The Great King

Morning all. I was smiling because we did that story last week with the kids and I don't think Caleb could last 45 seconds waiting for something that he had been promised.

! So the other Caleb did well, waiting for 45 years and God fulfilling his promises.

And as I was just reflecting on what Pete was saying this morning, there's actually quite a lot of what we are going to think about today that is echoed in that story of Caleb and in the little series that the boys and girls are going through.

But as we come to our passage this morning, we have, as Stuart has already alluded to, a very small but yet powerful.

It may not appear much at first reading, but there's so much that's going to be packed in here that we will probably just scratch the surface as we look at it this morning.

And I'm kind of glad that we started with a clap in this morning. I don't promise to be as charismatic as Wayne was.

But as you can see here in our opening verse, we're encouraged to be a little bit more responsive and a little bit more demonstrative in our response to what we know and understand about God.

My father-in-law was here a couple of weeks ago and he said, well, I would have given a few more amens, but Brunsfield is a hard crowd.

So I don't know what necessarily he meant by that, but if you want to say an amen this morning, then that is completely fine.

But before we leave today, I want to ask you two questions.

And I hope that by what I'm about to say over the next half hour or so will help us to answer those questions and to feel the challenge that this chapter, this psalm is going to bring to us.

But first, let me ask you a different question.

And the question is, what were you doing on Saturday the 6th, 2023?

Saturday the 6th, 2023.

Now, as you're thinking about that, let me just tell you what I was doing.

It was a beautiful day.

I went up to the Cairngorms with some of my friends.

In fact, it was the folks that were in the kitchen at Faskerley.

So Bill and Donna and Marianne and Julian was there and possibly Alexei.

But one other friend was there and we had a nice breakfast and we went a good walk and we paddleboarded in Lockgarten in the afternoon.

And then we went for a nice steak.

That's what I did.

And Rachel, on the other hand, was working the back shift and I'm sure not as pleasant for her.

But what were you doing?

Now, for those who have a good memory, you'll know what you were doing that day.

For those of you who have a sharp mind, you probably have guessed what you were doing that day if you have thought about where we are in the Book of Psalms here.

But I can tell some of you what you were doing that day.

And that was that you were watching this gentleman here being crowned as King Charles III.

And that was on the 6th of May, 2023.

I might have misspoke a wee minute ago and said March, but I meant May.

6th of May, 2023, this chap before us was crowned and there was a coronation.

And as I say, I wasn't there.

I didn't watch it.

I didn't even watch it afterwards.

So I'm not a very good subject in the King's Kingdom, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

But I'm going to take a guess and say that on that day, the majority of kings and queens and heads of nation states would have been there in person or watching on TV.

And in fact, if you believe the reports, then it says up to 400 million people, which is pretty crazy when you think there's only about 80 million people in Britain.

But 400 million people would have watched that live.

And since that time, maybe up to two billions, a quarter of the planet, we have witnessed the crowning of our king here in the United Kingdom.

And I'm sure that that coronation might have brought much joy to some people and happiness.

And as an expression of that, then the likelihood would have been there'd be a lot of clapping.

But I don't know because I didn't watch it, but I'm going to take a good guess at that this morning.

So now our psalm starts in a similar vein this morning.

And I'm going to have to assume that I'm hoping that most people here have a little bit of Bible knowledge.

I'll try and make this easy for us to understand because I'm aware that we don't spend a huge amount of time in the Old Testament.

And sometimes the chronological history of the Old Testament can get a little bit mixed up,

especially if we're going to take a stab at who wrote this psalm this morning.

But it starts in a similar vein.

And Israel is inviting all the peoples to clap and to sing and to shout with joyful applause.

But in stark contrast to what we see in King Charles, the second verse tells us,

For he is a great king over the whole earth and one that we should reverence.

Not only is there a universal summons, so not just two billion people, but there's a universal summons in this,

that clap your hands, all peoples, and shout to God with loud songs of joy.

For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.

So not just a universal summons, an invitation to praise and to worship God,

but there's a universal reign, a universal sovereignty over the whole earth.

So unlike, as I say, unlike Charles, where some people might say he's like Marmite,

you might love him or hate him.

And he certainly has a very diminished reign in the United Kingdom and certainly across the world in our day and age.

Well, the psalms is, the cis psalm is completely different.

This psalm is about a great king seated on his throne and the praise and the worship that is due to him.

