How Ugly is an Ingrate

Sovereign Grace Family Church iconSovereign Grace Family Church

3 views

0 comments

00:00
your Bibles and turn with me to Psalm 92.
00:09
The title of today's message is, How Ugly is an Ingrate? This Thursday, people all around our nation will continue a tradition which began in the 1600s, an annual tradition of celebration called Thanksgiving.
00:43
And though I am not normally given to a hallmark liturgy, and that is I don't always preach regarding holidays, with everything that's been going on recently, I thought it was very important that we do be reminded of how valuable it is that we give thanks and how important it is that we do not cease to give thanks, even when times are difficult.
01:11
It's easy to give thanks when things are well, and our bodies feel good, and our bank accounts are full, and our cars are driving nicely, and everything just seems to be going well, and when we go to church everyone's healthy and happy.
01:28
It's easy to have a smile and to be thankful, and yet the Bible calls us to be thankful even when we get the bad call from the doctor, even when we open up the account and it is in the negatives, even when we go to start the car and it doesn't start, or we come to church and find out that one among us has passed away.
01:57
We are still called to be thankful, and so today's message is really a reminder that Thanksgiving isn't once a year, Thanksgiving isn't once a week, though we are going to focus today specifically on Sunday and coming together on Sunday and giving thanks, but Sunday is a daily, or excuse me, let me try that again, Thanksgiving is a daily opportunity for every believer.
02:32
So with that in mind, I've decided to preach today from the 92nd Psalm, and it begins with a reminder that it is good to give thanks to the Lord, and I know that we we stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, but we do stand when we're going to read the passage, we're going to study, we stand for the word, so let us stand and give honor and reverence to the Word of God, and again we are in Psalm 92, and I do read the introductions, even though last week I said there is some question about whether or not this is part of the inspired text, it certainly is part of the traditional text, this goes all the way back to ancient times, or these headings that are in these Psalms, so I'm going to read the heading as well.
03:23
A Psalm, a song for the Sabbath.
03:29
It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre, for you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work, at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
03:52
How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep.
03:57
The stupid man cannot know, the fool cannot understand this, that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever.
04:09
But you, O Lord, are on high forever.
04:13
For behold your enemies, O Lord, for behold your enemies shall perish, all evildoers shall be scattered.
04:18
But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox.
04:23
You have poured over me fresh oil.
04:26
My eyes have seen the downfall of mine enemies.
04:29
My ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
04:33
The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
04:38
They are planted in the house of the Lord.
04:41
They flourish in the courts of our God.
04:44
They still bear fruit in old age.
04:47
They are ever full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright.
04:52
He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him.
04:59
Father God, I thank you for your word and as Brother Mike has already prayed, I pray again, Lord, that you would use your word to teach your people, open their hearts to understand it, Lord, that it might bring forth the fruit of repentance in all of our lives, especially the sin of ingratitude.
05:19
And Father, I pray that you would keep me from error as I preach and keep me from cowardice, that I might preach with boldness and that I might preach with accuracy.
05:34
Lord, may you be praised in the preaching of your word and may you save those who have come today who do not know the Lord, that today they might see the foolishness of not praising God.
05:49
And Lord, that very thing for which we have been created to do, to praise you always, is our goal in this message and in our lives.
05:58
So Lord, we praise you with this in Jesus' name.
06:01
Amen.
06:03
All right, you may be seated.
06:22
When Brother Mike came up to pray, he mentioned in the passage that Brother Andy had read something somewhat humorous from the Apostle Paul, and it was funny.
06:36
And I want to mention also that there's something that I have found humorous in this psalm.
06:43
This psalm has been where I've been waiting all week.
06:47
I've been swimming in it, studying it, reading it over and over, reading it in various translations, reading as best I can in the original language to try to discern its meaning.
06:57
And the one thing that I have noted in the study of this passage is the first line has to be one of the greatest understatements in the Bible.
07:11
It is good to give thanks to Yahweh.
07:17
Notice in your Bible that it's the capitals there.
07:20
Anytime you see the word Lord and it's capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that's referencing the divine name.
07:29
And I actually this week listened to a Jewish Christian preach this psalm because I wanted to see how he handled it.
07:39
And as I was listening to him, I noticed that he didn't say Lord and he didn't say Yahweh, but he said Adonai.
07:45
And it still is the tradition among many Jewish people not to use the divine name.
07:50
They consider that to be too close to breaching the third commandment, not to take the Lord's name in vain.
07:56
And so not to anywhere skate near the safety of that particular fear, they don't use Yahweh.
08:05
They will say Adonai.
08:07
But the most important thing that we need to notice here is not really the name of God, even though the covenant name is used and we should recognize that.
08:15
The most important thing here is what it says about Yahweh, what it says about the Lord.
08:19
It says, it is good to give thanks to the Lord.
08:26
And what it does not say is just as important.
08:33
It does not say that it is only good to give thanks when times are good.
08:42
For that is the common trait among us, that we give thanks for the good when things are good, but we do not sit in thanksgiving when things are bad.
