Psalm 83 Pt 9

0:01 All right, I'm not gonna make any promises how far we're going to get, but Psalm eighty three. I would like to be done with this psalm someday, but it just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Now, on Tuesday, for the podcast, I did a podcast where I contemplated, possibly acknowledged that maybe I've got certain things wrong about Psalm eighty three. By the time I went through kind of the explanation, I kind of then change my mind and kind of go back to my original concept. But let me explain. So when we did our introduction to Psalm eighty three, all right, well, we'll do some review, but right now we'll just go back to the specific thing. When we did our overview and kind of an introduction to Psawm eighty three, we classified some eighty three from the type of psalm that it is. We placed it in a certain category, and we referred to saw mayby three as a lament, but as a specific kind of lament, which was a communal lament. All right. Now, when I first asked, Hey, what type of psalm this is? I believe and now I gave credit to Sarah Danzler on the podcast that it was an a precatory, a precatory and I went against that concept well in that the series that sparked this

1:34 entire study. It's now up to part thirty two, thirty three. I don't even know anymore. I don't even know how many parts they have now, and and that whole series is just maddening. It's just so crazy. But I don't even remember what part twenty four, part twenty five, part twenty six, I don't know. It all blurs together. Now. They made an argument that it's an imprecatory song, so I'm like, Okay, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe it is an imprecatory psalm. Now, if it's a lament, I think you interpret it one way. If it's an imprecatory psalm, I think you have to interpret another way. So I kind of like, Okay, maybe I got it completely wrong, but I am going to continue to argue that even though there is a section that has the nature of an imprecatory psalm, the overall feeling I don't think reaches to that level. Now, do everyone knows what an imprecatory psalm is?

2:31 Okay? It doesn't. Okay, Now we covered all the types of the psalms at the beginning, right, does anybody else know what an imprecatory psalm is? Yeah, Typically an imprecatory psalm. You're calling for people to die, all right, You're calling for death, You're calling for destruction upon everyone. And we will talk more about that when we get to this section, but just so I can kind of put forth my argument first, the beginning of the psalm and Psawm eighty three to one, Oh God, do not remain quiet, do not be silent, and Oh God, do not be steel for behold, your enemies make an uproar. That that beginning, to me is more of a lament. They're crying, O God, where are you? Why are you not doing anything? We don't need you to be silent, We need you to intervene. Then the rest, as we have worked through now countless times. The rest, he gives all the characteristics of the enemies. He kind of gives their motivation, what they hope, what they're attempting to do, they're forming confederacy. He identifies all the enemies from the tensive edom Ishmaelites. Moab hagwrites Gibbel al Amelek Felistia with the inhabitants of tire Assyria. We went all of that. Then, starting in verse nine through twelve, he asked God to intervene in the present as he has in the past. And then when you get to thirteen, that's where the

4:03 real imprecatory part kind of kicks in because he does ask asf here for some specific things. Right, Oh, my God, make them like the whirling dust, like the chaff before the wind, as the fire burns the wood, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire. So pursue them with your tempest and frighten them with your storm. Fill their faces with shame. How some of that has almost reaches to the level of imprecatory, but it's the very next part that I think seems to take it away from the imprecatory type, because typically in precatory, you want your enemies destroy, you want him dead. Well, look what he says in the very next line there in the ad verse sixteen, fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name of Lord. Well, if they're dead, they can't seek, right, Okay, Next seventeen, let them be confounded and dismayed forever.

5:05 Yes, yes, let them be put to shame and perish, that they may verse eighteen, that they may know, depending on which translation, that they may know that you, whose name alone is the Lord, are the most high. So he wants them to seek, he wants them to know. Now there's some very strong language there, but it is poetic. So it is very hyperbolic, I think, to some level. But it just feels like it falls just a little short from being an imprecatory psalm. So I even though I look, if you go with unprecatory, you have a certain kind of way of interpreting it. If you go with a lament, you have a different way of going with it. I argued with Ai for I don't know, forty five minutes back and forth. One minute AI would say no, it's a lament. Then the next minute AI would be a like, no, it's in precatory, and then it would be a well it has a little bit of both. And then I'm like, well, if you interpret it as a lament, it's this way if you interpret it, And I was like okay, So even AI is confused. It doesn't know what to do. Nobody knows what to do, which is just frustrating because if nobody can even identify the top of Psalm. How on the world are we ever going to come up with an interpretation? And as we've already seen, the interpretations of ssaw Maty three are absolutely maddening. That's why we've been doing this right. Some see saw Maty three as prophesying some future, future future war somewhere before the tribulation. It depends on who you listen

6:38 to. Others try to connect it to Second Chronicles twenty and it's just maddening. In fact, if you just look at the MacArthur Study Bible, here's how he handles it. And it's to me, I want to throw the MacArthur Study Bible across the room when I read this. All right, So first he identifies it this way, This Psalm a national lament, all right, Okay, there we go. All right, so I said, I called it a communal limit, a national limit. That's good, which includes prayer and imprecations. Okay, there we go. There's an a precaratory part to it, all right. So I'm in agreement here. This is good. This is good. This is good. It may be best studied with a map, since several individual national enemies of Israel are noted, all right, I think that's true. We've got to identify these different nations that are mentioned, and then look what he says, Second Chronicles twenty may record the specific historical event prompting this psalm. I don't understand. I don't understand.