Now, interestingly, we sang,

Behold our God seated on his throne.

Come, let us adore him.

Behold our king.

Nothing can compare.

Come, let us adore him.

And you'd be forgiven if you mistook us for the nation of Israel,

witnessing God's great hand in victory and over the mighty enemy and the people coming to sing praises to him.

Now, what I want to do this morning is just start with some simple observations from this chapter.

And despite regularly being asked to keep your Bibles open and then never looking at them,

we are going to look at it this morning.

I want you to cast your eye in this chapter 47.

So keep your Bibles open and we're going to have a look at that today.

Now, just as I was, it might have been late last night,

I was having a little flick through the reels to my shame.

And there was a little reel that came up from Keswick Convention.

And the lady that was interviewed said that she was really reminded that God is the God of the past, the present and the future.

He's the same yesterday and today and forever.

And in this psalm that we are going to look at this morning,

we are going to have a little think about the past.

We're going to have a think about the present and we're going to have a think about the future.

But let's just have a look at these, the psalm itself and just observe.

And it's on the screen for anybody that's taking notes,

but hopefully this will help you just to work out what the psalm is all about,

because there's a lot of repetition in the psalm.

And we see there in verses one and two that there's an encouragement for us to praise God.

First of all, we see that there's this rejoicing, loud songs of joy,

and it's a universal invitation to all people to come and to praise.

And the reason for that, as we see in verse two, is that he is a king over all the earth, a great king.

And it's a universal sovereignty.

So we see this encouragement to praise.

Then we see in verses three and four, a display of power.

God is the king in this.

Sam is subduing the people under us and the nations under our feet,

choosing a heritage for us, which is the pride of Jacob, whom he loves.

And we see in this a sort of restoration of Israel.

Now, we'll see that in the past, and we'll also have a think about what that means for the future.

And then we see this exaltation.

Now, I'm going to use that word, exaltation of God.

If you don't know what that means, it just simply means the elevation that God is elevated.

And we see there that God has gone up with a shout,

the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

And there's an exaltation, an elevation of God.

And this refers to him ascending to a royal throne.

The idea here is that the great king has taken his throne

and therefore receives the shout of praise as he does so.

And then we always have this repetition.

We've got another encouragement to praise.

You'll see that, an invitation to sing praises to God, to sing praises,

sing praises to our king, sing praises.

And the reason for God is the king of all the earth.

And then again, we've got a second invitation or a third invitation to sing praises with a psalm.

And we're told again, the reason for that,

because God reigns over the nations and he sits on his holy throne.

And then in verse 9, we see this allegiance, this display of allegiance.

And you see there all of the heads of states, all of the kings, all of the, if you read the King James,

obviously the shields you might have in your Bible, princes.

I have in my Bible shields.

And I forget what Stuart read in the NIV.

But this is a display of the Gentiles coming and showing allegiance to the king who is on the throne.

It's this invitation that Israel has given to the Gentiles to come.

And we see there that they are also gathered as the people of the God of Abraham are gathered alongside them.

And they are there before the king.

And then lastly, we have that exaltation again, where it says this,

he is highly exalted.

He has been lifted up.

He is elevated.

Now, this poem is obviously being penned by somebody who has witnessed the display of God's sovereign power.

And if we spend any time pondering this, then it could be any, it could be one or two people that we come to.

Now, in our chapter here, we see that God has subdued the people.

So this is not something that the Judah or Israel have done on their own accord.

They've gone out and won a mighty battle.

It's very much something that the Lord has done for them.

And it might have been after a victory like we see in 2 Chronicles 20,

when the Moabites and the Ammonites and the great multitude that came from Syria

came up against Jehoshaphat the king, and they were defeated without a battle.

It could be David that penned this.

If you read Charles Spurgeon, then he thinks that David might have penned the psalm,

and that could have been after the defeat of the Philistines and that story that we recite about Goliath.

Or it may have been, as I think it was,

when the Assyrians under the king Sennacherib were camped out against Judah

during the reign of King Hezekiah.

And the army was besieged in Jerusalem, as we read about in 2 Kings 19.

And the angel of the Lord smote 185,000 of the Assyrian army while they slept.

And that was in the days of King Hezekiah.

So I think, and I think it's probable, that Hezekiah wrote this psalm,

along with 46 and 48.

These are a little trilogy of psalms that are often sung together.

