Psalm 83: A Coming War?

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Friday, June the fourteenth, twenty twenty four. It is currently eleven am Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Why did that sound so weird? I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio. That it felt when I was saying that that it sounded all weird. Maybe maybe why it sounded weird to me is well, I'm actually in the studio. I'm not in a car today. I'm not in a car driving to this place and then driving to this place, and then driving to this place, and then sitting in a parking lot and then driving to this place. I'm not doing that today. I'm actually here in the studio. Over the last two days, I could have been if I had a live mic the car, I could have been broadcasting from the car. Going on now, driving to this place and I'm getting ready to listen to this sermon. Hey, I'm driving to this place. I'm getting ready to listen to this sermon. Hey. Now I'm sitting in the parking lot of this place, and I'm listening to this sermon. I could have been, I guess, sending you, you know, live reports from the car, but well that probably wouldn't have been very interesting, and the sound quality would have been very, very bad. But I'm here in the studio microphone on. And so because I've spent the last two days doing a lot

1:32 of driving and listening, well, then obviously we have to do at least another broadcast where we talk about, well, something I heard while driving in a car. Right, That's that's what we're going to have to do, all right, I know we did that yesterday. It was supposed to be about a fifteen twenty minute Hey, I heard this little sermon illustration, and it turned into sixty one minutes long. Okay, but I'm hoping this doesn't go sixty one. Well, you know what, I don't really care how long it goes. It's gonna go as long as I feel it needs to go to get the point across. So here's what we're going to do. Yesterday, our last two days, I was driving in a car and I listened to a lot of sermons. I basically said, in the car, the only app I'm going to use is the sermons two point oh app.

2:14 That's it. I'm restricting myself to that. I'm not going to use any of my podcast apps, nothing, no music apps, just the sermons two point oh app, so that I can make the most of my time, at least spiritually speaking. Okay, so that's what I've done. Yesterday we talked about is the Bible, you know, measuring tape? All right? Is it? Is it our? Is it our measuring tape so that we can measure everything by it? Well, on one hand, we want to say yes, but then I pointed out all of the possible issues with saying that. I think that was somewhat interesting, and I don't know if anyone else thought it was interesting. I thought it was a beneficial discussion, even though it may make us greatly uncomfortable. All right, So we did that.

2:55 Now I'm getting ready to play something that I heard in the car. Now I'm doing this for a couple of reasons. Okay, So let me just get that because sometimes I don't Sometimes I just think that people understand what I'm doing, but they don't clearly understand what I'm doing. So sometimes I have to explain what I'm doing, even though for some of you you're like, we get it, well, plenty of there's plenty of people who listen who don't get it, all right, So why am I doing this broadcast today? Well, I've already hinted at number one. Number one as well, this is what I've been doing the last two days. I've been listening to these things. So I've been listening to these things. It makes sense that that's what I talk about, right, That's what I've been listening to, That's what i've been thinking about, that's what I was meditating on.

3:39 So it makes sense that that is what I'm going to talk about, all right, So that makes perfect sense. Number two. I love to bring to your attention different broadcast, different ministries, different sermons, series, different podcasts, so that you can go listen, even if I offer some kind of criticism. I'm literally handing you the content, telling you you go listen to it for yourself, subscribe to it, follow it. You may want to, you may choose to listen to that over me. I'm literally not trying to keep you from the information. I'm telling you exactly, Hey, here's this podcast, here's this ministry. I may disagree, but go listen for yourself. To me that that's going above and beyond. I could take the ideas, rip the ideas apart and say well, I heard someone say this or I heard this, and not tell you the source. I want you to go have the source that you can listen and draw your own conclusion.

4:36 I think that that's going above and beyond and being fair and being transparent. So I because I and not only that, I want you to find out. I want you to, you know, find maybe your next favorite podcast, even if I may disagree with it, because I want you to get the most of all the content that's out there. There's so much content out there. Sometimes you need somebody to go wait, wait, go look at this today, or go check this out? All right? And then number three, I if I'm listening to things I like to, then listen with you. So a lot of times I'll start listening to something and then I'll just hit pause one minute in, two minutes in and go, Nope, no, I'm going to listen to the rest of that live on the air because I like that idea, right if I'm going to listen to it one way or the other. If I'm just listening to it in my car, just listening to it here in the studio. I'm gonna still be pausing and making comments out loud to myself. I'm still going to be processing it, critiquing it, analyzing it. Seeing if I agree disagree may lead me to look up other things. If I'm going to be doing that anyway, I could do it in an empty room, or I could turn on the microphone and do it with everyone else, and so then it's very real and it's very organic. I like doing that. It's like people get together and have a book club, or people get together and watch a movie and talk about it, or a TV show and talk about well, why not get together listen to some sermons and discuss it. So I think that's another reason

6:08 I do this. I think that that's interesting and fun. And another reason I do this is I listen to different things and I may critique or analyze it, but I'm doing so because I like to think of it. They presented their hypotheses. Now we're gonna take it and we're gonna we may learn from it, we may disagree with it, we may critique it, but ultimately it's beneficial for everyone. You get to hear their side, and you get to hear my side. I'm challenged by their side. Even if I disagree with it, I'm still challenged to consider it and think about it, and then you get to hear two different perspectives. So those are a number of reasons I do this type of thing. I think people think that I just go around looking for something I disagree with just so that I can be negative. No, in many cases, I've not heard enough to make a definitive opinion one way or the other. Sometimes I've not even heard one second.

