WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.320 Psalm 93, it's a very short psalm, only five verses, but it packs a punch. 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:19.140 Very forceful psalm. Let me read it out loud. Talk about it briefly. 00:00:19.140 --> 00:00:30.380 The Lord reigns. He is robed in majesty. The Lord is robed. He has put on strength as his belt. 00:00:31.579 --> 00:00:38.740 Yes, the world is established. He shall never be moved. Your throne is established from abode. 00:00:39.540 --> 00:00:46.900 You are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. 00:00:46.899 --> 00:00:53.379 The floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters. 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:57.920 Mightier than the waves of the sea. The Lord on high is mighty. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:08.180 Your decrees are very trustworthy. Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore. 00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:17.260 It's a structure of the psalm as five triads, roughly following the verse divisions. 00:01:18.060 --> 00:01:24.100 And in the first two-thirds of the verse one, we're told three times about God clothing himself, right? 00:01:24.260 --> 00:01:28.700 Robing himself. The Lord reigns. He's robed in majesty. That's the first time. 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:33.120 The Lord is robed. Second time, and he has put on strength. That's the third time. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:39.480 He's putting on strength. And that last phrase, putting on strength, is used throughout scripture to refer to being equipped for battle. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:43.840 So, for example, in 2 Samuel 22, 40, he says, 00:01:43.939 --> 00:01:47.600 For you equipped me with strength. It's the exact same phrase in Hebrew. 00:01:48.020 --> 00:01:50.280 Equipped me with strength for the battle. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:53.380 Same thing is said in Psalm 18, 39. 00:01:53.379 --> 00:01:58.099 So, it's the image of God basically clothing himself as the warrior king. 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:04.859 He's clothing himself, roping himself, girding himself with the belt, the strength to go out for battle. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:09.000 And the Lord is robed with majesty and strength. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:14.639 And he has established his rule, his throne, forever over this world. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:20.299 And that's what we see in the second triad, which begins from the end of verse 1 to all of verse 2. 00:02:21.139 --> 00:02:21.819 It says, 00:02:22.279 --> 00:02:24.919 Yes, the world is established. That's the first thing that's established. 00:02:25.359 --> 00:02:27.079 Secondly, it shall never be moved. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:29.539 Your throne is established from of old. 00:02:30.059 --> 00:02:33.099 And then lastly, you, yourself, is from everlasting. 00:02:33.299 --> 00:02:34.279 You are from everlasting. 00:02:35.119 --> 00:02:37.479 And the Lord established the world. 00:02:37.659 --> 00:02:39.319 He established his rule over it. 00:02:39.359 --> 00:02:41.299 And then he himself is from everlasting. 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:48.200 That triad really is kind of talking about the fact that the world is immovable and that God is unchangeable. 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:49.060 He doesn't change. 00:02:49.160 --> 00:02:51.939 His rule is not up for grabs. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.100 It's, right, someone was, I saw somebody talking about the election, right? 00:02:57.600 --> 00:02:59.939 All those house seats, they're up for grabs. 00:03:00.180 --> 00:03:01.600 God's throne is never up for grabs. 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:02.660 He's sovereign. 00:03:02.860 --> 00:03:04.280 He's established his rule forever. 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:12.719 And in verse 3, we find a challenger to this warrior king. 00:03:13.900 --> 00:03:16.520 And repeats three times, right? 00:03:17.020 --> 00:03:18.599 The floods have lifted up, O Lord. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:20.599 The floods have lifted up their voice. 00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:22.920 The floods lift up their roaring. 00:03:22.919 --> 00:03:32.379 I mean, the floods really, in ancient Near Eastern kind of mindset, in imagery, represent all the forces of chaos and evil. 00:03:32.379 --> 00:03:52.000 And so you can really attribute, kind of substitute that with that word, the floods, with anything in your life that's really evil, suffering, difficult things, results of sin, that are kind of rebelling against God and his creation order in our lives. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:04:03.500 And all the things in the world, rulers and empires that set themselves against the Lord, evil, suffering in the world, difficult circumstances of our own lives that make us question God's sovereign rule over us. 00:04:03.780 --> 00:04:07.759 All of these are floods that lift up and raise their voice against God. 00:04:09.639 --> 00:04:16.500 And then verse 4, we find the outcome, right, of this challenger. 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:24.740 And verse 4, mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty. 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:28.459 Once again, three times, mighty, mighty, all-powerful. 00:04:29.699 --> 00:04:33.660 You might think that the enemies that we face are mighty. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:36.759 You might think that the problems you face are mighty. 00:04:36.860 --> 00:04:43.100 You might think that the evil and sin in your own heart and in this world are mighty. 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:45.680 But the Lord is mightier still. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:47.300 He is the one that's mighty. 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:49.160 He's on high. 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:51.319 In fact, he says, right, he's on high. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:56.920 The Lord on high is mighty, meaning beyond the reach of these thundering waves, thuring waves that are below us. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:02.199 The challenger has thrown his best punch, but the Lord is not phased in the least, right? 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:04.079 The waves can't even reach him. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:05.819 That's the picture that's being painted here. 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:08.660 And then verse 5 is the application for the believer. 00:05:09.460 --> 00:05:13.720 For these reasons, it says, your decrees are very trustworthy. 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:17.040 Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore. 00:05:17.200 --> 00:05:18.700 Because God is king forever. 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:21.540 Because his reign is established beyond doubt. 00:05:21.880 --> 00:05:26.540 His decrees, his word, his testimonies are very trustworthy. 00:05:27.220 --> 00:05:28.840 It's really exceedingly trustworthy. 