And I also think he might have penned 45, but let's not get distracted by that.

But in between these two great kings that we thought about, David and King Hezekiah,

all of the psalms were pretty much penned in that three,

not exclusively, but in general, all of the psalms were penned in that 300-year reign.

So somewhere between David and Hezekiah.

And it's written, as we see at the top of our psalm there,

it says to the choir master, a psalm of the sons of Korah.

It's written to the sons of Korah to sing.

And as you know, the sons of Korah, as you read about,

have come through the Levitical line.

So that means that they have the honor of serving in the temple.

And they played a significant role in the worship, in the music, in the praises.

They served as gatekeepers and custodians, and more importantly, as the choir.

And this is a song that's been written to them to sing.

And then, in addition to this, the Hissabrooks would tell us that the Jewish people still sing that today,

especially on Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year.

And that is just a reminder to them that God is on his eternal throne.

But there's no doubt about it, even though that we see that there's a historical context to this.

It has been penned after one of these mighty victories of God,

that there's a prophetical aspect in mind with the ascension of the Messiah to his throne.

And as he does so, he celebrates his reign over the whole earth.

Now, as we know, that hasn't happened.

So it's something that is going to happen in the future.

It's a prophecy that is still to be fulfilled at the second coming of the Lord Jesus.

But Jesus, we've thought about the past, and we've kind of thought about what's going to happen in the future.

Not in great detail, and we'll maybe get into some more of that in a little bit.

But Jesus reigns today.

And not in the way that we see as a physical throne here,

but he reigns in the lives of those of us who are willing to submit to him.

Those of us who have accepted him as Lord and Saviour.

And his rule is a spiritual kingdom.

You know, we're told that the world lies in the lap of the wicked one,

and we are in no doubt as we look across our land of that this morning.

But when he, that is Christ, the Messiah, when he comes to set up his kingdom on this earth,

and to rule in righteousness, the rule, he will rule the whole earth.

There's no earthly king that is doing that today.

But when he comes, he will rule the whole earth.

And he will subdue the nations that rage against him and his people.

And the Bible tells us that he will rule with an iron rod.

He will defeat the people that come up against us.

In fact, in Psalm 2, it says this,

As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill,

I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me,

You are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

and the ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with an iron rod,

and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

And we're in no doubt that this is referring to the Lord Jesus,

because it tells us that in Hebrews chapter 1,

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

as we thought about when Wayne was speaking a fortnight ago.

But what does this psalm have for us today?

You know, as we saw in our study in Psalm 46 last week,

there are some practical and some spiritual lessons for us today.

You know, we saw the elevation of God as their king in a historical setting,

in this poetic form that we have before us.

And it has, with a view of the Messiah,

who despite being rejected by the Jews,

they said, we will not have this to reign over us,

and they rejected him.

Despite being rejected by the Jews at his first coming,

his first advent,

he will fulfill that literally in the future.

That is what the Jews are waiting for.

They're waiting for a king to come

and to set up his throne

and to set up his kingdom.

And he will be elevated on a reigning throne in Jerusalem,

on that holy Mount of Zion.

And as we've seen in our little passage here,

not only will the people of the God of Abraham be there,

but the nations will be there as well

as the people,

as the nation tells the Gentiles,

invites them to come

and to sing praises to God

for all that he has done

and for all that he is going to do.

But for now,

as Craig puts it last week,

we're in the bit in the middle.

I think he referenced that a few times.

Well, that is the church age.

That is what we know as the church age,

a day of God's grace to all men,

a day in which all who call upon the Lord

will be saved.

Even though there's an invitation here

in the future to all men

to come and to see the Lord,

there's an invitation for us today.

And that invitation is extended to us

because Christ died upon a cross.

He took the punishment for your sin

and for mine.

And he invites us to trust him this morning.

Paul pens in Romans,

he says,

to confess with our mouths

that he is the Lord Jesus

and to believe in our hearts

that he was resurrected from the grave

by God, our Father.

And he's ascended.

He's gone up.

He's been elevated.

And again,

as a Hebrew writer would tell us

that he is seated at the right hand

of the majesty on high

and he is interceding for his people.

You know,

he promises those who trust him salvation.

He promises them sanctification.

And if we submit to him

and we allow him to rule in our hearts,

then God has a list of promises for us.

