Differing Perspectives in Power: Part 2
Examining The Power Of God From Different Perspectives.
Matt Stokes
Oct 11, 2020 43m
Who is God to you? What is His character? This message looks at the power of God from different perspectives. He is loving and kind, and strong and powerful. We learn that God brings victory and peace in the midst of our battles. Video recorded at Ocean City, New Jersey.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Matt Stokes: 00:03 So praise God for that baptism in the midst of the virus, and everything else that's been going on has made this such a strange year, 58 people got baptized on that day. We had 40 in the morning, and by the end of that day, we had 58 people, which brought us to a total of 75 people that we've baptized for the year. Which is just remarkable in the midst of everything. And five people surrender their lives to Christ that day, so it's just amazing to watch what God's doing in the midst of all this. If you haven't been to one of our baptisms, we just really encourage you to be there because it's just a transcendent moment to be there and watch people proclaim their lives and how they're changing through Christ.
Matt Stokes: 00:43 So my name's Matt Stokes, I'm the lead pastor here at Coastal. We're so glad you're with us, we're so glad you're watching online from wherever you are. These are the [inaudible] Psalm series that we're continuing to go through. So if you want to open your Bibles to Psalm 68, we're going to pick up where we left off.
Matt Stokes: 01:02 Psalm 68 is where we're going to be, and we got up to verse 10. Psalm 68 is a very interesting Psalm, honest, it's not my favorite Psalm. There's so many songs that have a richness to them, but we go verse by verse through the scriptures and we're not skipping anything, so we go through all the Psalms. So I'm going to do a few more Psalms as time would permit, and then in a few weeks, we're going to start a new book of the Bible. Matthew is also going to start a new book on Thursday nights as well.
Matt Stokes: 01:30 But Psalm 68 is a Psalm that most scholars believe was a celebration of Jerusalem, of Zion, of the Hill called Jerusalem, and the building of the temple, and the celebration of God's presence in the midst of the people of Israel as he established Jerusalem as his city, the Holy city, and the temple in Jerusalem as the place that he would dwell. And so that's where we were when we left off, it says in the first verses, let God arise and let his enemies be scattered, let them be scattered like smoke is driven away like, like wax melts in a fire. And sing unto him because he rides upon the heavens and his name is Jah, right? He's a father to the, to the orphans. And to the widows who have no legacy, he's a merciful judge that's going to take care of them. And he's in his Holy habitation, which is Jerusalem, that city, that hill, that mountain itself. He takes lonely people and he puts them into families. He brings people out of bondage. He goes before his people, and there was this constant returning to this idea of God's presence being with them. God's presence being with them. That was so precious. And we talked about it last week, how God's presence was with his people. All the other nations, their gods, they were unaware or unknowing whether the presence of their God may or may not have been with them, but they were always certain of the presence of God in his tabernacle, on the mountain of Jerusalem. And that's where we left off was in verse 10.
Matt Stokes: 03:06 So we're going to pick up there now, and we're going to finish the Psalm God willing today. So with your Bibles open to Psalm 68, and we'll listen to, again, the public reading of the rest of this passage of the scriptures, and then we'll take a look at the rest of the Psalm. So take a listen to this.
Matt Stokes: 03:24 Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon. The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us. Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee. Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah: To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God."
Matt Stokes: 06:29 Blessed be God. So that's a lot of verses for me to go through on one Sunday morning, so I'm going to move at a particular pace, maybe slowing down in some places, maybe moving a little quicker than others. But let's pick up around 10 going into 11. What you're looking at again, let me just give you again, some of the backstory is. What you're seeing is a proclamation of God's power from several different perspectives. So as the Psalm opens up and shows God's power to arise, and his power to scatter his enemies, his power to show compassion to people that are in great need. And you're seeing his power at Sinai, where he appeared before Moses and the earth shook, and black smoke surrounded the mountains and all that is there.
Matt Stokes: 07:14 As we move into 11, we're looking at God as this great King. So if you know anything about the great Kings of ancient times, this word, and this metaphor, will make a lot of sense to you. Look at verse 11. It says, "God the Lord gave the word, and great was the company of those that published it." Like in my Bible, I circled this expression, gave the word. The Lord gave the word. So how many of you have ever seen, and I just told you to just the other day I was watching, I finished the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings for the fourth time with my kids. And you know, there's Kings right of these different areas, and there's this King of, I believe it's Rohan. And he goes out into battle in full armor, and he's the one who calls, right? Whether he says to march on, or to fire, right? Fire, hold, these are the words of the King. And of course, the true King, we know, if you've watched it is Aragorn, And there's this great scene where Aragorn goes before all the men, And it was an insurmountable odds upon which they were against. And he says something like this, he says, there will come a day where the hearts of men will grow cold with fear, but not this day, there will come a day when spears will be broken and shields will be shot it, but not this day, today is victory. And everybody gets, and then they March on and they win this epic battle. Do you know what he was doing? That was the king giving the word.
Matt Stokes: 08:58 We have a King that has given us his word, and it's right here. If you, hey, if you want to Braveheart speech every morning of your life, you can open this book and you can hear God give the word. Whether he says, hold, hold. He may say, fire. He may say, fire at will. He may say, march on. He may say, victory. But God gave the word. And I want to challenge all of you to be imitators of Christ as it says, our King of Kings, and you give the word as well. Give the word that there's victory in Jesus, our savior forever. "The Lord gave the word, and great was the company, great was the company of those who proclaimed it, great was the company of those who pronounced it, great was the company of those who published it. That's you, and that's me. These perspectives of God's power, his power to provide, his power to proclaim complete victory. This is the power of God.
Matt Stokes: 10:08 The kings of armies, verse 12, did flee a pace. And that means they ran, hey, they really ran. Okay? And listen, Kings don't run, kings are men of great dignity, kings do not run. But when you're facing the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, it says they ran, they really ran. "And she that tarried at home divided the spoil. Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." Which basically, just in the King James in this ancient English, what that means is, that the King had such a great victory, that the spoils or the riches of the victory, even the women who were staying at home, protecting the house, even they were able to have riches and the spoils of the victory of which they were dividing amongst themselves. That's how great and victorious this King is.
Matt Stokes: 11:06 And then the next verse says, and maybe you have a different translation or a version. Even those young men who stayed home with the sheep and the saddlebags, even they, it says, they were like doves with wings covered with silver and gold. That might be strange imagery to you, but the Bible is filled with very strange imagery. I mean, in song of Solomon, it says, "He says unto his lover, your eyes are like the fish pools of Heshbon." I mean, it doesn't sound very romantic to me, but when you study the text, you find out, of course, that silver and gold are precious. And even the shepherd boys who did not go out to battle, there's an imagery here that they are as silver and gold, and they are as doves. And most of you know, that doves in scripture are very symbolic.
