47:1 Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
2 For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
3 He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
4 He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah
5 God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!1
8 God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted!
[1] 47:7
(ESV)
Psalm 47
47:1 Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
2 For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
3 He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
4 He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah
5 God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!1
8 God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted!
[1] 47:7
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Good morning. Good morning. My name is Dwight Castle. I am one of the pastors here. I'm the pastor of missions.
Speaker 1:I'm really glad to be here with you this morning and sharing from God's word. This summer, as we've been walking through our series in the Psalms, we've had the joy and the privilege of hearing from a lot of different voices. And this morning, we're gonna continue that by looking at Psalm chapter 47, and particularly the topic of security. Now we have been saying as we've been going through this series in the Psalms that we believe that the Psalms speak to all of us in all areas of life. And not only do we have a template in the Psalms for how we should pray, how we should think, how we should feel about all of these different circumstances, but we have the actual words in the Psalms themselves.
Speaker 1:When we feel like our words fall short and we just seem inadequate and we don't know what to say, we go to the Psalms. And so, let's go together now into Psalm chapter 47. Turn there with me if you will. Clap your hands, all peoples. Shout to God with loud songs of joy.
Speaker 1:For the Lord, the most high, he's to be feared, a great king over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, The pride of Jacob, whom he loves. God has gone up with a shout. The Lord, with the sound of a trumpet, Sing praises to God.
Speaker 1:Sing praises. Sing praises to our king. Sing praises. For God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a Psalm.
Speaker 1:God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham, For the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted. It's the word of the Lord.
Speaker 1:Will you pray with me? Lord, as we come to you today, we need to hear from you. We need a word from you, Lord. We pray that your spirit will open up our dead hearts and our dead minds. We're distracted and we're overwhelmed, and Lord, we need you to focus us on your word right now.
Speaker 1:We need you to speak into the midst of all of the circumstances in our lives. Lord, your word to us, we need it to be quickened by your spirit right now. Lord, I have nothing to offer. I have weakness and nervousness and frailty, and Lord, I pray that your spirit will speak in power. May you prompt our hearts with words of encouragement, words to challenge us and to exhort us and to grow us.
Speaker 1:Lord, we need you. And now, Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart acceptable in your sight, oh lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. So this weekend, I did something that I purposefully tried to avoid doing. I went online to various mainstream news websites, and I looked at the headlines of what's going on in our world.
Speaker 1:Allow me to read a handful of these to you right now. Brace yourself. Federal judge strikes down religious freedom law. Couple charged in beheading of alleged rapist. Body parts on beach, Rio's latest Olympic headache.
Speaker 1:Planned Parenthood goes after abortion laws. New Zika studies reveal invisible damage to babies. Ten deadly foods you probably have in your kitchen. Yeah. High alert, US fears terror plot over holiday weekend.
Speaker 1:Babysitter drove intoxicated with 4 kids in the car. I will spare you the rest of them, but you get the idea. And this was only from this weekend. There was nothing here of the never ending presidential election drama, of ISIS, of the recent shootings, of Brexit, of all of the other major terrifying world events. When I read these, how did it make you feel?
Speaker 1:What entered your mind? Was it peace, comfort, safety? What if I were to read the headlines of your heart today or from this weekend? I bet many would read like this. How long am I going to have to sit and wait until I find a spouse for me?
Speaker 1:Why, God, why are you so removed from me even when I seek you? How do I get rid of this terrible feeling of anxiety? I can't seem to function. Why are you holding back a child from me? Don't you want what's good for me?
Speaker 1:What if we don't have enough money for that car or that house or for school? Where are you in all of this evil, God? What does the headline of your heart read? If not today, then some other day on a bad day or in your weakest moments. And how does it make you feel?
Speaker 1:Do you feel in control? Are you assured of a good end or even of a good plan? For all of us, the topic of security is at the core of how we approach our world. Whether it's obvious or deeply subtle, the question of security is one that presses hard against the hearts and the minds of Christians especially. In what do I put my security?
Speaker 1:Or maybe a more profound and probing question that better gets at the heart of the matter is this, what in your life, when it is out of whack, makes you feel helpless, fearful, or insecure?
Jeffrey Heine:And how
Speaker 1:do you respond? Take a moment and ask yourself that question. Maybe it's your health. You exercise, you eat healthy, and you take care of your body. That's very important to you.
Speaker 1:What about money? You work hard to earn that paycheck. You save for the future. Knowing that your bank account has a buffer gives you a sense of peace. Fill in the blank, the perfect job, finding the right spouse, keeping the relationship with your current spouse amiable, keeping your emotions balanced, controlling just enough circumstances to make you feel like you're in power.