7:00 Sometimes maybe I've heard thirty seconds or a minute or two minutes and go, Okay, this is where this is something we need to I'm just going to listen to on the broadcast. So I think I think people just greatly misunderstand what I'm trying to do. I think it just makes it more interesting to hear a variety of perspectives and go, well, okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is what they have offered us. So now today, I want you to look up this, and I want you to look up this, and I want you to look up this. That's not In many cases, it's not even me saying, hey, that's just wrong. Don't believe it. In many cases, it's me saying they put forth their perspective, here's my perspective. But let's go look up all of this to test their perspective, because maybe they are right. We did that with the Book on Proverbs, where they made their hypotheses. Was that Solomon repented and made everything right by the end of his life. I gave you what to look up.

8:00 I challenged everyone. I gave everyone an assignment. What's weird a lot of times is I'll receive criticism, but I won't receive them turning in their assignment. It's like, hey, you're quick to criticize. Why don't you actually participate in the assignment and then maybe maybe some of your criticisms would go away because then you would just be benefiting from doing the assignment. But okay, so are you ready? So here's what happened. I was I could probably take you to the highway I was on, and I had grabbed the iPad and I started listening to a sermon series on Psalm eighty three. On Psalm eighty three. Now, at first I did not realize it was a sermon series on Psalm eighty three. At first, I did not realize that, right. I just saw this title the Coming Middle East War, the Coming Middle East War, and I'm like, oh, so this is like is this some kind of like they're going to take the Bible and talk about a coming Middle East war? Like I just thought, Or is this some kind of like news? Is this some kind of prediction? You know?

9:09 What is this? And so I thought, you know what, I let me since I'm driving around, let me just hit play on this. So I hit play and immediately realize, oh, this is a series on Psalm eighty three, And I'm like, Okay, that's interesting. It's about the coming Middle East War. That's interesting. So here's what I want to do. Here's what I want to do. I want to first just inform you about this series so that you'll go download all of it and listen to it. Each message is about fifteen minutes long, so it's definitely I think there's a trend more and more to try to do these shorter episodes because I think more people. I think there's more people who prefer that over than what I do. Look my, when I did Today's Focus, right, the whole goal for that series was to do things that are short, like fifteen minutes long. I've failed every single time, but there's clearly a place for it, and I think there's a trend and a lot of podcasts to do that produce these shorter programs so that people have a chance to listen because they are busy. So this may be right up your rally, but it Psalm eighty three is the name of the series. There's eleven sermons in there so far, The saw Maty three, The Coming Middle East War Part one, saw Maty three, The Coming Middle East War Part two, Part three, Part four, all the way up to Part eleven. You may want to download all of them. They don't really have big numbers right now right Part one has twenty three downloads and stream. Part two has fifteen downloads and stream Part

10:41 three has nineteen. Part four has twelve, Part five has ten, Part six has twenty three, Part seven has ten, Part eight has thirteen, Part nine has thirteen, Part ten has ten, and Part eleven has four. So those we always hate. When I see that, the same thing happens to some of my series. The first message always usually has the highest number, and then in many cases it's just a downward Ugh. It goes lower and lower and lower. And that is so depressing, Like, that's depressing for a broadcaster, because whether we agree or disagree with his take on Psalm eighty three, I feel bad that he started in part one with twenty three people and he ends part eleven with only four people. I mean, that's horrible. So hey, guys, find the series and download every single episode, please and actually listen to all eleven, right, go listen to everything that you may agree, you may disagree, but hey, that's someone dedicating a considerable amount of time to Psalm eighty three. Even if you disagree with every single word, when it's all said and done, you've gained.

11:52 I guarantee you you're going to think more about Saw eighty three than you've ever thought about it in the past, right, So please go do that. All right? It's again Saw maybe three of the coming Middle East War. And this comes from which church? Hang on? It is from where's the broadcast stor Central Baptist Church, Central Baptist Church, Doctor Andy Bloom. And of course you can find this on the sermons two point oh app So please go subscribe to it or you can follow them if you want. Even if you don't want to follow the ministry. At least download all of those episodes and listen to them when you have time. If you do a lot of driving, those little fifteen minute messages probably will take well take care of a good drive. Right. That's you know, eleven messages about fifteen minutes a piece. That should cover anything you need to and if you only have a little bit of time each day, you can knock those out. You could listen to the whole series. So listen to the whole series, make use of it, and again the whole sermons two point oh app challenge. We've been trying, and I've been trying everything I can can this year to get you listening to sermons and taking notes and making the most out of the app I really have. I've given you special assignments on proverbs. I've done so many, all the different special assignments I've given you in things to listen to.

13:13 Hopefully it's been beneficial because we're you know, we're in June, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know if you realize this before we know it, twenty twenty four is going to be something in the history books. We're going to be in twenty twenty five. So let's end this year strong. Let's try by listening to as many sermons as possible, and then you can you can you can evaluate the benefit of it and what you gained from it or what you did not gain from it. All right, but saw maybe three, so let's go to that. So I was listening to this in the car. I only made it. I didn't I made it. I don't know, maybe two minutes in, three minutes in. And then I was like, hmm, okay, save this one because we Because mainly I thought, well, hey, they did an entire series on this. Every once you be aware of it, never one, should at least go listen to it. And then it was like, well, this does raise some hermeneutical questions and how they're handling Psalm eighty three. But I'm not going to give anything away whether I agree or disagree. Let's just find out and we do that right now. Thy word is a lamp onto my feet and a light onto my path. This is Gary Neron welcoming you to the Lamp and Light broadcast, coming to you from the studios of Central Baptist Church in Beautiful o' Calla, Florida. Lamp and Light is a ministry taking a book of the Bible, verse by verse, teaching as it is to men as they are,

14:48 without compromise or apology, speaking the truth and love. And our purpose is to give the lamp and light to all with Now that's a pretty awesome intro. That really is. I like that teaching the Word as it is to men as they are. I like that, teaching the Word as it is to men as they are. Hey, let's let's just focus on what the Word of God is, what it actually is, what it actually says, and understanding. We're teaching men as they are. Let's not let's not try to turn these people into something they're not. Let's remember what they actually are. Now, for me, that would be like, here's let's teach the Word of God as it is, with all of its difficulties complexities.

