Key verse: v. 7, “Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.”
Introduction:
David describes his day as if it was the century in which we live today. This was almost 3,000 years ago and man has not changed one little bit. All of the difficulties that we face today David faced in his day.
Men reproached and ridiculed believers in his day as they do today here in America. David calls them “FOOLS” or SENSELESS for not accepting the truth about the God of heaven.
Jacob and Israel shall rejoice along with all of God’s people when the Messiah returns to bring peace and joy in that day.
A. The world’s foolish creed, v. 1; Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
1. Atheism in David’s day, Psalms 92:6, “A brutish man [hot headed; human wrath] knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.”
2. Like today it was a heart problem in David’s day also, Genesis 6:5, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his HEART was only evil continually.”
3. They have a reprobate mind also, Romans 1:28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;” (unfit, refuse, dross, disqualified)
a. There is NO ELOHIM, NO CREATOR, Job 21:14-15, “Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. 15- What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?”
b. There is NO JUDGE or GOVERNOR of the world.
c. There is NO GOD PRESIDING over the affairs of men, Ephesians 2:12, “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:”
4. God is NOT IN his thoughts, Psalms 10:4, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”
B. The world’s practical influence in corrupting morals, vv. 1-3; Psalms 52:3, “Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness.”
1. Without exception men have apostatized from the Lord, Jeremiah 17:5, “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.”
2. Men have walk away from God’s laws, and from all the eternal principles of right, Daniel 9:5, “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:”
3. Their conduct shows clearly man’s indifference rather than ignorance of God, Judges 2:17, “And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.”
C. The world’s ridicule of the godly, v. 6; Psalms 74:18, “Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.”
1. These are the enemies of the Cross of Christ who reproach His people, Philippians 3:18, “(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:”
2. The Son of God feels those reproaches, Psalms 69:9, “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.”
3. We bear those reproaches as badges of honor, 1 Timothy 4:10, “For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.”
A. The COMING OF MESSIAH IS THE DESIRE of the godly in all ages, James 5:7-8, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8-Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”
B. Who will give us the joy of salvation but the Lord? Jude 1:24, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,”
1. David yearned for the establishment of God’s kingdom, Matthew 6:10, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
2. God’s people yearn for the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Thessalonians 2:19, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?”
God’s promise to bring His people forth WITH JOY just as He did with Israel coming out of Egypt, Psalms 105:43, “And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:”