Matt Stokes: 11:51 We know in the New Testament, that dove is symbolic of peace, right? And the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ in the form of a dove. And there's a reason for that, as he proclaims that Christ is the son of God, and he goes forth into his ministry of the gospel and of salvation
Matt Stokes: 12:11 Moses, when he was in the Ark and he was waiting for the judgment of God, from the waters of the flood to assuage, he was waiting for them to go down. Do you remember? He sent forth what first? Somebody? A Raven, thank you very much. And you remember the Raven didn't return. And no one really knows why some scholars would say, because Ravens are carnivores and they can feed off flesh. So that he probably found some flotsam and jetsam and was floating along on something, and just hopped onto some carcass and was able to eat and never came back. But the dove came back because the dove doesn't eat like that, the dove is pure. And when the dove came back, he sent the dove out again and the dove returned. And if you recall that dove returned with an olive branch in his mouth, which was showing that the waters were assuaging, they were going down, and that fresh growth and foliage was beginning to break forth. So the dove becomes a sign to us, a symbol of peace, and it becomes a symbol of course, of the Holy spirit.
Matt Stokes: 13:11 And here in this particular passage it's a picture, also a symbol of victory. So when you put it all together, I don't know if you have a pen, you want to write this down. I mean, God brings victory and peace in the midst of our battles. God brings victory and peace in the midst of our battles, and that's why there's rejoicing in this Psalm. There's continually, the Psalmist is not only recounting the history of Israel, but he continues to break forth in song and say, rejoice in this, and let's sing over that, and let's be joyful for this particular reason. And here's one that's specific, that I just think is beautiful and maybe I would skip over if I didn't take the time to study. And that's the God brings victory and peace, even in the midst of our battles, and this is the reason that we can rejoice.
Matt Stokes: 13:58 Now watch this great King in 14, "When the Almighty scattered kings in it." That's in the land, "It was as white as snow in Salmon." Some of your translations use a Z, some use an S, Salmon . "The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; a high hill as the hill of Bashan." Your translation might say, "As in the mountains, and the mountain peaks of Bashan." So the reason that, watch this in 14, "When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon." So what most scholars are imagining is, there's this hill, it's a mountain called Salmon. And what happened is, this King, his victory was so great that when the people were just scattered, and they were lying thousands dead on the ground, the sun shining down glistening upon their armor, it was like snow. Can you picture that? That's how the poetic writing of this Psalm is. When this King came, and he came in with his armies and he took over this area, it was as the snow of Salmon, this great mountain.
Matt Stokes: 15:11 Then he talks about another great mountain, I pronounce it Bashan. The Hill of God is the Hill of Bashan, the high Hill of Bashan. Now watch this, very interesting, "Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels" Your Bible might even say even thousands, or thousands upon thousands, or thousands of chariots. It's just showing you this enormous host, this enormous army. "The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place." Just like you saw the power when God was at Sinai, that's how God is in this particular place. What's the place, listen, please, I'll tell you the place. The place is Zion, the place is Jerusalem. So when it says, "Why leap ye." Your translation may say it another way, what it really says is, why do you stare with envy?
Matt Stokes: 16:12 Now, can you pause and give me your attention for a minute? There are several mountains being mentioned here, all in quick succession, right? You have Sinai, you have Solman, you have Bashan, and you have Zion. Being that this is the coronation, and the celebration of Zion. And God is saying Bashan is great, and I had a great victory there. And Solman has the high hills, and the high mountain peaks. And if you've ever been with us when we've gone to Israel, which I've been with some of you a few times, Hermon is also a great mountain. Mount Hermon is where Elijah defeated the prophets of Bal, it's an awesome mountain. And what the Psalmist is saying is, hey, you, mountains, why you leaping around with envy at the hill that God's chosen. God's chosen Zion to be his place, his habitation.
Matt Stokes: 17:09 Which is so fascinating to me because isn't that just how God is? Because if I was king, I would choose to, Hey, King Matthew. Yes, my subjects. What mountain would you prefer to be the place upon which your temple and your throne shall be established? I would be like, I pick the highest mountain, I would pick the greatest mountain peaks. And God says, no, Jerusalem. And the other mountains in this metaphor, they're like, what, aren't you going to pick us? And God says, no, I pick Jerusalem. Now, if you've been to Jerusalem, it's not much more than a hill, it's a very small mountain. But I look at that, and if you're with me, isn't that just like, God? I mean, his ways are not our ways, God does things in a way that are so other than we would ever imagine. How many of us would have done differently than God, given the authority and the responsibility of the circumstance?
Matt Stokes: 18:08 Would you have chosen the 12 disciples that he chose? You probably would have chosen the wisest man in the land, right? Of all the sons of Jesse, God chose David, who was least among his father's sons. So much so that David wasn't even called from the field to come into the place where Samuel would anoint them. And Samuel said, I have the anointing oil, but I know from the Lord that the son that I'm to anoint is not here. Well, we've got one more, his name's David, but he's not the guy. Bring him. And God said, I want you to look at him because I don't see as man sees, man looks on the outward appearance, I look upon the heart. God turns things so upside, down in so many ways, is there anyone here that can attest to that? That God has chosen the foolish things of the world, it says in Corinthians, to confound the wise. How many of us, I know myself is like, when you look at the great mountains versus Jerusalem, I look at this person and I'm like, man, that guy is so cool, he is such a rock star. I mean, if God got ahold of his life, if he surrendered his life to Christ, man, he would have an impact on a lot of people. Would he? Man, she's so beautiful, she's like a movie star that girl's like a celebrity. I mean, if she'd surrender her life to Christ, then a lot of people are going to get saved because the influence she's going to have. Really? Because God said in Corinthians, through the influence of the apostle Paul, not many wise, not many mighty, "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." God just flips everything upside down and he says, "The one who wishes to save his life is the one that's going to lose it. But the one who loses his life for my sake, he's the one that's going to find it. The one who humbles himself is the one who's going to be (What?) exalted.
Matt Stokes: 20:03 And here you have God choosing Jerusalem, far beyond all the other great mountains of Salmon, Bashan, Hermon, he chooses Zion as his Holy Hill, another word for Jerusalem. And I say that by way of encouragement to you, because maybe in your life, if you struggle, like I might. You might wonder if you're significant, if God really wants to use you. You look in the mirror sometimes and you say, I can't believe that God loves me. I can't believe that God chooses to use me. I can't believe that God chooses to partner with me. I can't believe that God chooses to bring me into his presence, to cocreate with him, something in the life of someone else, strength, courage, endurance, love, compassion. But he does, he wants to use you, no matter how insignificant you think you are. That's why it says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." That's why it says, "Blessed are the meek." Because when we humble ourselves, that's when God, like the humble Mount of Jerusalem, the humble hill, that's when God exalts us and says, that's the place I want to dwell, in that place of humility. I want to challenge you, rise, rise with God in humility, but also in strength, knowing that he loves you and he wants to use you in some particular way right here, and right now, today in this season of your life
Matt Stokes: 21:39 Verse 18, it says, "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them." Now some of you know, this is a prophetic picture of Ephesians chapter 4. This verse right here is used in Ephesians, in the New Testament, in reference to our King, Jesus. See, in ancient times, when a conqueror would conquer a nation, he would then take the people of that nation, and he would take the riches from those people, and he would gather them all together. Then he would take those people and he would then take those people captive, and they would be shackled by their feet, and they would be shackled by their hands, and they'd be shackled through the nose with a ring. And then there'd be a chain, and that chain would go to the nose of the next man, and they would all have to walk. And if someone decided to try to run from their captivity, they would pull the nose out of the person behind them, and in front of them, and their own nose as well. Can you imagine that?
