SUNDAY SERMON - Every Good And Perfect Gift ｜ Psalm 67
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 13 minutes
Harmful content
Toxicity
11
sentences flagged
Hate speech
30
sentences flagged
Summary
Who is the Saviour of all people? What does it mean to be saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone? And what does it have to do with God's grace and mercy? In this episode, Pastor Ken takes us through the entire text of Psalm 67, beginning with the first verse and going verse by verse.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Hey guys, real quick, before we get started, I have a small request.
00:00:03.440
If you've been blessed by our content and you like this show,
00:00:06.440
would you take just a brief moment and leave us a five-star review?
00:00:09.760
This is quite possibly the most effective thing that you can do
00:00:12.880
to ensure that this content gets out to as many people as possible. Thanks.
00:00:23.260
Would you join me now in standing for the reading of God's Word?
00:00:29.160
when I finish reading the text I'll say this is the word of the Lord at which point I would
00:00:33.640
appreciate if you would respond by saying thanks be to God one final time our text for this Lord's
00:00:40.060
day is Psalm 67 the Bible says this may God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to
00:00:48.220
shine upon us say law that your way may be known on earth your saving power among all nations let
00:00:56.380
the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for
00:01:02.680
joy. For you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah. Let the
00:01:10.660
peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. The earth is yielded its increase,
00:01:16.620
God. Our God shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him. This is
00:01:25.360
the word of the Lord. You may be seated. I'm going to go verse by verse through our text today,
00:01:32.420
beginning with the first verse and in chronological order. Sometimes I will focus my exegesis on just
00:01:40.140
a portion of the text and sometimes we'll kind of change the order of the text in order to
00:01:46.540
draw out a certain principle going in logical order rather than chronological order. However,
00:01:53.020
today. It will be verse by verse and it will be in order as we find it in the text because I think
00:01:59.980
that the point is plain and clear and we'll see it with the natural flow of the text without any
00:02:06.220
altercation. Verse 1, verse 1a if you will, my God or may God be gracious to us and bless us.
00:02:17.300
I want to pause there. There's much that can be exegeted from this simple phrase. May God be
00:02:25.960
gracious to us and bless us. Brothers and sisters, let us never forget that there is no blessing from
00:02:33.120
God apart from grace. God cannot bless any man apart from his grace. For all have sinned and
00:02:41.820
fallen short of the glory of God, and therefore every single one of his blessings comes as a gift
00:02:48.620
of grace. It comes as unmerited favor. It comes as something that you and I do not deserve.
00:02:55.880
Anything other than the floor opening up beneath us and a chute sliding us directly into the fire
00:03:04.820
of hell is grace. Anything other than that, your next breath is grace. Now notice this is not
00:03:12.080
merely speaking of salvation. It's not merely may God be gracious and therefore eternally save us
00:03:19.560
in and through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith in him alone.
00:03:26.180
No, it's broader than that. Certainly salvation is the pinnacle of the blessings of God,
00:03:31.880
but it is much broader than merely salvation as christians we should never speak of anything less
00:03:39.080
but we should speak of something more all of god's blessings are of grace the food that we eat
00:03:46.940
the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening relationships between spouses
00:03:54.280
and parents and children and friendship all of these things are a gift from god good wine is a
00:04:02.120
gift from god which is why i believe that if a christian can do so responsibly they should drink
00:04:07.900
and they should do so to god's glory but those who abstain abstain to god's glory they're simply
00:04:14.400
referenced as those with weaker faith according to the scripture everything is a gift from god
00:04:19.780
A glass of wine, a dry-aged, bone-in ribeye steak, all of these things are of grace.
00:04:30.580
Most Reformed theologians interpret 1 Timothy 4.10.
00:04:37.900
For to this end we toil and strive because we have our hope set on the living God,
00:04:44.140
and this is where it gets complicated theologically,
00:04:46.300
who is the savior of all people especially those who believe this has plagued many biblical
00:04:53.900
commentators and theologians and christians and pastors for a very long time the idea that god
00:04:59.620
is the savior of all people especially those who believe the idea of god being the savior of all
00:05:05.900
people is not a problem for the calvinist it's not it's it's fairly easy to resolve that
00:05:13.420
appearance of tension and the idea that you know first john chapter 2 i believe it's verse 12
00:05:21.980
it says that you know that that god is um it says that not only us that he's not only savior of us
00:05:29.580
but all people right so you can read that and say okay well that means each and every individual
00:05:34.800
will be saved in which case you have drifted into heresy the heresy of universalism because
00:05:40.420
the Bible plainly teaches that many will perish apart from the saving grace that's found in Jesus
00:05:45.580
Christ or you can interpret that to mean all kinds of people that the author is saying that he's not
00:05:51.180
only the savior of us aka Jews those who are people of Israel according to the flesh but he is also
00:05:59.700
the savior of the world right we have that kind of language all is a word that is used often in the
00:06:06.700
New Testament, but also the word world, and both in context that speak of salvation. In terms of
00:06:13.760
the world, well, God saved the world in the midst of the flood. The scripture uses the very same
00:06:20.080
term, world. God saved the whole world. I thought you wiped out the whole world. No, he saved the
00:06:26.320
whole world by virtue of saving eight persons. Noah and his wife, their three sons, and their
00:06:33.220
three sons' wives. And God considers this saving the world. And it was. God didn't destroy the
00:06:40.860
world. He cleansed it. He cleansed the world from a deadly plague, an actual deadly plague.