08:55
Rather, we tend to be people who grouse.
08:59
We tend to be people who complain, like Israel of old, who in the wilderness could not find anything but what to complain.
09:06
We tend ourselves to be the same, as it has often been said.
09:09
Heaven must have a suggestion box, because some people will not be able to be happy unless they have something about which to complain.
09:18
That was kind of a joke, but it's okay if you didn't think it was funny.
09:21
The point is, the idea of there being some complaint, something about which to argue, something about which to say, I just cannot be happy in this situation.
09:35
I just cannot be thankful.
09:37
But this passage tells us it is always good to give thanks to God.
09:42
You might say, well Pastor, the word always is not there.
09:46
But I believe it is implied, because it says it is good to give thanks to the Lord, and that word is without, there is no qualification there.
10:00
And somebody might say, oh but Pastor, there is the introduction, and the introduction tells us this is a psalm for the Sabbath day.
10:08
And you'll remember in the ancient times, prior to Christ, the Sabbath was celebrated on the seventh day, that is the day of rest.
10:19
And some people will say, well see, you only have to give thanks one day a week.
10:24
God only expects you to give thanks on the Sabbath.
10:28
I don't think that that is how we are to understand this introduction.
10:33
You say, well what is it, why does it say a psalm for the Sabbath? Well I've wrestled with that some, and I want to be honest with you and say I can only give my opinion.
10:40
I haven't found anything that I think is definite.
10:43
But I will say this, one of the most interesting things about this being a psalm for the Sabbath is that because this is from ancient times, it does remind us that the Sabbath day in ancient Israel was not a day of idleness.
10:59
It was a day of rest.
11:02
But there was an expectation on the Sabbath, and the expectation was that you would be thankful and praiseful to God.
11:11
That you wouldn't just sit on your hands, or as the Pharisees would later do, count their steps and try to figure out if they had done too much work or not enough or whatever, trying to figure it out.
11:22
As John Calvin said, this psalm reminds us that though Sabbath was a day of rest, it was not a day to be idle.
11:32
Israel was to use the Sabbath to give thanks to God.
11:34
But I don't think it's limited to the Sabbath.
11:37
I just think that that's the most appropriate day.
11:40
And of course under the new covenant, we worship on the Lord's Day.
11:44
We no longer worship on the Israel Sabbath day.
11:47
We no longer worship on Saturday.
11:48
We now worship on Sunday.
11:50
And if I could bring this into the new covenant for just a moment, I would say it is just as appropriate to say it is good to give thanks on the Lord's Day.
12:03
It is good to be in church.
12:04
I'm so thankful to see you all.
12:06
Many of you are visitors today, and praise the Lord that you are here.
12:09
And it's good that you are here.
12:12
It is good that you have come to praise the Lord.
12:16
It is a good thing to be in church.
12:19
For the last six months, or longer now, with all of the things arising from COVID and all of these things happening, many people have been unable to do what we're doing today.
12:31
Or they have done so in great fear.
12:35
They have strapped masks on, and they have come in fearful.
12:38
And I understand masks are important, and that's not bad.
12:41
Some of you are in sickness and dealing with sickness, and that's fine.
12:44
That's not the problem.
12:45
But in some places, you can't enter the room.
12:49
You cannot sit among people unless you're six feet apart.
12:53
And we have grown very distant from one another in regard to that.
12:57
It happens.
13:00
And so here we sit among ourselves, thankful to be here.
13:04
Are you thankful? I'm thankful that you are here.
13:13
So this passage tells us it is good to give thanks to God.
13:17
And as I said, that's an understatement.
13:20
It's an understatement.
13:22
It's great to give thanks to God.
13:25
It's an awesome opportunity to give thanks to God.
13:29
It is an all-too-often-forgotten thing to give thanks to God.
13:39
So what I want to do today as we go through this psalm, and we're going to read and study through the whole psalm, Lord willing, time allowing, we're going to look at the whole psalm.
13:48
And what I want to show you is I want to show you that the psalmist here gives us three reasons why it is good to give thanks to God.
13:59
Because that's what he says.
14:00
He starts with, it is good to give thanks to the Lord.
14:04
And then we are given three specific reasons why it is good.
14:11
And so let us look first at the first one which is found in verses 1 to 5.
14:18
It is good to give thanks to God because of his nature and attributes.
14:24
It is good to give thanks to the Lord because of his nature and his attributes.
14:28
Look as it says, it said, it is good to give thanks to the Lord to sing praises to your name on the most high, to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and of the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
14:41
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work.
14:44
At the works of your hands I sing for joy.
14:46
How great are your works, O Lord, your thoughts are very deep.
14:51
We'll stop there.
14:53
What we see here is we see four attributes of God's nature which are mentioned and then three responses that come as a result of those attributes.
15:05
You say, I don't see four attributes there.
15:07
They're there.
15:08
If you look closely, you will see four attributes of God which are mentioned.
15:12
Number one is his steadfast love.