7:54 We're right back to the Second Chronicles twenty situation. Who is so many three? Written by ace F? What did we figure out about Second Chronicles twenty He's dead? Okay, I don't understand. Why is it so maddening? Right? I don't get it. I don't get it. All right, it says though some biblical students. Now, now this even adds more, some biblical students believe that the nations mentioned are only symbolic. And I'm like, well, okay, well, if they're symbolic, then that has nothing to do with Second Chronicles twenty, right, okay, So the Summus begs God to rescue Israel from its enemies, as he had done so in times past. Right, Well, to me, it makes no sense because if it's I guess the reason why, I don't know. I don't know why you would even want to go to the symbolic route. I mean, it names how many look takes everyone got their bible. Go to Psaw eighty three and just count every specific nation, people groups, whatever that are mentioned.

9:09 Let's just count them. Let's just count them, all right. So we'll go to we'll go to the first one is in what verse? We are one? Agree? Verse six? All right? The tents of eat them. There's one number two Ishmaelites moem our hagwrites hagarins depending on your translation, Gi ball am on a Malek Felicitia tire Assyria. They have helped the children of Lot. Okay, how many? Is that just right there? Well, I mean if you call that you're helping the children a lot, it's naming a specific person, is it not? Okay? All right, so we're gonna count that. So that gets us how many eleven? Okay?

9:58 Deal with them as with Midian, as with Cicera, as with Jabin at the brook of Kishan, who perished at Indoor, who became his refuge on the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb and zeb Yes, all their princes like Zeba and Zalmuna. Now you can't come to a passage of scripture where there's like seventeen eighteen mentions a specific people nations tribes. However, you would like to classify them and say, oh, well, those are just symbolic of God's enemies. That's from a hermoneutical standpoint. If I give up, like there's no way to interpret the Bible anymore, Right, I mean when the author spins that, and not only that, we know the psamas Asama of Asaf, that's naming a historical individual, and then it names specific places.

10:56 I don't know how you make that symbolic. Look, I'm I'm just gonna I'm gonna just stand my ground on these three things. This is what I'm gonna stand my groundown so far. Number one saw eighty three as a lament with a small section that almost reaches the level of precatory. Almost, But it's a lament, right, I think, I say, the only way I know to interpret it that the people are crying out to God. They don't know where God is because of the situations they are facing. It is a lament. But he got that. I think that's just as we gotta be just absolutely dogmatic about that. Number two, it is not referencing Second Chronicles twenty. I just don't know how. Look, and I understand I read sources. I even told you the sermon that quoted that Asaf was called in and Second Chronicles twenty to write the song. That's just I don't even know how that pastor stated that. I don't even know where that's coming from. Even when I went back and forth with AAI times got even confused.

12:01 Now I can understand why AI would get confused, because it's pulling from where all the information out there and guess what they went it pulling from all the information? What is it pulling from? Confused information? All right? So which again, if AI can't figure it out, the average person sitting in the pew, I don't know how they're supposed to figure it out, even with someone who's got education education, I don't even know how to No, I don't know. It's just matting. But it's not Second Chronicles twenty. So it is a lament with a small section that would almost rise to the level of an impregatory. Number two has nothing to do with Second Chronicles twenty and number three. What else do you think we can say dogmatically?

12:41 There is nothing in this text zero that would hint that these are symbolic enemies. They're naming real people, real situations and fact I will argue when you get to starting in verse nine, deal with them. As with Midian, as with Cicera, it's clearly referencing actual events. Now we may be able to argue which event is being referenced, but in some cases it's obvious, right, So there's no way. So one are the three things we can be dogmatic about. Number one, it's a lament with a section that almost rises to the level of being in precatory. Number two, it's not second chronicles twenty number three. These are not symbolic enemies. These are real enemies.

13:39 Right. Do you think there's anything else we can be dogmatic about. I'm gonna be dogmatic. I'm gonna add a fourth. We can be absolutely dogmatic. And my mind that this is referencing an event at the time of Asaf. He is offering up a lament of something was happening at that time, and we can somewhat then we have somewhat of a timeframe, right y, Yeah, I mean he's referencing the emotions. He's expressing the emotions of the people at that time, right, and that time we know that he was the quote unquote, we'll calle worship leader during the time of David maybe into the a brief part into Solomon, so immediately we know exactly what time we're referencing. It's referencing an event at that time. We can be dogmatic about that. Okay, does that make sense? All right? We probably could add some more things, but let's at least have those things written down, all right, so y'all can remember them, all right, So let's go through them again. Number one, it's a lament with a section that almost reaches the level of in a precatory prayer. Number two, it's not a reference. Second, Chronicles twenty number three, These are not symbolic enemies and symbolic nations. These are real, all right, They're they they're historical.