15:31 Let's not be afraid of it's if it's uncomfortable, Let's not be afraid of its difficulty. Let's not be afraid of the questions that it confronts us with. And to teach men as they are. Let's remember that we are all sinners with a sinful nature. We do not know all things. We are not all knowing we are not holy, we are sinners practically at the same time we can remember what we are positionally, all right, But that's a really good intro. I like it. I like the voiceover. I do like the fact that it says from the studios, and I think they said Central Baptist Church. That means they're referencing someplace in that building as a studio.

16:17 Now, I have always been baffled by the fact that not every church in America doesn't have a studio set up. Look, pastors are to be apt to teach. Pastors should be there to shepherd, to warn. Well, what better way for a church than to have a studio with a microphone where they can go live at anytime. All the pastor has to do is walk in, turn on the computer, boom, hit, start streaming, and he can disciple, he can teach, he can warn, he can analyze world events and say this is what's going on. Why, I mean, why doesn't every church have that. I will never understand why they don't.

17:00 And I know pastors will say, well, I'm not a broadcaster. You speak every week. All you're doing is speaking into a microphone. I mean you you do devotions. You you're thinking, you're you're constantly thinking about spiritual things. There's a mess in the world. Why not turn on the microphone and talk to people about it and address those issues and talk about those issues from a biblical perspective. So I love the fact that this is a church that has studios from the studios of Central Baptist Church or whatever the name of the church is. Again, I'd have to look at them again. I could, I could do so in a minute, But you get the idea. I think that's awesome. I think every church should have them, every church, every church. Look if the early church met daily rights, if that's a pretty common understanding that they seem to have met daily hebrew says, don't forsake the assembly, but even so much more than so as you as you see the day approaching. Now that's referring to seven D a D.

17:59 But if we if we see the world and everyone talks about how messed up the world is right now, how messed up Christianity is, how messed up the church is, how messed up the culture is. Well, if things are getting worse and worse and worse, then we need more people, more churches, turning on the microphone. Addressing those issues, he said, well, they need to come. People need to come to the church. Why are they going to come to the church Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday as soon as some big issues going on in the culture, are they going to drop what they're doing and run to the church and ask you questions? But you can go directly to them wherever they are. They got a phone, they got a tablet, boom, they get a notification, Oh my church is live on the air talking about this issue. Now, what blows my mind is you can be the pastor of a church where you try to provide that for your people and the people in the church don't even bother to listen. That's a whole separate issue.

18:56 Okay, but I love that concept. They've got studios, they're using them. That's awesome. Bible sense, the tumble bit of firm please stand when the shatrum Bible plans my feet on this firm foundation for the Bible. That's really a nice sounding intro. I like that. I like everything about their intro there, very professional, sounds wonderful. That's really that. That's really a very good job. I don't know who put that together, but they did it very much better than anything I could put together. So whoever put that together, that's that's really I mean, it's really nice. I mean that that sounds I mean that could clearly be. I'm almost positive they use this as a radio program, almost positive that that's a radio program that also s as a well, I would refer to it as a podcast. I know many don't understand that, but hey, it's online and there's an RSS feed attached to it as a podcast. Okay, so yeah, they do everything really well. I got nothing, but that's awesome. That's a church.

20:15 They produce that, and now anyone can listen to it twenty four hours a day, seven days a week online or any probably anywhere online because there's an RSS feed attached to it. But clearly on the sermon's two point, oh, this is your radio pastor, doctor Andy Bloom, welcoming you to another lamp and light broadcast. Well, it's been good to be in the Book of Hebrews for quite a period of time, and now we're moving on. I want to do a between the books series, and this is just going to be looking at chapters from the Book of Psalms. So we're not going to go through every psalm in the Book of Salms. We're not going to go through all of them, but we're going to go through quite a few of them. And the first one I'm going to go through is one that people really don't seem to talk about or they just kind of avoid it.

21:11 And it's one I titled in Psalms eighty three. I titled it the Coming Middle East War. So an interesting approach. They've been working in the Book of Hebrews. They finished Hebrews. Now before they go to their next book, whatever the next book's going to be, he's just going to choose some random sermons are random chapters in the Book of Psalms. All right, that's I like that. I like that kind of approach. That's interesting, awesome, all right. So then he chooses Psalm eighty three and he chose the title the Coming Middle East War. Now, when I was driving the car, when I and some of the things I've already said here, I kind of said to myself when I heard that they had a studio in the church and their introduction, I was like, Wow, that's a good introduction.

21:56 That's awesome. To have a studio. I said basically the same things to myself in the car, because I know you think it's crazy, but yeah, I talk to myself and i'm driving, all right, if I'm listening to anything, I'm gonna be talking to it. Okay. So I've watched If i'll watch a movie, I'm talking to it as I'm watching it, Okay. So so I was like, okay, awesome. And then when he said PSAWM eighty three, I'm like, oh, okay, you know right, I don't know if I could. I don't know if I could just sit here and summarize Saw eighty three. And I started thinking about I'm like, I don't know if I could, and which then I get mad at myself. I'm like, why can't I just summarize Saw eighty three right at the top of my head. I have no idea, but it wasn't coming to my mind. And then he then when he said the title he gave it was the Coming Middle East War. Immediately I was like, wait what So then I had to stop myself and go wait, wait, wait, no, think, think, think think. Okay, So, if we did a chapter summary method where we read the chapter five times one of those times out loud, and we had to give the chapter a title.

