Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
September 10, 2003
Introduction
Music touches the soul. It’s
“soulish” in nature. It touches the
emotions.
We’re going to find every kind of emotion possible expressed in the Psalms.
For every sigh there is a Psalm.
For most of us, this is what makes the Psalms so wonderful. We can identify. We can relate.
If we were honest, even darkest most depressing Psalms describe the very
things we go through day by day.
Psalm 11 – The Psalm of the Steadfast
:1-3 Advice to flee
:2 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow …
It’s hard to know for sure just when David might have written this Psalm,
because he had more than one time in his life when he was running from his
enemies, especially during the time before he became king.
Saul was the king at the time and David was a loyal servant of Saul. But a problem developed when David’s heroic
exploits were bringing greater recognition and praise to David than Saul was
getting. Saul became jealous and began
to plot David’s death.
David is expressing here that there were some people telling David to flee
for his life when he felt like he shouldn’t be fleeing but instead putting his
trust in the Lord.
:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
It may be that David is referring to King Saul’s behavior here.
Saul was trying to kill David for no good reason. At one point David fled to the priestly city
of Nob and received some help from
the priests, who gave him some bread and a sword. They hadn’t realized that David was running
from Saul so they gladly helped what they assumed was a faithful servant of the
king. When Saul found out that the
priests had helped David, he felt as if they were all plotting against
him. Saul had the priests killed. All of them.
The entire city.
The foundations were being destroyed.
Examples of foundations being destroyed:
Prayer in schools. Abortion. The so-called “separation of church and
state”. The removal of any mention of
God in government. The Alabama
removal of the Ten Commandments.
Illustration
‘Drinking rooms’ proposed for teens
By Lilian Saleh and Mark Skelsey; 30Aug03; Daily Telegraph, Australia;
This report appears on news.com.au.
UNDERAGE safe drinking centres or “wet rooms” modelled on the principles of
the Kings Cross heroin injecting room were proposed at this week’s NSW alcohol
summit. The wet rooms would be a
protected haven where teenagers and possibly even children could drink alcohol
under supervision and without threat of police interference. …The idea of youth wet rooms came from the
Young People and Alcohol Forum, with youth delegate Dorian Sarkissian yesterday
urging delegates to support its consideration.
“We don’t understand why we can have sex at 16, but can’t drink,” Mr
Sarkissian said. The summit voted on
Thursday night to explore innovative ways to address high-risk drinking by “establishing
safe, supervised venues for responsible use of alcohol”…
:4-7 God judges wickedness
:4 The LORD is in his holy temple …his eyes behold
Lesson
God sees you
What you do is important to Him. He
may be in heaven, but He sees you.
Illustration
Frank Capra, who directed It’s a Wonderful Life, was asked years ago about
the central message of his classic film. After thinking a few moments, Capra
responded, “I believe the real message of It’s a Wonderful Life is this: that
under the sun, nothing is insignificant to God.”
Now, when you watch the movie again, you know that everything that happens
has intended and unintended consequences. Everything, because it happened,
causes something else to happen. Everybody in that story is important, because
he or she relates to everyone else. Nothing is insignificant under the sun to
God.
Perhaps you need to be reminded, not only that you are important to God,
but also everyone around you is significant to him, too.
-- Jay Akkerman in
Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of
Leadership.
:7 For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold
the upright.
Lesson
God will take care of it.
He sees everything that goes on.
Nothing escapes His attention.
Though there are times when “fleeing” is the right thing to do
David did run from Saul many times.
There are times when we must not “flee”.
Sometimes “trusting” means we don’t flee.
Psalm 12 Trusting God’s Deliverance
:1 To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.
:1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among
the children of men.
This is a lament over how we are surrounded with evil.
:5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I
arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
puffeth – puwach – to
breathe, blow
It sounds a little like the Big Bad Wolf huffing and puffing, but it
probably more carries the idea that the person that is seeking the Lord is
“puffing” for safety …
(Psa 12:5 NLT) The LORD
replies, "I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the
groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for
me to do."