00:06:48.920
Not to confuse anyone with deadly plagues today, but an actual deadly plague,
00:06:53.940
an eternally deadly plague. It's known as sin. God saved the world. He cleansed the world.
00:07:00.840
And so the idea of God saving the world, it simply means every tribe, tongue, and nation.
00:07:07.540
That God is not merely the God of Israel, but that He is the God of the Gentiles as well.
00:07:16.060
Grafted in is important. It's not two separate trees.
00:07:19.760
There is not a tree with a root to Christ for ethnic Israel, and then a second tree for the Gentiles.
00:07:28.380
two trees of life two trees of salvation one for the jews and one for the rest of the world this is
00:07:34.780
not biblical it is not the language that the scripture uses the the scripture speaks that
00:07:41.100
there is one tree with one root the son the son of jesse his posterity the king of kings the king
00:07:49.720
of israel the promised messiah the lord jesus christ he is the only root john 15 says he is
00:07:57.000
the only vine and israel sprang forth from that root one tree one natural olive tree but god did
00:08:05.900
not plant a second tree for the gentiles but rather he cut off many of the branches of this
0.96
00:08:12.880
tree and grafted the gentile nations into that one tree so that all both jews and gentiles alike
0.71
00:08:20.880
have one source of blessing, one source of salvation, one root, one root. God in this way
00:08:29.660
has saved the world. So the word all, the word world does not indicate each and every individual
00:08:36.120
person who has ever lived or ever will, but rather this inclusive language simply is meant to convey
00:08:55.240
that God, as James says, does not show favoritism
00:08:58.540
when it comes to the outward appearance of man.
00:09:08.980
brazilian hebrew and god is not a respecter of persons in these regards so first simothy
00:09:19.560
4 10 for to this end we toil and strive because we have our hope set on the living god who is the
00:09:26.500
savior of all kinds of people is the way we should read it but this is the most difficult verse in my
00:09:33.000
opinion because it says especially those who believe if it just said he's the savior of all
00:09:40.300
people the arminian no doubt would give us grief all people the provision of christ for all and
00:09:49.320
we would say all simply means all kinds of people not each and every individual and the issue would
00:09:55.900
be settled what's difficult is that there's a subgroup that's explicitly labeled and identified
00:10:02.480
namely those who believe so this verse doesn't merely say that god say that god is the savior
00:10:09.280
of all kinds of people but that he's the savior of all kinds of people and in a particular sense
00:10:15.900
those who believe which begs the question in what way does god save the pagan in what way is god
00:10:25.200
saving the reprobate in what way does god save people that he actually doesn't save
00:10:32.380
that seems to be what the verse is saying now there are multiple ways in dealing with this text
00:10:40.400
most reformed theologians interpret first simothy 4 10 to say that the living god through the work
00:10:46.140
of his son jesus christ is the savior of all kinds of people as i've already discussed
00:10:50.700
especially and they would interpret that word especially to mean that is to say or particularly
00:10:59.400
those who believe in other words god shows no favoritism based on ethnicity gender age
00:11:05.720
socioeconomic status god has not willed to save each and every individual which would be again
00:11:12.300
the heresy of universalism but rather god has willed to save his elect from among every kind
00:11:18.840
of people from different kinds of people so according to this interpretation which would
00:11:24.700
be a reformed interpretation and the majority report according to this interpretation they
00:11:30.880
would say that the word especially simply means that is to say so it would read like this
00:11:36.400
the living god is the savior of all kinds of people not just the jews but every tribe tongue
00:11:43.440
and nation. However, when I say that, I mean only those elect, only those who believe among every
00:11:52.480
tribe, tongue, and nation. That's how that would be read. I think that's a faithful interpretation.