22:56 I don't think I would have ever given Saw maighty three the Coming Middle East War? So then I was I was. Then they had me intrigued. At this point, I was like, oh this is this is interesting, okay, PSAW eighty three. So if I read Saw eighty three, there are so that you know, there's eighteen verses. If I read all eighteen verses of PSAW eighty three five times, one of those times being out loud when I was done, would I take my pencil and write down the Coming Middle East War? I don't think I would. So I'm fascinated that that's the title he's giving given this. I I'm like, whoa, Okay, what what did I miss? So let's let's see where he's going to go and how he gets there, and maybe maybe when you look at Saw eighty three, you're probably looking at it right now if you can unless you're driving, But if you're listening, if you're looking at it right now, just you may well. I mean, if you're live, you can't hit pause, but if you're listening to this on demand, hit pause right now.

23:57 Read Saw eighty three and just havelf would you entitle that the coming Middle East War? What title would you give it? I don't I don't know. I don't know. I don't know, I don't know. But let's see if we're going to get some explanation why he called this the coming Middle East War. And so I hope that you will follow along with us as I go over this, and again, if you ever have a question, feel free to write us can email us through our website, whether it's at WTYG or it's at Central Baptistocala dot org. And just through the website, you can email us or you can send us a letter if you'd like to send a letter to us. Our address is one seven one four southeast thirty six Avenue, Okaala. That's O c A, La, Florida, and the zip code is three four four seventy one. Well, again, I welcome you folks back to this. You've been listening to Hebrews for quite a while, and we've had some comments here and there about it that we're good comments, and so we appreciate that as well. And we're always like to hear from our audience if it's being a blessing to you and God has used something in that. Please write us and let us know that encouragees not only myself, but those that are very active here in helping us. Doctor Hopper, who is the manager of our radio station and just pretty well runs all

25:32 those things. So here's a church that has studios and they have their own radio station. Man, that's a church trying to use all the technology available. I love that, like, I love, love love that. There was a time I wanted, like I wonder how we could, like, there's got to be a way. Is there a way to get like a radio station that we could do because we're in the middle of nowhere, but in the people living in the middle of nowhere, they probably don't have, you know, access to a lot of radio stations. If we had a transmitter, even if it was just a small transmitter right there from in our church there in the middle of nowhere, we could the people in the local area. Now, of course, as time move forward, then the radio idea kind of was antiquated, right Like you know online radio now we could do that. I could create an online radio station today. I could create an online radio station within an hour. If I had the money, I could have our own online radio station. In fact, we did. We did some testing on an online radio station for like a day or two because I did like a free trial and I tried it. I'm like, I could do this, right, I can pull all of my old sermons.

26:44 We could do that. And then I thought, well, I wonder if we could get some other ministries that would let me use their content. That would be awesome. And then maybe I could. I could, I could make the voiceovers or pay to have some voiceovers made. We really could do this. This could be interesting, but it was gonna take money. I mean, everything is money, money, money, money, money, money. I hate money. I hate it when it comes to ministry. But it's just so true. The more money you have, the more you can do. Look, you've got enough money, you can have a twenty four hour a day, seven day a week online radio station so that people can listen to you via mobile app, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. If you have enough money, you can you can be broadcasting on ten fifteen different platforms. You can be doing this. You can do this, You can do this. You can do this. If you have money, you can provide curriculum for If you have money, but so, but that's awesome that they've got money to have studios and their own radio station.

27:41 But that's man more power to you. I mean, like, and they're utilizing it. That's that's that's far. I'd rather than using the money for that kind of thing than a lot of things people use money for in churches. I like, get get the mess if you if you believe in your message, get the message out there. So everything about this I was impressed with. Everything about this I was impressed with. I was like, wow, this is this is really following the way I think about things. So I was impressed. Everything's right now we still haven't gotten a saw eighty three and why it's called the Middle East War. But at this point I'm impressed with everything. All right, let's see where this is going to go though. And then mister Dick Bott, who is the guy that takes all the speaking that I do and break it up in the fifteen minute segments for the radio program. And so because I have all those good men behind me, sometimes it makes them sound one hundred percent better than what I actually am.

28:44 And that's also awesome that he's got a team of people that's you need that he does the speaking. Someone breaks it down into fifteen minute segments, they put the voice over there. If there's an outro, they do that. They take care of everything. And then and then obviously this so this is a radio broadcast that gets broadcasted on the radio, and then it's turned into I'm gonna refer to it as a podcast because that's what it is. You can call it whatever. Well, it's an upload discermnadio and there's an RSS feed, so it's a podcast. Right. So, but so they're utilizing every every different you know, avenue that that's available to them. And it's good to have a team. You have to have you got to have money, and you gotta have a team. Now many reasons. If you have money, you can hire a team. Okay, so you know that's always great as well. All right, so but all right, here we go. We sh we got into Saw eighty three. But these but I do want to be very positive on this. Look I can. I may end up disagreeing with everything they say, but you know what, I love the fact that they're using the technology and they're putting forth their philological position and their theological hypotheses out there, because that gives people something to listen to, to be challenged by, and provide spiritual food for people twenty four hours a day, seven days week. I know it's so easy for people to take that for granted. I know it is. I know it's easy. I know it's easy to say, you know, I've got this available, and so much of it is available to you for free. So it's just like

