The Message of Revelation (1) s4

1709-24P 1 “IN THE FEAR OF YOU” So his first thoughts of the morning are the LORD and (Psalm 5) his worship-duty to him. We will come back to this. SUBJECT: I. THE HOLINESS OF GOD. F.C.F: PROPOSITION: INTRODUCTION: A. What thoughts first come to his mind? A. What are your first thoughts in the David first ponders the question, “Who is God? What morning? Do you remember them? Do they follow is he like? What is his character?” And his answer is any kind of pattern? I tried paying attention to my first that the Lord is holy, that is, morally pure and morning thoughts for a while and this is what I absolutely intolerant of any sin, disobedience, or form remembered. They tended to merge with what I had of evil. just been dreaming about. I awaken to an alarm, and 4For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; so don’t just naturally come to consciousness. Add to evil may not dwell with you. these thoughts bodily sensations, usually aches and 5The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; pains, backache mostly. And then my musings turn to you hate all evildoers. “I’ve got to get up and get on with the day.” And 6You destroy those who speak lies; lastly I remember that I’m a Christian: “Good the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful morning, Lord. Thank you for a new day.” It seems man. like I lose my religion overnight, every night. My first Why is God’s holiness David’s first thought of morning thoughts are about me, and only later do they the morning? Why does he focus on this aspect of turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s perfect, holy character? Undoubtedly it is in B. We have another morning psalm in Psalm contrast to the enemies that he went to bed with that 5, also a psalm of David. It would be tempting to night. He fell into troubled sleep the night before carry the pattern through Psalms three, four, and five, because of the wicked enemies who have slandered namely, that Psalm 3 is the morning of the worst day him, but even more have rebelled against the Lord. of his life, Psalm 4 is the evening of the same day, and We will consider these enemies a bit later. Psalm 5 is the next morning. It’s certainly possible, B. So David considers the Lord’s holy though that’s probably stretching it a bit. But Psalm 5 character, and he does so by what is called “the way is clearly a morning psalm, and appears to give us of negation.” I don’t know if you have thought about David’s first thoughts of the day, and they are this before, but it’s somewhat difficult to speak about profound. They survey the biggest questions of life who God is and what he’s like. The reason is because and are instructive to us of the weighty matters we are he is spirit and so is beyond the power of our five to consider as we turn to God in prayer, whatever the senses to apprehend directly (we cannot see, hear, time of day. touch, taste, or smell God). So one of the primary C. You can almost sense the awakening ways God reveals himself to us in his Word is through process in verses 1-3. In verse one, David speaks of analogy, which literally means “to lay a word his “groaning.” Literally the word means “inmost alongside.” So an analogy is taking something that we thoughts.” One can see him awakening in silence and do know and understand fairly well and laying it his thoughts coming to him: alongside or comparing it to something that we do not “1Give ear to my words, O LORD; know, and most all of our learning is through the use consider my groaning (or inmost thoughts).” of analogies. And these mere thoughts turn to a “cry” and then to a And these analogies can either be positive or more specific and deliberate “pray” in verse 2: negative. For example, God is like this or God is not 2Give attention to the sound of my cry, like that. And in this psalm, because the presence and my King and my God, threat of the enemies has much been on his mind, for to you do I pray. David compares the Lord to them and is assured that And finally, David moves to the concrete action of God is not like those enemies, and in fact, God hates worship: and condemns these enemies for their wickedness, 3O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; their unholiness. You can hear the numerous 4 in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and negations: For you are not a God who delights in watch. wickedness; ______1709-24P 2 evil may not dwell with you. abundance of the Lord’s “steadfast love.” 5The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; B. Now this term “steadfast love” is one of the you hate all evildoers. most important in both the Old and the New 6You destroy those who speak lies; Testaments. It is the Hebrew term “chesed,” and if the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. I’m not mistaken, I think Pastor Bob Vander Schaaf C. Now we should pause here a moment and recently preached a whole sermon on that word. The let the sobering truth of this declaration sink in. Does Old Testament declares that this is one of the primary God love everyone? Does God love even the wicked? attributes of God. For example, when in Exodus 33 Here in the fifth psalm we have the clear denial of Moses asked to see the Lord’s glory, God said that what is arguably the only universal, religious truth that would destroy him and instead declared