Matt Stokes: 22:41 So what it's saying here is that this King, he took captive something, but it wasn't the land. Do you know, what he took captive? Watch this the right here, this is captivity, okay, this is bondage. Jesus Christ took captivity, and he took it captive, he actually captured the concept of captivity. He put in bondage, the concept of bondage itself. He imprisoned, imprisonment, and he took a captive. And then it says that he then went to his people, like the great kings of old, he then gave gifts unto the people. And that's the gifts of the Holy spirit, that's the gifts of ministry. If you read Ephesians chapter 4, when the King would come into the land, his enemies would be marching alongside of his victorious soldiers, and they'd display them in shame with the victorious King. And the King would just have saddlebags filled with chalices, and crowns, and jewels, and necklaces, and gold coins. And he would just, from his white horse, he would just throw them in every direction. And the people would rejoice because the King, the victorious King had come to town. And that's the picture that you're getting right here of the Lord, God almighty for the people of Israel. But it's also a very prophetic picture of what Jesus Christ did when he conquered sin on the cross. When he defeated the works of Satan and he led captivity captive. And then he gave gifts, metaphorically, spiritually, he gave spiritual gifts onto all of us. He threw out mercy, passion, generosity, love, tongues, prophecy, word of knowledge, he threw them out to all the people so that we would then be rich in Christ and in the gifts that he's given us. Is this fascinating to anyone else?
Matt Stokes: 24:35 Look at the next verse, because then he just breaks forth from that thought. And then he says, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation." So, he's so excited that he says, blessed be God, who just, he loads us with benefits, he's loaded us with goodness. Anyone get loaded last night? I did, dude, I was so loaded last night. Do you know how? I was reading this right here, I was totally loaded with blessings, right? Because when we talk about loaded, usually we're talking about getting loaded with beer and booze. If we talk about somebody who's loaded, we're talking about somebody that's loaded with money. Well that dude's loaded, right? It's saying here that God loads us with his goodness, with his kindness, with his long suffering, with his compassion, with his mercy, with his love, He loads us. Hey, it says, he's the God of our salvation, He's loaded us with salvation.
Matt Stokes: 25:44 When Christ died on the cross, and rose again, and paid that price with his sinless life as a sacrifice for you and me, what broke forth from that were blessings beyond the imagination. It says in Ephesians chapter 1 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." There is nothing that you lack, he daily loads you with blessings and benefits. I would challenge you to do this, and this is something that I've done with my son in his later teens, in his later years when he was a teenager. I would take the letters of the alphabet, this is just a good practical exercise, do this with your children, you could do it with your spouse. And we would go through the greatness of God, so I would say he's awesome, because it begins with A. What's a word that begins with B, can you think of one? He loads us with blessings. C, can you think of something about God that begins with a C? He's compassionate. D, he's the deliverer, right? E, he's excellent in all that he does exalt his name. F, he's a forgiver and he's faithful, right? G, his goodness. H, he's Holy. L, he's loving. Do you see what I'm saying? I, he's infinite. And somehow I'm going through this, I'm going through the attributes of God, and I am loaded, I am like loaded with the blessings of God. By the end of that, I just like break forth from that moment and I'm just like, man, I'm blessed. So can you imagine what it'd be like if you did that with your children, every couple days, you just went through the alphabet. You know, when you get up there, sometimes you find some different letters that are a little bit hard and you work together on it. I'm just telling you, it's a blessing for you to remember your blessings.
Matt Stokes: 27:36 So here's this God who's loaded us with blessings. Even, he says, the God of our salvation. Verse 20, "He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the (Your Bible might say issues, really the word is) the rescues from death. God rescues us from death. Do you realize that? What did Jesus say? Jesus said, "I'm the resurrection and the light, he that believes in me though he were dead, yet, shall he live." And the one that lives shall never what? Die. Shall never die. Can you believe that? Jesus said as I live, so shall you live.
Matt Stokes: 28:17 Now, there's a verse in the scriptures, I believe it's Isaiah that says, "No weapon formed against me shall prosper." Hey, it doesn't mean there's no weapon that's going to be formed against you. I can tell you, I'm going to be 50 in less than 10 days, and as I get older, I get wiser, there's more exposure that I have to my life, and to the world. I've had weapons formed against me, maybe not the weapons that are carnal, but the weapons that are spiritual weapons, temptation trials, testing, gossip, slander, defamation of character, insults, just cruel words. It's not the weapons won't be formed, it just says that any weapon formed against you will not prosper. Even death itself will not prosper, because Jesus said, as I live, so show ye live. On the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me though he were dead, yet shall he live. He rescues us from death.
Matt Stokes: 29:26 Verse 21 starts with a but, so here's a contrast to all that, "But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same." Now I know that's some harsh language right there, but what you're hearing is God is saying that he is a deliverer. When he talks about the hairy scalp, that hair back in ancient times, remember Absalom with his long hair, he talked about how beautiful his hair was. Like to have long hair was to be glorious, and it says that God's going to take the guy who thinks he's so glorious, he's going to take his hairy scalp, he's going to cut that hair right off. In other words, God is going to shame and judge those that are sinful, right? To the point where it actually gets to the point where it says, at the end there, "That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same." Dogs were considered to be the lowest form of animal life. We all know now, it's cats, right? It's been cats for three millennia, but back then it was dogs, we've grown as a people. But the fact that he would even say that, like my conquering is going to be so complete, and so inevitably whole, I'm going to annihilate the enemy. Even the dogs are going to enjoy the blood of their enemies.
