Thursday
Evening Bible Study
March
17, 2016
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Target 3300 words
Video = 75 wpm
The English word psalm comes from a Greek word that means “a poem
sung to musical accompaniment”, or in particular, “stringed instruments”.
The Hebrew name is tehillim, which means “praises.”
The book of Psalms is the hymnbook of God’s people.
It’s also the “Him” book as well. It’s all about Jesus.
The writer of Hebrews quotes from
Psalm 40:8 when he writes,
(Hebrews 10:7 NKJV) Then I
said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the
volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ”
The author was talking about Jesus.
We’re going to see a lot of Jesus
in the Psalms.
Soul Music
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.
It is my prayer that as we continue
on this journey through the Psalms, we won’t just look at these songs
academically, with our mind, but that we may also grow as worshippers.
Psalm 46-48 are songs of celebration of how God delivered the nation over
foreign enemies.
It has been suggested that they may have been written around the time when Hezekiah
had been under siege by the Assyrians, and after Hezekiah prayed, God sent an
Angel who killed 185,000 Assyrians in a single night.
Psalm 47 – The Shout of Praise
: To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
To the Chief Musician
chief Musician – natsach
– to excel, be bright, be preeminent, be perpetual, be overseer, be
enduring; (Piel) to act as overseer or superintendent or director or chief
:1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of
triumph!
:1 Shout to God with the voice of triumph
They were shouting to God because of the victory over the Assyrians.
I think this song was written for the Marines.
shout – ruwa‘– to shout,
raise a sound, cry out, give a blast
You might think this is silly, but it sounds just like the battle cry of
the Marines – “Oorah!”
The Origins of “Oorah”
It was started in 1953 when Marines were aboard a submarine, heard the
aa-rooo-ahhh sound of the horn when it dived, then they started using it when
they were diving out of planes.
It spread in the 1960’s as drill instructors taught it to the recruits.
It’s a battle cry, it’s a shout of camaraderie, it’s an expression of love.
It’s used in combat as a sense of strength.
Here’s an awesome way it looks during a Marine chapel service …
I have to admit this brings a tear to my eye whenever I watch
these Marines at Camp Pendleton.
:2 For the Lord Most High is
awesome; He is a great King over all the earth.
:2 For the Lord Most High is
awesome
awesome – yare’ – be
dreadful, be feared; to cause astonishment and awe; to inspire reverence or
godly fear or awe
The Old King James translates this as “terrible”
Lesson
A reason to praise
We don’t shout or clap in order to cause God to deliver us.
We don’t clap for God because He needs your applause, like He’s insecure
and He needs to know you believe in Him.
God is not a “fairy” that needs your help.
We praise Him because He is great.
What do you do when it’s the last game of the World Series, the ninth
inning and your favorite team is up by a couple of runs, but the opposing team
is threatening to score. Your closer is
up to pitch, there are men on base, and then the last batter pops up to center
field?
Do you sit in your seat calmly, yawning, trying to stay awake?
No, you’re on your feet yelling at the top of your lungs.
I have news for you.
God is bigger and better than even the 2002 Angels.
He is all powerful.
(Jeremiah 32:27
NKJV) “Behold, I am the Lord,
the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?
He knows everything.
(Psalm 139:3 NKJV) You
comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
He is good.
(1 John 1:5 NKJV) This is the
message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and
in Him is no darkness at all.
He loves us.
(John 15:13 NKJV) Greater love
has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
God is great, and that’s a reason to praise Him.
:3 He will subdue the peoples under us, And the nations under our feet.
:4 He will choose our inheritance for us, The excellence of Jacob whom He
loves. Selah
:3 He will choose our inheritance for us
God is the one who makes the choice of what our inheritance is.
Jon Courson: “God will give His best
to those who leave the choice up to Him.”
It’s every bit appropriate to pray like Jesus, “Thy will be done”. It doesn’t lack faith.
:5 God has gone up with a shout, The Lord
with the sound of a trumpet.