15:09 Next, these events happened during the time of asaf Right. Those we can be dogmatic, have those down right, because man, it's it's just it's maddening. Like I can't even I don't even want to ever listen to another sermon and saw on ssaw eighty three ever again in my life. Like if I'm ever in a church and they say we're gonna look at Saw eighty three, I'm just gonna get up and walk out. I can't take it anymore, like I don't get it. And for all those who who participated in the sermon's two point oh app challenge and listen to a week worth of sermons on SSAW eighty three, you gotta be just as as I would hope is as frustrated as I have been. And then with the even with the original series, I mean, I don't even know anymore, I mean no part in part twenty eight, Part twenty nine, it turns into a discussion about four wars that are yet that are to come, and I'm like, how do we get to four wars from Psawmity three? And then what was maddening? And I did an entire podcast He connected Psalm Eity three to the Arab Spring, which is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my entire life. And I don't even know where that was coming from. Now, come to find out he originally did the series in twenty eleven, and now in twenty twenty four, he's borrowing from his notes from twenty eleven. Well, well, what do I always say about our past notes? There are no value, right, I said? Pastors should never use past notes ever,

16:42 Like that should be just a requirement. There should be a committee in every church that when the pastor's done with this sermon, we need your notes and we're gonna shred them because you don't want to. Well, he's using his notes from twenty eleven. Why is that a problem. Well, because in twenty eleven he was connecting psaalw Maity three to the Air Spring. Well, anybody who knows anything about the Arab Spring, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of my entire life. The Arab Spring was not about Israel. The Arab Spring were pro democracy protests and certain Islamic countries. Now, the fear wasn't twenty eleven because I know I was broadcasting I don't know, fifteen hours a day back then, and I covered the Arab Spring intensively.

17:26 I mean, I mean I spent so much time on it that the fear was, Okay, if they overthrow this government in this area, who are the groups who may come to power in those areas? And then on every broadcast I would identify the groups the Muslim Brotherhood or this Jahadis grouper. Okay, that could be detrimental to Israel. But that would have been long term. When it was all said and done, it would actually in some ways was more of a positive for Israel than a negative. So the fact that he connected Psalm eighty three to the Arab spring once again is ridiculous. And so many times Christians do that. Something happens in the news, and what do people do. They run and grab a Bible verse. The Bible is not there for you to like, oh, I'm watching the news. Oh oh look it's this verse. No, it's not that verse. It's not that verse. People cannot do that. People do that with Matthew twenty four.

18:26 You can't do that with Matthew twenty You cannot do that when you're watching the news. If you're going to go to the Bible, you got a first. What do we always do with every text when we come in contact with it. We understand the text not in light of current events. We understand the text in light of the time it was written, to whom was it written, what was the purpose? How would the original recipients have understood it? That I know that's bored to us because we want to just immediately do what, Oh Arab spring saw eighty three, Oh, ladies and gentlemen, it's happening the war saw many three is about to occur. Well, first of all, why would you say it's about to occur because what happened in so Many three has already occurred. Right, There's nothing in that text that would make it seem prophetic for us, correct, because he's dealing with something that was happening at the time. That's do you see why I am being almost argumentative for the fact that it has to be interpreted as a lament, because if it's interpreted as a lamit, what does that take away any prophetic element to it? Right? Because they are offering the lamit because they're lamenting their circumstances. Okay, So I cannot stress that enough. So those

19:56 are just some things we have to just f like every week I gotta come kind of do some you know, house cleaning on Psaw eighty three, because if I listen to any other sermon, I lose my ever living mind. I just don't. I don't know what's so complicated about Psaw eighty three. It's got to be in some ways it should be the easiest psalm, right is simply put, what a Psaw eighty three? It's a lament where Asaf, the worship leader, is offering up a lament to God because of the current situation that they were facing. And what is the current situation that they were facing? A confederacy of nations we're coming together to do what whype Israel off the face of the earth. That's it. And they hadn't seen God show up and they're a little and that's what they're lamenting, right, I mean, it's pretty simple, it's pretty straightforward. Now, what do we take from it? Now? I have been trying now for weeks to help us figure out what we can take from the Psalm, all right? And what we can take from the Psalm so is I've got two basic concepts that we're going to look at. But the first one that we have been looking at now for hours is that in Psalm eighty three, starting in verse two, verse two down to verse four, two three and four, what happens and versus two, three and four that I think is significant for us in twenty twenty four and two three and four, asaff identifies attributes and characteristics of

21:33 the enemies that they were facing. Those characteristics and attributes are as follows. Number one everyone no, no, no. The attributes and characteristics of the enemy of the enemy. Okay. Two through four offers up the attributes and characteristics of the enemy. What are those enemies? Number one they create a tumult, stir, chaos, loud disorder. Okay, we got that attribute. Number two, they hate God. Number three they're proud and arrogant.