Speaker 1:But what happens when any of these things fail us, when we suddenly and unexpectedly get that bad phone call from the doctor, or when we get in a really big fight with that person that we care about, or we can't seem to manage things just perfectly enough and everything is spinning out of control. All of this speaks to the question of security. How and where in a world of so much brokenness and unsecurity of uncertainty can we find any true sense of security? I believe that this Psalm has much to offer us in answering this question. And though the Psalm doesn't speak explicitly about security, it implicitly speaks to it.
Speaker 1:Psalm 47 answers our probing question by giving us the object or the source of our security as Christians. And very simply put, that answer is this. Our security is found in knowing that God is sitting on his throne, reigning supreme as our king. Let me repeat that. For the Christian, our security is found in knowing that God is sitting on his throne, reigning supreme as our king.
Speaker 1:Now let's dig into the psalm and see how. Psalm 47 was originally written as a congregational song of worship and praise to God. It particularly celebrated God as king of his people, Israel. It was likely crafted for certain occasions in Israel's history when they would celebrate god in this particular way as king. It could have been when a king would return into the city victorious from battle, or maybe when the Ark of the Covenant was first brought into the city.
Speaker 1:In these occasions, they would see God as king. He was the their powerful, active, reigning king, and it caused them to praise him. This chapter is full of kingly references and illusions and terminology, and all of it is for the purpose of drawing his people's attention to praise him. So let's look at verses 12. Clap your hands, all peoples.
Speaker 1:Shout to God with loud songs of joy. For the Lord, the most high, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. In this verse, we see a concept that will be carried throughout this chapter, and I want to introduce it. It is that of a 2 fold application, 2 lenses through which we can view the things that are said here. The first lens is that of the most immediate context, as it would have been applied to Israel in the original setting.
Speaker 1:It is the most direct and proximate application. So in verses 12, we see that the command to praise God as king, this is intended for God's people, Israel. The subsequent verses, they detail all of the ways that God would have shown himself to be faithful as their king. And so they were commanded as his people to praise him as their king. The second lens through which we can view this is that of a future context, one not yet fully realized.
Speaker 1:This application may be fulfilled in an earthly context that has not yet come to be, or it may be a prophetic truth that is more fully seen through an eternal lens. Through the second lens in verses 12, we see a deeper truth that as the command for all peoples to praise God as king, this is a hint at God's divine plan to bring salvation to the Gentiles, to those outside of Israel. And though the original Israelite audience wouldn't have grasped the beauty or the depth of this, we have the benefit through the second lens of seeing it, that all peoples, all tribes, all tongues will one day praise God. And as we continue to walk throughout the Psalm, we'll see numerous examples of how both of these lenses, both of these applications come to bear. So at the very outset of the of the Psalm, the author calls all of God's people, that's you, that's me, He calls all of us to praise God.
Speaker 1:In the following verses, we see 3 main reasons that are expounded upon. So for all of you notetakers out there, I'm one of them, 3 reasons that we recognize god as king. Reason number 1, because God is enthroned in power and majesty. Look at verse 2. For the Lord, the most high, is to be feared, a great king of all the earth.
Speaker 1:Again, in verse 7, for God is the king of all the earth. And then in verse 8, God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. The author here is painting a picture of God as a powerful king, currently sitting on his throne. Now we're at a real disadvantage in our modern current context to understand the role of a king.
Speaker 1:We're far removed from the idea of a king. We don't live in a land or country of kings. It's not really comparable to a president. Even though a president has power, it's not widespread or without question or equal. There's checks and balances.
Speaker 1:A king is without limits. The closest that we can come in our mind to beginning to grasp what it might look like to be under the rule of a king is to maybe think of some familiar stories that prompt us in that way. So take the story of Robin Hood, for example. In this story, John has assumed the throne in the absence of his brother, King Richard. Now John, acting as king, he brings the whole country into chaos and disorder from his greed and his evil heart.
Speaker 1:His ability to carry out his will is unchecked. The effect is widespread, and it's devastating. In this example, that's what an evil king can do. Or take Lord of the Rings for example. Now I'm a Lord of the Rings geek, so you'll have to humor me here.
Speaker 1:The whole third book, Return of the King, it culminates around this central figure, Aragorn. He's going to finally obtain his rightful claim to the throne, and first, the dark Lord and the ring have to be destroyed and their evil influence extinguished, but this creates a power vacuum. And in this moment, the final prophetic king, Aragorn, he returns to the throne to bring peace and order and life and healing to the land. At the end of the book, there's this beautiful scene when all of the peoples of the land gather to crown Aragorn as king, and immediately everything begins to change for the better. These stories only begin to slightly speak of the influence and power of a king, and it's hard for us to get it in the way that Israel would have in this context.