00:11:57.700
There's a reason why that's the majority report. I don't think that that's wrong. I simply think
00:12:03.260
that there's more to it than that. And of course, I could be wrong. But I think that there's more
00:12:08.720
to it than that. See, some Reformed theologians have suggested that 1 Timothy 4.10 means that
00:12:14.260
God is the Savior of all people in the sense of physical preservation. That he is saving all
00:12:19.700
people. And the word all in this context, that it actually does refer to a universal sense to each
00:12:25.460
and every individual. And so he is saving in one sense universally. In what sense? He is physically
00:12:33.420
preserving all people he is temporally saving all people in that sense and that God is the spiritual
00:12:41.860
or eternal savior of only those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in other words according
00:12:48.580
to this interpretation God would be we might say a common grace savior of all but God is a special
00:12:56.700
grace savior only of some namely the elect i personally think that both interpretations are
00:13:05.400
faithful and true and i don't believe that there's any contradiction in that we believe
00:13:13.300
i believe i'll speak for myself that when it comes to hermeneutics and the way that we interpret and
00:13:20.420
read and understand scripture, that we should have a historical hermeneutic. We should have
00:13:27.940
a literal hermeneutic. We should have a grammatical hermeneutic. We don't read the Psalms the same
00:13:38.820
way that we would read a gospel narrative. There's a difference between historical narrative. There
00:13:43.900
are different genres of scripture, so they're not all to be interpreted in the same way. There's
00:13:49.100
poetic literature and then there is historical narrative literature wisdom literature and so a
00:13:58.420
grammatical hermeneutic but the tradition the reformed tradition has held that there should
00:14:03.700
also be in addition to these things an allegorical hermeneutic an analogous or an analogical hermeneutic
00:14:24.200
This gets down to the very bottom of the issue.
00:14:26.300
The distinction between a Calvinistic Baptist and a Reformed Baptist.
00:14:36.080
they would say that the Reformed Baptist is not quite allegorical enough.
00:14:40.420
that the doctrine of analogy goes a little bit further.
00:15:00.180
I don't know if I would have done any different.
00:15:05.100
I mean, we're entirely a product of God's grace.
00:15:08.140
And to a large extent, we're a product of God's providence, the time and place that he put us.
00:15:16.540
So for John MacArthur, it lasts, what, 52 years of ministry?
00:15:20.200
As people are getting cutesy with biblical text,
1.00
00:15:25.480
oh, I think you could be gay and the Bible allows for it.
1.00
00:15:30.700
So John MacArthur, in order to stand against people getting cute with the word of God,
00:15:42.540
And so he despised any typological hermeneutic.
00:15:47.440
He was like, it's not worth it in his assessment.
00:15:50.700
It's not worth it, maybe, but it's not worth it
00:15:53.400
because with that might come in an understanding
00:15:56.260
of Old Testament messianic prophecies pointing to Christ,
00:16:04.740
It drops the standard, the dam holding back the waters, the floods of immorality and the progressive Christianity that we've seen become so prevalent in our day.
00:16:16.680
And so I sympathize with John MacArthur and I respect him greatly.
00:16:19.540
I disagree, however, like Luther, who said against Rome when they said,
00:16:26.080
if you translate from the Vulgate, the Latin, into the vulgar tongue, which simply meant
00:16:32.500
a common tongue, the way that people speak, to where every individual Christian has a
00:16:38.640
Bible on their mantle and can read the scripture and interpret it from themselves, there will
00:16:43.600
be thousands of schisms in the body of Christ.
0.98
00:16:48.840
There will be a floodgate of iniquity, to which Luther responded by saying, so be it.
00:16:56.080
And ultimately, what Luther was getting at was he didn't disagree with Rome on this point.
0.67
00:17:09.120
Translating the Bible into the common tongue has produced a massive flood of division and heresy.
0.72
00:17:20.320
because again Rush Duny said it's not whether but which it's not whether but which from which
00:17:30.080
direction from which source from which oligarchy from which authority would you like to be fed
00:17:37.200
heresy because you're going to have to confront heresy so you either have one standard like Rome
00:18:13.860
which was the phrase that the priest would utter when he would transition the eucharist and the
00:18:21.080
wine into the literal body and blood of christ which is a doctrine that we would deny transubstantiation
00:18:28.800
but he would utter the phrase that sounded very similar to the phrase we now are familiar with
00:18:35.780
hocus pocus and we get the phrase hocus pocus even in our culture today because what we're
00:18:41.360
referencing when we say hocus pocus is wishy-wash mysticism gobbledygook weirdness magical fantasy
00:18:53.280
fantasy that's just that's dreaming that's that's fanatical it's it's it's silly that's where the
00:19:00.600
word comes from and it's absolutely appropriate because roman catholicism certainly during the
0.84
00:19:08.000
dark ages right before the reformation was silly silly is a perfectly wonderful word
00:19:14.380
to describe roman catholicism it was absolutely silly the people had no clue what was going on
0.74
00:19:21.720
that's where they we get the word hocus pocus that shows you how in the dark the people were
00:19:27.460
they didn't know what the priest was saying and that's why the priest relied so little on content
00:19:33.020
word right we believe as protestants that we are a word centric church that the church should be
00:19:39.200
centered upon not what we see but upon the word faith cometh by hearing and hearing the word of
00:19:47.900
god but the catholic priests and bishops and cardinals they relied so much on imagery not
00:19:54.280
only did they break the second commandment and having graven images and worshiping idols and
00:20:00.920
statues made to saints exalting mary as a co-redeemer with her son but in addition to all
00:20:07.780
this they had robes and tassels and colors and prisms and lights and and all these different
00:20:16.100
decorations and and artifacts and this is holy and that is holy and holy water and everything
00:20:23.920
was about sight it was meant to wow see that that's what you do when you don't have an argument
00:20:30.400
when you don't have an actual argument based on substance what do you do well you have to you have
00:20:39.500
to spruce it up and some other way to where it won't be questioned right how can you go against
00:20:46.820
rome how do you disagree with the guy who speaks a language you don't even understand
00:20:52.520
and how can you disagree with a guy whose hat is so big i mean surely a hat that size
00:20:58.760
communicates a certain degree of credibility, does it not?