30:15 you don't even consider the cost and sacrifice that goes into it. But that I love when a church is doing all of those kinds of things. But nonetheless, we're so thankful to have them. And then a brother Gary Neron, who does some of the intros and the outros you'll hear on these messages each day. So again, thank you for listening. And we're asking you to be our number one advertiser. You say, what do you mean number one advertiser. Well, we don't pay for advertisement with the lamp and light radio broadcast, we just have never done that. But we feel that the best advertisement is for you, the listener, to tell others people you go to church with, Tell your pastor, ask your pastor to listen in on the day that it appears on your radio station. Tell others about it and then listen in to the lamp and light broadcast, and it will always be the King James Bible that we use, and it will always be something that is biblical in the sense that it stays true to the word and not coming up with new translations and new interpretations of the scripture. So I hope that you will. I do. I think that's awesome that hey, they understand that, hey, we need you to advertise this now. The only thing there that, of course I would point out is it's great that you're telling

31:47 people to tune into the radio, but you know, it is twenty twenty four. You may want to tell people how to access your content via the sermon's two point oh app or how to subscribe to your podcast, or to ensure that all of your content is available on every podcasting app on earth. Because it is twenty twenty four. It is twenty like at some point, like I may my podcast, people can view it as a failure. You can view whatever you view it as a failure. But I do know this, I do know the whole podcasting world very well. So I almost wish that I could just start making money helping churches go Look, no, no, let's get your content here. Let's get your content. Just kind of serve as a consultant to churches saying, look, it's not nineteen eighty seven anymore. It's not like, hey, write us a letter and listen to us on radio. It's not nineteen ninety five anymore. It's twenty twenty four.

32:44 Let's get your content on every platform that we can. Okay, and you don't have to pay for advertising. And I understand that it's great that you want your listeners to be the advertisers. But here's the thing. Let's get your content a vail on every known platform on earth. But hey, they they are at least doing their best, So that's that's awesome. Listen and listen closely. So as we look at these between the books and passages in Psalms, I'm going to start today with Psalms eighty three. Now we're not going to go eighty four, eighty five, eighty six. No, I might go back to chapter one, then go to another chapter. So we'll be back and forth throughout the Psalms, because I want you to get all that God has to give you. All. Right, let us get started then, But I hope that you have your pencil and paper out and be ready to write some of these things down. Okay, immediately, right now, stop what you're doing. You have to follow them. You have to follow this man. He said pencil. He said, get your pencil and paper, ladies and gentlemen. You know that this program that we are reviewing has to be the most sanctified spiritual program on the internet. He said pencil. He did not say that abomination called a pen. He did not say that that instrument of Antichrist a pen. He said a pencil. You know that is the proof of philological correctness. You know his hermoneutics are going

34:17 to be awesome. You know his theology is going to be great, because he said pencil, ladies and gentlemen. And I might even call this sermon part one. As a matter of fact, I preached this in my church back in two thousand and eleven. That's way back October twenty eleven. This was preached at Central Baptist Church. But it still took a few weeks to get through this chapter. So I want you to listen closely, take notes down on it, and we hope that it will be a big help to you. Have your bibles open, have a King James Bible open because we stick with it, and sometimes we'll do word interpretations. If we're going to have word interpretation, then you need to have the right word and the only accurate word, and so are the accurate word is the King James Bible.

35:08 So having said all of that, I want you to listen closely as we start reading here in the text in verse one. Obviously they are very King King James, King James only. For some of you, that world probably seems weird, like King James only. What is that? What is that? I'm very familiar with the King James only world because I went to multiple schools that were King James only. I went to a couple of Bible institutes that were King James only. So I'm very, very, very very familiar. The Independent Fundamental Baptist Church that I attended when I was in Nebraska was King James Only. The first church I was ordained in was King James only.

35:50 The second church that I was I know, we could tell my stories of what two ordinations, but I was ordained in two different churches. But at the second one I don't think was they weren't hardcore King James only. I think they used the King James, but they weren't King James only really for not hardcore sense. The first one was hardcore King James only. And I think the first time I ever walked into a church that was King James only was in Swabrook and Germany. I walked in and when they found out I was carrying an NIV, I got some really strange looks and I'm like, what is happening here? And that's the first time I was introduced to the King James only world. All right, so they're part of the King James only world. All right, here we go, Let's find out what's about to happen. Of Psalms eighty three, Keep not Thou silence. Now I understand this is a man talking to God, not God talking to a man. He says, keep not thou silence, Oh God, hold not thy peace, and be not still, Oh God. And verse two says, for lo, Thine enemies make a tumult. And they that hate THEE and the people that actually hate God hate THEE have lifted up the head.

37:24 Verse three. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones. Verse four. They have said, come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more. Now this is back goodness, back in the book of Psalms. Now, look that's that's over three thousand years ago. This this has written about three thousand years ago. And what I'm trying to say is this, we have a BDS movement today where it's to diabst Israel, and countries are not just moving it. There are church organizations. Now I say church, I use that kind of in a loose way because they're not the churches that God has formed. Okay, Now this is where I was in the car, and this where I started to getting a little confused. I'm like, oh, can I wait a minute? So saw Maty three, you're calling this the coming Middle East War? All right now, I'm gonna read Psaw eighty three. Now, if you say the coming Middle East War, you're speaking future tents. Now when you say future tents, was it the coming

38:55 Middle East War? For the for the author who wrote Psalm eighty three, was he seeing a coming war that would happen in his lifetime or was he seeing a coming war that was going that hasn't even occurred? Yet, like, and then how did we get into the dia vest Israel movement? Like, like you know, let I'm like, where does that have to do with so many three? So I was getting a little confused. So then I was like, okay, I hit pause right there, I'm like okay. So then I'm like, okay, So when I read Psalm eighty three, am I reading something that's referring to past tense, past tense for the author, present tense for the author, or future tents for the author?