:5 God has gone up with a shout
has gone up –
‘alah – to go up, ascend, climb
shout – t@ruw‘ah – alarm, signal, shout or blast
of war or alarm or joy
This is related to the word used in verse 1 “shout unto God” (“oorah!”)
Lesson
Praise brings victory
Even though we don’t praise Him to bring victory, praise does bring a
victory in our lives.
Many times Satan simply wants you discouraged and walking away from God.
When you praise God, you are making a statement that you are going to trust
God no matter what happens.
Satan
can’t stand that.
That reminds me … have you heard of the dyslexic devil
worshipper? He sold his soul to Santa.
Praising God leads to our liberation.
It sets us free.
Jericho –
they shouted BEFORE the walls came down.
Could it have been a shout of praise?
(Joshua
6:20 NKJV) So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And
it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people
shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went
up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
The word “shout” is the same as our Psalm. Oorah!!
When Jehoshaphat was facing three armies marching on him at once, he
gathered the people to pray, and God responded by promising to take care of the
enemy.
Jehoshaphat responded to the promised by organizing a
praise party.
(2
Chronicles 20:21–22 NKJV) —21 And when he had consulted with the people, he
appointed those who should sing to the Lord,
and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army
and were saying:
“Praise
the Lord, For His
mercy endures forever.” 22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of
Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were
defeated.
When you put your requests into God’s hands, learn to thank Him and praise
Him for what He’s going to do.
: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
understanding.
:7 Sing praises with understanding
Lesson
Praise with your mind
Think about what you’re singing.
Where is your mind as you’re singing to the Lord? Are you still thinking about the traffic on
the freeway? That argument you got in at
work?
Sometimes we don’t really pay attention to the things we’re singing. If we
did, we might be forced to change the words of some of the songs.
Illustration
Hymns -- The Way We Might Sing Them, If We Were Honest!! Do you know what
the real names are?
Fill My Spoon, Lord
I Love to Talk About Telling the Story
Take My Life and Let Me Be
When the Saints Go Sneaking In
Sit Up, Sit Up for Jesus
A Comfy Mattress Is Our God
Pillow of Ages, Fluffed for Me
Sweet Five Minutes of Prayer
Though Paul was definitely for the practice of praising God with the gift
of tongues, he also encouraged the Corinthians to praise with their minds.
(1 Corinthians 14:14–19 NKJV) —14 For if I
pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is the
conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the
understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the
understanding. 16
Otherwise,
if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the
uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand
what you say? 17
For
you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified. 18 I thank my
God I speak with tongues more than you all; 19 yet in the church I would rather
speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten
thousand words in a tongue.
Engage your mind when we worship.
:8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.
:9 The princes of the people have gathered together, The people of the God
of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is greatly
exalted.
:8 God reigns over the nations
Lesson
Sovereignty
There is a sense in which ultimately God is the one in control.
Satan may temporarily be the god of this world, but ultimately, God is in
control.
Hezekiah saw this right before his eyes as the most powerful dreaded army
in the world surrounded his city.
And in the morning 185,000 of them were dead.
Paul wrote to the Romans while Caesar Nero was emperor:
(Romans 13:1–7 NKJV) —1 Let every
soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except
from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore
whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who
resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want
to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from
the same. 4 For he is
God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not
bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute
wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but
also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s
ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render
therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom
customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
In America, because we are a democracy, our government is appointed by the
people.
As Christians we have an obligation to vote and express our opinions.
But keep in mind, God will make sure we get the president He wants us to
have.
It may be that God will allow the country to vote in a
president we aren’t too excited about, and it might be that God is bringing
judgment on America for this.
It also may be that the person you vote for isn’t what you
think they are, so simply be aware.
Much of what you hear from either side is designed to make
you afraid of their opposition. It is
not always true.
We need to keep in mind that even though we are citizens of the United
States of America, in a sense we are just here on tourist visas. We’re just visitors.
Jesus said to Pilate:
(John
18:36 NKJV) Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom
were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered
to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
As important as it is that we do our duty as American
citizens, ultimately our true allegiance is to God’s kingdom.