Matt Stokes: 30:57 Now as gnarly as that is, here's what you need to take from that, God is a deliverer. In fact, if you have a pen, you might want to write this right into your Bible. God is a deliverer and a destroyer. it just matters about what side you're on. God will either deliver you or he will destroy you. He is the great judge, and he will separate all of us, like a shepherd separates sheep from goats, like a farmer separates the wheat from the weeds. And there's many parables that go on to explain what this great judge, and with this great King will do. But he is a deliverer, and we all love the deliverer. Praise God, hallelujah. He's also a destroyer, and there are people that are going to suffer the judgment of God. It's so interesting that everyone is so concerned about injustice today, right, injustice. I hear injustice, injustice, someone needs to stand up for justice. Somebody needs to stand up for justice. What about the injustice? Okay, how about God's justice? All of a sudden, do you want to talk about God's justice? No one wants to talk about God's justice. Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, I'm talking about this, I'm talking about that issue. I'm talking about what's happening in Portland. I'm talking about what's happening in California. Okay, what about God's justice? When's the believer going to rise up and say heaven and hell are real, that God's judgment is real, and so is the gospel that stands in between. And say somewhere between the thunderclouds of the Holy wrath of God, and the sinfulness of humanity, stands the cross of Jesus Christ saving us from judgment and death. All these things are real, and the believer today needs to rise up and express the truth of these things, because that is what believers do. We teach the goodness and the severity of God.
Matt Stokes: 32:54 By the way, he's also a destroyer of sin. He can destroy lust. He can destroy your pride. He can destroy your anger. He can destroy your greed. He can destroy your jealousy and envy. He can destroy your prejudice. Whatever it is that you're dealing with in your spiritual life today, he is also a destroyer. And in his heart of justice he would long, and in his heart of love he would long to destroy the works of Satan, the works of darkness, the works of the flesh that may be going on in you and that are going on in me as well. So I thank God that he is a deliver, but I also thank God that he is a destroyer.
Matt Stokes: 33:35 Hmm, All right, I'm going to run through. "They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary." Again, King James language, that means we are watching. We've seen the King as he rides upon his white horse and enters into his Holy temple in Jerusalem, in your sanctuary, in the temple. Then he paints the picture for you, watch this in 25, "The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. (Like tambourines, right?) Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought (past tense) for us" So it gives you this picture. He's like, look, everyone, the music is playing, the dancers are dancing, the women have the tambourines as the great King enters in to the temple on his Holy Hill Jerusalem. And then he mentioned some of the tribes of Israel. Look, even the tribes of Israel here and they're celebrating as well. And then in 25, he says, God is a God of strength. And then he says, "Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought." Past tense, God, what you've done before, do it again. God, what you've done before, do it again. God, the Welsh revivals in 1805, God do it again. God, the great awakening in America with Whitfield and Finney and [inaudible] and Wigglesworth, God do it again. How many of us want to cry out to God and say, God, your strength, Oh God, we want to see your strength, do those great works again. And if that's you, then when will it be, and where will it be? I would like to say it's right now, and it's right here, it's all a matter of our hearts. And if we're willing to be broken before the Lord, and cry out for the revival of the Lord.
Matt Stokes: 35:42 "Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee. Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. 31 Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." So the picture you're getting there is, is of all the people that are the defeated nations of the world. And they're all gathering before this great King, and they're admitting their defeat, and he has conquered them, and they have given their sacrifices, and they have given their testimony, and they've given their allegiance to this great King. And then he says, even Egypt, we all know Egypt kept Israel in bondage for many years. And Ethiopia, of course, you know, is down in Africa, which is a far region from Israel, from Jerusalem. So he's saying the great nations that defeated us, even to Ethiopia, they're going to come and stretch out their hands before you.
Matt Stokes: 36:51 And if you read this, it actually comes from another passage, Isaiah 19, if you want to look it up, God says, there's going to come a day where Egypt is going to stretch out its hands before God. And it's not praise by the way, the Hebrew idiom here is that of need. Like we need you, we want you, we desire you, that's the idea here. They're going to stretch out their hands. There's going to come a day, read it and read it again, Isaiah 19, read it. It says that God is going to afflict them, and they're just going to break in their hearts and stretch out their hands towards God. And then it says, then God's going to receive them, God's going to receive the Egyptians. God's going to receive the Ethiopians. And it says in the Book of Revelation that every tongue, and every tribe, and every nation, and people of every kindred. From every nation is the word ethnos, which means ethnicity. There's a lot of talk today about ethnicity, isn't there? He says, there's going to come a day where every ethnicity is going to surround the throne of the lamb, and say worthy is that lamb. Worthy is that lamb to receive honor, and glory, and blessing, and power, and strength forever.
Matt Stokes: 38:05 Then he closes with just this great, you know, we're talking about perspectives of God's power. He closes with this perspective, of just listen to the power of worship. Verse 32, Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. Ascribe ye strength unto God (That means acknowledge his strength.) Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. O God, thou art terrible (That literally it means awesome.) Thou art awesome out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God." So when I read this, and we'll close here, and I see all these various perspectives of God's power. Again, I was saying earlier with Matthew, we were talking about something else. It's like a diamond with so many infinite multi-facets, that you never get to the end of seeing the perspectives of God's power. Who among us would not want to embrace a God that is this powerful. Watch this now, watch this, and he loves you. A God this powerful, that did not love me, that would be terrible, that would be terrifying. But this God is powerful in all of these perspectives, and he loves me.
Matt Stokes: 39:39 I'm going to tell you the one reason that we probably don't embrace a God of this power, and of this strength, and of this wisdom, and of this magnitude. It may be a different reason for everyone that's going to come through all of these gatherings today, and all around the world. But I could probably sum it up in one word, and that one word would be this...And I'm going to speak for myself. but since I often say this, we're all made at the same stuff. I believe this is true for every one of us, the one thing that keeps us from embracing this God, is idolatry. What? Idolatry. Exodus19, God gives the 10 commandments, He says, "I am the Lord God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You should have no other gods before me." That doesn't mean like you can have some other gods, okay, like, you guys can have some other gods, but I don't want any before me. Like I want to be first, and I want to be before all of them. No, he means before him. Like this, like, there should be no other gods before me, there should be no other gods in this scope of my vision is what God is saying. And somehow when I read the wisdom of God, the power of God, the love of God, somehow there's something in life that grabs a hold of my heart and leads me astray. And I say, Hmm, maybe this is better than God. I want to just challenge you as we finished today, to be careful for the subtle ways that this old school word idolatry can creep into our lives. What is idolatry? Idolatry is anything that's taking the place of God in your life, and that's first place. Anything that you've replaced first place with, other than God, that's idolatry. You could have a great relationship with your wife, but if you love your wife more than you love God, it's idolatry.
Matt Stokes: 41:26 I remember Keith Green, if you guys know who he is. He wrote this song, and it's called, I Pledge Myself To Heaven. And he talks about how he pledges his life, he pledges his heart. And one line, he says, I pledge my wife to heaven for the gospel, though our love keeps growing stronger day by day. But as I told her, when we wed, I'd rather be found dead than to love her more than the one who saved my soul. That's pretty powerful. I hope you have wonderful children, I hope you have beautiful children, but if you love your children more than you love Jesus Christ who saved your soul, that's idolatry. Any relationship that's getting in the way is idolatry. If your financial goals are getting in the way, it's idolatry. If your occupational goals are getting in the way, it's idolatry. If ministry becomes more important to you than the minister with the capital M, it's idolatry. If anything created on the earth is more important than the Creator, it's idolatry.