22:17 Number four they crafty, subtle, deceitful. Next, they come together. They work together for a common goal that even though they may disagree with each other, their common goals to well, they have a common goal okay, which is against their enemy. Right. Next they are committed to wiping Israel off the face of the earth. Next they go after God's elector what God has chosen, what God treasures. Those are the attributes. Now, from a historical perspective, it describes their attributes and that situation. But what I wanted to do to try to find something that could be applicable to us is I find it fascinating that when we look at all of our enemies, which are just as real, they all have basically the exact same attributes. And what are the enemies that we have looked at over the last few weeks.

23:22 We've looked at Satan Satan meets all of those attributes. I mean all of those, I mean not even we don't even I don't need to go through and try to prove this all again. We covered it extensively. In fact, we didn't even cover it as much as I wanted to. We could still be covering Satan and how I could go from scripture to scripture to scripture to show how he demonstrates these attributes. But I think I did decently. Second Demons, Well, now you have the conspiring right Satan with the demons, and the demons have the exact same attributes. Okay. Third, Sin, sin itself the nature of sin. We have sin as an action, in sin is as since a nature, and in both elements it does those exact same things, right, It maintains those same attributes, those same characteristics.

24:08 Next, false teachers. We spent all last Sunday on false teachers. Did we finish false teachers? I think became close? Okay, Yeah, I think for the most part we covered that. We talked about some of the cut now and all of these we talked about, like the nature of false teachers. I put things down like chaotic false teachers bring chaos and confusion, hateful. They harbor hatred towards God and his truth. Crafty and deceptive false teachers use cunning and deceitful tactics to mislead and manipulate. They attack God's people. They target believers, seeking to disrupt their faith and lead them astray. That destroy the truth. Working together, false teachers conspire to destroy the foundations of true faith and spread falsehood. Right remember all of that, Okay, I think we I mean, we covered a bunch of scriptures in regards to them. I think we talked some of their tax dicks. They twist scripture, they use smooth speech, they use flattery and approval, approval seeking, exploitation and greed, secrecy and deception. I think we can now we could be looking at a number of more verses, but I think we get the base of idea, do we not? Yes, false teachers is a problem. Now. We dealt with all of the issues about false teachers.

25:23 Who gets to determine who's false? And we talked about all of the difficulties and problem I'm not going to go back through all of that, but those are some of our enemies. I'll just mention a couple of more, just briefly, and then we're going to try to establish the set up the next section here. Okay, I have one one more I've written down here is worldly influence or the world system. All right, A lot of times when Christians talk about our main enemies, what are the three, we almost always name the world, the flesh, and the devil. The devil cannot be all places at all time. He's not all knowing, he's not all powerful.

26:07 But what can assist him is he can use the world system to do what to appeal to the flesh, because the flesh is already there. He's already got in a sense, he's already got the advantage. Right. Satan is external to us, right, he's outside of us, but he knows we all possess a sinful nature, and that sinful nature is more loyal to what, in a sense, him his way of thinking, his way of doing things. Because our flesh, by nature, does it love God? No, it loves self, it hates God. Does it love God's standards?

26:47 No, it loves our standards. Does it love God's way? It loves our way. So we're already ready to go right now, Satan cannot I know Christians talk this way. But it's just ridiculous. Satan can't come tempt every single person, right because he's not omni present. Right. Okay, so say Satan has limitations, he can utilize demonic forces, but again then you have demons. Okay, all right, well that how is he going to work all of that? But the one thing we know he doesn't have to do much because as long as the world system is more in line with his perspective and his thinking, then he can just simply use the world system, its ideas, it's ideologies, and its philosophies to do what influence the way we think, influence and pull us in a certain direction. And that's typically where are And again, the world system has no power if we don't possess what a sinful nature. So Christians love to blame the world's system all the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world. I don't know why we mess up. The world system has no power if we do not possess a sinful nature. So what we always want to do is we want to yell and scream at the world system to make the world's system conform to us.

28:11 We're the problem, not the world Okay, Does everyone understand that where the problem? All right? The world system just appeals to what's already inside of us. The world system doesn't create what's inside of us. We are drawn to what's in the world system because of what is inside of us. Does that make sense? We always put the blame on the wrong thing. The blame is not on the other person. The blame is on me. The blame is not on the world. The blame is on me. The blame is not what's on Netflix. The blame is what's inside of me. The blame is not music. The blame is what's inside of me. I'm the issue. We never want to admit that we're the problem. But the world system is there. And what does the world system typically do well? You can just read First Corinthians and remember the little statement that I would say before ever Researmon and our series on First Corinthians, which is First Corinthians is a letter written to a church that is located in a city. The city was influencing the church more than the church was influencing the city. And that's the inevitable reality that we all find ourselves. We live in a world system that influences us We may not be able to identify the influence. We may not even realize the influence is happening. All you got to do is listen to Christians talk and you'll be like, you don't sound like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John you sound like And then you just name the influence.