Speaker 1:For Israel, a king would naturally bring order to the kingdom. A king would provide safety from enemies and security and peace of mind and being. Yet, in these verses, we see that God is very different from any other normal earthly king. Not only is he constantly good and benevolent in his intentions, but he is fully capable of following through on his will for good. He's not just a king, he's a super king.
Speaker 1:He has rule over the whole earth. Look at verse 2. It says, the most high, a great king over all the earth. Verse 7 repeats that phrase, but it says it even more definitively. God is the king of the earth.
Speaker 1:He's not just the king of his people, he's the king over the whole earth. Everything in it is his and at his disposal. Not just Israel, but all of creation. Psalm 95 chap verses 3 through 5 says, for the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth.
Speaker 1:The heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it and his hands formed the dry land. As creator, he has all power over his creation. The Psalms and the scriptures as a whole, they constantly speak to this. God is no ordinary king.
Speaker 1:He is King over all things, all power, and all created order is in his hands. This is why verse 2 says that he is to be feared. Now that phrase, the fear of the Lord, is really common in scripture, but it's hard for us to understand what we're getting at with that. It speaks to God's omnipotence, his power over creation. Another translation for verse 2 says, God is high and terrible, a great king.
Speaker 1:For those in God's kingdom, his citizens, we are to be in awe of this power. His majesty demands respect and reverence of his people, yet we don't fear his heart. We are his. But we must respect his power and the might of his rule. As king, God sits enthroned.
Speaker 1:Verse 8 says, God sits on his holy throne. The throne was an important symbol of a kingship during this time. It goes along with all the rule and the power of a king, and a king who is sitting on his throne is one who is actively ruling over his people. Now we know, as the Israelites did, that God's throne is not confined to earth, but the location is rather everywhere. It's in the heavens as well.
Speaker 1:This is not just a word for Israel, this is a word for us. We live in a world where we crave strong leadership, someone who can act with power and wisdom. I mean, isn't this what the whole presidential election drama is about? We want someone that we can elect, that we can trust to lead us with power and wisdom. So much is tied up in this election, but God is already king.
Speaker 1:No president can satisfy this glorious role of perfection that we look for, but the King reigning over all of creation can. He is over whatever president we elect. The fate of the US and of the world does not rest in this election. The fate is already determined. God is king.
Speaker 1:When we, in our hearts and in our lives, we long for some assurance of a plan, And in all of the chaos we're grasping for control, God is actively reigning. He's not concerned. He's not sweating it out. He's not calling together his advisors or calling in favors. He's not going to plan b or plan c.
Speaker 1:He is sitting on his throne over your circumstances, over your heart. Even when it might not feel or look like it, this psalm reminds us that this is a present reality. This truth is an unshakable rock on which you can stand. God is not limited in his power or his reach over you. So number 1, he is enthroned in power and majesty.
Speaker 1:The second praiseworthy thing about God's kingship is that God protects his people. He's victorious over his enemies. Look at verse 3. He subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. If we look at this concept with the first immediate lens of application, we understand that Israel would sing these lines of thanksgiving and deliverance with great vigor.
Speaker 1:For them, it was a very acute necessity that God, as their king, could lead them in victory against their foes. This wasn't a metaphor for them. There were very particular enemies and particular battles that they had in mind as they sung this. God had to be their strong king who not only led them into that battle, but who could lead them out victoriously. Verse 5 insinuates this processional of victory.
Speaker 1:God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. This going up with a shout and the sound of a trumpet, there were common celebratory elements when a king would return victoriously from battle. The people would shout in relief and joy that they were protected, and they needn't fear their enemies. They would sound the trumpet and proclaim the dominance of their king over all of the other leaders. On the contrary, their enemies learned a new angle of this term, the fear of the Lord.
Speaker 1:If the fear of the Lord commands the awe of his people, it evokes terror and dread in his enemies. Charles Spurgeon describes this dichotomous fear of the Lord term by saying this, God is almighty to save but terrible to crush. There is sure victory that God offered his king his people as their king, and it gave them a great comfort and security. Now if any of you guys know me personally, you're aware of my interest in personal home safety and security and things like this. It's just the way my brain is wired, for better or worse.