15:15
Number two is his faithfulness.
15:18
Number three are his works and that one actually is mentioned three times.
15:22
His works, the works of his hand, his great works, that's mentioned three times.
15:25
And then his thoughts, God's thoughts are mentioned.
15:31
So let's look at those very quickly.
15:32
Let's look first at his steadfast love.
15:34
It says in Psalm 92, it says in verse 2, to declare your steadfast love in the morning.
15:43
I want to ask you a question.
15:45
Does it ever strike you that you are an object of God's love? If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, if you have entered into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ and repentance unto God, if you have been born again, you are an object of God.
16:11
In fact, you were an object of the love of God before you were ever born.
16:17
You were an object of the love of God before the earth was ever created.
16:22
The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world and Jesus Christ was not slain for a nameless, faceless mass of humanity.
16:34
He was slain for all who would believe on his name.
16:37
He was slain for what the Bible describes as the elect, those God had chosen.
16:46
And so that particular promise, that particular hope is given to us and when we come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, when we become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are then reminded God has loved me since before there was a me.
17:03
It might not be good English, it's good theology.
17:05
It's God has loved me before there was, before I was.
17:14
And not only has he loved me, but he has loved me with a steadfast love.
17:20
Notice what it says.
17:21
It says we are to declare his steadfast love.
17:27
Now what does the word steadfast mean? It means to be dependable.
17:31
It means to be loyal.
17:33
It means to be certain or sure.
17:36
To be steadfast is something that does not falter.
17:40
It does not fail.
17:41
It is absolute.
17:45
Think about Romans chapter 8.
17:46
You don't have to turn there.
17:47
Many of you know it in your own mind and in your own heart.
17:49
All I have to do is begin.
17:51
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or sword? You remember that? And it goes on to say, nothing can separate us from the love of God, neither height nor depth, nor angels nor powers, nor things present nor things to come.
18:18
Nothing's going to come tomorrow and separate you from the love of God.
18:22
Nothing is going to come next week and separate you from the love of God because it is a steadfast love.
18:30
If there's no other reason to give thanks, that's one.
18:34
His steadfast love that is loyal, that is certain, that is sure, that cannot fail is a reason to give thanks.
18:45
Nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus your Lord.
18:52
Beloved, you should never, you should never lose the sense of awe in that.
18:59
We have a God whose love never fails.
19:02
We have a God who doesn't try and fail, but He does and accomplishes what He sets out to do.
19:10
The Bible says no one can thwart His purpose, no one can stay His hand.
19:15
He is God and there is no other, there is none like Him.
19:19
And He determines the end from the beginning.
19:23
He is the sovereign God of the universe whose love cannot be thwarted, cannot be stolen, cannot be robbed, cannot be taken.
19:40
It is a steadfast love.
19:43
And following this we see the word faithfulness.
19:47
Not only is His steadfast love to be declared in the morning, but His faithfulness is to be declared at night, which tells us this is a, this is an all-day reason to be thankful.
19:57
Remember I said it's all the time.
19:58
In the morning we give thanks for a steadfast love, at night we give thanks for His faithfulness.
20:03
God is faithful to those who are His.
20:07
Consider all those Bible verses that remind you how God is faithful.
20:12
1st John 1 9.
20:14
This should be a verse that is a favorite to many of us.
20:17
I know it's a favorite of mine.
20:20
The Bible says if we confess our sins He is what? Faithful and righteous.
20:27
To do what? To forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
20:34
If we confess our sins.
20:36
I know this, I struggle at times.
20:41
Maybe you don't, maybe you have a very virtuous life and you never fail.
20:46
Maybe your failings are so minute that no one would ever perceive them, but I perceive my own failings.
20:56
Like the man who was going to the party and the water, a car drove by and splashed water on him and he thought, oh it's okay, it's just water and it's real dark and he can't see.
21:07
But the closer he gets to the light of the house that he's going to, the closer he gets, the more he can see his self and the more he can see the dirt on him.
21:15
And finally when he reaches the door, he can't knock on the door because he realizes he's covered in mud.
21:22
That's like us when we come to Christ, right? We feel pretty good.
21:26
And then the closer we get to Christ, the more we get close to, and the closer to the light we get, we realize how unclean we are and how desperately we need the Savior.
21:36
And yet I know this, if I confess my sin He is faithful to forgive me.
21:41
He is faithful and righteous to cleanse me.
21:46
That doesn't give me an excuse to go about sinning.
21:48
It certainly Romans 6 tells me that I should never sin with the hope that grace will abound as some kind of a license for sin, but it does remind me that I do not have to live with perpetual guilt, flagellating myself with a whip like the old monks used to do in the cloister because they were so afraid that they hadn't been punished enough for their own sin.
22:09
Jesus has been punished for my sin and He is faithful to forgive me and cleanse me of all unrighteousness.
22:17
Therefore I have a reason to be thankful.
22:19
In the night I can put my head on the pillow and sleep easy because my sins are forgiven.