29:36 The influence can be political, the influence can be entertainment. The influence can be cultural, The influence can be family. The influence is coming from somewhere. Now, why is that influence so powerful? Because you already have a sinful nature, and what are you drawn to? You're drawn to the ideas, the concepts, and the philosophies that appeal to what your flesh. They appeal to your flesh. So even you may you may say, I don't watch any movies, I don't do anything, I don't even know what's going on in the world, the world system still impacts you, even if it's not coming from what you classify as the world. It can come from your family, it can come from your friends. It can come that the world encompasses everything. Does that make sense? The culture which you were raised, the geographical location in which you find yourself, You're being influenced bombarded constantly with ideas and philosophies. That's why the Bible says, we have to take every thought captive, every single thought. We have to stop it and go time out. Stop. Let me consider you and consider you in light of what God's word. Here's the problem. We will take a thought and consider it from our perspective and and go to the Bible to make the Bible agree with That's where we get. We mess up everything. Okay, So I want to see when we talk about the worldly influence, and that worldly influence,

31:07 by its very nature, tends to follow many of those attributes. Right, does it love God? No? It hates God? Right, doesn't it hates what God? It appeals to the pride. What does first John say? But the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That all that is in the world appeals to those three things, Right, That's what That's all that. That's why we are not to love the world, neither the things that are in the world, because the things that are in the world, everything that's in the world, appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, of the pride of life. So it maintains all of those attributes and that's hard to fight. Just think as a Christian. And I know this goes against the average church thinking, but I'm sometimes confused at how Christians think. All right now, I know it's going to sound like I'm making an ex but I think it's not an excuse when we're just dealing with the reality. Think of the reality of a Christian. Right, So you become a Christian, and you may want to try to just map this out on paper if the best you can, right, just draw a picture of a person a Christian, right, Okay, inside their chest. You can just write the word sin because we all possess a sin nature even after what after salvation. I know you've got Christian friends who almost will deny that, but they're ridiculous. It's still there, right, We're still sinners. I know many Christians teach no, no, no, no no, the sin nature is gone. Now

32:38 you have a new one and every well, you've got to some way then explain sin. Right, sin is still inside of us. That's why Paul said, the things I want to do I don't. The things I don't want to do I do right, because the sin nature is still inside of us. When the Bible says we're a new creature. We're a new creature positionally, not practically, right. So we have Sin inside of us, a nature inside of us. Outside of us, we have a spiritual being by the name of Satan. So you can outside of that little person you drew the Christian you can just put you know, Satan outside of you.

33:19 And Satan seeks to do what to attack and destroy that which God loves, his creation, those whom he has chosen he wants to attack destroy, all right, So we have a So our first problem starts where the call is coming from inside the house. It's inside of us, right outside of us. We have a spiritual being and then a fallen angelic being seeking to destroy us. So we have Satan outside sinus. Oh but then Satan has what Now you can just put these all around that person demons? All right? So we have demonic spirits that are working. Whether we can perceive them or understand them, they're all there. Okay, Oh wait, and then what else are we surrounded by the world the world system, and the world system includes what I want to make sure you get this everything, school, parents, siblings, friends, work everywhere you come and counter with the world system.

34:22 It's out there. Oh and then not only do you have all so do you see that this is not looking good? Is it right? Because the world's system appeals to the sin nature. Satan is going up to the sin nature demand And then guess what else do you have out there? False teachers, false theology. Your chances of survival are not very good. Oh and guess what else you have inside of you? You have your own personal mental health, physical health, emotional health, and those have profound impacts on you. Do they not? Do you understand how your mental health and emotional health dramatically does what it impacts how you see the world around you, your own personal likes, your own personal dislikes, the things that you were drawn to, the things you're not drawn to. You can take all of us in this room. There's certain things that you'll be like, Oh, I love that, And I'd be like, what are you talking about? That sounds like the dumbest, ridiculous waste of time I've ever heard in my life.

35:45 I wouldn't. I wouldn't. They would have to pay me a million dollars and I still would grip about it. Okay, well, probably not for a million dollars, but you get the idea, and then there were stays because and then you may see a situation and I'll be like, what are how do they why are they reacting that way? Well, I may react. That goes to our very makeup as people, right, And there's all kinds of things that impact that, right. I mean, mental health is a complex, complicated thing, and mental health and the way our mind works always makes me nervous because the way your mind works greatly impacts how you perceive not only reality, it impacts how you see scripture. And can you always and like that? I know this is like getting really deep, but I think it's very important. Can you always trust what your mind thinks?