Lesson
God’s promises
This is key to the Psalm – God promises to take care of the righteous. He promises to protect us.
His promise comes from His Word.
:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of
earth, purified seven times.
Lesson
The value of the Word
God’s promise of protection was precious to David.
When we feel overwhelmed by wickedness around us, we need to be washed in
the Word and cling to God’s promises.
:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
Our society seems to idolize wickedness.
Illustration
Prior to 1965, television shows portrayed businessmen as good guys twice as
often as bad guys, as Michael Medved shows in Hollywood
vs America. In the 1970s, this ratio was reversed; two
villains for every good guy. Today, big business has become television's
favorite villain. Medved quotes an
exhaustive analysis of prime time television by the sociologists Richter,
Richter and Rothman which concludes, "By 1980 a majority of the CEO's
portrayed on prime time committed felonies." Respectable businessmen were by then committing
40 percent of the murders on prime time television, and 44 percent of vice
crimes like drug trafficking and pimping.
-- Michael Medved, Hollywood vs America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional
Values (New York, Harper Collins, 1993).
Illustration
We live in a strange society where we make documentaries of serial killers,
movie idols out of organized crime members, authors out of political crooks,
and role models out of criminals who beat the system. ... I don’t know when
crime went from being news to entertainment, but somehow it’s made the
transition.
-- Erma Bombeck.
Psalm 13 Despair to Hope
:1 How long wilt thou forget me, O
LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
how long …
This seems to be a common refrain in the Psalms.
When will the trouble end?
David is expressing great frustration and depression.
:3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the
sleep of death;
Consider – nabat – to
look, regard
David is afraid he’s going to die if God doesn’t help him.
:5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy
salvation.
trusted – batach – to
trust; to have confidence, be confident; to be bold; to be secure
Lesson
You can trust Him
He can take you through
The enemy wants you to think that God is going to let you down or even
destroy you.
You have to trust Him.
Illustration
Blondin the tightrope walker.
Jean Francois Gravelet was born February
28, 1824 in Hesdin, France. When he was five years old he was sent to the
École de Gymnase at Lyon, and after six months’ training
as an acrobat he made his first public appearance as “the Little Wonder.” He developed his skills under the guidance of
P.T. Barnum (of Barnum & Bailey Circus).
He became known as the Great Blondin.
In 1859 he announced that he would do the most amazing of all feats, he
would cross Niagara Falls on a
tightrope 1,100 feet (335 m) long, 160 feet above the water.
On June 30, 1859 the
rope was in position and at five o’clock
in the afternoon Blondin started the trip that was to make history. Incredulous
watchers saw him lower a rope to the Maid of the Mist, pull up a bottle and sit
down while he refreshed himself. He began his ascent toward the Canadian shore,
paused, steadied the balancing pole and suddenly executed a back somersault.
The crowd ‘screamed’, women ‘fainted’, those near the rope ‘cried’ and begged
him to come in. When he finally stepped off the rope, he was grabbed by a
delirious mob of well wishers who whisked him away to a champagne celebration.
He crossed the Falls several times, each time making it more
difficult. In all, he crossed the rope
on a bicycle, walking blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow, stopping to cook an
omelet in the center, and making the trip with his hands and feet manacled.
His most daring crossing came when he announced that he would carry a man
across on his back. It would be his
manager, Harry Colcord. According to Colcord, the trip was a nightmare. In the
un-guyed center section, the pair swayed violently. Blondin was fighting for
his life. He broke into a desperate run to reach the first guy rope. When he
reached it and steadied himself, the guy broke. Once more the pair swayed
alarmingly as Blondin again ran for the next guy. When they reached it Blondin
gasped for Colcord to get down. Six times in all Colcord had to dismount while
Blondin struggled to gather his strength. In the end Blondin had to charge the
crowd on the brink to prevent the press of people forcing them back in the
precipice.
He performed privately for both the Prince of Wales and King Edward VII, he
repeated the stunt of ‘carrying a man on his back’ and offered to carry the
prince, but he declined.
You don’t have to be a tightrope walker to get across the falls of
life. You just need to trust Jesus
enough to get on His shoulders.