his own accepted today, that “God loves everyone.” Today glory in these terms: “The LORD, the LORD, a God everybody says this. Two hundred years ago, nobody merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding said it. What made the change? Did we suddenly in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast discover new truth in the Bible? No, this notion that love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and “God loves everyone” came not from the Bible but transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear from secular thinking which declared that everyone is the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the basically good at heart, and that God must therefore children and the children’s children, to the third and love everyone. The notion of “unconditional love” the fourth generation.”(Ex. 34:6-7) came out of this thinking. Humanistic psychology This word translated “steadfast love,” along declared the need for “unconditional positive regard.” with “faithfulness,” is repeated over and over again in And if we are to love everyone unconditionally, then, the Old Testament. It comes right on over into the of course, God certainly must love everyone New Testament as… “grace.” In fact, John in the unconditionally. The one great fly in the ointment of prologue to his gospel declares that Jesus came “full this is the text of Scripture which flatly denies this of grace and truth,” which is the counterpart to universal truth. God “hates all evildoers” and “the “chesed and emeth” or “steadfast love and LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.” faithfulness.” That’s strong and unambiguous language. C. So the second thing that David considers as So David’s first thoughts of the day are to the he awakens after the holiness of God is the grace of Lord, prompted by the threat of evil enemies, and he God by which he enjoys a loving relationship with the focuses on God’s holiness: that the Lord “hate(s) all Lord. The center of this psalm I think is verse 7b: “I evildoers” and “abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of man.” you.” And so, in view of God’s holy and gracious character, David responds in true worship in the fear II. THE GRACE OF THE LORD. of the Lord. These are very profound thoughts for the first thing in the morning, when I’m usually only A. But here David has a problem. Though he’s contemplating my aches and pains and what tasks I certainly morally superior to these evil enemies, his have before me that day. hands are not completely clean either. And that’s why he quickly turns from the Lord’s holiness to the III. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD. Lord’s grace. So we read in verses 7-8: 7But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, A. The next thing that comes to David’s mind will enter your house. in the morning, the next subject in his morning I will bow down toward your holy temple devotions and prayer, is those enemies he went to bed in the fear of you. fretting about. And he is confident that they no longer 8Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness pose any threat because the holy and gracious Lord because of my enemies; will not allow them to prevail. make your way straight before me. 9For there is no truth in their mouth; Why is it that David is allowed to or even desires to their inmost self is destruction; enter God’s house and bow down toward his holy their throat is an open grave; temple in true fear of the Lord? Because of the they flatter with their tongue. ______1709-24P 3 10Make them bear their guilt, O God; woe.” Once again, in the first though of King David’s let them fall by their own counsels; morning musings is something profound: the Lord’s because of the abundance of their transgressions cast help in vanquishing his enemies. them out, for they have rebelled against you. David focuses on the dreadful judgment of God. His holiness moves him to act against the ungodly. In fact, David prays for their defeat. IV. THE BLESSING OF THE LORD. B. Now, again, we need to take some factors into account when we approach what the scholars call A. The last thing that comes to mind for David “imprecatory” psalms, psalms in which the king calls is the promised blessing of the Lord for those who upon the Lord to curse the wicked or to curse his obey him. And it’s helpful for us to note that the dark enemies. There are two factors which we should keep enemies will not have the last word. in mind. 11But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; The first is that the psalmist is the king, let them ever sing for joy, charged with the protection of God’s people. There and spread your protection over them, was no “separation of church and state” in the Old that those who love your name may exult in you. Testament. The church was the state. An attack upon 12For you bless the righteous, O LORD; the Old Testament church was also an act of war you cover him with favor as with a shield. against the nation of Israel, and so God’s king was B. Is it right for us, in view the Lord’s charged to protect God’s people, and to go to war and surpassing greatness, to be concerned our eternal destroy the enemy if need be. reward? Isn’t that “selfish” and “self-centered”? The other thing we should keep in mind is that Shouldn’t our faith in Christ be nobler than this, things have