36:44 Can you always trust what you feel? Well? If I can't trust what my mind thinks and I can't trust what I feel, that's kind of where mental health and counseling and therapy come that because you have someone outside of you trying to tell you that the way you perceive it is not correct, but that's the way you perceive it. And then you've got to rely on someone else to tell you how you should perce Oh man like that? Sometimes that kind of that kind of thinking just makes me want to go find a corner and just crawl up in a fetal position. Just because I do I perceive anything to be accurate. Is my entire perception about everything wrong? Can I trust anything? Can I trust any conclusion or thinking or a thought that comes into mind? Can I trust any of it? Well? On one hand, the Bible already puts us in a very paranoid position. Right. Why does the Bible put us in a very paranoid position? Because the Bible says that our hearts are desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. If my inside of myself is deceptive above all things, that means I can't not trust what me. Well, if I can't trust me, I'm in a whole lot of trouble. Now, when you look at all of that, you can see why. And I know some people don't understand Catholicism, but you can

38:15 see why Catholicism could be very, very appealing at that very moment because I don't have to trust what anything about me. I don't have to trust my interpretation. What do I have to trust the Church? And I trust the Church because then I would believe if you accept Catholicism, you believe in what what two words? One starts with an A, the other one starts with an s Apostolic succession. So you believe God that the apostolic authority was passed on to the Church. The Church has the keys, the Church has the authority, the Church has the power. So then I can stop trying to figure it out for me and I can relax. But you, when you look at that kind of map, what does it feel like like? Come on, let's just be honest, just look at that reality of a Christian sin inside, Satan, demons and the world. What what should be our expectation for Christians? Nobody wants to say that, right, Okay, our expectation should be there's gonna be a lot of sin and failure. Now, the good thing is when I go to the Bible, what can I find?

39:37 Well, when I go to the Bible, I find that that plays out in real life? Does it not? Because even our supposed hero go to Hebrews. If you look at Hebrews eleven and look at the heroes of the faith, what does every single one of them have attached to them? Failure? Sometimes gigantic failure? Right? And in fact, but don't we have we have a way of men their failure, right because we'll say, well, it only records one. Well, just because it records one doesn't mean there weren't plenty of others. It doesn't record every day of their lives. In some cases, we know they lived in a perpetual state of failure. Right. If you've got seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, that's perpetual failure. Right. David had multiple wives, Abraham had multiple wives.

40:22 We can go on and on and on. Many of them not only had wives, had concubines, And we can go on and on and on and on and on and on. We make all the excuses, but we shouldn't make any excuse because if we are realistic about it, we can say, well, why why is the church so messed up? I mean we're watching it all go down in Fort Worth, Dallas with Robert Morris. I mean that situation is horrible. You know, not only sexual immorality, but it looks like possibly sexual morality with a twelve year old. That's some serious stuff. The whole church is falling apart. Tony Evans had to step down. We don't know what that sin. We can go on and on and on. There was some other I think it was on the Christian Post maybe today.

41:04 I mean, you can just read the articles in the Christian Posts or the Roy's Report, and every day it's like this and this and this and this and this. It's child molestation, it's sexual assault, it's rape, it's sexual and morality. It's this, it's embezzlement, it's this, it's that, it's and it's like what in the world. Well, on one hand, everybody wants to throw up their arms and go it's so bad. Just remember the reason it's so bad today is because we have access to the information in real time. Right well before fifteen, things could be going on and you would not know about it. I mean, and now what we found out when they started looking into sexual assault within churches or sexual molestation of children in churches, it went back thirty forty fifty years and the numbers are what astronomical. That's why sometimes the world makes the joke while Christians are yelling at screaming about drag shows. Your kid is in more danger going to church than they are going to a drag show. That's frightening to think about.

42:04 When you look at the numbers right now, Am I excusing any of that? No, no way, shape or form. But at the same time, when you look at that picture of what Christians are facing, the real issue is how do we even survive a day? All right? Because I got sent in me, I got say now to destroy me. I'm surrounded by demonic spirits. Oh and around I'm breathing in a world system that does everything in its power to make me question, doubt, hate, and turn from God. Oh and then I have philological false teaching all around me everywhere everywhere, Christian radio, Christian bookstores, seminaries, Bible colleges, everywhere.

42:49 All right, what am I supposed to do? Well? You could see another option is just run away and go join a monastery. Right. At least the only thing I'm maybe maybe there, I'm just dealing with me than I'm dealing with it. That may be that at least limits the number of things you're cut off from the world. So at least that eliminates that, right, Right, So you can see why now in their case, So that's our spiritual situation, right, And I could add more, There's more things I could look at, but I kind of just brought a whole lot of things together, right, a whole lot of things together. Can we all agree that's a lot of enemies. That's a lot of enemies, a lot of enemies. I mean, I don't even know where to begin.

43:35 At the same time, that really captures what we're seeing in Saw eighty three, because not only do they have all of these attributes, what do we have in verse five or verse three? They have taken crafty counsel against your people. And what's the next two words Saw eighty three to three consulted together in the king James consulted together. Verse four they have said, come, let us cut them off from being a nation that the name of visual Maybe remember no more, For they have consulted together, with one consent, they form a confederacy against you. Right, everybody got that? So we have all of those enemies, and all of those enemies ultimately conspire and work together to do what to make us fall, to make us stumble. And I know that, I know from a psychological standpoint, it sounds like Christianity is, you know, paranoia inducing, and it is a little paranoid, but we are. That's why many Christians have very much a victim mentality like everyone's out to a persecution complex. And I understand it's easy to fall into that.