Even though you might think it’s pretty scary to trust Jesus, He’ll never
drop you. Get up on His shoulders.
:6 I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.
David moves from despair to hope in six verses.
Lesson
Sing to Him
David thinks about God’s blessings and he sings to the Lord.
Sometimes a song is what God can use to break the depression.
Psalm 14 Foolish Atheism
:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
This isn’t a “pretty” song. It’s
kind of a “downer”. Yet being written to
“the chief Musician”, it was meant to be sung in public, a song for the
congregation.
Life isn’t “pretty”. We shouldn’t be
afraid to talk about difficult things at church.
:1 The fool hath said in his heart,
There is no God.
Lesson
Atheism
fool – nabal – foolish, senseless, fool
We might think of a fool as a person who lacks intelligence or is
uneducated. The Bible says that the fool
is the one who pretends that God isn’t there.
agnostic = “not” + “knowing” – someone who admits they don’t know
anything. The Latin word for agnostic is
ignoramus.
Illustration
There is no God.
All of the wonders around us are accidental. No almighty hand made a thousand billion
stars. They made themselves. No power
keeps them on their steady course. The
earth spins itself to keep the oceans from falling off toward the sun. Infants teach themselves to cry when they are
hungry or hurt. A small flower invented
itself so that we could extract digitalis for sick hearts.
The earth gave itself day and night, tilted itself so that
we get seasons. Without the magnetic
poles man would be unable to navigate the trackless oceans of water and air,
but they just grew there.
How about the sugar thermostat in the pancreas? It maintains a level of sugar in the blood
sufficient for energy. Without it, all
of us would fall into a coma and die.
Why does snow sit on mountain-tops waiting for the warm
spring sun to melt it at just the right time for the young crops in farms below
to drink? A very lovely accident.
The human heart will beat for 70 or 80 years without
faltering. How does it get sufficient rest between beats? A kidney will filter poison from the blood,
and leave good things alone. How does it
know one from the other?
Who gave the human tongue flexibility to form words, and a
brain to understand them, but denied it to all animals?
Who showed a womb how to take the love of two persons and
keep splitting a tiny ovum until, in time, a baby would have the proper number
of fingers, eyes and ears and hair in the right places, and come into the world
when it is strong enough to sustain life?
There is no God?
-- 1966 by Jim
Bishop, Miami Herald, July 27, 1987
Illustration
When D. L. Moody was conducting evangelistic meetings, he
frequently faced hecklers who were in violent disagreement with him. In the
final service of one campaign, an usher handed the famous preacher a note as he
entered the auditorium. It was actually
from an atheist who had been giving Mr. Moody a great deal of trouble. The evangelist, however, supposed that it was
an announcement, so he quieted the large audience and prepared to read it. Opening the folded piece of paper he found
scrawled in large print only one word: “Fool!”
The colorful preacher was equal to the occasion. Said Moody, “I have just been handed a memo
which contains the single word—‘Fool’.
This is most unusual. I’ve often
heard of those who have written letters and forgotten to sign their names, but
this is the first time I’ve ever heard of anyone who signed his name and then
forgot to write the letter!” Taking
advantage of the unique situation, Moody promptly changed his sermon text to
Psalm 14:1 “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!”
Lesson
A matter of the will
there is no God …
The words “there is …” are not in the Hebrew. The sentence is literally, “The fool hath
said in his heart, “no God”.
I think that much of atheism is not a matter of
intelligence, as if coming up with the right arguments will convince them. It is a matter of the will. It’s a decision that you don’t want anyone or
anything telling you what to do. I think
that is one of the underlying motivations to put evolution in front of
children, to tell them that there is no God to which they are accountable.
Illustration
The philosophy of humanism is eloquently expressed in
William Ernest Henley's famous poem, Invictus:
Out of the
night that covers me,
Black as the
pit from pole to pole,
I thank
whatever gods may be
For my
unconquerable soul.
In the fell
clutch of circumstance,
I have not
winced nor cried aloud:
Under the
bludgeonings of chance
My head is
bloody, but unbowed.