Matt Stokes: 42:39 So I want to challenge you as you close, as much as I'm challenging myself, that we look at God, and we see him in all of these beautiful, wonderful, powerful perspectives of his greatness, and his glory, and his grandeur, that we embraced them, we acknowledged them, and we worship Him. And with that, Amen.
Recorded in Ocean City, New Jersey.
Matt Stokes: 00:43 So my name's Matt Stokes, I'm the lead pastor here at Coastal. We're so glad you're with us, we're so glad you're watching online from wherever you are. These are the [inaudible] Psalm series that we're continuing to go through. So if you want to open your Bibles to Psalm 68, we're going to pick up where we left off.
Matt Stokes: 01:02 Psalm 68 is where we're going to be, and we got up to verse 10. Psalm 68 is a very interesting Psalm, honest, it's not my favorite Psalm. There's so many songs that have a richness to them, but we go verse by verse through the scriptures and we're not skipping anything, so we go through all the Psalms. So I'm going to do a few more Psalms as time would permit, and then in a few weeks, we're going to start a new book of the Bible. Matthew is also going to start a new book on Thursday nights as well.
Matt Stokes: 01:30 But Psalm 68 is a Psalm that most scholars believe was a celebration of Jerusalem, of Zion, of the Hill called Jerusalem, and the building of the temple, and the celebration of God's presence in the midst of the people of Israel as he established Jerusalem as his city, the Holy city, and the temple in Jerusalem as the place that he would dwell. And so that's where we were when we left off, it says in the first verses, let God arise and let his enemies be scattered, let them be scattered like smoke is driven away like, like wax melts in a fire. And sing unto him because he rides upon the heavens and his name is Jah, right? He's a father to the, to the orphans. And to the widows who have no legacy, he's a merciful judge that's going to take care of them. And he's in his Holy habitation, which is Jerusalem, that city, that hill, that mountain itself. He takes lonely people and he puts them into families. He brings people out of bondage. He goes before his people, and there was this constant returning to this idea of God's presence being with them. God's presence being with them. That was so precious. And we talked about it last week, how God's presence was with his people. All the other nations, their gods, they were unaware or unknowing whether the presence of their God may or may not have been with them, but they were always certain of the presence of God in his tabernacle, on the mountain of Jerusalem. And that's where we left off was in verse 10.
Matt Stokes: 03:06 So we're going to pick up there now, and we're going to finish the Psalm God willing today. So with your Bibles open to Psalm 68, and we'll listen to, again, the public reading of the rest of this passage of the scriptures, and then we'll take a look at the rest of the Psalm. So take a listen to this.
Matt Stokes: 03:24 Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon. The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us. Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee. Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah: To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God."
Matt Stokes: 06:29 Blessed be God. So that's a lot of verses for me to go through on one Sunday morning, so I'm going to move at a particular pace, maybe slowing down in some places, maybe moving a little quicker than others. But let's pick up around 10 going into 11. What you're looking at again, let me just give you again, some of the backstory is. What you're seeing is a proclamation of God's power from several different perspectives. So as the Psalm opens up and shows God's power to arise, and his power to scatter his enemies, his power to show compassion to people that are in great need. And you're seeing his power at Sinai, where he appeared before Moses and the earth shook, and black smoke surrounded the mountains and all that is there.
Matt Stokes: 07:14 As we move into 11, we're looking at God as this great King. So if you know anything about the great Kings of ancient times, this word, and this metaphor, will make a lot of sense to you. Look at verse 11. It says, "God the Lord gave the word, and great was the company of those that published it." Like in my Bible, I circled this expression, gave the word. The Lord gave the word. So how many of you have ever seen, and I just told you to just the other day I was watching, I finished the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings for the fourth time with my kids. And you know, there's Kings right of these different areas, and there's this King of, I believe it's Rohan. And he goes out into battle in full armor, and he's the one who calls, right? Whether he says to march on, or to fire, right? Fire, hold, these are the words of the King. And of course, the true King, we know, if you've watched it is Aragorn, And there's this great scene where Aragorn goes before all the men, And it was an insurmountable odds upon which they were against. And he says something like this, he says, there will come a day where the hearts of men will grow cold with fear, but not this day, there will come a day when spears will be broken and shields will be shot it, but not this day, today is victory. And everybody gets, and then they March on and they win this epic battle. Do you know what he was doing? That was the king giving the word.
Matt Stokes: 08:58 We have a King that has given us his word, and it's right here. If you, hey, if you want to Braveheart speech every morning of your life, you can open this book and you can hear God give the word. Whether he says, hold, hold. He may say, fire. He may say, fire at will. He may say, march on. He may say, victory. But God gave the word. And I want to challenge all of you to be imitators of Christ as it says, our King of Kings, and you give the word as well. Give the word that there's victory in Jesus, our savior forever. "The Lord gave the word, and great was the company, great was the company of those who proclaimed it, great was the company of those who pronounced it, great was the company of those who published it. That's you, and that's me. These perspectives of God's power, his power to provide, his power to proclaim complete victory. This is the power of God.
Matt Stokes: 10:08 The kings of armies, verse 12, did flee a pace. And that means they ran, hey, they really ran. Okay? And listen, Kings don't run, kings are men of great dignity, kings do not run. But when you're facing the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, it says they ran, they really ran. "And she that tarried at home divided the spoil. Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." Which basically, just in the King James in this ancient English, what that means is, that the King had such a great victory, that the spoils or the riches of the victory, even the women who were staying at home, protecting the house, even they were able to have riches and the spoils of the victory of which they were dividing amongst themselves. That's how great and victorious this King is.
Matt Stokes: 11:06 And then the next verse says, and maybe you have a different translation or a version. Even those young men who stayed home with the sheep and the saddlebags, even they, it says, they were like doves with wings covered with silver and gold. That might be strange imagery to you, but the Bible is filled with very strange imagery. I mean, in song of Solomon, it says, "He says unto his lover, your eyes are like the fish pools of Heshbon." I mean, it doesn't sound very romantic to me, but when you study the text, you find out, of course, that silver and gold are precious. And even the shepherd boys who did not go out to battle, there's an imagery here that they are as silver and gold, and they are as doves. And most of you know, that doves in scripture are very symbolic.