44:52 I think we got to be careful not to find persecution where there is no persecution. But the reality is we are surrounded by enemies that want to destroy us, and that is a perplexing problem. So then what is the obvious question? Well, in Psalm eighty three, these enemies are all listed. We just listed in a sense, all of our enemies. Right, he lists them Edomites, the Ishmaelites, the Moab, Hagrits, all of them. Right, We've looked at a lot of them. So now the question is, Okay, they're facing serious consequences. What is the solution? They've offered a lament? Hey God, where are you? And remember, one of the major lessons I've been teaching in this psalm is that as as those in Psalm eighty three are experiencing, the reality of the Christian life is that we are a group of people who believe in a God in whom we cannot see, while we live in a world which we very much can see, and we face circumstances which we very much can feel. And those circumstances and all of those things cause us to question the existence and the involvement of the God in whom we cannot see. And at the same time, we live in a world surrounded by enemies which we can see, which sometimes takes our eye off the enemies in which we cannot see. Remember I really emphasize that, especially last week. So then the question is, all right, what was the solution or solutions found in Psalm eighty three if you go from

46:29 verse nine to verse sixteen, nine to sixteen, all right, the psalmist puts forth at least two possible solutions to their problems. We need to identify these two possible solutions to their problems. What is the first one? It starts in verse nine. The new King James starts with the word deal d e a l. King James uses which word do unto them? Deal with them? Everybody see that? All right? So the first solution, the first concept that's put forth is this, are you ready? And their situation is Psalm eighty three. Asaf in this communal national lament is asking God to do in the present as he has done in the past. And he names a number of situations where God acted in a specific way in the past, and they're asking God to repeat that action in the present. Right, that solution number one? All right? That solution number one. Now, let me put forth the hypothetical callge but forth a question? All right? Right?

48:05 When we consider God's past actions being done in the present to get rid of Israel's enemies, what is a conclusion that we can draw from everything that happened based off the Bible which you possess, when we consider God's past actions and light of Israel's situations, what is something we a conclusion we can draw from all of God's past actions that the Psamus is asking do what? Okay? Didn't change Israel? Well, I'm gonna state it this way, and I know this is going to sound negative. All of God's past actions, even if they were repeated in the present and Psalm eighty three did not eliminate their enemies? Can we all agree with that? I mean, saw mayighty three, that's at the time of David, right somewhere between David and the beginning of Solomon. Did that stop their enemies? No, not even close.

49:20 They continue to face enemies. What okay? Even when the kingdom divides, you have the North and the South, did they not face enemies? Yes? They do, right, They faced enemies over and over and over. There were conflicts. Right even after the return from the Babylonian captivity. Did Israel continue to face face enemies? Yes? Okay? Did they face enemy When we open up our Bibles to the New Testament? Is Israel dealing with enemies? Yeah? They're under the heel of Rome. Wait what happens in seventy a d okay, Rome destroys them, wipes them off the face of the earth. When they become a nation again in nineteen forty eight, even before that they just Jews from a like a racial standpoint, They're already being attacked. And I mean, obviously we know what Hitler did. Six million Jews exterminated. Right then in nineteen forty eight, have they faced enemies and conflicts? Are they October seventh, twenty twenty three, over a thousand people killed? Are they still facing enemies? All? Right? Now?

50:22 This is where I get nervous, and I know I'm gonna I'm gonna get emails and people gonna accuse me of being an atheist. But no, we got to deal with a reality here. And I don't like this reality. Do you like this reality? Where this is going because this seems to indicate that even if God intervenes in the present as he has in the past, the one thing we're gonna be able to take from it is it may resolve a present situation, but it will only be temporary. That's hard for me to wrap my mind around, right, even if I lived, I'm at this time right, because I know most of the people, when Asaph is offering this communal lament, they would just been like, oh, Amen, Amen, that's beautiful, Amen, and everybody would be like great. There's always there's typically only a few people and every majority within Christianity, there's only a very small number who sometimes are the ones who can't just accept what everyone is saying. Because if I would have been in this communal lament Asaf, I got a question, you want God to do in the past, You want him to do that in the present. Well, the past intervention did not stop the present crises. So if God does what he did in the

51:52 past, you only want him to resolve it temporarily, because a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, we may just be facing the same problem. So what's the point of God intervening? Now? I know I'm not supposed to say that, right, that's I just spoke out loud what you're not supposed to say in church. But someone has to ask that question. That is maddening to me. I don't even know how to process that. But that's the first solution. And you watch when we go through these things. Oh man, by the time we end this, this is going to be And so what does that make you nervous? Because we are contrasting all of their enemies with our enemies, and so now we are confronted with, Okay, how did God help them with their enemies?