00:21:01.860
I mean, they don't just hand hats like that out, willy-nilly.
00:21:10.500
Look at how big that Bible is that he's carrying,
00:21:23.440
Proverbs says, one is thought right until another cross-examines.
00:21:26.320
but what do you do if there's no potential for cross-examination because you can't see the data
00:21:32.280
you can't you you don't have a common source that you can both go to and reference see as
00:21:41.000
protestants we both have the scripture we still disagree but at least we're both able to point
00:21:47.100
to something outside of ourselves it's not just me versus you it's thus saith the lord
00:21:54.480
now do we speak for the lord wrongly at times even often yes should we be much more careful
00:22:04.300
about that yes matthew henry the great puritan he said that every time we misinterpret the scripture
00:22:09.660
and communicate it to someone else it is to take the lord's name in vain
00:22:13.400
because we're putting the lord's name onto a doctrine that is not his
00:22:20.380
so mis-exegesis is a breach of the third commandment so it is a serious thing to
00:22:28.280
to grapple with the text to interpret the scripture and martin luther he said given the
00:22:36.400
choice of there being one church one denomination no schisms no factions no divisions one translation
00:22:44.840
I mean, how many translations in the Bible do we have?
00:22:47.840
So one translation, one ecclesiastical priesthood,
00:23:10.120
better to have 3,000 different versions of the truth
00:23:14.840
but the actual truth to be present, to be available.
00:23:21.960
3,000 different falsehoods, but the truth can be found.
00:23:27.500
It'll be difficult to find it, but it can be found.
00:23:32.240
Versus to have one falsehood where the truth is completely absent.
00:23:39.460
See, what we have today is this, massive amounts of false doctrine.
00:24:14.840
A needle in a haystack versus a singular piece of hay, but no needle at all.
00:24:28.280
One stalk, one bushel of hay, but there is no needle.
00:24:40.060
Versus a haystack, what we're dealing with today, it's hard.
00:25:00.260
And it's worth mentioning that that's really what we have today as well.
00:25:03.240
But it's interesting to me that the Reformation in the church, in God's providence, seems to coincide with technological advancements in the culture.
00:25:16.920
So we have the Reformation with Luther, and we have the Gutenberg printing press.
00:25:22.880
And that's not a coincidence in the sovereignty of God.
00:25:25.180
and today i see once more a resurgence and a reformation in the church again and we have
00:25:33.960
the dawn of the internet social media podcasting where all of a sudden ultimately what you have is
00:25:41.660
well you have a removal and a replacing of the gatekeepers rome was the gatekeepers
00:25:48.200
and we've had gatekeepers in evangelicalism in our day some of them have been faithful and many
00:25:56.220
have been faithless but then all of a sudden you can get a following without having their
00:26:04.220
approval used to you had to go to seminary you had to jump through the hoops you had to work
00:26:13.580
your way up in the Southern Baptist Convention or the PCA. You had to get the tip of the hat
00:26:19.580
from whoever was in charge, the leaders, and then eventually you might get your conference.
00:26:26.980
Eventually you might get your platform. Eventually you might get your following.
00:26:32.800
And now a little guy like A.D. Robles with a webcam and a home office can speak to
00:26:59.460
Better a thousand falsehoods where the truth is present
00:27:02.180
than a unified falsehood where the truth is absent.
