Thanks very much, Al, for reading that for us. I'm just going to pray very briefly before we get going in this psalm.
Heavenly Father, we do ask you to draw near to us this morning and open our ears, give us soft hearts as you speak to us.
And I just pray that you would give me the right words to say, Lord, as I share this psalm with everybody here.
And we ask that in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. So I wonder if you in life, if you've ever found yourself going through the motions.
I wonder if you've ever found it easy to coast along in life, just getting by day to day.
Maybe you've slipped into the mentality at times of living for the weekend.
We've heard that people speaking that way, living for the weekend.
Or maybe you have found yourself living for the holidays.
And maybe if you're a teacher, that's quite an easy thing to do with those big holidays.
Maybe you've slipped into that mentality of going through the motions.
Maybe your view of work isn't the best.
Maybe your heart just isn't in your work or in what you're doing.
I wonder if you've ever felt that way.
I remember, so before I did this job, I worked as an engineer for a while.
And I remember very early on in my work as an engineer, in the coffee station, a few of us from our team were going through and making some coffees.
And I remember one of my colleagues saying, isn't it just wonderful?
We've made it to Wednesday.
Oh, we're on our way to the weekend.
We're more than halfway.
And I just remember thinking, gosh, how have you slipped into that mentality of living for the weekend?
We've still got a whole two days, three days if you include today.
There's more days left in this week than there is in the weekend.
How have you slipped into that mentality?
I think her heart just wasn't in it in her work.
She was going through the motions.
And it can be really easy for us to do that as well.
But I wonder if you've ever gone through the motions in your faith.
Is your heart in it?
Are you going through the motions when God is trying to speak to you?
Maybe you have found it quite tempting to coast through a Sunday message.
Maybe not paying any attention at all.
Happily daydreaming along.
Are you going through the motions when you praise God?
When you sing to God?
Are you just singing for singing's sake?
Are you thinking about what you're singing?
Are you going through the motions when you serve him?
When you serve God, are you doing it because you love him?
Are you going through the motions in your faith?
Are you content to crack on with life and not care about being transformed by the word of God?
Or maybe you're here this morning and you're pretending to be a Christian.
You say all the right things.
You do all the right things.
To all intents and purposes, you look like a genuine believer.
But deep down, you're rejecting Jesus.
I think we all need to sit up and take notice this morning because God cares about where our hearts are this morning.
Whether we are genuine believers or not.
God has left us Psalm 50, which speaks all about our heart posture.
And Psalm 50 cuts straight through our congregation this morning.
And it divides the collective people of God who gather together before him.
And it speaks to the two camps who are here this morning.
Those who are faithfully following Jesus and those who are not.
And I think there's a possible third category.
And I just want to say a word to you.
Maybe you are here this morning and you are earnestly seeking the Lord Jesus.
But maybe you're not quite sure yet.
You're exploring these things.
And that is wonderful.
And you're really welcome here this morning.
And I say to those people in that third camp, do sit and listen to what we have to say today.
And yeah, maybe that will give you some more things to consider as you weigh up whether to follow this Jesus or not.
But we're going to look at this Psalm in three parts.
So do keep it open.
We're going to look, first of all, verses 1 to 6.
How God summons and speaks to his people.
Then in verses 7 to 15, God testifies against coasting Christians.
And then verses 16 to 21, God testifies against pretend Christians.
So God is pulling no punches here in Psalm 50.
It's a serious word this morning.
But let's look at the first six verses.
God summons and speaks to his people.
So you may have noticed Psalm 50 has a really dramatic and powerful opening.
Let's have a closer look at these verses.
So God is drawing back the curtain of reality so that we can see into the spiritual realm.
That is what God is doing.
And we see a heavenly courtroom.
Have you ever been to court?
I wonder.
This is Inverness Castle.
I grew up just north of Inverness.
And people would joke in Inverness that the only way to see inside this castle
was by committing a crime and attending the court that was inside it.
I've still never seen the inside of Inverness Castle.
Have you ever been to court?
Well, hopefully you weren't in the dock.