22:30
He's faithful all night long and I know if I don't wake up the next morning I will be with Him.
22:38
And for that I'm thankful.
22:42
So His steadfast love in the morning, His faithfulness in the evening, two of His attributes that should cause Thanksgiving all day long, every day.
22:51
And then it says His works.
22:53
Now it doesn't say which works, but it mentions works three times.
22:58
It says in verse 4, we were made glad by your work.
23:01
It says in verse 5, how great are your works.
23:04
And then later on it mentions the works again.
23:06
Actually verse 4 says it twice.
23:08
It says the works of your hands and for those I sing.
23:11
It doesn't say what works, but I think we can deduce at least one from the psalm and that is the work of salvation.
23:20
You say, how do you know that? Because later He's going to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked.
23:26
And do you know what distinguishes the righteous from the wicked? God's hand of grace.
23:33
I didn't make myself righteous and I'm not righteous by my own good deeds.
23:37
I am declared righteous by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
23:41
That's how I know I'm made righteous, declared righteous.
23:45
Therefore the thing that distinguishes me primarily from the person who is not saved is Jesus, not me.
23:55
And so one of the works that we know that we can praise God for is salvation.
24:01
But we can look around and we can find thousands more.
24:03
Like the song we sang earlier, 10,000 reasons.
24:06
They're over and over and over again.
24:11
And then finally of these four things, because I've got more to get to, it's his thoughts.
24:16
Notice it says in verse 5.
24:18
It says, how great are your works O Lord.
24:19
Your thoughts are very deep.
24:22
Now why would we be thankful for God's thoughts? I had to think about that one for some time as I was studying and preparing and I was thinking, why would we be thankful for what God thinks about? And then I thought about this.
24:38
We are a product of the mind of God.
24:41
We are a product of the creative genius of God who built us in our mother's womb.
24:46
Psalm 139 says God fashioned us in our mother's womb.
24:51
And he fashioned our days before there was even one of them.
24:55
God knew me before there was a me.
24:58
Remember I said that earlier.
24:59
Therefore his thoughts are worthy of praise.
25:05
Think about what the Bible says about God's thoughts.
25:10
Isaiah 55 8 says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord.
25:15
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
25:21
Romans 11 33, all the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.
25:26
How unsearchable are his judgments? How inscrutable are his ways? God's thoughts are beyond comprehension.
25:40
And I want to say something.
25:44
Let me get a sip of water to say what I'm about to say.
25:48
And careful with your heretic button.
25:53
If I were God, I would do some things different.
25:59
What I'm saying is that's how much I know my mind isn't like God's.
26:08
That's how I can understand how low my mind is compared to how high his is.
26:14
Because I look around at the world and I say, yeah, I'd do that different.
26:21
But the reason why I look around the world and I say, yeah, I would do that different, is because somehow in some way I forget that I'm that I don't know what God knows.
26:31
And I can't think the way God thinks.
26:33
I can't perceive the way God perceives.
26:36
And therefore I have to be thankful for the thoughts of God.
26:45
Because he knows what he's doing.
26:51
It's good that I'm not God.
26:53
It's very good that I'm not God.
26:55
If it's good to praise the Lord, it's good to say I'm not God.
26:58
And I'm thankful that I'm not God.
27:01
But I should be thankful for his thoughts.
27:04
I should be thankful that he thinks of me.
27:08
That he actually thought and loved me enough to save me.
27:14
Because he didn't have to.
27:16
I do not deserve God's love.
27:19
Neither do you.
27:20
No one deserves the love of God.
27:22
It is given as a gift.
27:25
Gifts aren't deserved.
27:27
Gifts are not earned.
27:30
Gifts are given.
27:32
God gives grace freely, sovereignly.
27:39
And if you are an object of God's grace, you're also an object of God's thoughts.
27:45
You're an object of his knowledge.
27:46
Just for he whom he for knew.
27:49
And that means he not only thought about you, but he loved you.
27:54
For knowledge doesn't just mean God looked down the corridor of time.
27:56
It literally means God chose to love.
27:59
To know something.
28:01
To know someone.
28:02
It's an act of love.
28:05
God chose to love.
28:12
So we see four attributes mentioned.
28:14
His steadfast love, his faithfulness, his works, and his thoughts.
28:18
And what are the response? We're still on, we're still on point one by the way.
28:21
We're gonna get there.
28:22
Pam trying to follow me, and I know it's hard.
28:24
I'm hard to follow sometimes.
28:25
We haven't even gotten to part two yet.
28:27
This is still part one.
28:28
Because what we see in verses one to five is we see three responses to the attributes of God.
28:34
We see singing, we see making declarations, and we see expressing gladness and joy.
28:40
And just for a moment let me just make a quick comment on each of those.
28:43
First on singing.
28:46
He says this, he says, it is good to give thanks to the Lord to sing praises to his name.
28:51
And he goes on to say to the music of the lute and the harp, the melody of the lyre, you have made me glad for your works and at your works I sing for joy.
29:01
Several descriptions are given to thanking God with song in this psalm.