00:27:11.980
all that back to the point of our hermeneutic back to the point of the way that we read and
00:27:17.220
understand and interpret scripture better to have a typological analogical hermeneutic in addition
00:27:23.460
to a grammatical historical literal hermeneutic knowing that it will be abused by progressive
00:27:29.720
christians knowing that it will be taken as license for twisting and perverting the word of god
00:28:04.420
of a hermeneutic that is not it has no room or place for a typological reading of the text
00:28:11.900
that's how dispensationalism has come about it has come about as a reaction
00:28:17.920
to people taking liberty with biblical text and then removing an analogous understanding of
00:28:26.000
reading the scripture for fear that it might be abused dispensationalism i might add has also
00:28:32.600
come about as a result of people getting very excited about israel becoming a sovereign nation
00:28:37.720
about 75 years ago as well that has something to do with it also but my point in all of that is to
00:28:44.920
say that how we read the scripture our hermeneutic our understanding our analogous understanding of
00:28:52.340
the scripture matters and with that all being said therefore it is quite possible and even i think
00:29:00.260
probable in many cases and with many texts of scripture that there can be more than one meaning
00:29:07.400
to the text the logical fallacy and the unbiblical understanding is when we say that a text can have
00:29:16.720
more than one meaning and those two meanings or interpretations are contradicting
00:29:22.040
that is what the christians should have no tolerance for so the most common example would be
00:29:31.300
a bible study perhaps performed in a home where you go around the room and each person says what
00:29:38.240
the text means for them the bible doesn't have individual interpretations the bible doesn't mean
00:29:48.520
anything for you insofar as it meaning something exclusively for you the bible was not written to
00:29:57.140
you and you alone the bible was written to people it was written to nations it is corporate by nature
00:30:08.740
so the bible doesn't it doesn't mean something for joel webin and then means something else for
00:30:14.940
connor hensley and those two things contradict how often have you been in that kind of environment
00:30:20.300
where 15 people are seated and all of a sudden we get 15 different personal interpretations
00:30:26.100
and seven of them contradict one another and if you ever even begin as terribly as possible to
00:30:34.200
push back the the counter that is presented as this well that's my interpretation as though
00:30:42.880
each individual has some kind of inalienable right to a private and personal interpretation
00:30:49.480
that's not true you don't have that right you don't get to have your private and personal
00:30:58.460
interpretation however that does not mean that a text can't have more than one interpretation
00:31:05.320
so we can't throw out the baby with the bathwater as we try to resist a lack of clarity
00:31:14.240
division confusion with interpreting text we cannot go so far as to say well every text only
00:31:21.840
has one interpretation it's never analogous it's always literal and that's the way it is
00:31:28.080
no a text can have more than one interpretation a messianic prophecy would be a perfect example
00:31:33.440
david means something by what he says and it is relevant and true for israel in that day
00:31:43.880
and yet in a deeper more eternal prophetic sense it means something about the king of all kings
00:31:51.280
the one who one day will come and sit on david's throne and it means something spiritual as well
00:31:58.400
is literal two texts can have more than one interpretation so long as it's not a private
00:32:04.500
interpretation it is corporate always in both senses and it is not a contradicting interpretation
00:32:11.680
all that said i believe both these interpretations with first timothy chapter 4 verse 10
00:32:18.220
are correct i believe that in one sense what paul is saying to timothy is that god is the savior of
00:32:26.620
All kinds, not universally, each and every individual, but all kinds of people.
00:32:36.440
I also think that this text means that God is actually, in a universal sense,
00:32:49.040
But he is only the eternal and spiritual Savior of the elect,
00:32:53.600
of those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:32:56.620
That God is a common grace savior of all and a special grace savior of some.
00:33:06.380
And all that is to say, James 1.17, every good gift and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of light.
00:33:18.500
Ecclesiastes says it like this, that God causes it to rain on both the wicked and the righteous.
00:33:26.620
God works providentially through agency, natural agency, human agency.
00:33:33.320
But it is always God as the original mover, the unmoved mover, the original cause of all things.
00:33:44.260
Meaning that every good and perfect gift that comes down from heaven, it comes from the Father of lights.
00:33:50.640
There is not one good thing that has ever happened to any person in the history of all humanity that was not ultimately done by God.
00:34:07.540
And every good and perfect gift, every blessing that comes to any person, both the believer and the unbeliever alike.
00:34:16.120
eternal blessings most certainly to the believer but even temporal and physical blessings to the
00:34:23.560
pagan all have their root in God he is the source of all goodness he is the source of all blessing
00:34:32.240
so psalm 67 verse 1 may God be gracious to us and bless us
00:34:41.680
there is no blessing apart from god's grace there can be no blessing apart from god's grace
00:34:51.480
we know that that's true when we think eternally we know that that's true when we think spiritually
00:34:58.220
we know that that's true when we think of salvation for the people of god
00:35:04.140
all I'm saying is that we should think more broadly that should be the pinnacle of our thought
00:35:12.500
but not the extent of our thought not only is it of God's grace that he eternally saves sinners
00:35:19.900
but it's of God's grace that child molesters get to eat and it's of God's grace that rain
00:35:28.680
falls from heaven. It's of God's grace that we're given marriage. It's of God's grace that we have
00:35:36.460
homes. It's of God's grace that I'm able to take my very next breath. May God be gracious to us
00:35:46.060
and bless us. The psalmist cannot even begin to call upon a blessing from the Lord without first
00:36:52.760
An absence of law, not just against law, but an absence of law.
00:36:58.420
Many churches have completely thrown out the third use of God's law,
00:37:02.980
that the law of God has no function in the life of the Christian.
00:37:07.260
Certainly the law does not save us, but the law is a lamp unto our feet.
0.86
00:37:11.740
It does not show the Christian the way to inherit salvation,
00:37:14.860
but it does show the Christian the way to respond in gratitude
00:37:48.860
And yet, all that being said, is wonderful and good and holy and right as the law of God is,
00:37:55.600
it is still not the most significant blessing that God has bestowed upon humanity.
