The
Royal Judge’s Arrival
Psalms 50:1-7
Relevance:
the God of astonishing glory demands worship that work. The Christian resides
in this tension between rituals and reality! Too often our churches are accused
of hypocrisy: “They don’t practice what they preach.” We gather to
merely go through the motions of “worship.”
Introduction:
In Psalms 50 formalism in worship and hypocrisy in
living are addressed. God, the Creator and the Covenant-God of Israel, calls creation
to witness His judgment of His people (v. 4).
God is never happy with worship that merely “goes
through the motions”—worship that is formally correct but empty of a heart that
is eager to love and praise Him. This is the focus of Psalm 50.
Message:
I.
The Royal
Judge’s Manifestation (Ps. 50:1-7).
God’s Majesty provides the basis for our
worship of Him as the great and royal Judge.
A.
God’s August Arrival
(Ps. 50:1-3). This awe-inspiring
scene prepares us for what follows….
1. The
Person (v.1). This is “the Mighty God, even the LORD” (El, Elōhı̂m, Yahweh).
a. Compound
Names. Compounding
God’s names gives an awesome sense of His majesty, holiness, magnificence,
grandeur, sovereignty, and authority. This stunning God will Judge!
b. Creator. He speaks and calls the entire “earth” they must appear before Him “from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.” Every human being must respond as one of his creatures. He alone has the power, authority, and wisdom to call all peoples including the heavens and the earth to his judgment.
c.
Covenant-Keeper God (vs. 5) “those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
He has been faithful to His covenant, but the nation has not.
d.
God is to be worshipped according to His greatness…as
this Psalm demands! This
dazzlingly brilliant display demands worship and inform our senses of the
incredible scene taking place right before our shocked and unbelieving eyes. Read
Psalms 48:1-3, 8, 14. Great is the
Yahweh, and greatly to be praised!
2. The
Place (v. 2). God speaks “Out of Zion”….
a.
His holy mountain, where His temple is located. The “perfection
of beauty” reminds us of Psalms 48
and the glory of God shinning forth from Jerusalem.
b.
“Zion” is perfect because God is at her heart. In His holiness and
majesty He radiates light—“God hath shined.”
This is the reason Moses came from the Lord’s presence on Sinai with his face
shining, reflecting God’s glory (Ex. 34:29).
c. Our
“Zion” may be the front seat of your
truck, the backseat of your car, a place beside your bed, the altar of your
church, or any place you can get alone with God and tell Him all about it. You
are not limited to a time or place!
d. Also,
with regards to place…God can speak through our lives, testimonies, and
influences. He has a platform through which he can work through you and me. We
can glorify and magnify God’s message by telling others about how He
changed us. Share your testimony in truth about what you know and the
difference the Lord has made in your life.
e. We
are instructed to always be ready to share our testimony when asked, and to do this
with gentleness and respect towards others. Be careful to emphasizes the
importance of respectfully sharing your testimony as a witness of Christ and
the hope we have in Him.
f. 1 Pet. 3:15, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with.
3.
The Proceeding (v. 3) “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence….”
a. God
was patient, tolerant, flexible, and permissive. He remained at a distance for
a while/season, and He refused to address the situation perhaps waiting for Israel
to repent…make some adjustments/corrections or allowing for some discretion. This
statement guarantees He will deal with this matter.
b. The
time to remain somewhat patient and tolerant is over; it is time to confront
this sin. Historically God has been patient, but please do not think of him as
passive or weak. It would be an error to view God as passive, non-assertive,
merely letting things happen, and resigning.
1. God
will personally deal with this failure—he is quite assertive in this role. Certainly,
with appropriate tact, but with fortitude and without any fear he will deal
with the issues.
2. That
which is quietly ignored or overlooked by Israel in the Law will be forcefully
exposed and detailed before the entire universe to see/witness.
4. The Portrayal (v. 3).
a.
Light is also a form of revelation…a declaration or disclosure.
When God shines, He speaks, and he is ready to Judge Israel for their failed
worship, hypocrisy, and disastrous lifestyles. Our God revealed Himself in the
Scriptures and the Lord Jesus Christ (See Heb.
1:1-3; 4:12-16).
b.
He comes like a devouring
“fire,” that is “very tempestuous [“whirling”] round about Him.”
1.
On Sinai God descended in
“fire” with a great earthquake (Ex. 19:18). The visible manifestations
of His glory and perfection mirror this. “These phenomena, frequently
accompanying theophanies, signify His consuming judgment.”[1]
2.
God’s appearance shows his seriousness,
and it will awaken dread and sobriety among God’s people!
c.
The “fire” and the wind suggest His
holiness, the consuming fire of His Spirit in judgment. Contrast this with the comforting
supernatural phenomena of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Acts 2:1–4. The occasion before us in
Psalm 50, is solemn indeed!
B.
God’s Awe-Inspiring Court
(Ps. 50:4-7). This judicial court
of law is far beyond a normal tribunal setting.
1. The
Defendants (vs. 4, 5). God is ready to “judge His people,” Israel;
these are the guilty defendants in this case.
a. The
command is: “gather
My saints” (v. 5). They are “saints,” not because they are “saintly,” but
because God has called them, and they have been bound to Him.
b. They
are defined as “those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
They have made a commitment to God and failed to live out the particulars of
that promise, now God is taking this occasion to confront the nation on this
matter.
c.