And just as the nation are waiting

for the fulfillment of the promises

that God has given to them,

as God's people in this church age,

there is promises that God has given to us

that some of them will be partly witnessed

and seen and experienced by us,

like we have seen as a parallel

to what the nation saw

as God defeated enemies in those days.

Like the promises

that we're going to think about here,

we can experience somewhat of them today,

but there'll be a full,

there'll be a full fulfilling of them

in the future.

And God promises us salvation

to all who believe in his son.

We read about that in Romans chapter one.

And there's no greater blessing for us

than the blessing of salvation.

He promises that all things will work out

for good for his children.

Again, that's something that Paul writes in Romans.

And I know that could be slightly difficult

and a lot of people go through very tough times.

Both spiritually and physically and emotionally.

But this is a view of the broader picture

that keeps us from being dismayed

at our present circumstances.

You know, he promises us comfort in our trials.

You know, again, that most of these promises

come through what Paul has written to us

in his letters.

In 2 Corinthians 5,

he promises us new life in Christ.

Salvation is the beginning

of a brand new existence.

He promises, again,

when we come to Ephesians,

every spiritual blessing in Christ.

You know, whereas the Old Testament,

Israel had the promise of physical blessings,

the church today has been promised

spiritual blessings

in the heavenly realms.

And as Ian reminded us

in the breaking of bread

last week,

in 1 Peter in chapter one,

our inheritance

is reserved for us.

God promised to finish the work

that he starts in us

in Philippians in chapter one.

You know, God doesn't do anything

by half measures.

He doesn't just half save us

as we've thought about.

In fact, I think Jamie McEldin

maybe mentioned this

when we're in Fascally.

Not only has he justified us

in salvation

and he is sanctifying us,

that is, he is cleansing us,

he is purifying us

and one day that he will,

it glorifies us.

What he has started,

he will complete

and that is a promise

for each and every believer

for the future.

And he's also promised,

just the last one in Philippians

in chapter four,

he's promised that when we pray

that he will grant us peace.

You know, his peace

is our protection.

It will guard our hearts

and our minds in Christ.

And because of all of this,

then we should sing his praises.

We should worship God.

You know, there's a time

and a place for emotions.

And as I say, you know,

or as Jim said,

you know, we might be

a tough crowd at Brunsfield,

but there's a time

and a place for emotions.

Last week, we were thinking

about in Psalm 46,

be still and know

that I am God.

And we were thinking

about the trials

and the tribulations

that were happening

at this time.

But today,

there's an invitation

to clap and to shout

and to be joyful.

Now, when it comes

to the gospel,

we're actually reminded

to be ready in every season

and at every turn

and every emotion

to give an account

of the hope

that is within us.

The hope of that God

will carry out

what he has promised us.

You know, we should preach

the gospel even when

we don't feel like it.

For God is a mighty God.

In all that we do

and all that we say,

we should live lives

that worship him.

You know, it brings me back

to verse 7

in this chapter,

if you want to have

a look at it.

In verse 7,

it says,

Sing ye praises

with a psalm

or a mascal.

Now,

or as the King James

puts it,

with understanding

or instruction.

Now, a mascal

is a psalm

that is didactic.

It means that it is

meant to teach us something

or it's contemplative

in its nature

and it's suggesting

that the psalm

is intended to impart

some kind of wisdom

or instruction.

And we are encouraged here

to sing praises

with a psalm

or a mascal

or with understanding.

The idea here is that

when we praise God

and we worship him,

we do so with the knowledge

of what God has already

performed

as a proof

of the promise

that he can

and will deliver

what he has promised us.

Now,

for the nation of Israel,

as they sing this

every year

at their New Year Day

festival,

they are looking forward

to a time

where there will be

a physical blessing

for him.

But for us,

we know that

God will carry out

the promises

that we have thought about

about our salvation

and our sanctification

and one day

that we will go

to be with him

and as we've thought

about already this morning

in the breaking of bread

that we will be like him

for we will see him

as he is.

You know,

Paul, I think,

sums this up

in 1 Corinthians 14

and in verse 15

it says this,

What am I to do?

I will pray with my spirit

and I will pray

with my mind also.

I will sing

with my spirit

but I will sing

with my mind also.

And I wanted to leave you

with a quote

from John MacArthur

this morning.

I'm sure that many of you

will know that he has been

called home to be

with the Lord this week

and he says this,

he is doing,

he's doing a series

in John

and he's talking

about worship

and he references

the phrase that we have

here in Psalm 47

and it says,

Sing ye praises

with understanding.