Be careful about getting too bent out of shape with people
who disagree politically with you.
Paul wrote,
(Philippians
3:20 NKJV) For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait
for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Songs
C
Gsus C
Clap your hands all ye people
*C
Gsus C
Shout unto God with a voice of triumph
C
Gsus C
Clap your hands all ye people
C
Gsus C
Shout unto God with a voice of praise
C
Hosanna, hosanna
C
Gsus C
Shout unto God with a voice of triumph
C
Praise Him, Praise Him
C Gsus C
Shout unto God with a voice of praise
(* start round here)
Clap Your Hands (Ps 47)/ Words & Music by Jimmy
Owens / © 1972 Lexicon
Music / Clap.doc
Psalm 48 – Song for Jerusalem
: A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
Again, we think this might be connected to Hezekiah’s deliverance from the
Assyrians.
:1 Great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised In the city of our God, In His holy mountain.
:1 In the city of our God
This is Jerusalem. This next video
comes from a secular viewpoint, but it’s got some great shots…
:2 Beautiful in elevation, The joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion
on the sides of the north, The city of the great King.
elevation – nowph
– elevation, height
:2 Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north
It is a little unclear as to just what this means.
sides – yerekah – flank,
side, extreme parts
north – tsaphown – north
(of direction), northward
Some simply don’t translate “north”, and suggest it refers to some far
northern mountain named “Zaphon” that Zion is like.
I think it might be a referral to the Temple.
The Temple, which was north of the city of David.
Eventually Jerusalem expanded and surrounded the Temple, but originally it
was located north of the city (as in David’s day).
There is even a strange reference in Isaiah that might point to the same
thing. It refers to Lucifer (or, Satan).
(Isaiah 14:13 NKJV)
For
you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also
sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
I think that this might make sense in thinking of the Temple, the House of
God, being north of Jerusalem.
Satan wants to be worshipped as God, and when he possesses the antichrist,
he will enter the Temple in Jerusalem to be worshipped.
Note: There is also one other place where these two
words are paired, and it has to do with the battle of Gog/Magog, but it doesn’t
seem that it has a reference to the Temple:
(Ezekiel 38:6 NKJV) Gomer and
all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all
its troops—many people are with you.
(Ezekiel 38:15 NKJV) Then you
will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples
with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.
(Ezekiel 39:2 NKJV) and I will
turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and
bring you against the mountains of Israel.
:3 God is in her palaces; He is known as her refuge.
:3 God is in her palaces
God is the one who protects His people.
(Isaiah 12:6 NKJV) Cry out and shout,
O inhabitant of Zion, For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!”
Can I get an “oorah!”? shout =
“oorah”!
:4 For behold, the kings assembled, They passed by together.
:5 They saw it, and so they marveled; They were troubled, they
hastened away.
:6 Fear took hold of them there, And pain, as of a woman in birth
pangs,
:5 They were troubled, they hastened away
What did Sennacherib do when he lost 185,000 men in a single night?
He left. Quickly.
:7 As when You break the ships of Tarshish With an east wind.
:7 break the ships of Tarshish
(Psalm 48:4–7 NLT)
—4 The kings of the earth joined forces and advanced against the city.
5 But when
they saw it, they were stunned; they were terrified and ran away. 6 They were
gripped with terror and writhed in pain like a woman in labor. 7 You
destroyed them like the mighty ships of Tarshish shattered by a powerful east
wind.
Tarshish was thought to be somewhere in the western Mediterranean Sea,
perhaps in Spain or northwestern Africa.
The Phoenicians were great seafarers who established trade routes
throughout the Mediterranean Sea, and their records mention “Tarshish”.
As mighty as the Phoenician fleet was, all it took was a strong wind on the
sea and the ships were sunk.
Again, this might be a picture of the Assyrians being scattered.
:8 As we have heard, So we have seen In the city of the Lord of hosts, In the city of our God:
God will establish it forever. Selah
:9 We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness, In the midst of Your
temple.
:9 In the midst of Your temple
Lesson
Where do you go for help?