Matt Stokes: 11:51 We know in the New Testament, that dove is symbolic of peace, right? And the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ in the form of a dove. And there's a reason for that, as he proclaims that Christ is the son of God, and he goes forth into his ministry of the gospel and of salvation
Matt Stokes: 12:11 Moses, when he was in the Ark and he was waiting for the judgment of God, from the waters of the flood to assuage, he was waiting for them to go down. Do you remember? He sent forth what first? Somebody? A Raven, thank you very much. And you remember the Raven didn't return. And no one really knows why some scholars would say, because Ravens are carnivores and they can feed off flesh. So that he probably found some flotsam and jetsam and was floating along on something, and just hopped onto some carcass and was able to eat and never came back. But the dove came back because the dove doesn't eat like that, the dove is pure. And when the dove came back, he sent the dove out again and the dove returned. And if you recall that dove returned with an olive branch in his mouth, which was showing that the waters were assuaging, they were going down, and that fresh growth and foliage was beginning to break forth. So the dove becomes a sign to us, a symbol of peace, and it becomes a symbol of course, of the Holy spirit.
Matt Stokes: 13:11 And here in this particular passage it's a picture, also a symbol of victory. So when you put it all together, I don't know if you have a pen, you want to write this down. I mean, God brings victory and peace in the midst of our battles. God brings victory and peace in the midst of our battles, and that's why there's rejoicing in this Psalm. There's continually, the Psalmist is not only recounting the history of Israel, but he continues to break forth in song and say, rejoice in this, and let's sing over that, and let's be joyful for this particular reason. And here's one that's specific, that I just think is beautiful and maybe I would skip over if I didn't take the time to study. And that's the God brings victory and peace, even in the midst of our battles, and this is the reason that we can rejoice.
Matt Stokes: 13:58 Now watch this great King in 14, "When the Almighty scattered kings in it." That's in the land, "It was as white as snow in Salmon." Some of your translations use a Z, some use an S, Salmon . "The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; a high hill as the hill of Bashan." Your translation might say, "As in the mountains, and the mountain peaks of Bashan." So the reason that, watch this in 14, "When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon." So what most scholars are imagining is, there's this hill, it's a mountain called Salmon. And what happened is, this King, his victory was so great that when the people were just scattered, and they were lying thousands dead on the ground, the sun shining down glistening upon their armor, it was like snow. Can you picture that? That's how the poetic writing of this Psalm is. When this King came, and he came in with his armies and he took over this area, it was as the snow of Salmon, this great mountain.
Matt Stokes: 15:11 Then he talks about another great mountain, I pronounce it Bashan. The Hill of God is the Hill of Bashan, the high Hill of Bashan. Now watch this, very interesting, "Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels" Your Bible might even say even thousands, or thousands upon thousands, or thousands of chariots. It's just showing you this enormous host, this enormous army. "The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place." Just like you saw the power when God was at Sinai, that's how God is in this particular place. What's the place, listen, please, I'll tell you the place. The place is Zion, the place is Jerusalem. So when it says, "Why leap ye." Your translation may say it another way, what it really says is, why do you stare with envy?
Matt Stokes: 16:12 Now, can you pause and give me your attention for a minute? There are several mountains being mentioned here, all in quick succession, right? You have Sinai, you have Solman, you have Bashan, and you have Zion. Being that this is the coronation, and the celebration of Zion. And God is saying Bashan is great, and I had a great victory there. And Solman has the high hills, and the high mountain peaks. And if you've ever been with us when we've gone to Israel, which I've been with some of you a few times, Hermon is also a great mountain. Mount Hermon is where Elijah defeated the prophets of Bal, it's an awesome mountain. And what the Psalmist is saying is, hey, you, mountains, why you leaping around with envy at the hill that God's chosen. God's chosen Zion to be his place, his habitation.
Matt Stokes: 17:09 Which is so fascinating to me because isn't that just how God is? Because if I was king, I would choose to, Hey, King Matthew. Yes, my subjects. What mountain would you prefer to be the place upon which your temple and your throne shall be established? I would be like, I pick the highest mountain, I would pick the greatest mountain peaks. And God says, no, Jerusalem. And the other mountains in this metaphor, they're like, what, aren't you going to pick us? And God says, no, I pick Jerusalem. Now, if you've been to Jerusalem, it's not much more than a hill, it's a very small mountain. But I look at that, and if you're with me, isn't that just like, God? I mean, his ways are not our ways, God does things in a way that are so other than we would ever imagine. How many of us would have done differently than God, given the authority and the responsibility of the circumstance?
Matt Stokes: 18:08 Would you have chosen the 12 disciples that he chose? You probably would have chosen the wisest man in the land, right? Of all the sons of Jesse, God chose David, who was least among his father's sons. So much so that David wasn't even called from the field to come into the place where Samuel would anoint them. And Samuel said, I have the anointing oil, but I know from the Lord that the son that I'm to anoint is not here. Well, we've got one more, his name's David, but he's not the guy. Bring him. And God said, I want you to look at him because I don't see as man sees, man looks on the outward appearance, I look upon the heart. God turns things so upside, down in so many ways, is there anyone here that can attest to that? That God has chosen the foolish things of the world, it says in Corinthians, to confound the wise. How many of us, I know myself is like, when you look at the great mountains versus Jerusalem, I look at this person and I'm like, man, that guy is so cool, he is such a rock star. I mean, if God got ahold of his life, if he surrendered his life to Christ, man, he would have an impact on a lot of people. Would he? Man, she's so beautiful, she's like a movie star that girl's like a celebrity. I mean, if she'd surrender her life to Christ, then a lot of people are going to get saved because the influence she's going to have. Really? Because God said in Corinthians, through the influence of the apostle Paul, not many wise, not many mighty, "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." God just flips everything upside down and he says, "The one who wishes to save his life is the one that's going to lose it. But the one who loses his life for my sake, he's the one that's going to find it. The one who humbles himself is the one who's going to be (What?) exalted.
Matt Stokes: 20:03 And here you have God choosing Jerusalem, far beyond all the other great mountains of Salmon, Bashan, Hermon, he chooses Zion as his Holy Hill, another word for Jerusalem. And I say that by way of encouragement to you, because maybe in your life, if you struggle, like I might. You might wonder if you're significant, if God really wants to use you. You look in the mirror sometimes and you say, I can't believe that God loves me. I can't believe that God chooses to use me. I can't believe that God chooses to partner with me. I can't believe that God chooses to bring me into his presence, to cocreate with him, something in the life of someone else, strength, courage, endurance, love, compassion. But he does, he wants to use you, no matter how insignificant you think you are. That's why it says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." That's why it says, "Blessed are the meek." Because when we humble ourselves, that's when God, like the humble Mount of Jerusalem, the humble hill, that's when God exalts us and says, that's the place I want to dwell, in that place of humility. I want to challenge you, rise, rise with God in humility, but also in strength, knowing that he loves you and he wants to use you in some particular way right here, and right now, today in this season of your life
Matt Stokes: 21:39 Verse 18, it says, "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them." Now some of you know, this is a prophetic picture of Ephesians chapter 4. This verse right here is used in Ephesians, in the New Testament, in reference to our King, Jesus. See, in ancient times, when a conqueror would conquer a nation, he would then take the people of that nation, and he would take the riches from those people, and he would gather them all together. Then he would take those people and he would then take those people captive, and they would be shackled by their feet, and they would be shackled by their hands, and they'd be shackled through the nose with a ring. And then there'd be a chain, and that chain would go to the nose of the next man, and they would all have to walk. And if someone decided to try to run from their captivity, they would pull the nose out of the person behind them, and in front of them, and their own nose as well. Can you imagine that?