39:37 Past present, or future? Right? Because again he calls us the coming Middle East war. That's future. So that's either future for us or future for the author. Now at this point he's he's not even talking, he's not even yet identified what he's referring to here. But all right, psaw many three. Here we go. Keep not thou silence, oh God, hold not thy piece, and be not still, oh God. Now he reads it very purposefully, very slowly inphacive, probably reads it much better than I do, because I always read things way too fast. I blow past punctuation, and it's all messed up and jumbled together. All right, But let me try this correctly. Keep not thou die thou silence, Oh God, hold not thy peace, and be not still, Oh God, for low thine enemies. Make a tumult now that seems like a present tense.

40:35 Hey Lord, keep not thou silence, Oh God, hold not thy peace. Be not still, Oh God, for low thine enemies, your enemies, God, make a tumult that seems to be present tents and they that hate THEE have lifted up the head have That's something that's going on. It's kind of a mixture of a little bit of past and present. They have done this, this is already being done. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones. This is something they have done. It's something that has happened. It is happening. This doesn't talk about seeming to be referring to something future, does it. They verse four, they have said, come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of visual may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent. They are confederate against THEE. This seems to be referring to something that in a sense, has happened and is happening.

41:38 It's kind of like, right there, this has been going on, and it is going on a little past present kind of concept. This doesn't seem to be referring to anything future unless I'm misreading this. Unless I'm misreading this. So that's that's when I got a little confused. And so immediately though, he jumps to people trying to divest movement against Israel, and like, wait, wait, what right, let's see where this goes. They're churches have called out group of people, but they've been called out not by God. And so they when you get to a church and they find out they support BDS, realize that's not a church that is biblically right, and it's just going to lead you astray, and it's going to lead your family astray. And you don't want your grandchildren to end up in hell by following those type that are involved in such false doctrine. Now, unless there's some specific group hees referring to, is that BDS VBS? I don't know what group he is referring to, But if he's just referring to those who want to divest money that's going to Israel, do you end up in hell if you decide that you believe that we should divest money going to Israel because you disagree with Israel's actions and Gaza or policy are against the Palestinians. Do you go to Hell for that? Like that? That's a little like that to me is a massive jump. Hey, there's those who want to divest money

43:09 to Israel. But now that that's going to lead you to Hell, I don't think salvation is dependent upon that. Now we could get into a discussion about eschatology and hermoneutics. It just seemed like a wild jump. But okay, let's see, let's see where we're going here. So again, they want no more remembrance of Israel. Verse five says for they have consulted together with one consent. Now you think about that. Some of those people are Presbyterian, some have been the Methodists, and various other denominational churches, and they have gone across what they say were they're dones of their church that they would not join with the other churches. But now, just like the Econmenical movement, they have done that in moving against Israel, God's chosen people.

44:15 And now I am so perplexed at this point. They have consulted together with one consent they are confederate against the And now we're talking about Presbyterians and Methodists. What does that have anything to do with? I am, I don't understand, Like who is the author of Psalm eighty three referencing. I'm gonna let him go a little bit further and then I'll just throw out some concepts here. Right, I'll try to just give you a little like really quick overview with I know the review has taken longer than you know. It always does because I because I want to point out good as well as anything I disagree with. So I I don't really know his hypotheses to PSAWMTY three yet, I don't really know what he believes the sam is about. Somehow we've gotten to those who I guess want to divest money from going into Israel and against those who have come together as different denominations Presbyterians and Methodists to stand against Israel. I don't know what this has to do with PSAWMDI three. Maybe I kind of see what he's doing. People in the past have gone against Israel and people in the present, But how are the Presbyterians and Methodists going against Israel? Like what do you mean, like the is that what he's talking about is that what the author of Psalmiti three referencing. And so when

45:46 they do that, they're asking for big trouble. Don't don't get deceived. Don't be taken in. When they try to take you in, they think you're an idiot. They think you're stupid, they think you're dumb. They think that you won't know the difference. And so, but when you stay close to the Lord, you'll always know what's right, and you'll then know what to do that is right. Verse six. It goes on, say the tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab, and the Hagarenes, Gibel and Ammon and Amelek, the Philistines with inhabitants of tire Asher also is joined with them. They have hoping the children of lot Selah. Now some people have translated that word she lia means so be it, But it can be used, but context will determine if it means so be it. What has been said here is not what God says, so be it. What means here is to think about it. Think about all these people these nations are

47:16 thinking this way. They are people for mostly have opposed Israel. Down through the centuries. And so when you think of it from that vantage point, he says, you better think about it before you take a stand with that attitude that you're against Israel. That is the worst stand that you can take. Now verse nine, do unto them as unto the Midian Nights and to Cicera and to Jabon at the brook of Pisan. Oh. Yes, At times you pray and say, well, is it really right to pray against somebody? Well, the first thing that you do pray, whether it's for a nation or another person, is to pray that they'll repent and get right with God, get it right there in according with the King James, Bible, the Way of God, the Word, the Truth. But if they won't do that, then they're trying to do things as this, pray that they'll be soundly defeated and taken out of existence. Now you say you mean to kill every one of them, No, I didn't say that. Taken out of existence is to take out their false doctrine, their evil way and all that they're doing. Because eventually when people follow that, they I I

48:47 don't know what this has to do with the coming Middle East war, but I am even more of a perplexed that he seems to be taking this about us and not about like what's going on here? Like if I was just to say, okay, that names a lot of people, right, That names a lot of people. All right? Itam Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagorines, gibbl m, i'mon Amelek, the Philistines, the inhabitants of tire Asser also is joined with them. They have hopeing the children of Lot do unto them as unto the Midianites, as to Cesarea, as to Jabin at the brook of Kishan? Now is that saying? Is that asking God to do unto them as unto the Midianites? Is this about so? If that's so, he said, well he's praying for God to do this? Well, what what happened? What is he is he referencing a specific historical event?