The basis for this is the Sinai
covenant in Exodus 24:1–8 where Israel promises to obey all things written in
the Book of the Covenant. This is then sealed by a blood sacrifice. God’s
people are now gathered because they have failed to live this out. Exo. 24:3-8, And Moses came and told the people all the words
of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice,
and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. 4 And
Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and
builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve
tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the children of
Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen
unto the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he
sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the book of the covenant,
and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord
hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the
blood, and sprinkled it on the
people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made
with you concerning all these words.
d. It is extremely uncomfortable when God visits to judge and chasten his people (See Heb. 12).
2.
The Bailiffs (vs. 5). It
is probable that the command to “gather” Israel is addressed to the angelic armies
of the Lord (see Ps. 103:20–21; Mark 13:27). The angels are servants of God
that regularly appear with him to execute His will.
a. Ps. 103:20-21. Bless the Lord, ye his
angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto
the voice of his word. 21 Bless ye the Lord, all ye
his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
b. Mark 13:27, And then shall he send his angels, and shall
gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of
the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
c. There is much we can learn from angels about submission, obedience, focus, responsiveness, execution, and exactitude… (Matt. 22:29-30).
3. The
Witnesses (vs. 4, 6). This is what God wanted in verse 1. “Heaven” and “earth,”
the whole of creation, the cosmos, supernatural and natural, are summoned. As
they come, the psalmist urges the “heavens” to witness to God’s “righteousness.”
a. They
know His nature; His faithfulness to His law and covenant relationships assures
us that His judgments are just: “For God is Judge Himself.”
b. “The heavens are called to bear witness to the
righteousness of God’s judgments. The fact that God Himself is the Judge
means that He has perfect knowledge of all the facts, that He is absolutely
impartial, and that all His verdicts are wise and equitable.”[2]
c. God
comes in “righteousness”
and the outcome of His judgment will be completely fair, ethical, proper,
impartial, and true. There will be no disagreement with the record, no
exclusions of evidence, no misjudgments based on ethical factors or
stereotypes, zero excuses for underperformance, and no one will justify their
own behavior. The stage is set for divine court to be held.
d. Rev. 19:1-2, And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: [2] For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
4. The
Plaintiff (v. 7). God is issuing a complaint! The accused
are His covenant people before the God of heaven and earth. Above all else,
Israel’s worship is on God’s heart.
a. God
now assumes the position of prosecuting attorney, testifying against His
people, Israel. In human affairs it would be unthinkable for the judge to also
serve as prosecutor, but in this case it is altogether proper, for the Judge is
none other than God the Most High.[3]
b. To
love Him wholly is the essence of the Great Commandment in Deut. 6:5, which say, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” The Ten Commandments
essentially rest on this foundational principle, and it is to be deeply
engrained in our minds and executed throughout our lives! Correctly understood,
we must love God more than our own lives. If there is a choice between our own
lives and our obedience to God, we are to choose obedience to God. Nothing is
to come between us and God. In Matthew 10:28 Jesus said, “And fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul”….
c. Thus,
God speaks, and Israel is to listen as He testifies against them. Again,
God identifies Himself: “I am God, even thy God!”
He is the faithful covenant God, and all creation can testify to that fact.
II. The Royal Judge’s Message.
Why do we play the hypocrite at times or as a
lifestyle? Are there instances when we fail to live up to other’s expectations?
Or to our own standards, expectations, requirements, and needs? Perhaps we all
are morally smaller than we would like others to believe…so we pretend or fake
it until we make it? Perhaps we pretend also when we are not Christlike
inside…when we are not filled with the Spirit of God as we should be always. I
feel a measure of guilt and shame about being a “Christian” that is not
controlled by the Spirit of God constantly. Perhaps we have downplayed real “Christianity”
so long that we no longer recognize ‘the real thing’ anymore.
Hypocrisy is really a form of deflection to avoid
dealing with our own problems because we don’t want to be judged by others we
respect. We certainly do not want to be judged by the royal Judge, God himself.
Sometimes those problems are material, and yet in other instances they are
spiritual. At the heart of hypocrisy is a strong desire to be loved and
accepted by our peers…by God. The fear of humiliation, rejection, guilt, and
judgment are so powerful, that we use blaming others, doublethink, second guessing,
claiming to have or be something we are not, and cognitive dissonance (contradictory
values and perspective) to avoid facing the reality of ourselves. But the Royal
Judge knows us completely…deeply. He loves us enough to confront us with this malady.
We need real revival in our churches beginning with individuals and resulting in a renewal in our worship of God. God’s priority is to restore real believers and then return us to heartfelt and genuine worship. We can start by being transparent with the God who knows us completely anyway.
Conclusion:
So, the Psalmist indicts God’s people for formalism in
worship and hypocrisy in living. “Jesus’ advice to “worship
in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24) provides the proper correctives for
these faults.”[4]
There is only one way to truly live Christian and that
is by Jesus Christ living through us.
John 15:5, I am the vine, ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Galatians 2:20, I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me.
Philippians 4:13, I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Let’s start with being honest with God about our need
for Christ in all facets of our lives.
[1]
Allen P. Ross, “Psalms,” in The
Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F.
Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 831.
[2]
William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible
Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 628.
[3]
William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible
Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 628.
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