Selected Psalms

The Sovereign King and His Righteous Judgement!

“The Delight of the Righteous and the Devastation of the Worthless...” - Psalm 97

Introductory Thoughts:

·        I want to invite you this evening to open your Bibles with me to Psalm 97...

·        One of the clear realities that we see in the world around us is that people have no fear of God...! Many if not most people live as if God does not exist and many that do believe God exists, live as if He is no force or authority to reckon with...

·        This brings about that there is also no worship of God – no bowing down in humility and awe and reverence before God...!

·        JI Packer: “Disregard the study of God and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul."

·        I wish that this was only true of the unbelieving world, but if we are to be honest, we find that in the Church today as well, many have lost their fear of God and subsequently their worship of God has become... passionless, routine, optional, burdensome, absent...

·        That is why we need Psalms like Psalm 97... along with the Psalms going before and after this Psalm, (cf. Ps 93-100), this Psalm is aimed at instructing and helping us to worship God for who He is...!

·        Psalm 97 is focused on the sovereignty of God over the whole earth and all peoples as well as His terrific judgement that results from Him being the great sovereign over everything.

·        Our theme for this Psalm will then be:

The Sovereign King and His Righteous Judgement!

·        And we will further see that this reality is The Delight of the Righteous and the Devastation of the Worthless...!

·        Lets then read Psalm 97...

Teaching Points:

·        We will then focus on three revelations as we behold the King, the worthless and the righteous:

·        In the first place, we see the revealing of...

1. The Sovereign, Majestic, Righteous King as He Judges! (v1-6)

The One whom we worship!

·        Verse 1 starts with a clear statement... this is an absolute truth and a statement that is without qualification or exeption... at all times and in all things, God is in control...

·        The universal reign and worship of God is unmistakeable in this Psalm – cf. v1, 5-7, 9

·        His reign extends to all things and every place... to all peoples... (Coastlands may refer to the Gentile nations...)

·        The fact that the Lord reigns then brings us great comfort and hope... He is in control and He has a plan with everything... (cf. Eph 1:11; Rom 8:28)

·        Verse 2-5 then brings us face-to-face with God as He comes to judge... it is the scene of God judging the earth...!

·        In these verse we are reminded of images of God as He descended in Exo 19-20 to give Moses and Israel His law, the ten commandments... (cf. Exo 19:16-20; 20:18-21)

·        Just as He came to give the Law, He who is governing everything according to His law will come in the same splendour and majesty to judge all the nations according to His law...!

·        Verse2a: This refers to a visible manifestation of the presence of God... it also carries the idea of the majesty of God as well as the mystery of God – that although we can know Him accurately, yet we cannot know Him exhaustively... less even so those who will be judged by Him – they cannot discern His will or ways...

·        Verse 2b: Yet we can be sure of this – all the judgements of God are right and He cannot make an unjust or wrong judgement...! He never makes a wrong call on any situation or person...! His rule is built upon the reality that He is a righteous God who is fair in all of His dealings and judgements! (cf. Gen 18:25)

·        Verse 3: Fire has to do with His judgement... this verse reveals to us the severity and fearfulness of His judgement... Heb 10:31; 12:28-29

·        Verse 4: This refers to the display of His might that simply overwhelms us and reminds us of how small and weak we are...

·        Verse 5a: Even the most stable and strong elements of the creation, simply melt like wax before His great power and might and wrath...!

·        Verse 5b: Again it is affirmed that God is the King and Ruler over everything...!

·        Verse 6: This truth and reality is visible in what God has created so that no one has an excuse...! (cf. Rom 1:20)

·        The purpose of God being revealed in this way in His judgement as the sovereign, majestic and righteous King is to impress us with the awesomeness and majesty of God so as to leave us in awe of Him...! Many have lost their awe of God... their fear of God... their reverence, their wonder, and their worship of God...!

·        Seeing God for who He really is leads to the only proper response namely that of worship...!

·        That is why the response of not giving the worship to God that He deserves is complete foolishness and deserving of His judgement and wrath over them...!

·        In the second place, we see the revealing of...

2. The Worthless Idols and their Worshippers that are put to Shame! (v7-9)

False and worthless worship!

·        The Psalmist use three words here to describe idols:

·        “Images” that highlights that they are man made things... it is the creation worshipping the creation...

·        “Worthless Idols” – referring to the fact that all such worship will come to nothing because every idol is no thing in and of itself... it is a dead and worthless thing...

·        “gods” – not implying that there are indeed other gods, but rather pointing out that if there were any other gods, they would fall down before the only true God...!

·        As a matter of fact, this is what happened in 1 Sam 5:1-4...

·        The reality is that all who put their trust in “things”, they will discover that these things are of no help in their times of need and definitely of no help when they stand before the sovereign King and Judge one day... it is then that they will be put to shame...!