Some people head to the local pub…
Who wouldn’t want to go to a place where everyone knows
your name?
But is that the place to go?
When Hezekiah first heard the threats of Sennacherib …
(Isaiah 37:1 NKJV) And so it
was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered
himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
For a while the situation seemed to ease up, and then a letter came
renewing the threat.
(Isaiah 37:14 NKJV)
And
Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and
Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord,
and spread it before the Lord.
Another Psalmist was having a struggle with the wicked people around him …
(Psalm 73:17 NKJV) Until I went
into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.
For us, there is no physical Temple that we can run to where we connect to
God. When Jesus talked to a woman who
worshipped God in the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim…
(John 4:21–24 NKJV)
—21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you
will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship
what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour
is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is
Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
There is actually a temple to go to, but don’t think that the church
building is now your “temple”.
In one sense the temple is now you … your body.
(1
Corinthians 6:19 NKJV) Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who
is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
Believers, God is in you.
You don’t have a physical place to run to, but you can still run to God
wherever you are because He is with you.
In another sense, the temple is also we believers, the church, as we are
gathered together.
(1
Corinthians 3:16 NKJV) Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the
Spirit of God dwells in you?
The difference between this verse and the one in 1Cor. 6
is that the “you” in the text is plural.
It refers to the believers gathered together.
When we are in trouble, it’s good to gather with other
believers to pour out your heart, pray, and support each other.
Hopefully you will get involved in some of the small
groups, places where “everyone knows your name”.
When we’re searching for the place where everyone knows your name, we’re
searching for the truth we learned in the Wizard of Oz…
Home is where God is. He knows your
name.
:10 According to Your name, O God, So is Your praise to the ends of
the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.
:10 Your name … Your praise … ends of the earth
God’s name is great.
The praise of God is equally great.
God’s fame is known throughout the earth.
Look at what happened after God rescued Hezekiah…
(2 Chronicles
32:22–23 NKJV) —22 Thus the Lord saved
Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king
of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every
side. 23 And many
brought gifts to the Lord at
Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in
the sight of all nations thereafter.
:11 Let Mount Zion rejoice, Let the daughters of Judah be glad, Because of
Your judgments.
:12 Walk about Zion, And go all around her. Count her towers;
:12 Walk about Zion
(3x) It’s a wonderful thing to walk through the streets of Old Jerusalem. You
can easily walk through the old city in a day.
(5x) We’ve even done the “Ramparts Walk”, where you walk along the tops of
the old Crusader era walls.
:13 Mark well her bulwarks; Consider her palaces; That you may tell it
to the generation following.
:14 For this is God, Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide Even
to death.
:13 Mark well her bulwarks
The “bulwarks” are the walls around the city.
The idea here is to …
Lesson
Share the victories
After the battle, you look for the damage from the war.
Yet after this battle, there was no damage.
God had wiped out the Assyrians.
I wonder if sometimes we seem to forget some of the things God has done in
our lives.
When Israel crossed the Jordan River to conquer the Promised Land, they were
told to pick up twelve stones from the river bed and make a pile. In years to come when their children would
ask about the pile of stones…
(Joshua 4:7 NKJV) Then you
shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of
the covenant of the Lord; when it
crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these
stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”
Some of us can be afraid to tell our children about what
we used to be like before we knew Jesus.
I’m not sure it’s bad for our kids to know how we used to
struggle, especially if we share how Jesus has brought us victory.
When God brought a great victory over the Philistines in the days of
Samuel, they remembered it by setting up a special stone as a memorial:
(1 Samuel 7:12
NKJV) Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and
Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
There’s a line in the old hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every
Blessing”
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
We should learn to “raise our Ebenezers”, to work at
remembering what God has done.
Songs
Great is the Lord (Ps. 48)
D
Great is the Lord
A
And greatly to be praised
In the city of our God
D
In the mountain of His holiness
Beautiful for situation
D7 G
The joy of the whole earth
Is mount Zion
D
On the sides of the north
A D
The city of the great King
Psalm 48.txt / Words and Music by unknown / © Unknown