Matt Stokes: 22:41 So what it's saying here is that this King, he took captive something, but it wasn't the land. Do you know, what he took captive? Watch this the right here, this is captivity, okay, this is bondage. Jesus Christ took captivity, and he took it captive, he actually captured the concept of captivity. He put in bondage, the concept of bondage itself. He imprisoned, imprisonment, and he took a captive. And then it says that he then went to his people, like the great kings of old, he then gave gifts unto the people. And that's the gifts of the Holy spirit, that's the gifts of ministry. If you read Ephesians chapter 4, when the King would come into the land, his enemies would be marching alongside of his victorious soldiers, and they'd display them in shame with the victorious King. And the King would just have saddlebags filled with chalices, and crowns, and jewels, and necklaces, and gold coins. And he would just, from his white horse, he would just throw them in every direction. And the people would rejoice because the King, the victorious King had come to town. And that's the picture that you're getting right here of the Lord, God almighty for the people of Israel. But it's also a very prophetic picture of what Jesus Christ did when he conquered sin on the cross. When he defeated the works of Satan and he led captivity captive. And then he gave gifts, metaphorically, spiritually, he gave spiritual gifts onto all of us. He threw out mercy, passion, generosity, love, tongues, prophecy, word of knowledge, he threw them out to all the people so that we would then be rich in Christ and in the gifts that he's given us. Is this fascinating to anyone else?
Matt Stokes: 24:35 Look at the next verse, because then he just breaks forth from that thought. And then he says, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation." So, he's so excited that he says, blessed be God, who just, he loads us with benefits, he's loaded us with goodness. Anyone get loaded last night? I did, dude, I was so loaded last night. Do you know how? I was reading this right here, I was totally loaded with blessings, right? Because when we talk about loaded, usually we're talking about getting loaded with beer and booze. If we talk about somebody who's loaded, we're talking about somebody that's loaded with money. Well that dude's loaded, right? It's saying here that God loads us with his goodness, with his kindness, with his long suffering, with his compassion, with his mercy, with his love, He loads us. Hey, it says, he's the God of our salvation, He's loaded us with salvation.
Matt Stokes: 25:44 When Christ died on the cross, and rose again, and paid that price with his sinless life as a sacrifice for you and me, what broke forth from that were blessings beyond the imagination. It says in Ephesians chapter 1 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." There is nothing that you lack, he daily loads you with blessings and benefits. I would challenge you to do this, and this is something that I've done with my son in his later teens, in his later years when he was a teenager. I would take the letters of the alphabet, this is just a good practical exercise, do this with your children, you could do it with your spouse. And we would go through the greatness of God, so I would say he's awesome, because it begins with A. What's a word that begins with B, can you think of one? He loads us with blessings. C, can you think of something about God that begins with a C? He's compassionate. D, he's the deliverer, right? E, he's excellent in all that he does exalt his name. F, he's a forgiver and he's faithful, right? G, his goodness. H, he's Holy. L, he's loving. Do you see what I'm saying? I, he's infinite. And somehow I'm going through this, I'm going through the attributes of God, and I am loaded, I am like loaded with the blessings of God. By the end of that, I just like break forth from that moment and I'm just like, man, I'm blessed. So can you imagine what it'd be like if you did that with your children, every couple days, you just went through the alphabet. You know, when you get up there, sometimes you find some different letters that are a little bit hard and you work together on it. I'm just telling you, it's a blessing for you to remember your blessings.
Matt Stokes: 27:36 So here's this God who's loaded us with blessings. Even, he says, the God of our salvation. Verse 20, "He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the (Your Bible might say issues, really the word is) the rescues from death. God rescues us from death. Do you realize that? What did Jesus say? Jesus said, "I'm the resurrection and the light, he that believes in me though he were dead, yet, shall he live." And the one that lives shall never what? Die. Shall never die. Can you believe that? Jesus said as I live, so shall you live.
Matt Stokes: 28:17 Now, there's a verse in the scriptures, I believe it's Isaiah that says, "No weapon formed against me shall prosper." Hey, it doesn't mean there's no weapon that's going to be formed against you. I can tell you, I'm going to be 50 in less than 10 days, and as I get older, I get wiser, there's more exposure that I have to my life, and to the world. I've had weapons formed against me, maybe not the weapons that are carnal, but the weapons that are spiritual weapons, temptation trials, testing, gossip, slander, defamation of character, insults, just cruel words. It's not the weapons won't be formed, it just says that any weapon formed against you will not prosper. Even death itself will not prosper, because Jesus said, as I live, so show ye live. On the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me though he were dead, yet shall he live. He rescues us from death.
Matt Stokes: 29:26 Verse 21 starts with a but, so here's a contrast to all that, "But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same." Now I know that's some harsh language right there, but what you're hearing is God is saying that he is a deliverer. When he talks about the hairy scalp, that hair back in ancient times, remember Absalom with his long hair, he talked about how beautiful his hair was. Like to have long hair was to be glorious, and it says that God's going to take the guy who thinks he's so glorious, he's going to take his hairy scalp, he's going to cut that hair right off. In other words, God is going to shame and judge those that are sinful, right? To the point where it actually gets to the point where it says, at the end there, "That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same." Dogs were considered to be the lowest form of animal life. We all know now, it's cats, right? It's been cats for three millennia, but back then it was dogs, we've grown as a people. But the fact that he would even say that, like my conquering is going to be so complete, and so inevitably whole, I'm going to annihilate the enemy. Even the dogs are going to enjoy the blood of their enemies.
Matt Stokes: 30:57 Now as gnarly as that is, here's what you need to take from that, God is a deliverer. In fact, if you have a pen, you might want to write this right into your Bible. God is a deliverer and a destroyer. it just matters about what side you're on. God will either deliver you or he will destroy you. He is the great judge, and he will separate all of us, like a shepherd separates sheep from goats, like a farmer separates the wheat from the weeds. And there's many parables that go on to explain what this great judge, and with this great King will do. But he is a deliverer, and we all love the deliverer. Praise God, hallelujah. He's also a destroyer, and there are people that are going to suffer the judgment of God. It's so interesting that everyone is so concerned about injustice today, right, injustice. I hear injustice, injustice, someone needs to stand up for justice. Somebody needs to stand up for justice. What about the injustice? Okay, how about God's justice? All of a sudden, do you want to talk about God's justice? No one wants to talk about God's justice. Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, I'm talking about this, I'm talking about that issue. I'm talking about what's happening in Portland. I'm talking about what's happening in California. Okay, what about God's justice? When's the believer going to rise up and say heaven and hell are real, that God's judgment is real, and so is the gospel that stands in between. And say somewhere between the thunderclouds of the Holy wrath of God, and the sinfulness of humanity, stands the cross of Jesus Christ saving us from judgment and death. All these things are real, and the believer today needs to rise up and express the truth of these things, because that is what believers do. We teach the goodness and the severity of God.