52:36 And now we're going to obviously roll that over in our application. How then does God help us with our enemies? And guess where we're being left with that? Whatever God does to intervene with our enemies is not a permanent solution. Well, we do have a promise, but I'm saying in the meantime, yeah, yeah, right, that kind of ultimately do they They have a promise that all their enemies will be some dude, all their enemies will be destroyed, they will be back in the land, right, so, but they never fit. They never saw that fulfillment and way too Oh no, So this gets this gets gets where this is leading the same concept I've been talking about all through Psaw eighty three. As Christians, we live in a world in which we see pain, suffering, death, and enemies, and we have a promise of a future well all of that will be resolved, but we cannot yet see that fulfillment. So we got to hold on to a promise in which we cannot see as we face situations that we can see that are completely opposite to the promise in which we cannot see.

53:52 They're not the way. That's what they're facing, right, I mean, Israel's been given a million promises. They can't see those promises. In fact, many of them never even saw the fulfillment of those promises. So what we can see does not take away from the promise which we cannot see. But you do understand, well, this is leading to a very difficult reality. If Israel wanted God to intervene in the past and the present as he had in the past, the one thing we know is that past intervention did not take away their present problem and did not take away their future problem. So now when I am facing all of those spiritual enemies I told you to kind of map out on paper my sin nature. Okay, no matter how much I ask God to intervene against my sin nature, what is not going to happen, Not a permanent solution until that promise in which I cannot see, right when I say God to intervene against satan, is not going to get rid of satan? All right. So now there's a promise in which I I cannot see. When I talk about God doing something against the world, it's a it's not a permanentcitation. That is frustrating, that puts me in a very like difficult situation, But in some ways it's kind of beautiful because it's maintaining this concept that I keep putting forth in Saw eighty three about we live in a situation where we believe in that which we cannot see.

55:22 What we are constantly facing things which we can see, which calls into question what we cannot see. Well, we have promises that what's going on? What some of the promises we have about about the eternal, eternal future? No more satan, no more pain, no more death, no more sin, face to face with God, eternal glory, wonderful. Right, Hey, everything's great now. So many times I think modern day. Christianity wants to take some of those future promises and try to make them somewhat of a present reality, because Christians try to talk like, well, now I can say yes to God, I can say no to Sin. I'm a new creature, I can do this, I can do that with all. Problem is, it's all garbage because none of that is true in the present.

56:13 That's future promises in which we cannot see. We want them to be seen. When now do you think Israel wanted to be seen in the present. They wanted to see what they could not see, did they not? They wanted to see those promises. Hey, God stopped telling me we're going to be in the land and all of our enemies are going to be the faith. Do it now? Didn't happened, did it? Now? God just kept giving them responsibilities, and they kept doing what under those responsibilities, Pailly, Just like we fell under? Oh isn't it very similar when you really think about it? How the similarity between Israel and us is we don't like it. See the way we preach it in churches is no no, no, no, no no no. See, we're better off than Israel because now we have power and we have this and we have ability and we can, but we don't. We The reality is we live just like Israel.

57:07 So maybe we keep taking promises that have nothing to do with the now. They have something to do with eternity, And in the meantime, we're going to face the same similar situation as Israel until we get Thost promises in which we cannot see. So all we can do is cling to the promise which I cannot see while I'm dealing with circumstances I very much can see. Is that not becoming more and more a reality in this I think it is. I think it is all right, We're gonna have to stop. We'll go through. I said there was two things. We didn't get to the second one, but we'll bring That's gonna be our focus in this next hour. It's all about this and these two solutions, and we're going to compare those solutions to their situation, and then we're gonna compare it to us. But we're already finding a kind of a troubling one right that God's intervention in the past did not take away their problems at the present, and if God intervened in the present was not gonna take away their problems in the future, which when I face all of our enemies that we have listed. Even if God intervenes today, if he stops me from sinning today, that'll be back tomorrow because the nature doesn't go away. Even if he holds Satan back today.

58:21 Even if he stops the world system from coming at me today. Yeah, yes, even if we pray without ceasing, they're still gonna my praying without ceasing is gonna be more confession than it is anything else, if I'm honest. That's like, I know that's not what anybody wants to hear here, but I think this, like the text is leading me to that. Please everyone understand, I didn't force that conclusion into the text. Anyone reading Saw eighty three knows. Hey, asf I'm sorry to tell you, God can intervene against all of those enemies. Gonna change anything, because you're gonna have enemies coming at you during the reign of Solomon, and then you can start naming all the kings. And don't they find themselves in constant battles? Yes, they do, right, constantly. All right, let's pray, Lord God, we come before you this morning. Lord. I think we're being confronted with an unpleasant reality that our present situation is never going to be resolved fixed, or we're never going to experience heaven on earth. Our hope Lord is trying to cling to promises which we can't currently see and believing those promises

59:54 are real even though everything around us may call it. In the question, help us try to to process this concept, containe to discuss it and talk about it, and that maybe we can become really understanding of this in a way that will be beneficial to us and to anyone we share it with. And we asked this in Jesus name, God's people said