now changed significantly. In our time the unconcerned about “what’s in it for me?” It almost church and the state have been separated. God has seems like the only difference between the wicked and entrusted the gospel to the church and the sword to the the righteous is that the wicked want their goodies state. This can create some difficult dilemmas, but the now and the righteous are willing to wait, to endure, church must not take up the sword in vengeance and to hope in their “seventy-two virgins” in paradise, and the state must not shirk God’s calling to protect her so to agree to put up with a little abstention and citizens. That means that as the church, though we hardship for the relatively short time being. Is there may seek the aid of the state for relief from evildoers, something wrong or selfish or mercenary with people yet we count no human being as our enemy, and so we following Christ for the sake of promised future seek to win all with the gospel which is mighty to rewards? save. C. Here’s where the genius of the Westminster That being said, we still bear in mind that we standards truly shines as a helpful summary of the do have spiritual enemies. Our Lord Jesus taught us to Bible’s teaching. You all can recite the answer to the ask for six things when we approach God as he gave first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: us the Lord’s Prayer. The first three are for God to be “What is the chief end of man?” And the answer is honored: his name regarded as holy, his kingdom to “Man’s chief end is to glorify God.” Is that all there advance, and his will to be done in obedience. The last is? If so, then the argument that we should not three are very practical requests for our needs: our consider future rewards may have some validity. If all daily bread or physical sustenance, and our greatest we should be concerned about is God’s glory, period, spiritual need for forgiveness, and the last one deals then we probably shouldn’t be thinking about eternal with our enemy, that we not be led into temptation but rewards. that we be delivered from “the evil one.” But that’s not all. The full answer is “Man’s C. So we really must keep the enemy in mind chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” and plead for God’s help to vanquish the world’s So the reason God made, the whole purpose for our pressing influence, our own sinful nature, the flesh, existence, is that we glorify God, yes, but also that we with its sinful an self-centered passions, and the devil enjoy him forever. And that makes great sense. For if himself, “our ancient foe” who seeks “to work us we take no joy in the Lord, then what does that say ______1709-24P 4 about him? What I were to speak of my wife to my once for all to make atonement for our sins. friends in this way, “It’s my duty to love her. It’s So this is how we can have peace with a holy really hard. Actually, I hate it, but she’s my wife so God who is intolerant of all sin. This is how he can I’ll do my duty and love her.” If that’s how I spoke of maintain steadfast love for his people. Without Christ, my wife, it might glorify me for being willing to his enemies have no future. But with Christ we will suffer so much by keeping my promise and doing my enjoy the everlasting favor of God. duty, but who would it not glorify? (My wife!) “12For you bless the righteous, O LORD; So we glorify God best by enjoying him most. you cover him with favor as with a shield.” In fact, we can only glorify God by enjoying him. Or  as John Piper has stated so well, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” Beloved, if you have to hold your nose to do your duty to obey Christ, then stop to consider what you are doing. You are only glorifying your self by dishonoring the Lord. And the great teachers of the church have understood this as well. John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion taught that the Christian life consists in the mortification, killing, putting to death of sin, vivification, becoming more and more alive in love for Christ and obedience to him, and the third element along with mortification and vivification is meditation on the life to come, it’s glory and goodness and blessing: our future reward.

CONCLUSION

Beloved, God himself is the great subject of our thoughts and contemplation, of our awakening, morning musings. His holiness, his grace, his judgment, and the glory of his promised blessings: that’s enough to sustain us all through the day. But we have another problem. God is absolutely intolerant against sin. He hates evildoers and abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful person. So on the one hand God is holy. On the other hand, God is gracious with steadfast love toward the particular sinners who are his people. How can this be reconciled? How can a holy God steadfastly love sinners like us? David tips us off in verse 3: “in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.” A sacrifice? Yes, David knew very well the need for bloody sacrifices to cover his sin so that he could continue to enjoy a vital relationship with a holy God. So what bloody sacrifice do you offer each morning? A lamb? A goat? Perhaps a pigeon or a turtledove? Beloved, this Psalm, indeed every Scripture only makes sense in view of Christ. Jesus is that perfect sacrifice, that Lamb of God slain for sinners, ______