00:38:01.800
The revelation of God's law is a blessing, and it is wonderful, and it must be preached,
00:38:11.640
But the law of God still pales in comparison, not in the mind of God himself,
00:38:17.620
But in terms of the benefit to the Christian, the law of God pales in comparison to the gospel and saving knowledge that comes through faith in Christ Jesus.
00:38:31.220
At first glance, the phrase, your way, at the beginning of Psalm 67, verse 2, it may appear to be a reference to the law of God.
00:39:38.040
and that there would be no salvation found in anyone else.
00:39:43.120
They knew that ultimately they needed a substitute,
00:39:47.560
a lamb of God to take the penalty for their sin.
00:39:51.900
They knew that there was a Christ, a son of God,
00:39:58.760
the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent's head.
00:40:03.600
The seed of Abraham through whom all the nations would be blessed.
00:40:08.040
The son of David who would rule the nations with an iron scepter in truth and in justice upon his shoulders would be a government of peace and his advancement would know no end.
00:40:25.440
and it was just as you and i are saved for these old testament saints including the author of our
00:40:32.800
text today it was by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone that they were saved
00:40:40.000
that's right all of them in christ alone they knew this and so i believe that the author what
00:40:47.620
he's getting at under the inspiration of the spirit is the gospel that your way may be known
00:40:54.920
verse 2 on earth that is to say in all the earth not just a mystery concealed in heaven
00:41:03.100
that angels long to look into as hebrew says but something that has been revealed a mystery now
00:41:12.760
manifest and not just in heaven with angelic beings but on earth with men and not just in
00:41:19.400
some remote corner of the earth for a few elite individuals but on all the earth every tribe
00:41:26.200
every tongue every nation that your way may be known to all men here on earth
00:41:36.260
and what way is that the law of god in this case i believe no what way is that
00:41:45.460
your saving power among all nations your gospel your son the messiah that he would be known
00:41:59.520
in all the earth among all the nations the author cannot be speaking of the law in this sense
00:42:07.100
because romans 3 3 says for what god has done for god has done what the law weakened by the flesh
00:42:45.100
But either way, the law still, because of the flesh, is powerless to save.
00:42:56.940
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.
00:43:06.620
The grace afforded to us by the person and work of Jesus Christ.
00:43:17.140
This verse cannot be speaking of the law of God.
00:43:28.340
is precisely why we have to have a typological hermeneutic.
00:44:07.580
let the nations be glad and sing for joy for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations
00:44:14.560
upon earth. Selah. John Gill, the Baptist version of John Calvin. So fantastic, but not quite as
00:44:24.960
good, but still really good. He says this, meaning not the people of the world, commentating on these
00:44:33.060
two verses verse 3 and 4 meaning not the people of the world at the last day at the general judgment
00:44:40.520
with a final judgment of all men which will be righteous when God will judge the world in
00:44:48.300
righteousness according to the strict rules of justice and equity by him whom he has ordained
00:44:54.700
but rather verse 3 and 4 according to Gill and many other reformed theologians verse 3 and 4
00:45:47.780
I believe the more faithful interpretation is to say,
00:45:59.640
In temporal ways, you break them to pieces, you shatter them, and in your wind of wrath, you blow them away to the four corners of the earth like chaff.
0.98
00:46:17.540
And what should the righteous respond with?
0.98
00:46:37.580
Do not fall in to the arrogance that is so prevalent among Christians today
00:46:45.280
that asserts that we are somehow more compassionate than God himself.
00:46:58.000
I get angry when I hear what ultimately amounts to people claiming to be more loving than God.
00:47:15.820
Let God be true and every man a liar, as the scripture testifies elsewhere.
00:47:21.580
God tells his people how to respond when he shatters the kneecaps of his enemies and breaks them to pieces.
00:47:34.340
And the proper response is gladness and praise and rejoicing.
00:47:42.840
so when God begins to topple powers and principalities in this world and he will
00:47:54.240
it is not a matter of if it is merely a matter of when he will do as he did for Israel great
00:48:06.340
it may be a frightening time to be alive but i think the excitement in this season far outweighs
00:48:15.200
the fear or at least it should for the people of god i'm excited to be alive i am excited like
00:48:24.740
psalm 2 says when i see the rulers of this world shaking their fist at god in heaven
00:49:01.420
bringing to nothing the authorities and pagans of this world could you imagine being among the
00:49:11.540
people of israel and bondage in egypt and in god's sovereignty being chosen as the generation
0.94
00:49:19.900
where he would send marvelous wonders ten plagues the parting of the red sea could you imagine i
00:49:29.700
I mean, the fear, as you're hearing all over Egypt, the screeches and wailing of mothers and fathers and little brothers and little sisters as they're discovering that their firstborn son has died in his sleep because the angel of death has gone in and killed him.
00:49:53.860
the fear the terror but also the wonder knowing that the blood of the lamb
00:50:02.520
is on the mantle of your door and that you and your children are covered
00:50:10.460
are blessed are secure in the promise of god can you imagine the the fear yes but the
00:50:23.280
The wonder, the exhilaration, the awe of seeing God in his providence allowing you to be cornered between the mountain and the sea and the quickly advancing armies of Pharaoh.