29:11
I can say one thing without fear of contradiction.
29:17
God likes music.
29:23
He has the psalms that he wrote through his holy men that he raised up by the power of the Spirit.
29:32
And he calls us to sing.
29:34
Why is it that Christians always sing? Whether you're here, or you're in Africa, or you're in Asia, or you go up into the Arctic, wherever you find Christians you find a singing people.
29:48
Why? Because God has called us to be a singing people.
29:54
He makes mention of strings here, which makes me happy because I play the guitar.
30:01
Now I know that's not the same as the instruments that he mentions, but it is interesting that he does make mention of instruments.
30:09
There are some people who do not believe instruments should be used in the church, and their argument is usually to the effect that there's no instruments mentioned in the New Testament.
30:19
I would disagree with that because of the plethora of times instruments are mentioned in the Old Testament.
30:26
Always for what purpose? To the praise of God, and to the exaltation of God.
30:35
And it's sad to me that music becomes a place where the church often divides.
30:40
You know this, right? You know many churches divide over music, and I understand some of it.
30:47
Some music is not God-honoring.
30:49
Some music is bad.
30:51
Some music treats Jesus more like a girlfriend than a savior.
30:55
I understand, but this should not cause us to discount the value of music.
31:06
It is vital to understand the place of music in thanksgiving to God.
31:11
And I want to say something that, stay with me now, music should be done well.
31:21
Some people say, oh I can't carry a tune in a bucket.
31:24
Okay, that's why we all sing at the same time.
31:28
That literally is.
31:29
I was, you know, I was in band seven years.
31:32
I was in chorus for four years.
31:33
I did all the musics.
31:34
I did musical theater and all that stuff for years.
31:38
And I will tell you this, the reason why there are choruses is because not all people have soloist voices, but everybody can sing in a chorus.
31:47
Everybody can sing their part.
31:49
And when all of the voices come together, it does make a beautiful noise to the Lord.
31:54
Not just a noise, you know, bing, bing, bong, bong.
31:57
No, it's beautiful noise.
32:00
Listen to this one psalm, Psalm 33, three.
32:03
Sing to him a new song, play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts.
32:08
Skillfully is used there.
32:10
And I looked it up.
32:10
I tried to make sure I'm getting it right.
32:12
Almost every translation I found said skillfully.
32:15
And then I went back to the Hebrew, and you know what the word Hebrew, the word in Hebrew means? Skillfully.
32:21
Yeah, it still means skillfully.
32:24
It means to be done well.
32:26
It means to do something good.
32:28
It means actually try to do well.
32:31
When you stand there, oh how I love Jesus.
32:37
Oh how I love Jesus.
32:41
Seriously, you're not convincing anybody.
32:51
Huh? Yeah, and when we sing, it should be an offering of thanksgiving.
33:00
God deserves our best singing.
33:02
You guys, I've seen y'all driving down the road.
33:04
You don't know this.
33:05
I watched them driving down the car, and you just yell it in your car.
33:08
And when you get here, God deserves our singing as an act of praise and thanksgiving.
33:25
That's enough to say about that.
33:26
But it's here.
33:28
It's in the text.
33:29
And he says, making declarations.
33:31
Not only do we sing, but we speak.
33:33
We thank him by telling others of his marvelous works.
33:36
When was the last time you told someone what God has done for you? When was the last time you told someone what the Bible says that God will do for those who repent and believe? This says that it is we thank God by declaring his goodness, and by expressing gladness and joy.
34:04
Thankfulness shows up clearly in a joyful countenance.
34:06
A person who is depressed and anxious is usually not very thankful.
34:14
A person whose countenance is angry and distasted and frustrated is usually not the person who is very thankful.
34:32
Our gratitude is expressed in gladness.
34:37
I'm going to say that again.
34:37
Our gratitude is expressed in gladness.
34:50
We have every reason to give thanks to the Lord, and here we have seen several in the ways that we should be thankful.
35:02
Now let's look at number two.
35:04
Not only are we to be thankful because of God's nature and attributes, but we are to be thankful because God will triumph over the wicked.
35:13
Read verse 6 with me.
35:15
It says, the stupid man, yes, the ESV says stupid.
35:19
The King James Version says brutish.
35:22
The New Living Translation says the simpleton.
35:26
Some of them use some kinder language, but I appreciate the ESV going out on a limb here, because the ESV just says it like it is.
35:34
The stupid man cannot know, the fool cannot understand this, that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever.
35:46
But you, O God, O Lord, are on high forever.
35:49
For behold, your enemies, O Lord, for behold, your enemies shall perish.
35:52
All evildoers shall be scattered.
35:56
One of the hardest things to watch, I don't know for you, it's for me, one of the hardest things to watch is to watch wicked people prosper.
36:05
When you see a crooked politician in power, we wince, and that's like we wince all the time.
36:13
When we see greedy executives cheat people out of their savings and inheritance, we snarl in anger.
36:22
When we see cultural icons engaged in perversion, and the world following after their perversion, we gag.