Speaker 1:Everywhere I go, I'm constantly sizing things up and sizing people up. Could that guy take me? Could I take him? So I enter a place. What's my exit strategy here?
Speaker 1:How can I best position myself in this circumstance? I like to be aware. I like to be prepared. Confession. Far too many Sundays, I've been sitting in the pew right where you are, and I've been daydreaming about what I would do if someone were to bust in that door right then and how I'd have to heroically save everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I know which of you are daydreaming right now too, so so as God would have it, with me thinking a lot about safety and security, God allowed my shed to get broken into about 2 to 3 weeks ago. Almost a $1,000 of lawn equipment and tools was were stolen from me. Obviously, this infuriated me, And even though, somewhat ironically, my neighbor on their video security system caught it all on camera, and no justice has come of the matter yet as of that, but I can sit here on this video and watch this man roll away my lawnmower, take my things, see my security just violated in front of my own eyes. It makes me so mad as I sit here and I think about all the things that should have been different.
Speaker 1:How could I have allowed this to happen? How did I not hear him 10 yards from my bedroom window at 246 in the morning? Why did I park my car in that exact way that night so that he had easy access to break my lock off? And it goes on and on and on. But what I began to realize through this process is how easy it is for me to put my security in everything else other than in the lord.
Speaker 1:Whether it's on the front end of a hypothetical scenario where our enemies are coming at us or whether it's after our security has already been violated, we can functionally remove God as king. Where is my security found? If I truly believed that God was reigning as king, sitting on his throne in power, and that he has total dominion over all of my enemies. This should change things for me. Verse 9 tells us that the princes of the people are really gods.
Speaker 1:The shields of the earth. They belong to him. All power and authority is his and his alone. He is king over his creation. I think that the author intentionally here lists all of the other leaders and rulers in the world that exist.
Speaker 1:He lists them as princes. Mere princes in comparison to God as king. We see this in Proverbs 211 where it says, a king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. This is how we see and apply this passage through the second lens of application.
Speaker 1:God still protects and cares for his people. He is still victorious in battle. All leaders, all all rulers, all thieves, all terrorists, they're all in his hand. Everyone is under his dominion. None of them moves outside of his permissive will.
Speaker 1:And not just external enemies. What about the enemies that wage battle in your heart and in your mind on a daily basis, even moment by moment sometimes, battles of fear and worry and lust and pride and control. Yes, he is victorious over these enemies as well. Our King is powerful over whatever foe we may face. Friends, this should change things for us.
Speaker 1:It should change it for me and my heart, in the way that I think and I respond to situations in life. Listen, if you really knew and you believed that God is actively reigning as king over everything in your life, this combats our debilitating fear. If we really believe this, shouldn't it change the way that we view that bad thing that's happening to us? Shouldn't it change the way that we understand why god is holding out on that good thing from us that we want so desperately? It should impact those headlines of your heart.
Speaker 1:God is over your singleness. God is over your infertility. God is over your depression and your anxiety. He is over your circumstance. Now it doesn't make these things go away.
Speaker 1:I don't need to tell you that. You are aware of the brokenness and the fallenness in this world. You're reminded of that all around you. But as we face the reality of this brokenness and the fallenness, we ask the spirit to remind our hearts that God is king, that Christ has already won victory over all of this darkness and fallenness. So, 1, God is enthroned in power and in majesty.
Speaker 1:2, God protects his people and is victorious over his enemies. And finally, 3, we see that God is worthy of praise as our king because God has chosen his people. Look at verse 4. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. The beauty of God's kingship over Israel was that they did not choose him.
Speaker 1:He chose them. All throughout the history of Israel, they are constantly being reminded that it is only by God's sovereign will that they are made into his people and he their God. His call to Abraham was not based on any merit of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob had no more good or value or potential than the other people in other nations? No.
Speaker 1:Verse 4 reminded Israel that it was by God's good pleasure that he chose their heritage. He chose their inheritance. He gave them their pride. He gave them their land. He gave them his love.
Speaker 1:He gave them himself. Multiple times in this Psalm, the people praise God according to his covenant name with Israel, Yahweh. This was not a God among many gods. This was not a general unknown God. He revealed himself to his people by name, and he gave himself to them as their king.
Speaker 1:In verses 8 and 9, we see the beautiful second application of God choosing his people. God reigns over the nations. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. This is a beautiful, prophetic picture of God drawing all men to himself to be his people. In the immediate context, this verse would meant that God had power over rival enemies.