But maybe as a juror.
And here in this powerful prophetic vision of this heavenly realm,
we see God, the mighty judge.
And we see in verse 1 that God speaks and he summons the earth.
We read in verse 4,
he summons the heavens above and the earth that he may judge his people.
And then in verse 6,
the heavens proclaim that he's a righteous God of justice.
God is a judge.
And he summons his gathered people to come and be judged.
But he is no human judge.
He's not the fellow that sits up the front of the woman with the curly wig.
In verse 1, he's called by three of his names.
Not just one, but three.
Did you notice that?
He is the mighty one.
He is God himself.
And he is the capital L-O-R-D.
The Lord.
The one who makes and keeps covenant promises with his people.
Then in verse 2, it tells us a little bit more about what he's like.
His glory is bursting out of his heavenly realm.
He is perfect in beauty.
Verse 3, he comes with fire.
A fire which devours everything before it.
Think of those wildfires that we sometimes see on the news
that rip through tender dry forests,
tender dry forests,
and they devour everything in their path.
Our God is surrounded by a raging, tempestuous fire.
He is an all-powerful, beautifully glorious,
yet terrifying and awesome judge.
And if we were to see a vision like this one,
we would be absolutely petrified before him.
And he is the same judge who summons us to come and listen to him today.
Now, these verses, the first six verses of Psalm 50,
they're supposed to remind us of two scenes from the Bible.
So the first one is from the past.
So there's one from the past, which we'll look at first of all.
And then there's a vision, sorry, a scene from the future
that we are also reminded of.
So here's some verses from Exodus 19.
And in Exodus 19, God gathered his people before him at Mount Sinai,
and they were utterly terrified by his presence on the mountain.
They were petrified before him.
And it says these words in verse 18.
Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire.
The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace,
and the whole mountain trembled violently.
So God came to them on the mountain.
His presence was there.
They were terrified.
And God made a covenant with them,
a commitment to be their God
and to make them his treasured possession
if they will likewise dedicate themselves to him,
him alone, and live according to his rules.
So this was a covenant that God made with his people at Mount Sinai.
And this covenant was sealed by offering sacrificial animal blood.
That was what they did to seal these promises.
So that was Exodus 19, a scene from the past that we're reminded of.
And now for a scene in the future,
a day in the future that we read about in Revelations chapter 20.
And I'm just going to read these verses.
Then I saw a great white throne,
And him who was seated on it.
And then just skipping on a few words.
And I saw the dead, great and small,
standing before the throne,
and books were opened.
Another book was opened,
which is the book of life.
The dead were judged according to what they had done
as recorded in the books.
So Psalm 50 is also a picture of the day to come
when God will judge all people
according to how they lived their lives.
Whether they've lived for Jesus
or whether they've lived for themselves.
So this God who is dazzlingly glorious,
who's fiercely mighty,
whose presence is a literal furnace,
this is the one that we worship
and who speaks to us this morning.
And he is the one who we will have to give an account to
on that final day.
So are we paying attention to him?
Or are we content to keep going through the motions?
Okay, let's look at our next point.
So God testifies against coasting Christians.
So we've already seen that God is an awesome judge.
He summons and he speaks to his people.
But now in verse seven,
he takes the witness stand
and he testifies against his covenant people.
God says, listen, my people, and I will speak.
I will testify against you, Israel.
I am God, your God.
I'm the God you entered into a covenant
committed relationship with.
But there is something I'm not happy about.
Why is God taking issue with his people in this psalm?
What does he seek to correct in his people?
Well, we see in verse eight that God says,
I'm not rebuking for your sacrifices
or your burnt offerings.
So that's just a wee image of the temple worship,
burnt offerings that were offered for sin.
And God says, I'm not rebuking you for these things,
for your sacrifices.
You're actually very good
at offering your sacrifices to me.
Now, I don't need your bulls or your goats.
Don't you remember that they are mine already?
Every animal of the forest,
all the cattle on a thousand hills.
And if you think about that for a moment,
that is a lot of cattle.