36:31
Yet this passage reminds us that all of their prosperity is temporary.
36:38
Notice what it says, the wicked sprout like grass, and evildoers flourish.
36:49
Why does it mention grass? Because grass don't last.
36:56
Grass, that's literally the reason, the reason why grass is mentioned.
37:00
Why do the wicked sprout like grass? Because grass is here today, gone tomorrow.
37:05
Grass comes and it goes.
37:06
What does the Bible say about the Word of God? It says the grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of God, what? Stands forever.
37:13
So the distinction between that which stands forever and that which is temporary is that it's called grass.
37:19
That's the biblical language.
37:21
Something that is temporary is like grass, and the prosperity of the wicked is like grass.
37:28
It ain't going to last.
37:34
You say, why should that make us thankful? Because it reminds us that justice is never truly avoided for the wicked.
37:48
You've heard people, you've seen this, somebody goes and they've done something evil, they've hurt a child, they've hurt people or done something wicked, and they get off, right? They go before the judge and the judge sets them free.
38:02
And what do people say? He escaped justice.
38:06
No, he didn't.
38:08
It's really just a matter of time.
38:13
There is no escape.
38:16
The other day my wife went into, she always gets nervous when I mention her, but this is good.
38:22
She went into Winn-Dixie, and as she was going in, this man was coming out and he was stealing stuff.
38:31
He had a bag full of stuff that he had stolen.
38:33
And all of the cash register workers were yelling, sir, you're stealing, sir, don't take that, sir, you're stealing.
38:41
They can't stop them anymore.
38:42
The rules are, you know, because of litigation and everything, they can't just go tackle the guy, you know.
38:47
So they basically have to watch people come in, take stuff out of the store, and walk out.
38:51
All they can do is say, please don't do that.
38:55
So my wife, she said, you are sinning, and stealing is a sin.
39:10
And she came home and told me that.
39:12
I said, you know what, you're the only person there that reminded him that justice will come.
39:17
You're the only person.
39:19
Everybody else is, sir, don't steal, don't take that, don't go.
39:22
That is a sin against the Holy God, and though you may not get tackled by the bag boy, God will not be mocked.
39:36
That is a sin.
39:42
It is tough to watch the wicked prosper, but it is a thankful thing to remember that they will not prosper always.
39:50
Wickedness has an expiration date, y'all.
39:53
There will come a day, there will come a day when all of the wickedness of this world will be put under foot, and it will go away, and we will live in perpetual joy with the Lord forever.
40:07
There will be a day with no more tears, no more crying, no more pain.
40:12
There will be a day where there will be no more sea.
40:15
You know what the Bible says, there's no more sea? It's not talking about the ocean, those of you beach bums who really like to go out and dance in the ocean waters.
40:23
It's talking about the turmoil of this world.
40:25
When the Israelites used the word sea, they were talking about something that was tumultuous and dangerous, and in the new heavens and new earth there will be no tumult.
40:36
There will not be danger.
40:37
There will only be a place of joy and perpetual gladness forever.
40:44
People say that's pie in the sky.
40:46
That's not pie in the sky.
40:47
That's the book of Revelation come to life.
40:50
That's the promise.
40:51
Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you, and if it were not so, I would have told you.
40:56
I told you I go to prepare, which means I'm not lying to you.
40:59
In my Father's house are many rooms that if it were not so, I would have told you.
41:07
So we can thank God that the wicked will not go on forever.
41:12
Wickedness will be triumphed.
41:16
And finally, we can thank God because he will bless the righteous.
41:20
Look at verse 10.
41:23
The psalmist turns his attention on himself in verse 10.
41:29
He says, but you have exalted my horn.
41:32
By the way, when it says exalted my horn, that's not language we use.
41:37
That's poetic biblical language, and to exalt the horn means to lift up strength.
41:41
The horn was a symbol of strength, and so what it means is you will lift up my strength.
41:46
You have exalted my horn like the wild ox.
41:50
Now I want to mention something.
41:51
If you have a King James Bible, it says you've exalted my horn like the unicorn, and I don't exactly know what animal is being referred to here.
42:07
The ESV goes with wild ox.
42:09
Some think it's the the rhinoceros.
42:14
In fact, I think, who was it, the explorer, one of those great explorers, when he was exploring, he came across a rhinoceros, and he thought it was the unicorn.
42:24
It looked like a saggy unicorn, but it was what he thought, just a big fat saggy unicorn, but it had a horn, so he thought that's what it was, but ultimately the point of the passage is not to argue over whether it's unicorn or rhinoceros or a wild ox.
42:38
The point of the passage is God is going to lift up our strength, the strength of the righteous.
42:43
Now who is the righteous? Now I've got to be careful here because, you know, you get a bunch of Calvinists in a room, and they just want to run right to Romans 3 and say none are righteous, no not one, and that's the truth, but we got to be careful.
42:59
We can't get so trapped in our tulip bulbs that we forget that the Bible does describe those who are redeemed as righteous.