It matters not
how strait the gate,
How charged
with punishments the scroll,
I am the
master of my fate;
I am the
captain of my soul.
:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is
none that doeth good, no, not one.
Lesson
The result of god-less-ness
Man becomes worse without God, not better.
Illustration
In 1924 the Soviet revolutionist Leon Trotsky promised that with the
abolition of God would come a new breed of man.
"Man will become immeasurable stronger, wiser and subtler; his body
will become more harmonized, his movements more rhythmic," Trotsky wrote. "The average human type will rise to the
heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx.
And above this ridge new peaks will rise."
-- Graeme Crouch,
Chairman, Bible/Theology Dept., Prairie Bible College
Illustration
Cal Thomas wrote in 1992,
Nadia Hundert of Kiev
knows of the end results of atheism, especially in public education. Three years ago she wrote a letter to the
publication Soviet Ukraine. Hundert’s
message ought to be read wherever religious intolerance is practiced.
“Today, as a consequence of an atheistic upbringing,” she
wrote, “we are knee-deep in alcoholics, drug addicts, other chemically
dependent individuals, loafers, bums, criminals, savages, uncouths, dullards,
cruel and rightful juveniles who commit crimes for the fun of it. These are people who were brought up by
non-believer parents and an atheistic society.
Christians lived with religion for 1,000 years and provided us with a
rich heritage, which we have succeeded in destroying without fire or
flood.... It would be a very good thing
if, in re-structuring the school curriculum, the education specialists included
teaching of religion in our schools.”
It appears the Russians have learned something from
us. It also appears we have learned
nothing from them.
Lesson
A need for a Savior
Paul quotes these first couple of verses in Romans 3:
(Rom 3:10-12 KJV) As it is written, There is none righteous,
no, not one: {11} There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh
after God. {12} They are all gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Paul takes this literally, that not just those who say they’re atheists say
“there’s no God”, but in a sense we all own up to this. We all live to some extent as if there is no
God.
Paul uses this as part of his point to say that all of man is sinful.
(Rom
3:23-24 KJV) For all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God; {24} Being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
God’s own children often live as if He doesn’t exist.
Yet He has loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to
die for our sins.
We need a Savior.
:5 There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the
righteous.
(Psa 14:5 NASB) There they
are in great dread, For God is with the righteous generation.
(Psa 14:5 NLT) Terror will
grip them, for God is with those who obey him.
Lesson
Godless versus God-loving
Illustration
Voltaire, the 18th-century French atheist who was one of the
greatest writers of his time, wielded a bitter pen against Christianity. In a moment of triumph he once boasted, “In
twenty years Christianity will be no more.
My single hand shall destroy the edifice it took twelve apostles to
rear.” But Voltaire’s arrogance was
swallowed up in his death. He died, in
his own words, “abandoned by God and man.”
Shortly after his death, the very house in which Voltaire wrote was made
a depot of the Geneva Bible Society!
-- W.A. Criswell,
Why I Preach the Bible is Literally True,
pp. 103-104
The Christian physician who attended the skeptic Voltaire on his death bed
recorded these words:
I compare the death of a righteous man, which is like the
close of a beautiful day, with a black thunderstorm. It was my lot that this
man should die under my hands. Often did I tell him the truth. “Yes, my friend,
good advice. Had I but followed it, I should not be in the horrible condition
in which I am now. I have swallowed nothing but smoke. I have intoxicated
myself with the incense that turned my head. You can do nothing for me. Send me
a mad doctor. Have compassion on me. I am mad.”
I cannot think of it without shuddering. As soon as he saw
that all the means he had just employed to increase his strength, had just the
opposite effect, death was constantly before his eyes. From this moment on,
madness took possession of his soul. He expired under the torment of the
furies.
Illustration
Donald Grey Barnhouse was called to the hospital by a doctor friend. An atheist who disliked Barnhouse was
dying. Barnhouse responded, “I’ll come right over to see him.” The doctor noted, “But he doesn’t like you.”
But Barnhouse insisted he was coming anyway.