·        As the false worshippers and their worthless idols are put to shame, the people of God rejoices for these false worshippers get what they deserve and God gets what He deserves – the honour and recognition that He is Lord and that He is God – He is the most high and He is far above all other gods implying that there is no thing or being that can even start to compare with Him... no one can rival Him...!

·        Isa 40:18, 25; 44:6-8 – There was and is and always will be only one, true God...!

·        In the third place, we see the revealing of...

3. The Worthy Worshippers and the Blessings they receive from their King! (v10-12) True and worthy worship!

·        Note how they are described – as the saints ( v10), the righteous and the upright in heart ( v11).

·        This refers to those who then have believed in God... those wo trusted in Him... cf. Heb 11:6

·        True worship starts with trusting in God... having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ...!

·        Also note what characteristic of them is highlighted in verse 10 – they are the ones who love the Lord... this is the source and motivation behind all true and worthy worship is that it flows from a heart that is in love with God...!

·        As they are worshipping God, we then find that there is four blessings that they receive and three commands that they must obey...

Four Blessings:

1. Preservation – God is the one who will keep the souls of every one of His saints... He will keep them and hold them fast...!

2. Protection – God is for them and He is their present help in time of need... there is no enemy that His saints faces alone...! God is always with them to guard and direct His people for their good and for His glory...!

3. Direction – God gives them the needed light, the needed truth so that they can know His will and walk in His ways one step at a time – Ps 109:105

4. Joy – It is the saints of God who are the truly joyful people in this world. God blesses holiness with a joy that this world cannot know... a lasting and deep-seated joy that is reserved for the true worshippers of God alone...!

·        But those who worship God is not without commands that they need to obey if they are to worship God.

·        True worship is governed by God and not by men – He determines how we worship Him...!

Three commands:

1. They must hate evil – in the Biblical context this definitely refers to all evil and sin... in the immediate context this most probably refers to the evil of idolatry... God deserves and commands our whole hearted love and devotion... that we will not give any place or room in our hearts for worthless idols... (cf. Matt 6:24)

2. They must rejoice in the Lord – not in the things of God or even in the blessings of God primarily, but in God himself...! (cf. Phil 3:1; 4:4)

3. They must give thanks to God – He is God and all that they are and have is because of Him...! True worship flows from a humble and thankful heart... a heart that realizes the grace that it has been given so that they are not a worthless worshipper anymore...!

Listen to this story:

“I once heard the story about a construction worker named Johnny. He was working with a crew that working downtown on a building. One day, the pastor of a large church just a few blocks from the construction site, walked into the sanctuary of the church. There sat a construction worker in his dirty clothes and hardhat.

The pastor walked up to him asked and if he could help him. The fellow said, "Mister, I ain’t ever been in church like this. I was raised back up here in the mountains and we didn't have any churches like this. Anyway, Ma and Pa never took me to church. This is my dinner hour and I just wanted to come and see what a church like this looks like." The pastor asked him his name and he said, "My name is Johnny, Sir."

The pastor said, "Well, Johnny, you just look around." The pastor told him a little about the church and then Johnny said, "Mister, can you tell me something about your God?" The pastor began to tell him about the Lord. After a little while Johnny looked at his watch and said it was time to get back to work but wanted to know if he could come back again and talk some more. For several days, during his lunchtime, Johnny came back and talked to the preacher about the Lord. One day Johnny bowed his head and asked the Lord to save him.

He asked the preacher, "Do you mind if I come over here during my lunchtime? It only takes me about ten or fifteen minutes to eat, and I would like to just come over and talk to the Lord." The pastor said it would be fine, and for weeks he come by and spend his lunchtime in the church auditorium.

One day the pastor was in the auditorium when Johnny came in. He didn't see the pastor. He walked down front, took off his hardhat, and then knelt in the altar. He was an uneducated and unlettered person that didn't know how to pray all those fancy prayers such as, "Thou great Jehovah, Thou who scooped out the valley and piled up the mountains," etc. He got on his knees and began to pray, "Jesus, this is Johnny. Don't want a thing today. Lord, I just wanted to tell you that I love you and thank you for saving me. Lord, you know how much I love you. I can't thank you enough for saving me. Lord, I've got to get back to work now, but thank you again for saving me."

·        If God never did another thing for us, we would still have reason to not only thank Him for what He’s already done, but we would have to Thank Him for being Him!

·        We must simply thank God be being God...!

Closing Thoughts:

·        May it then be that we will be part of the righteous who will delight in the fact and reality that God is the sovereign King who will come to judge in righteousness and that we will not be those who will be devastated because we have given ourselves to worthless worship of empty idols...!

·        Behold God in His sovereignty and majesty and righteousness and be in awe of Him... fear Him... have reverence for Him and worship Him...!