00:50:44.160
and then all of a sudden moses holds up his rod
00:50:49.160
and says behold people of israel the people of god he has promised that he shall do great wonders
00:50:58.160
marvelous works in your midst and he holds up his rod and all of a sudden a great wind from heaven
00:51:17.700
because the New Testament says they were all baptized.
00:51:34.180
But I believe with every fiber of my being that the Lord is doing a marvelous work in this generation.
00:51:48.020
What if God raised up Pharaoh so that his glory, his power to the righteous might be revealed?
00:52:00.620
see for God to show off and he does not in a vain fleshly arrogant way but God does delight
0.55
00:52:10.160
to show his glory but for God to show even the tip of the iceberg of his power his majesty his
00:52:21.740
wonders his might he has to create and sustain and prop up his own opposition that's how strong
00:52:33.120
our God is our God is so powerful so mighty and so glorious if he doesn't use and delegate at
00:52:40.540
least a portion of his own power to sustain his own opposition there'll be no opportunity to show
00:53:14.480
is like a gnat trying to make it through niagara falls i believe that's a paul watcher quote
00:53:23.220
it's a good one it's nothing so god has to supernaturally sustain and raise up pharaoh
00:53:33.220
just like he does all rulers of this world god has to delegate a portion of his own power
00:53:53.180
I believe that that's what he's doing presently.
00:54:00.860
a weak, feeble, foolish old man in the White House.
1.00
00:54:34.500
a lot of Christians don't have a plan for winning
0.93
00:54:36.820
because their theology doesn't include winning.
0.99
00:55:24.140
But as I said before, I think the difference is,
00:55:35.060
I don't think that it's just the church gets weaker and weaker and loses more and more.
00:55:40.940
And then finally, in the bottom of the ninth, Christ steps in and wins the game.
00:55:56.940
No, I believe that Christ wins not despite his church, but through his church.
00:56:01.540
And one of the scriptures that I would point to is I will build my church.
00:56:10.860
I will build my church so the church will not shrink but advance.
00:56:16.980
And the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
00:56:23.820
So the church is not on the ropes taking blows from hell.
00:56:27.000
but rather Christ is building his church in such a way
00:57:12.100
But it should be a response of joy and gladness.
00:57:17.760
That when the enemies of God are put to open shame,
00:57:21.220
that the people of God should not be so arrogant
00:57:50.020
When God gains for himself victory on earth, do we praise God?
00:59:12.440
is the seed which is sown into all the world. It converts to Christ. Its converts to Christ
00:59:19.660
are the increase or the fruit of it. And this increase is of God. It is the work of his grace
00:59:27.080
which is promised to accompany the preaching of his word. 1 Corinthians 3.6. You're probably
00:59:34.480
very familiar with this text. It says, Paul speaking, I planted, Apollos watered, but God
00:59:41.940
gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives
00:59:49.400
the growth. So the progression of the text thus far is this. The psalmist cries out and asks the
00:59:56.640
Lord for a blessing. But before he does, he first recognizes that there can be no blessing apart
01:00:33.800
And he asked for this using the best motive that you could ever set before the Lord.
01:00:43.560
Would you bless us out of the abundance of your character, not what we deserve, but out of your character, your nature, your mercy, your grace.
01:00:56.640
But would you do it that your way may be known on the earth?
01:01:01.240
Would you do it that your glory might be manifest in the world?
01:01:05.880
Would you do it, God, to show people how awesome you truly are?
01:01:13.140
But knowing that the pinnacle of your glory, what brings you praise,
01:01:26.740
And when you do it, oh God, when you save your elect from among all the tribes and nations of the world, would you also bring to nothing the enemies of the church?
01:01:44.580
Would you shatter them like glass and blow them away like dust?
01:01:52.660
And when you do, let us, let our response not be to chastise the Lord for being too harsh,
01:02:00.700
but to praise the Lord for his justice and doing that which is right.
01:02:09.420
And when your enemies are scattered and brought to nothing,
01:02:14.900
let the increase of your work increase all the more.
01:02:22.620
And let it all be a cycle, an unbreakable, unstoppable cycle of the good of God's people and the glory of the gracious God.
01:02:35.500
That you would pour out blessing for your glory.
01:02:39.980
And you would bring your enemies to nothing for our good and your glory.
01:03:01.080
if you want to prop up another enemy like Pharaoh
01:03:13.900
increasing his people, shattering his enemies for his glory and our good, for his glory and our good.