He entered the patient’s room, grabbed a chair, sat down and folded his
arms and said nothing.
The atheist was curious and irritated. “All right, what do you want,
Barnhouse?”, he finally asked.
Barnhouse answered, “I’ve come to see what it’s like when an atheist goes
to hell.” Then he proceeded to lead him
to Christ.
-- Dr. John DeBrine,
Guest Speaker, Jan 28, 1989.
Psalm 15 Genuine Holiness
:1 A Psalm of David.
A suggestion has been made that this Psalm was written when David was in
the process of taking the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.
(2 Sam 6:2-11 KJV) And David
arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to
bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the
LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. {3} And they set the ark of
God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in
Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. {4} And
they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying
the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. {5} And David and all the house
of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood,
even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on
cymbals. {6} And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his
hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. {7} And the
anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his
error; and there he died by the ark of God. {8} And David was displeased,
because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the
place Perezuzzah to this day. {9} And David was afraid of the LORD that day,
and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me? {10} So David would not
remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it
aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite. {11} And the ark of the LORD
continued in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months: and the LORD
blessed Obededom, and all his household.
Perhaps it was at this time, as David has seen Uzzah die for having touched
the Ark and thinking about God’s
holiness, that he writes this Psalm.
During this time of waiting, someone finds out that the Scripture actually
tells how the Ark is supposed to
be moved, and they find out that it’s not supposed to be on an oxcart, but to
be carried on the shoulders of the priests.
:2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the
truth in his heart.
Lesson
Honesty
God is looking for people who will be genuine. People who will be honest both in actions as
well as on the inside in their heart.
Outward actions AND Inward attitudes.
Illustration
More than a fourth of students at some of the nation’s best colleges admit
cheating on a test even though they have an honor code, says a new survey that
shows further “erosion” in on-campus honesty.
Rutgers University
professor Don McCabe based conclusions on responses from 4,300 students at 31
highly selective colleges, 14 with honor codes and 17 without. The study, updating one he did in 1990, shows
that 30% of students at honor-code schools in 1995 reported ever having cheated
on a test, up from 24% in 1990. At
schools without honor codes, 45% reported they had cheated on a test, down from
47% in 1990. Who cheats the most? As in 1990, business majors report the most
cheating, followed by those in engineering.
-- USA Today, 3-11-96 p. 1D.
Illustration
In the July 15, 1993
Boardroom Reports, Peter LeVine writes, “When the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey ran a help-wanted
ad for electricians with expertise at using Sontag connectors, it got 170
responses even though there is no such thing as a Sontag connector. The
Authority ran the ad to find out how many applicants falsify resumes.”
-- Leadership
Magazine, Vol. 15:1, Winter, 1994, p. 47.
:3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue
backbiteth – ragal – (Qal)
to be a tale-bearer, slander, go about
:4 He that sweareth to his own hurt,
and changeth not.
A person who says, “I sware I’ll do this or else I’ll pay a great price”,
and then when they don’t follow through, they actually pay the price.
Commitment. Follow through
:5 He that doeth these things shall never be moved.
When we get a taste of God’s holiness, we see how many areas of our lives
it affects.
David could just have written about carrying the Ark
on the priests’ shoulders, but instead he was how God’s holiness affected so
many areas of life.
Lesson
Genuine holiness
Not just having the talk, but being the real thing up close.
Illustration
“In the sweet valley between Chamouni and the Valais, at every turn of the
pleasant pathway, where the scent of thyme lies richest upon its rocks, we
shall see a little cross and shrine set under one of them, and go up to it,
hoping to receive some happy thought of the Redeemer, by whom all these lovely
things were made, and still consist. But when we come near, behold, beneath the
cross a rude picture of souls tormented in red tongues of hell fire, and
pierced by demons.”
-- Ruskin
Too often the house of him who professes to be a Christian turns out to be
the same. The beauty at a distance changes into hideous deformity when near.
Oh, to be found, when closest watched, better than observers would at first
sight have conceived us to be!
-- Charles Haddon
Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990)
Are you genuine?