43:08
It calls us righteous, not by our own righteousness, but by the righteousness of him who gives us his righteousness by imputation.
43:18
So if you're a believer today, you know what the Bible calls you? Saint.
43:27
You are called hagiosmos, Greek for the holy ones or the saints.
43:32
This is why when Rome dedicates someone as a saint, they are doing wrong, because you can't elevate someone to sainthood if you're in Christ, you're already there, and if you're not in Christ, you're still among the wicked.
43:47
You're either in Christ and you're made holy, or you are outside of Christ and you are still yet redeemed and unholy.
43:54
There's no sort of midway point.
43:57
You're either a saint or you ain't, and so when he talks about the righteous here, he's talking about those who are of faith.
44:07
What does Habakkuk 2 4 say? The righteous shall live by faith.
44:17
He says you have exalted my horn like the wild ox, you have poured over me fresh oil.
44:23
We don't understand that, and by the way this isn't essential oils, ladies.
44:28
I know y'all get all excited about your peppermints and your all that that them witches bruise.
44:34
No, no, I'm teasing, but the point is, this is, in this time in history, in this part of the world, to anoint someone with oil was to pour oil all over them, and it had certain purposes.
44:47
There were religious purposes, but there was also the purpose of comfort, and I think that's the thing here.
44:54
When we look at the world and the world is crashing down, when we look at the world and they're suffering in pain, know this.
45:00
God is going to lift up our strength and he's going to comfort us.
45:05
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
45:07
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
45:10
He leads me beside the still waters.
45:11
He restoreth my soul.
45:17
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
45:20
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for thou art with me.
45:24
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
45:25
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
45:28
My cup runneth over.
45:30
You anoint my head with what? Oil.
45:34
Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
45:39
That is the promise of the righteous.
45:45
God says, it says here, he's lifted up your horn, your strength.
45:49
He's anointed you with oil, and notice what he says in verse 11.
45:53
My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies.
45:55
My ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
45:58
The righteous flourish like palm trees and grow like cedars in Lebanon.
46:02
By the way, notice the distinction there.
46:05
Notice the distinction.
46:07
What were the wicked like? Grass.
46:11
What are the righteous like? Palm trees and cedar trees.
46:17
The palms were a sign of fruitfulness.
46:21
Date palms.
46:22
They produced dates.
46:23
They were a palm in this part of the world.
46:27
So palms are a sign of fruitfulness, and by the way, when the temple was built, palms were carved into the walls.
46:34
Palms were a sign of fruitfulness.
46:36
You can see this.
46:37
That's actually in 1 Kings 6 and 2 Chronicles 3 talk about the palm trees that were on the walls of the temple.
46:44
So the palm trees represent fruitfulness, and the cedar trees represent strength.
46:51
The temple was built out of cedar wood because it was strong wood.
47:00
Notice it says, the righteous flourish like the palm tree.
47:03
They grow like the cedar in Lebanon.
47:05
They are planted, where? In the house of the Lord.
47:07
They flourish in the courts of our God.
47:09
Why do they flourish in the courts of God? Because they are close to God.
47:16
Why do they survive? Why do they keep going? Why do they press on? Why? Because they are planted in the house of God.
47:27
They are close to God.
47:30
Their relationship is with Him, and they walk by faith in Him.
47:35
And that's why it goes on to say, they still bear fruit even in old age.
47:43
They are full of sap and green.
47:46
Some of your Bibles say they are full of fat.
47:49
I like the ESV better.
47:52
Full of sap.
47:55
But the point is, it says they still bear fruit in their old age.
47:59
You know, I thought, I've honestly, I've thought about many of you this week.
48:02
I'm a little bummed that Brother Jack is not with us today, because I think about him.
48:07
He's 80 something, and he's still bearing fruit in his old age.
48:14
Now not everybody's going to be as spry as Brother Jack.
48:16
I don't know how he does it.
48:19
He is so spry.
48:22
Not everybody is that spry, but I will tell you this.
48:26
If you are in the Lord, notice how, notice how the fruit is described in verse 15, to declare the Lord is upright.
48:33
I'll tell you this, I know people whose bodies have failed them, but their spirits were as strong and stronger as they aged into the Lord.
48:40
I think about Sybil Taylor.
48:42
Her body was broken at a very young age.
48:44
She was in a wheelchair for most of her life, but she loved the Lord until the day she went to be with him, and her sap was full, even into her old age.
48:59
Don't ever say this, guys.
49:01
You guys who are older, don't ever say this.
49:04
I'm retiring from my Christian work.
49:07
I'm gonna let the young people handle it.
49:09
Let me tell you something.
49:10
You don't, this is not a job you retire from.
49:14
Christianity and faithfulness is not something, it's something you should get better at.
49:19
It's something that you should strengthen in as you go.
49:22
I'll say this, I hope to God I get to preach until I die.
49:28
Now I don't know that I'll always want to be the senior pastor, because there's a lot of headaches that go with that, no lie.
49:34
That's a difficult task, but I always want to preach.