Matt Stokes: 32:54 By the way, he's also a destroyer of sin. He can destroy lust. He can destroy your pride. He can destroy your anger. He can destroy your greed. He can destroy your jealousy and envy. He can destroy your prejudice. Whatever it is that you're dealing with in your spiritual life today, he is also a destroyer. And in his heart of justice he would long, and in his heart of love he would long to destroy the works of Satan, the works of darkness, the works of the flesh that may be going on in you and that are going on in me as well. So I thank God that he is a deliver, but I also thank God that he is a destroyer.
Matt Stokes: 33:35 Hmm, All right, I'm going to run through. "They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary." Again, King James language, that means we are watching. We've seen the King as he rides upon his white horse and enters into his Holy temple in Jerusalem, in your sanctuary, in the temple. Then he paints the picture for you, watch this in 25, "The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. (Like tambourines, right?) Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought (past tense) for us" So it gives you this picture. He's like, look, everyone, the music is playing, the dancers are dancing, the women have the tambourines as the great King enters in to the temple on his Holy Hill Jerusalem. And then he mentioned some of the tribes of Israel. Look, even the tribes of Israel here and they're celebrating as well. And then in 25, he says, God is a God of strength. And then he says, "Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought." Past tense, God, what you've done before, do it again. God, what you've done before, do it again. God, the Welsh revivals in 1805, God do it again. God, the great awakening in America with Whitfield and Finney and [inaudible] and Wigglesworth, God do it again. How many of us want to cry out to God and say, God, your strength, Oh God, we want to see your strength, do those great works again. And if that's you, then when will it be, and where will it be? I would like to say it's right now, and it's right here, it's all a matter of our hearts. And if we're willing to be broken before the Lord, and cry out for the revival of the Lord.
Matt Stokes: 35:42 "Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee. Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. 31 Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." So the picture you're getting there is, is of all the people that are the defeated nations of the world. And they're all gathering before this great King, and they're admitting their defeat, and he has conquered them, and they have given their sacrifices, and they have given their testimony, and they've given their allegiance to this great King. And then he says, even Egypt, we all know Egypt kept Israel in bondage for many years. And Ethiopia, of course, you know, is down in Africa, which is a far region from Israel, from Jerusalem. So he's saying the great nations that defeated us, even to Ethiopia, they're going to come and stretch out their hands before you.
Matt Stokes: 36:51 And if you read this, it actually comes from another passage, Isaiah 19, if you want to look it up, God says, there's going to come a day where Egypt is going to stretch out its hands before God. And it's not praise by the way, the Hebrew idiom here is that of need. Like we need you, we want you, we desire you, that's the idea here. They're going to stretch out their hands. There's going to come a day, read it and read it again, Isaiah 19, read it. It says that God is going to afflict them, and they're just going to break in their hearts and stretch out their hands towards God. And then it says, then God's going to receive them, God's going to receive the Egyptians. God's going to receive the Ethiopians. And it says in the Book of Revelation that every tongue, and every tribe, and every nation, and people of every kindred. From every nation is the word ethnos, which means ethnicity. There's a lot of talk today about ethnicity, isn't there? He says, there's going to come a day where every ethnicity is going to surround the throne of the lamb, and say worthy is that lamb. Worthy is that lamb to receive honor, and glory, and blessing, and power, and strength forever.
Matt Stokes: 38:05 Then he closes with just this great, you know, we're talking about perspectives of God's power. He closes with this perspective, of just listen to the power of worship. Verse 32, Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. Ascribe ye strength unto God (That means acknowledge his strength.) Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. O God, thou art terrible (That literally it means awesome.) Thou art awesome out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God." So when I read this, and we'll close here, and I see all these various perspectives of God's power. Again, I was saying earlier with Matthew, we were talking about something else. It's like a diamond with so many infinite multi-facets, that you never get to the end of seeing the perspectives of God's power. Who among us would not want to embrace a God that is this powerful. Watch this now, watch this, and he loves you. A God this powerful, that did not love me, that would be terrible, that would be terrifying. But this God is powerful in all of these perspectives, and he loves me.
Matt Stokes: 39:39 I'm going to tell you the one reason that we probably don't embrace a God of this power, and of this strength, and of this wisdom, and of this magnitude. It may be a different reason for everyone that's going to come through all of these gatherings today, and all around the world. But I could probably sum it up in one word, and that one word would be this...And I'm going to speak for myself. but since I often say this, we're all made at the same stuff. I believe this is true for every one of us, the one thing that keeps us from embracing this God, is idolatry. What? Idolatry. Exodus19, God gives the 10 commandments, He says, "I am the Lord God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You should have no other gods before me." That doesn't mean like you can have some other gods, okay, like, you guys can have some other gods, but I don't want any before me. Like I want to be first, and I want to be before all of them. No, he means before him. Like this, like, there should be no other gods before me, there should be no other gods in this scope of my vision is what God is saying. And somehow when I read the wisdom of God, the power of God, the love of God, somehow there's something in life that grabs a hold of my heart and leads me astray. And I say, Hmm, maybe this is better than God. I want to just challenge you as we finished today, to be careful for the subtle ways that this old school word idolatry can creep into our lives. What is idolatry? Idolatry is anything that's taking the place of God in your life, and that's first place. Anything that you've replaced first place with, other than God, that's idolatry. You could have a great relationship with your wife, but if you love your wife more than you love God, it's idolatry.
Matt Stokes: 41:26 I remember Keith Green, if you guys know who he is. He wrote this song, and it's called, I Pledge Myself To Heaven. And he talks about how he pledges his life, he pledges his heart. And one line, he says, I pledge my wife to heaven for the gospel, though our love keeps growing stronger day by day. But as I told her, when we wed, I'd rather be found dead than to love her more than the one who saved my soul. That's pretty powerful. I hope you have wonderful children, I hope you have beautiful children, but if you love your children more than you love Jesus Christ who saved your soul, that's idolatry. Any relationship that's getting in the way is idolatry. If your financial goals are getting in the way, it's idolatry. If your occupational goals are getting in the way, it's idolatry. If ministry becomes more important to you than the minister with the capital M, it's idolatry. If anything created on the earth is more important than the Creator, it's idolatry.
Matt Stokes: 42:39 So I want to challenge you as you close, as much as I'm challenging myself, that we look at God, and we see him in all of these beautiful, wonderful, powerful perspectives of his greatness, and his glory, and his grandeur, that we embraced them, we acknowledged them, and we worship Him. And with that, Amen.
Recorded in Ocean City, New Jersey.
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