00:05:28.960 --> 00:05:30.100 That's what that expression means. 00:05:30.840 --> 00:05:32.480 And do we really believe that, right? 00:05:33.060 --> 00:05:38.040 Do we believe that when the waves of our lives are thundering around us, roaring about us, 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:42.439 that what God has said is very trustworthy, right? 00:05:42.960 --> 00:05:45.020 Do we take God at his word, right? 00:05:46.180 --> 00:05:51.360 When our circumstances don't seem to match up with the things that God has told us, God has promised to us, 00:05:51.740 --> 00:05:54.000 do we still live by what he has said? 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:58.439 Do we still live by what we believe, or do we live by what we feel and see, right? 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:06.480 And because God's decrees are very trustworthy, it says holiness befits God's house, right? 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:11.720 Holiness captures the idea of something that is sacred, set apart from things that are common. 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:17.159 And God's house is something that is set apart for God, set apart from the rest of the world. 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:22.500 And the word house also can mean, it contains the idea of a household. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:30.240 And that idea is taken up in the New Testament because it describes the people of God as the temple of God, right? 00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:32.080 The dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. 00:06:32.840 --> 00:06:35.120 And we are also the family of God. 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:39.760 And because God's decrees are very trustworthy, God's people should follow them. 00:06:39.760 --> 00:06:46.120 And following God's very trustworthy decrees, we should become increasingly characterized by holiness. 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:52.699 People who are set apart for God, for his special purposes, consecrated to him forevermore. 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:56.800 And when we examine our own lives, right? 00:06:56.980 --> 00:07:02.980 If someone were able to get kind of a long view of our entire life, right? 00:07:03.480 --> 00:07:09.519 And to see all the details, everything we say, everything we do, everything we buy, everything we watch. 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:14.720 Would we look like people who have been consecrated to God? 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:17.340 Set apart for a special purpose. 00:07:17.460 --> 00:07:18.360 Would we look like that? 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:25.020 Someone that is given wholly to this God who is robed in majesty and strength. 00:07:25.640 --> 00:07:28.120 Or does it look like we belong to another? 00:07:28.920 --> 00:07:29.460 Someone else. 00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:35.580 And the predominant metaphor in the psalm of God as the warrior king, right? 00:07:35.580 --> 00:07:40.100 Who subdues, deceives, is fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament. 00:07:40.100 --> 00:07:44.720 And you guys can probably think of instances where that comes out. 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:45.320 Right? 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:49.320 It's well known in the Old Testament that only God can tame the sea. 00:07:49.939 --> 00:07:50.780 Only God. 00:07:51.700 --> 00:07:55.439 God is described as the one who walks over the seas. 00:07:55.560 --> 00:07:57.439 He's the one that sets a boundary for the sea. 00:07:57.939 --> 00:08:01.700 And then throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus silencing the winds, right? 00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:03.439 And causing the storms to cease. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:08.920 In Mark 4.39, it says that Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:10.459 Peace, be still. 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:12.219 And the wind ceased. 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:13.800 And there was a great calm. 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:17.459 It shows that because Jesus is the Son of God. 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:23.199 Because he is the Lord of creation that the Jews have been worshipping throughout the Old Covenant. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:29.720 But the greatest storm that he calms is not the physical storm, right? 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:33.840 But it's what did Jesus come to do? 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:35.899 He came to seek and save the lost, right? 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:42.060 He came so that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, right? 00:08:42.139 --> 00:08:43.879 Of whom I am the worst, Paul says, right? 00:08:44.560 --> 00:08:51.360 And I think that's when the unrelenting waves of our sins are lifting up their voice against God 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:52.879 and they're clamoring for justice. 00:08:53.320 --> 00:08:57.480 Jesus is the one that proves mightier than the thunders, mightier than the thundering waves. 00:08:57.480 --> 00:09:00.759 He's the one that proves mightier than the waves of the sea. 00:09:01.420 --> 00:09:03.360 And he died on the cross for our sins. 00:09:03.500 --> 00:09:05.960 So that our sins can be forgiven by God. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:08.259 So that our sins on our part are dealt with. 00:09:08.680 --> 00:09:11.460 And then so that God's wrath can be satisfied. 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:14.139 So that his wrath against us can be satisfied. 00:09:14.220 --> 00:09:18.759 So that both barriers, keeping us from God and keeping God from us, is removed in Jesus. 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:25.100 And we are able to reign with him, join him, be united with Christ. 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:28.779 And so Jesus, having been raised from the dead and ascended to the heaven, 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:31.100 he's the one that reigns as this eternal king. 00:09:31.420 --> 00:09:37.680 And the main message really of this psalm is that the Lord Jesus is the eternal king whom we should trust and follow. 00:09:37.920 --> 00:09:41.700 That God, the Lord God, is the eternal king whom we should trust and follow, 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:44.379 no matter how difficult things might get. 00:09:44.379 --> 00:09:46.240 That God has been saved from the dead and conc kneading. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:47.939 of His life, the end of Jesus, for the dead and of his life, 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.139 He is the eternal kingdom where God has secured. 00:09:50.460 --> 00:09:53.059 That a long term Holy Wolf will chant, 00:09:53.419 --> 00:09:58.580 Capricult and times its doom God. 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:02.580 ong Espero for all our things 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.659 and he continues to cheer you to force him. 00:10:05.860 --> 00:10:08.419 We do, we do, chattering and show God. 00:10:08.779 --> 00:10:09.820 Is that right now?