49:37
Maybe somewhere will just let me preach.
49:39
Maybe they'll give me a Thursday night somewhere when I'm 75, if I make it to 75.
49:43
Just let me preach some night, because I love to preach.
49:46
And I hope that for you all, that even though you're older, that you don't see yourselves as worthless, that you don't see yourselves as unable to contribute, because God has called you to contribute until you are dead.
50:02
I teach self-defense, you all know that.
50:04
One of the things I teach in self-defense classes is this, if you're not dead, you don't quit.
50:09
If somebody's attacking you, and you got to defend yourself, as long as you're alive, keep fighting.
50:16
Well let me say that applies here too.
50:19
If you ain't dead, you haven't retired yet.
50:22
If you're not dead, don't quit.
50:25
Do what you can, as the Lord has provided you the strength to do.
50:35
When Calvin was...
50:38
John Calvin was a sickly man.
50:40
A lot of people don't realize that, but he had ailments throughout his life, and he was often sick.
50:45
And when he was sick, he would have his students brought to his bedside, and he would teach them from his bed.
50:54
And some of his students would say, but John Calvin, when you're in the bed like this, you're sick, you don't need to be doing this.
51:03
And he said, if the Lord returns today, he will not find me idle.
51:11
He said, if the Lord returns, he will not find me idle.
51:17
This psalm, we could go another hour.
51:23
There's so much that could be said, so much that should be said.
51:26
But I want to end with a quick story, and then we'll pray.
51:30
This is actually from, as I was preparing this week, I was pointed to Richard Baxter.
51:39
And for those of you who don't know who Richard Baxter was, he was a Puritan pastor, wrote a lot of tremendous works.
51:44
And one of the things that he did was he talked about the danger of ingratitude, the danger of not being thankful.
51:52
And there's a pastor out in California, his name is, oh goodness, I thought I had it right here.
52:01
I do.
52:02
His name is Michael Phillips, out at Grace Baptist Church in Fremont, California.
52:06
He actually took Baxter's works, and he wrote a list of some, it was like 15 ways to be thankful.
52:14
15 things that you can do to help you be thankful.
52:17
And I don't want to go through all 15, because I know I've already preached for quite some time.
52:22
But I want to give you the first one.
52:24
The first way, the first way that you can help be, the first thing that can help you be more thankful is to remember how ugly it is to be ungrateful.
52:40
To remember how ugly it is to be ungrateful.
52:44
And this is the story I'm going to finish with.
52:46
There was a man whose parents were from Eastern Europe.
52:53
They came here to the United States to try to provide a better life for their son.
53:01
They raised him up, the father was a janitor, the mother did what odd jobs that she could to provide their son a good life and to send him to good schools.
53:12
And they did.
53:14
And they worked very hard to ensure that their son had everything that he needed, even though they hated it here.
53:21
It wasn't home to them, it wasn't comfortable to them, they didn't know the language very well everywhere they went.
53:27
They were looked at funny because they spoke with a strange accent, many times broken English, not being able to be understood.
53:34
And yet they persevered through that because of their son.
53:39
And finally the son who had gone to a to a school that was a an elite preparatory school finally had the opportunity to go to Harvard's law school.
53:50
And he became a lawyer in a prestigious firm.
53:59
And in that firm he met a daughter of one of the other prestigious men and they had a courtship and decided to be married.
54:13
And so that young man, in producing the guest list for his wedding, chose to leave off his mother and father because they were, in his words, tacky and embarrassing.
54:38
He had become so high in his own mind that his parents who suffered, who gave everything, who hurt and were uncomfortable for him, he was willing to not invite them to his wedding because he was embarrassed of them.
55:02
The father, who, how could a janitor have anything to do with a lawyer, he said.
55:11
Now many of you right now are thinking very bad thoughts about that man.
55:15
Maybe you're trying to find an adjective to describe him, maybe the word you're thinking is ingrate.
55:21
That's the title of today's sermon, remember, how ugly is an ingrate.
55:27
But are we any better when we, who are the beneficiaries of God's sending his son to die on the cross for us, are ungrateful for all that we have been given.
55:49
May we truly understand how ugly it is to be an ingrate.
55:56
Let us pray.
56:02
Father, I thank you for this opportunity to be in your word today.
56:05
I pray that it has been fruitful for your people and I pray that it would be an encouragement to all of us to repent of ingratitude.
56:14
For Lord, ingratitude is a great sin and it is a sin that is easy to fall into.
56:20
Lord, I pray now as we prepare our hearts for communion, Lord, that our hearts truly would be stirred by what we're about to receive.
56:30
We're about to receive the reminder of why we should always be thankful for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that everyone who believes on him will not perish but have everlasting life.
56:42
What a great and wonderful truth that is and what a powerful thing to be reminded of on this day that we have been called to give thanks.
56:51
Thank you God for loving us.
56:54
Thank you God for sending Jesus and it's in his name we pray, amen.
57:00
We're going to stand and sing but before we do that let me give you...