of them.

Who through passing through the valley of Baca make it a well. And the rain also fills the pools. The valley of Baca is a phrase that we don't quite understand. It would appear to be sort of a dry place.

Who even when he passes through dry places, it becomes a well. And the rain fills the pools. They go from strength to strength. Every one of them that appears before the Lord in Zion. Oh, Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer.

Give ear, oh God of Jacob. And then the final thought. Behold, oh God, our shield and look upon the face of your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God.

Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. Than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. A day in thy courts is better than a thousand anyplace else.

I'd rather be a doorkeeper, Lord, in your house. The lowest place in the house of God. Than the highest place in the house of Bell. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory.

And no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Not a beautiful promise. I love that promise. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Oh, Lord of hosts, blessed or happy is the man that trust in thee.

So, happiness to the man whose strength is in the Lord. Happiness to the man whose trust is in the Lord. Psalm 85, Lord, you have been favorable unto the land. You have brought back the captivity of Jacob.

Psalm 85 and Spiritual Restoration

You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all of their sins. So, the declaration of God. The favor of God to the land. And to the people, bringing them back from captivity. And then the goodness of God in the forgiveness of their sins.

Thou has taken away all by wrath. You have turned yourself from the fierceness of your anger. Turn us, O God, of our salvation. And cause your anger toward us to cease. And now he's speaking unto God.

Will you always be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.

I will hear what the Lord will speak. For he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints. But let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is near them that fear him. That glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth. And righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good.

And our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him. And shall set us up in the way of his steps. So, the psalm begins with the declaration that God has brought us back. But yet, there hasn't been a full spiritual restoration.

It would seem that God isn't really moving yet among his people. So, the prayer, Lord, are you going to be angry forever throughout all generations? Won't you return, you know, revive us again? And that we might have again the rejoicing of the Lord within our hearts.