49:42 Is what is going on here? Right? I understand you could try to make this about us praying, But first we've got to understand what's going on here in this context, Like what is this referencing? Like, is that referencing do unto them as unto the Midianites? Is that referencing something specific as to as to cesarea as to Jabin at the brook of Kishan. Well, look what is that referencing which perished at Indoor? They became as dung for the earth. That is referencing things in the past. I know that we love to just bring things to the present, but I this, We've got to figure out what happened here. So now we've got we've you've got a clear assignment today. Your assignment today is figuring out what in the world is being spoken of? And Psalm eighty three will go verse eight nine and ten, eight nine and ten like that. That's your goal to figure that out today. Let's see where if he offers any historical context end up in hill. It's a matter of love, the said, Lord, remove them.

50:57 Why because we don't want people going to hell that get taken in by these wicked ways. And most of them probably think that they're right and don't know that it's wicked. Now he goes on thatt verse says, which perished at Ondoor. You know when I see that word Ondoor in the Bible, I think of one situation involved King Saul. He went and visited the witch at Ondoor to find out what's going to happen next and he found out, and the next day he was dead. So I want you to understand that sometimes when you go away from God's way, God's will, doing God's will, God's way, in God's timing. When you get away from that, then my friend, you're looking at the ways of evil, of wrong, and perhaps even death, as did King Saul find out. So again, don't fall into those sins. So he says, they became as dune for the earth. Now think of those nations he's talking about here in this tenth verse, they became done for the earth. This is your radio pastor, Pastor Andy Bloom, saying, may the Word of God be a lamp into your feet and a light into your pathway. Today we want to thank you

52:30 for listening to the Lamp and Light broadcast. If you would like a CD copy of today's message by doctor Bloom, send us your name mailing it. Okay, that's hilarious a CD copy, but okay, all right, that's how it ends. So I now, I know that's only fifteen minutes, so that's what you get. So I just it's so weird that the he titled this the coming Middle War, and I'm having a hard time following, but there's ten other parts, so by all means, go listen to the rest. But I'm just going to take just a few minutes to go through some things quickly, all right, quickly, so that we have ideas Psalm eighty three, I think I think you can see keep not thou thou, thy thou silence, Oh God, hold not thy peace, and be not still, Oh God. Clearly you can see Psalm eighty three as a prayer for deliverance and victory over Israel's enemies. Here is a summary in an outline of a basic teaching of it. All right. Obviously, verse one and two we kind of have an introduction. I think, all right, keep not thou silence, Oh God, hold not thy peace, be not still, Oh God, for low thine enemies make a torment tumult, and they have hate. They that hate thee have lifted up, lifted up the head.

53:55 All right, this is the Psawmisris crying out to God not to be silent and to not be inactive in the face of Israel's enemies. That's verse one and two serves as a pretty good introduction. I think. All right, then, look, starting in verse three, he begins the description of the enemies. I guess they have taken crafty council against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, come, let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent. They are confederate against thee the Tabernacles of Edom and Ishmaelites, and the Moab, the Hagarines, the gibbel ammon Amelek, the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tire.

54:36 Aser also has joined with them. They have hopen the children of Lot, the samist lists the various nations and enemies who have come together against Israel seeking to destroy them. Right so, number so, if we want to outline this our introduction verse one through two, just that's the introduction number two, the description of the enemies Verses three through eight, or a description of the enemy. Whichever way you want to go, all right, then if you start in verse nine, if you start in verse nine, do unto them as unto the Medianites, which perish, make their nobles like Areb and like zeb Yea, all the princes as Zeba and Zalmuna, who said, let us take ourselves the house of God in possession. All right, So if you look at that, it's it's kind of an appeal to God for action.

55:29 Do this, do this, do this. That's kind of like verses nine through twelve, Thesamus ask God to deal with the enemies as he dealt with previous foes such as Cesarea and Jabin who were defeated by Israel in the past. So basically what he does in verse nine through twelve, he's like, Okay, God, I need you to do something now like you have done in the past. So any good Bible student, once you get to nine to twelve, we got to go find out and see how God acted in the past and these situations that are being alluded to. Once you can identify what God did in the past, you then can get an idea what the psawmist is literally asking for. It's the way it's written. It's just assumed that you the reader will be like, oh, I remember how God acted in that situation. I remember how God acted in that situation. Are those situations recorded in scripture? If so, then start providing them, making a list of good cross references. Right, So we have the introduction Verses one through two. We have the description of the enemy or enemies. Versus three through eight. We have an appeal to God for action. Verses nine through twelve. We have a petition for defeat of the enemies Verses thirteen through eighteen. Oh, My God, make them like a will, as the stubble before the wind, as the fire burneth a wood, as the flame setteth the mountains on fire. So persecute them with the tempt and make them

57:00 afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Thy name, O Lord, Let them be confounded and troubled forever. Yay, let them be put to shame and perish, that men may know that Thou, whose name is Jehovah, are the most high over all the earth. All right, So I think what we can say here is this. So we have kind of an introduction in verses one through two, we have a description of the enemy or enemies. Verses three through eight, we have an appeal for God to act. Verses nine through twelve. He's basically saying, Hey, act now like you've done in the past, And then verses thirteen through eighteen, he's petitioning God to defeat the enemies. The psalmist cries out to God to make the enemies like a like, you know, basically tumbleweed chaff fire, to pursue them with tempest and to fill them with shame.

57:52 Now you could argue that in verse eighteen we have an affirmation of God's sovereignty. Maybe you could see that that men may know that Thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, are the most high over all the earth. Maybe the psalm concludes with a recognition of God's sovereignty and power, affirming he alone is the most high. There's a basic outline of the chapter. All right, that's a very simplistic one. I'm not even positive I would stay with it exactly. But if I go through that, I don't know if I'm going to call this the coming Middle East War, I'm going to say trusting trusting God in the face of enemies, maybe something like that, like if I was going to do that chapter summary method trusting God in the face of enemies or God's sovereignty versus the enemies of God. So I don't know.