Sing ye praises

with understanding.

All worship

must be based on truth.

Worship is not simply

holding hands

and swaying back and forward

or having ecstatic experiences,

having experiences

that have no meaning

or content.

No, that is not worship.

You know, worship

is not even a good feeling

as good as good feelings are.

Worship is an expression

of praises

from the depth

of the heart

towards God

who is understood

as he is truly revealed.

Sing ye praises

with understanding.

And, you know,

not only should we

worship God

for his sovereign rule,

but we should worship him

for keeping

all of his promises

and in doing so

we should think about

what we are

praising God for.

It's easy to come

and sing the words

on the screen

on a Sunday morning

but are they from our heart?

Is it from a response

of what God has done for us?

Each and every one of us here,

if he's saved us,

if he has strengthened us,

if he's comforted us

this week

and we come

as an act of worship.

You know,

when we come

and we break bread

on a Sunday morning,

we're not really

telling God

anything new.

We're offering

to him worship

that we have taken

from his scripture,

the things that we have

learned about

the Lord Jesus

that has been revealed

to us

in his word.

And yes,

we experience them

in our walk

with the Lord,

in the day-to-day living

and in the good times

and the bad.

But really,

if we're going to know

who God is,

what he's done,

what he will do

for us in the future,

we come back to scripture

and we learn from it.

And when we come

to remember the Lord Jesus

on a Sunday morning

upstairs,

we give back to God

what he has given us.

In fact,

a slight tangent here,

but David this morning

talked about the loaves

and the fishes

that were brought

to the Lord Jesus

and he multiplied them.

Well,

ultimately,

that provision

that was given back

to God

was only a provision

that he had given

in the first place.

And that is what we do

when we come to worship

the Lord Jesus,

to sing praises to him.

And when we really see

that our egos,

that our stature,

how big we think

about ourselves,

all we're really doing

is coming back

to worship him

and praise him

for who he is

and what he has done

and everything

that he has given us

in his provision.

So in conclusion

to our psalm this morning,

there is a king

that is coming

and he will set up

a kingdom

and he will reign

in that kingdom

for a thousand years.

You know,

Psalm 47

is not just

a piece of ancient poetry.

It's also a prophecy.

In fact,

the whole of the Old Testament

is really a prophecy

when you start

to dig into it.

This psalm looks forward

to a day

when every tribe

and every tongue

and every nation

will bow

before the king

of all the earth.

But until then,

what should we do?

We should wait

and we should worship

and we should witness

to those

who are without.

Now,

at the beginning

I said I wanted

to leave you

with two questions

this morning

and the two questions

are this.

Do I live

like Jesus

has sovereign reign

in my life?

One day he's going

to reign

this whole earth

and yet

we think

we are going

to keep back

a little bit

of our lives

for ourselves.

Have we surrendered

our all

to him

for all that

he has done

for us?

Do I live

like Jesus

has sovereign reign

in my life?

That's a question

I want you to take away

and ponder this week

as you reread this psalm.

And then this last question

that I've got for you

is this.

Is my worship joyful?

Is it scriptural?

Is it expectant

that God will fulfil

the promises

that he has given

to us?

Shall we pray?

Our Heavenly Father

we come

before you this morning

and we thank you

that you

are a good God.

We thank you

that you

are a great God

and in your love

and in your care

and in your provision

for us

our Father

we thank you

that you have

offered us salvation

through your son

the Lord Jesus.

Our Father

as we come

to worship

and to praise you

this morning

we come

because of all

that Jesus

has done.

Our Father

we thank you

that he has saved us

that he has redeemed us

that he has put

a new song

in our mouths

that he has given us

a hope

that we

will one day

go to be with him

and to be like him

and our Father

we come this morning

to say thank you

for all that you

have blessed us with

and given us

in the Lord Jesus.

Our Father

we just ask

that as we have

thought about this

psalm this morning

that you will grant us

ears to hear

that you will grant us

understanding

and as we come

to worship

and to praise you

in the week

and the weeks

that lie ahead

our Father

we just pray

that we might see

something of your

beauty

and of your majesty

as we see you

high and lifted up

and so our Father

we thank you

for this time

that we've had

this morning

and we just pray

that you will bless us now

for we ask these things

giving thanks

in Jesus name

Amen

Amen