Every bird in the mountains,
every insect in the fields,
all animals in every place on this earth,
they are mine already, he says.
Verse 12, we read,
the whole world is mine and everything in it.
This is not about the sacrifices that you offer,
that my law stipulates.
You're very good at offering me those sacrifices.
But don't you know that I own it all already?
This isn't just about the animals.
And then he goes on in verses 12 and 13,
and he's talking about the people feeding him.
And that's quite a strange image
because we know that God is spirit and he doesn't eat.
But what does God mean when he says this?
What God is saying is,
I don't need you to feed me.
I won't wither away if you fail to give me your bulls and goats.
So under this old covenant that we thought about a minute ago,
when God came down to them on the mountain,
he made them this covenant promise to be their God.
Under this old covenant,
sacrificing animals and offering their blood
was the means that God chose to cover over sin.
But he says in Psalm 50,
it's never been about the animals.
What God really cares about in his people
is the heart behind the sacrifice.
Now we see parallels to this in some other Psalms
and perhaps the most memorable similarity
to this idea of it being about the heart,
we see in Psalm 51.
And we're actually going to go there next Sunday
and Colin Adams is going to come and preach Psalm 51
to us next week.
But it says in Psalm 51,
you do not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it.
You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, oh God, is a broken spirit,
a broken and contrite heart.
You, God, will not despise.
So David in this moment,
he has sinned terribly before God
and he's utterly broken before God.
And David recognizes that God cares
about the heart posture behind the religious action.
In this case, God cares about David's repentant heart
rather than David offering the right sacrifice for his sin.
So it's Psalm 51.
But what heart posture is God seeking in Psalm 50?
Well, I think the key verses are verse 14 and 15.
You can look at them again now.
God says,
sacrifice, thank offerings to God.
Fulfill your vows to the Most High
and call on me in the day of trouble.
God desires gratitude.
God desires commitment.
God desires dependence in his people.
God says,
instead of offering bull after goat after bull,
give me your heart.
Serve me because you love me.
Depend on me because you can't depend on yourself.
By going through the motions of worship
without giving God the devotion he desires,
the Israelites' worship has become empty.
Now, here today, I think that maybe
our worship has become empty.
Are we going through the motions in our faith?
Are we just coming to church because we know we should
rather than because we want to?
Maybe it would look bad if we didn't show up.
Are we nodding along and saying our amens in church
without giving any thought to what is being prayed?
Are we singing to God mindlessly?
Are we thinking about what we're singing?
Are we offering him empty words?
Are we serving him on the church rota
because we love Jesus?
Or because we think our church needs us?
Do we serve God because God needs us?
Does he need our skills?
Remember, God has said he doesn't need anything from us.
He owns it all already.
We ought to examine ourselves this morning.
And I find this a challenge as well.
As I serve you guys as a pastor in training,
am I doing this role because I love Jesus?
Or am I just going through the motions,
just trying to get by,
just getting through that next sermon?
This is a challenge to us all.
And earlier we thought about the difference that Jesus makes.
So Jesus makes a big difference to us today
as Christians living after the cross.
I actually meant to say this paragraph,
but in the excitement of the moment I skipped it.
But basically what I was going to say a little bit early on
when we thought about that old covenant, new covenant,
we know today that Jesus,
by offering himself as a sacrifice,
by offering his blood on the cross,
Jesus seals this new covenant.
Jesus' blood seals this new covenant for us today.
God commits to forgiving us and calling us his people
and helping us through life
and preserving us and bringing us to be with him in heaven
if we will trust in his son Jesus.
And Jesus' blood seals that promise,
this new covenant.
Now, so Jesus makes a big difference for us
living today as Christians post-cross,
so living after the events of the cross.
And we know that in Jesus' life,
he never went through the motions.
His life was marked with total gratitude to the Father,
total commitment to God's will,
and complete dependence on the Father.
And we, living today as Christians, as his people,
we are covered by his perfect record.
Now, we know we struggle to live as God desires.
Sometimes we do lose focus.