01:03:22.900
He increases his people out of grace. And when he shatters his enemies, we praise. He increases
01:03:29.380
his enemies or his people out of grace and he shatters his enemies and we praise and so on and
01:03:36.660
so on and so on until the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the water covers
01:03:43.280
the sea. And he finishes in verse seven by saying, God shall bless us. Let all the ends
01:03:52.720
of the earth fear him. It seems peculiar the way this psalm ends. It's the blessing of
01:04:02.720
god if you are the people of god by grace through faith alone if you belong to god
01:04:10.140
if the blood of the lamb is on your mantle what is there to fear
01:04:16.240
and it's especially peculiar that he would end the psalm by by saying let all the peoples of
01:04:26.280
the earth fear him which is common throughout the scripture but that he would preface that
01:04:33.580
statement not just statement but command to fear the lord by saying god should bless us
01:04:40.700
you would imagine that he would say god will destroy his enemies so let all the peoples of
01:04:47.560
the earth fear him but he says no god shall not just god could or he might no he's saying god
01:04:55.420
will bless us not if but when it is merely a matter of time more surely than the sun's rising
01:05:03.800
tomorrow morning is the blessing of God that is coming for his people you can take it to the bank
01:05:12.020
it's a guarantee he has set his seal upon it it will come as surely as anything else you can
01:05:20.700
imagine and more certain even than that god's blessing shall come to us so fear him
01:05:29.020
we do not fear god because of his blessings we fear god so that we might receive his blessings
01:05:37.260
see psalm 67 7 says god shall bless us in other words god's blessings are certain they are sure
01:05:44.220
to come, therefore, if God's blessings are so certain to come, then let all the ends
01:05:54.740
Because the fear of the Lord is precisely the necessary posture in order to receive his
01:06:04.440
Luke, finish with this, chapter 1, verse 46 through 50.
01:06:14.220
It is her song of praise and response to the word of the Lord delivered by the angel Gabriel that she should be the mother of the Messiah.
01:06:28.820
This is her delight filled ode to the Lord in response and gratitude for this marvelous promise of blessing.
01:07:07.780
and don't miss verse 50 and his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation
01:07:18.500
you see the beauty of psalm 67 perhaps after my study this past week perhaps my favorite psalm now
01:07:26.100
the beauty of psalm 67 is that the final verse brings us full circle back to the first verse
01:07:46.900
but because fear is the necessary and appropriate posture of the people of God
01:08:03.820
With haste, posture yourself like the woman in Elisha who says the Lord is going to pour out oil and bless you, this poor, humble widow.
01:08:18.440
And what you need to do is quickly go to all of your neighbors, your family, anyone that you can and get as many jars as possible
01:08:26.560
So that you will be, you will be appropriately positioned to receive as much blessing from the Lord as possible.
01:08:39.980
The psalm ends and I want, as the one preaching the psalm today, I want you to feel the urgency.
01:08:46.900
That we would go out from our Lord's Day worship today with a sense of urgency.
01:08:52.000
Not an urgency of a fear of punishment or dread.
01:09:21.840
And that brings us all the way back to verse 1.
01:09:24.040
that says, may God be gracious to us and bless us.
01:09:36.080
The final thing the psalmist says in our text today
01:09:41.460
Mary says that God's mercy is for those who fear him.
01:09:44.920
And it brings us all the way back to the first verse.
01:09:54.920
So, let us fear the Lord that we might be blessed.
01:10:20.000
And God, we believe that you are doing a marvelous thing in our day, and we are humbled, and with great and holy anticipation, long to witness it.
01:10:33.440
Father, we pray, we pray that your power might come quickly.
01:11:08.480
father we pray that you would use us and we pray lord that the victory would be great
01:11:15.420
and if perhaps now you are holding that inevitable victory at bay simply to to prop up your enemies
01:11:24.520
a little taller so that you might gain even more glory when you use your church to knock them down
01:11:41.720
Father, we pray that we would work towards this end
01:11:47.440
And Lord, we pray that we also would respond properly
01:11:57.160
imagining ourselves to be more loving than you.
01:11:59.780
we pray that we would respond to your glory as it's revealed here on earth in grace to your
01:12:07.180
people and justice to your enemies that we would respond to both with praise and shouts of gladness
01:12:15.060
and pray this in jesus name amen oh hi i didn't see you there thanks for sticking around i've
01:12:21.800
got an important announcement to make that's the theonomy and post-millennialism conference
01:12:26.280
2023, May 5th, 6th, and 7th, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Theonomy, and Postmillennialism.
01:12:34.480
We've got the speakers that we've already had lined up. That's Dr. James White, Dr. Joseph Boot,
01:12:39.120
Dr. Gary DeMar, non-Doctor Pastor Joel Webin, but we also have a bonus speaker, and that is
01:12:44.400
Dale Partridge from Real Christianity. Perhaps you've heard of him. If not, you should start
01:12:49.120
listening to his podcast. It's fantastic. Dale Partridge is going to be joining our team. We're
01:12:54.680
going to have live panels on Friday night and Saturday night where you'll be able to write in
01:12:59.280
questions and get them answered. We're also going to have a catered barbecue, Texas-style barbecue
01:13:04.180
meal on Friday that's a part of your registration fee. All that is covered. So you need to get that.
01:13:10.020
This is how you do it. Go and register right now at rightresponseconference.com. Again,