Speaker 1:But in a more full view of God's kingship, we see that he has power and rule that's extended to all people. He has sovereign rule over all nations. This is what it means in Ephesians 3:6 when it says, the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body. The people who were once strangers, the ones who were enemies of God, they will someday be counted as the people of the God of Abraham. This is a glorious picture of heaven when all nations, all tribes, all tongues will bow down before God and acknowledge him as their king.
Speaker 1:Now my son, Mac, he's almost 2, and he likes watching movies, much to the chagrin of me and his mother. He's obsessed currently with The Lion King. He's obsessed with it. And so it's been in my mind a lot lately, and it's funny how the Lord can teach you deep truths about life through The Lion King. As I've been preparing for this sermon, there's a scene, the opening scene in the movie, that has been running through my head.
Speaker 1:As the king in this movie, who is a lion, granted, but follow the metaphor as the king sits on his throne in undisputed power and glory, all creatures are drawn to him. His clear dominion over the region is the praise and the glory of its inhabitants, and they live in peace. So in the movie, you have all of these creatures, all of these animals being drawn together to their king. And as they gather, there's this climactic moment when all of them fall down and bow before their king before before they erupt in joyous and raucous praise to this king. Each animal in its own way, in its own voice, in its own way that it's been created, praises their king.
Speaker 1:What a picture this is. What a day this will be when every every nation, every tribe, every tongue is represented and each person in the way that we were created to brings praise and glory to our king. We will all bow before him. Now the beautiful thing about this passage is that it all finds its fulfillment in Jesus as our king. At each point, he fulfills to all of his people what Israel had only seen a foreshadowing of.
Speaker 1:He gave up to security of heaven to come and be on earth. He lowered himself. He took on the insecurity and the brokenness of humanity to offer us true security. Even as he became low, God lifted him high on the cross. He took on as king the powerful enemies of sin and death, and he was victorious.
Speaker 1:He was raised from the grave in victory and then ascended to his throne where he sits at the right hand of God the father. He is reigning as king. He's the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him. He has chosen and gathered up people from all nations in the earth. And this finds its final fulfillment in Revelation 19 where he is called the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Speaker 1:Where does this leave us today? In light of all of this, praise Him. Praise Him. 5 times in this chapter, that phrase is used. Sing praises.
Speaker 1:Verse 7 says, sing praises with a psalm. Another translation says, everyone who understands, sing praises. One preacher put that this way, Sound doctrine praises God. When we study and we learn about who God is, and if we come to understand him as king, we have a responsibility to praise him. Listen.
Speaker 1:There were times in Israel's history when they had to sing this psalm when everything around them seemed to contradict it. They had to sing that God was king when they were in captivity to their enemies. They continued to sing that he was strong and enthroned when nothing in their circumstances rung true with this. Friends, there will be times in our lives, many times most likely, when we will have to sing the words and the truths of these psalms, though nothing in our lives seemed to bear witness to it. You might be afraid, and you might be overwhelmed.
Speaker 1:Your heart might mourn or hurt. You might not feel the truth of these Psalms right now. But he speaks into those headlines of your heart. In these times, praise God. Praise him as your active, reigning king.
Speaker 1:Praise him that you are his and he is yours. You know him by name. He knows you by name. Even and especially in these times, praise him. Romans 5 verses 4 through 5 says, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character.
Speaker 1:Character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. So even in times of suffering, God's spirit teaches us to praise him. How? How should we praise him? Well, there's a lot of ways.
Speaker 1:In this passage, shouting, singing, clapping, blowing instruments. But maybe it's gonna be through tears. Maybe we praise him through our morning. Maybe we praise him with a psalm, this exact psalm. The Spirit of God leads us into praise of who God is.
Speaker 1:When we realize what Jesus has done as our king, the spirit of God prompts us to join with all of creation in praising him. Clap your hands, all peoples. Shout to God with loud songs of joy. Sing praises to God. Sing praises.
Speaker 1:Sing praises to our king. Sing praises. For God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a song. Pray with me.
Speaker 1:Lord, we acknowledge right now, even though for some of us, there might not feel like a bit of this is true. This might not ring true in our hearts and in our minds and even externally in our circumstances. Lord, we acknowledge that you are king. Lord, by your spirit, help us to believe this. Help us to be reminded of this.
Speaker 1:Help us to remind each other when we're low. Lord, may we sing praises to you. May we, functionally, in the hardest ways in our lives, may we see you as seated on your throne as king. Lord, bring comfort and peace to our hearts from this truth. Remind us that you are a good king.
Speaker 1:Lord, we ask that you'll continue to teach us this truth, that it won't just leave our minds right now, but that it will remain with us. We know you are faithful. In the name of Christ. Amen.