58:47 There's a lot of different directions I could go, but a basic outline introduction verses one through two, description of the enemy or enemies verses three through eight, appial to God for action verses nine through twelve, a petition and to defeat the enemies verses thirteen through eighteen, and then an affirmation of God's society and the verse eighteen. All right, I think that that's kind of workable. It's not perfect, it's not great, but it at least get you. It'll get you started on Psaw eighty three. To me, the biggest task here is, Okay, when he's asking God to do something in the present that he has done in the past, we need to go find the accounts of what He did in those situations in the past so we understand specifically what the Sawmist is asking for. So that would be a challenge for us, for us to try to work on right now. For as far as historical context, I had to look up some things here to try to find out. Psalm eighty three seems to reflect the plea for deliverance and victory over Israel's enemies. The historical context that might have inspired the Sawmist to compose such a prayer could be related to various conflicts and threats that Israel faced during that time. This is referring to things at that time, not future, all right, So here's some of the possible historical events. The Assyrian threat.

1:00:08 During the time of the divided Kingdom of Israel and Judah, both kingdoms faced threats from the powerful Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were known for their military prowess and aggression, and they posed a significant threat to the stability and security of Israel. So maybe the Assyrian threat the Moabite and Ammonite aggression. The neighboring nations of Moab and Emmon often posed threats to Israel through military incursions, raids, or alliances with other enemies of Israels. These conflicts could have prompted the Samis to seek God's intervention and protection against the hostile neighbors. So we have the Assyrian threat, Moabite and the Ammonite, Syrian or Philistine attacks. The Syrians and Philistines were other neighboring nations that frequently classed with Israel over territorial disputes, trade roots, or other issues. These conflicts may have led themist to crowd to God for deliverance, and it could also be referring to internal rebellions or uprisings. At various points in Israel's history, internal rebellions or uprisings by dissident groups our factions could have threatened the stability and unity of the nation.

1:01:13 The Samists may have composed Psalm eighty three and response to such internal threats to national security. So none of that has anything to do with the coming war. None of it. Those are all present situations at the time, the Salmist cries out to God. The Salmist cries out, Thou Lord, don't be silent. Hear me. I need you to do something. Here's the enemy, here's what we need you to do. We need you to act in the present as you have in the past. And He's going to end with a confession that you are God like. I love that. At the end, you are the most high over all the earth. What's happening is horrible, but I, in the face of a bad situation, the Sawmist, by faith, holds onto the fact that God is sovereign, and that that sometimes requires the greatest faith. When you see around you horrible things happening, you still trust that God is the most high over all the earth.

1:02:22 That's hard to reconcile if you're the most high over all the earth? Then why is all of this happening? But the Psawmist just says, Lord, I need you to act. You're the most high over all the earth. He doesn't. He just kind of embraces that, that truth, and well there's a lot there. Now that's just trying to provide something more than what we got. But I want you to go listen to the rest because I want to know how does this become the coming Middle East War? Now? What is this? What he's going to do? This is my only this is just my guessing, my specula. He's going to take psal Maty three and say this is how the Sawmus reacted in a time of great threat against Israel. Well, there's going to be a coming Middle East war. Well, Israel is going to face the same type of possible destruction. Now is that Is that going to be this is what Israel should do in the future, or is this going to be something about this is all about Israel right or I I don't know. I don't know why, I don't know.

1:03:30 So we need to listen. So I'm going to leave it to you to go listen to the rest. Go listen to the rest. Please, download all of them and let me know what you discover. I'm I'm just kind of speculating. I don't know exactly what what, what where this is going. But now I'm I'm now very interested in trying to do a little bit of work in saw Maty three. Now tomorrow at Victory Baptist Church or not Sunday Victor. I don't even know what day of the week it is anymore. What I need to do is work on proverbs. But we may have to go to so now because I gotta figure this out. I gotta figure this out. So I got to do a little bit more research. But if you come up with a better outline for PSAW eighty three, let me know. And yeah that I we need to work on the fear of the Lord tomorrow Sunday, not tomorrow Sunday. So but now I've got these PSAW maybe three questions. So if you've been if you've been listening, if you've been following along with the sermons two point oh app challenge, you know that what I've been telling you to do is work on the concept fear of the Lord. Well you can start transitioning out of that, and let's just go ahead and put Psalm eighty three. We need to continue to do more work in proverbs, but let's enter enter interrupt Psal interrupt proverbs with Psalm eighty three, so you can start looking up sermons on sal maenty three, and I would start with this series saw maybe three of the coming Middle East war.

1:04:57 Find that series, because you can make it through that series probably you know they're fifteen minutes long. You can make it through those relatively quick, right, So start making it through some of them, and then look up other sermons on psalmty three and just see what you can discover and what you can find. All right, Well, but here's what I want you to take away even this, Like I'm a little perplexed here, don't quite understand. May not even completely agree with the ultimate hypothesis. He didn't really even give us a thesis statement, so I don't really know what his thesis is. But I may completely disagree. But just look what happened a few minutes listening to a message and a car just a few minutes. I didn't even make it all through that. I paused. It has now turned into over sixty minutes of discussion and contemplation and meditation. That is what any sermon can do for you, if you're willing to put forth a little bit of work and time in it. So psawmighty three, that's what it's in front of us.

1:06:00 We'll see what else we can do, all right. In the meantime, you can email me news I F at yahoo dot com. NEWSI F at yahoo dot com. That's in NEWSI F at yahoo dot com. Thanks for listening. God bless