Sometimes we're not thinking about what we're saying,
what we're reading, what we're praying.
And that's okay.
Jesus knows that we struggle to live as God desires.
But when God looks at us,
he sees Jesus' perfection,
that unblemished life,
that perfect record.
But also, Jesus has left us his Holy Spirit
to help Christians to live a life of complete devotion to God.
So look to him for help as you seek to live in devotion to God.
Not having empty worship before him.
Not saying empty words, but giving him your heart.
So God speaks to coasting Christians,
but now God testifies against pretend Christians.
We're going to look at the last few verses.
And the psalmist could easily have stopped at the end of verse 15.
That would have been quite a succinct ending,
quite complete.
But God has not finished speaking.
He remains in the witness stand in that court.
And in verse 16, he says,
I'm going to testify against the wicked person now.
I have some words for you.
When God testifies against the wicked person,
who are we talking about?
Who are the wicked?
Well, I think in the context of this passage,
the wicked were Israelites
who were part of the people of God,
part of the gathered congregation of God.
But in their hearts, they were rejecting God.
That is key.
They were part of the people of God,
but deep down, they didn't believe it.
They didn't believe that God was good.
In verses 16 and 17, God says,
What right have you to recite my laws
or take my covenant on your lips?
You hate my instruction.
You cast my words behind you.
You are a hypocrite if you call me one of your people.
Yet you do these things.
You cast my word behind you.
You shut down your ears and your heart
and you say,
No, I don't want to hear what you have to say.
When God's word is spoken,
he speaks it to our hearts.
There's something supernatural going on
when we read his word,
when we have it taught to us.
He speaks it to our hearts.
He convicts us of our sin.
He draws us near to himself.
But the wicked person hates it
when God speaks to their heart,
when he convicts them.
They hate it and they reject it.
They cast it behind them,
as the psalm says.
I don't want to hear it.
Now, I distinctly remember a time in my life
when God was speaking to my heart.
He was telling me to submit myself to him.
He said,
Craig, give me your heart.
Listen.
But I would keep drawing down the shutters.
I remember drawing down the shutters
Sunday after Sunday
and saying,
No, I don't want to do it.
I don't want to listen.
God wanted to soften and soften my heart
and for me to submit myself to him.
And he was persistent.
When God challenges you about something,
when he convicts you in your heart,
when he asks you to submit,
do not cast it behind you.
This is a serious word that he speaks to us
in verse 50, Psalm 50.
God continues in verse 17.
He says,
You're a hypocrite.
If you call yourself one of my people,
yet behind the scenes,
you are doing everything
that the other wicked people are doing.
Do we see that?
In the verses,
you are stealing from others.
You're committing adultery.
Behind the scenes,
you are using your words to deceive people.
You're lying to people.
You're using your words to harm people
and throw them under the bus.
You're using your words
to slander those people
who are close to you,
even those that you love.
You're willing to throw them under the bus.
Now, these actions are obviously wicked.
But what God says is truly wicked
is to call yourself a Christian
while you're doing all these things in secret.
God continues his rebuke
to pretend Christians.
And that's key.
God is speaking to pretend Christians
in these verses.
And in verse 21, he says,
When you do all these things
and I keep silent,
you think you're getting away with it.
If God isn't confronting me
as I do these things,
maybe it must be fine.
I'm getting away with it.
I think it's extremely sobering
when we stop and we imagine
how much evil has been done on this earth
that nobody has witnessed
and nobody will ever know about.
And I wonder how many wicked people
in this earth have done these things
and who think they've gotten away with it.
Well, we know that God sees everything.
And God says to wicked pretend Christians
who've been doing all sorts of evil
behind the scenes
while presenting themselves
as one of God's people,
God says,
I have been silent,
but now I rebuke you.
And I set my accusations before you.
Don't take God's silence
to mean that you're in the clear.
God has been gathering evidence
of your evil hypocrisy
and he's going to lay it out.
He's preparing the case
for the prosecution.
Now we're just going to
bring this psalm to a close.
