As with so many of the psalms, this psalm shows one of God’s saints in great turmoil over the condition of the fat and sassy attitude of those who rebel against heaven. “Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? . . .” (Ps. 10:1-18). In a world …
Poetic Justice/Psalm 9
In this psalm, David recounts his fight with the heathen who had invaded his nation. David writes during the course of a brief respite in the battle. He celebrates a great deliverance in the first part of the psalm (vv. 1-12), and calls for further deliverance in the remainder of the psalm (vv. 13-20). “I …
The Politics of Sodomy: Not Whether But Which
INTRODUCTION In many respects, we are like a man who lives in a house that is increasingly cluttered and trashed. When the day finally arrives when it becomes obvious that he must do something, it is equally obvious at the same time, that he has no idea what to do, or where to start. He …
The Politics of Sodomy: The Real Sin of Sodom
INTRODUCTION What could possibly be meant, “The Real Sin of Sodom?” Isn’t is obvious? The sin of homosexual behavior draws its name from Sodom. What could be more obvious? And should we be suspicious of any attempt to draw our attention elsewhere? As always, the answer to such questions is, “It depends.” THE TEXT Behold, …
Under His Feet/Psalm 8
The eighth psalm is another psalm of David. The import of the psalm is glorious, and the Gittith probably refers somehow to the joyful aspect and nature of the psalm. “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. . . .” (Ps. …
Pleasant Words
INTRODUCTION Messages on the tongue can easily cause every Christian to respond with some sort of uh oh. We all know how readily we sin with the tongue, and if a preacher is aiming for conviction it is fairly easy to hit that target through preaching on “sins of the tongue.” But we all know, …
Suspensions From the Supper
INTRODUCTION The purpose of this message is to explain and defend a certain practice required by our church constitution, and to do so in the only manner acceptable to us, which is through an appeal to the Scriptures. In recent months, we have had a small flurry of suspensions from the Lord’s Supper, which has …
No Level Playing Field/Psalm 7
The psalm is by David. The occasion of it was a slander by a particular man named Cush, a man from the same tribe that David’s adversary Saul was from. The psalm is a shiggaion, a “wandering,” which probably refers to a very intense, dithyrambic poem (cf. Hab. 3:1). In his zeal for vindication, David …
Psalms and Culture War
Our worship here is the center of all our endeavors in the surrounding community. We look to God here, now, for His own sake. But at the same time, the right worship of God should inform, drive, and inspire all our efforts at local culture building. Our problem has been that because our worship has …
Transactions of Grace/Psalm 6
We come now to one of many penitential psalms — psalms expressing grief and sorrow over sin, with a cry for God to extend His mercy and grace. “O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger . . .” (Ps. 6:1-10). Again, this is a psalm of David. We are not given the occasion for …