And this has been some
hard words from the Lord,
but we're going to conclude
the psalm in the same way
that the psalmist does,
looking at the last two verses.
He wraps things up
in verses 22 and 23.
And he's got a word,
first of all,
for pretend Christians,
those who are part of God's people,
but inwardly,
they reject the Lord Jesus.
And then he has a word
for those Christians
who are maybe going
through the motions.
And he wants to speak
to the wicked,
pretend Christians,
first of all.
And he wants to stop them
in their tracks.
And he says,
verse 22,
consider this,
you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces
with no one to rescue you.
God says,
consider,
consider what I have just said to you.
I have seen what you're doing.
I know you're only pretending
to be one of my people.
Yet I've witnessed
what you have been doing
behind the scenes.
we looked at that terrifying,
awesome,
fiery judge
at the beginning.
Jesus is coming back
in blazing glory
as the judge.
And he will judge
the living and the dead
according to what they've done
and whether they've trusted
in him or not.
God says,
turn around.
Trust in my son,
Jesus,
before it's too late.
And there will come a day
when it's too late.
But the good news
of the gospel
is that there is still time
for the wicked
to turn to Jesus
and ask for his forgiveness
and salvation.
Jesus has already suffered
the punishment
that the evil hypocrite
deserves.
He was torn to pieces
on the cross,
but now he offers
rescue
even to the vilest sinner.
That's the good news
of the gospel.
Consider what God says.
Turn around.
Trust in him
before it's too late.
But then the psalmist
continues in verse 23
with a word
for believers
who are going through
the motions
in their faith.
God says,
those who sacrifice
thank offerings,
honor me,
and to the blameless
I will show
my salvation.
Remember,
it's not about
your religious activity.
It's not about
the rotas
that you're serving on.
It's about
your heart posture
behind everything
that you do
for the Lord.
God says,
offer your heart
to me.
Not empty worship.
And there's a promise
in these verses
as well.
Those who are blameless
will see God's salvation.
For Christians
living this side
of the cross,
those who have trusted
in Jesus' work
on the cross,
God looks on them
and he sees
Jesus' perfection.
Those who trust
in Jesus
have been made
blameless
and they will see
God's salvation
in action.
Yes,
Jesus will return
as that same
awesome,
fiery
judge,
but the blameless
will receive him
with joy
because he will be
coming
to rescue them.
Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father,
we just thank you
for these words
that you've left
for us in Psalm 50
that you've preserved
for us, Lord.
Lord,
I appreciate
these are hard words
but thank you
that you do not
let us just
sit along
and coast
but you do
speak to us
into our minds
and in our hearts
in church
and we thank you
that you are
persistent as well
and we thank you
for giving us
these words
from Psalm 50
and to your
gathered people,
Lord,
those that are
maybe going through
the motions
and Lord,
we know that we all
lose focus
and we take our eyes
off you
and we do,
we live for you
for other reasons,
Lord.
We do it for ourselves.
We sometimes look
to worship ourselves
but thank you
for this reminder
to stop
and to look
on your son,
Jesus,
his perfect
blameless life
and he has given us
his spirit
to help us
to walk
with gratitude,
with wholehearted
commitment
to you
and expressing
our dependence
to you
in prayer,
Lord,
and we know
that we can't
depend on ourselves
so thank you
for giving us
your spirit
and for these words
and help us
to just offer you
our hearts
and not empty worship,
Lord.
And Lord,
for those
that are maybe here
who've been putting
on a good show,
Lord,
who are calling
themselves one
of your own
yet behind the scenes
they don't believe it.
God,
I do just pray
that you would
have mercy
and that you would
just help these people
to come back to you
and you know
who they are
and would you help
them to trust
in your son,
Jesus.
Would you open
their eyes
and that they would
trust and believe it,
believe in your son.
We thank you
for your mercy
in giving us this psalm
and we pray
that you'd help us
as we turn
to sing to you now.
Would you help us
to offer you
our wholehearted praise
because you've done
so much for us
and you've suffered
on the cross for us
and we thank you so much.
We ask all this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.