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sermon: Psalm Genres (Part Eight): Wisdom Psalms

Applying God's Teaching in Life
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 01-Aug-26; Sermon #1887; 84 minutes

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In preparing for today's sermon, I spent some time reading a few 100 quotations about wisdom. Uh, something, this is something I do just to kind of give an, get an idea of what other people think about it various subjects, and I thought, well, I'm going to speak about wisdom. I might as well start there. And obviously there were some very good quotations about wisdom makes one think and I could have used them in the sermon. I will not, um, because I do not want to make my sermon quoting 200 quotations of about wisdom. But what caught my attention. In reading all of those quotations was that men have. A vast divergence of opinion. About what wisdom actually is. My trusty new Oxford American Dictionary defines it thusly, quote, the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. The soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment, unquote. Now, this definition is very general, quite secular. And likely acceptable to most people because that's essentially what they think of it. That it's just uh, the quality of, of having good judgment based on knowledge and, and experience. Now the etymology of the word wisdom. May provide some helpful background. It's an Anglo-Saxon word. It was wisdom back then, very Germanic and of course it came from German languages that it descended from Proto-German visas. And then all the way back as far as they can take it, it was Proto Indo-European vibe. WEID and it meant to see or to know. So even in its distant origins, um. The word wisdom. The idea of wisdom has been connected to perception and insight. Thus being able to see or to know the right way. Uh, the right answer, the right next step, if you will. But I think the sages, the philosophers, and the prominent figures that, that came up with those quotations that I mentioned earlier would probably quibble. With such a simple definitionBoth the definition that was in my dictionary and this overall definition from the word origin. And the reason why they would quibble about it is because they understood wisdom as something more. Uh, Something intangible that they could not quite get their, their hands around their minds around even. Uh, it was something beyond something other. That, that was hard to put into words and so they were forced to um describe it in various ways to try to make it more understandable not just as being able to make a good decision but um that. Extra essence or quality that's, that is a part of wisdom. So to them, it was not just knowledge or experience applied well. But there was some. I'll just say spiritual essence beyond. That simple definition. There was something more, and they were right. They, but they could not really understand it. Some of them saw it as an expression of the true heart, almost combining it with the, the conscience, you know, a person's conscience, you know, the, their soul, their, their. More esoteric self. Um, some thought it was the positive result of overcoming foolishness, which is, you know, likely if you, if you get out of a fullest stage, then you move toward wisdom. Um, some thought that wisdom's rightful foundation was suffering and that you could only have true wisdom if you had suffered. Uh, others described it or explained it as demonstrations of pure happiness in the classical sense that everything was well ordered, um, or that it was the demonstration of true love. Not true Romantic love, but true love as we might understand it in the agape way that you were, it was a sacrificial love and whenever you were applying a kind of sacrificial love, you were walking in wisdom, um. Some of them could not uh describe it other than just plain old sense. You know, we'd say horse sense or something like that, that, that you know, it's just common sense, so the, the plain right thing to do. Uh, few noted, noted that wisdom is patient. It's often silent rather than jabberwocky. Um, it's careful, it's respectful, it's honorable, it's noble, those sorts of things. Um, and of course, you had a lot of religious figures chiming in about what wisdom is, and they would say, well, you can't explain it except that it's God's intelligence. Or that it's God's will, or that it's God's transcendent quality that we can't grasp. We only get a, a sliver of it and it comes out as Wisdom. And these things are closer to its true meaning, but Uh, not Not quite there. So these descriptions of wisdom have their merits, but most of them are just facets of what true wisdom is. But I may, I should qualify that true biblical wisdom is. In the church We often talk about the big 3. Knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, implying a rising scale of importance there culminating in wisdom. It's great to have knowledge, but we know from Paul that knowledge puffs up and, you know. Understanding is beyond that and that's given through this, the Holy Spirit, but wisdom. It is greater than both knowledge and understanding because it combines the two and, and acts, works from there. Proverbs 4:7 says wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. And all you're getting, get understanding, it also says. Now, Might be helpful as we are laying this foundation here to understand the, the two words that are used most in the Bible for wisdom, one in the Hebrew, one in the Greek. Now the Hebrew word is hakma. Uh, it's often spelled C H A. M A H Hochma, no. C H Oh KMAH. That's, there it is. I have it phonetically right here and forgot to write it down how it, how it Usually appears it's strong is 2451. It's used 149 times in the Old Testament and as we will see it denotes practical skill and shrewdness and ethical or moral discernment, prudence, divine understanding. Do you see how rapidly this amplified into more spiritual things? The Greek word is Sophia. That's strong 46:78. In the Greek it's used 51 times in the New Testament. And this is very similar, a very similar word. It refers to secular knowledge or practic practical expertise. Philosophical insight and supreme divine intelligence. This is a really wide. Word, I mean it can be used for a lot of things from a skill all the way up to God's intelligence. Very broad, very general, it can be used in a lot of different ways. Now what does the Bible show? That godly wisdom is. I think that's the best way to see and oftentimes we can see God's leaning on these definition definitions by seeing how it's use first, right? So we go to the first mention and we find out how a word is used first that gives us a general idea of the drift of that word throughout scripture. So we are going to go to the first mention of, of wisdom in the Old Testament, and that's in Exodus 28. It's in Exodus 28:3. We'll go ahead and read verses 1 through 3. Exodus 28:13. God tells Moses, now take Aaron, your brother, and his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister to me as priest. Aaron and Aaron's sons, Nadab, Abahu Eliezer, and Ithamar, and you shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, for glory and for beauty. So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom that they may make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me as priest. Let's just go 3 more chapters. To Exodus 31, we see another usage here in the same vein. These are the first two usages of Hokma in In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, verse one, then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, See, I have called by name. Bizeliel, the son of Uri, the son of her of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting jewels, for setting and carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. All right. Here, in its first two locations in the scripture, wisdom is used to denote divinely given technical skill. Divinely given technical skill. The first one is in tailoring. Tailoring garments. For the priests And later in chapter 31, it was for doing all kinds of, of skilled workmanship on the tabernacle. And we saw there it had to do with jewels, wood, working with the metals, and as it says, all manner of workmanship. Interesting that this is how it begins. But did you notice the context? The first context of wisdom. Is priestly. Very interesting. The second one. It is also priestly, if you will. It has to do with the tabernacle in God's presence. It's an amazing thing. I'm just going to leave it right there, but, and you can mull that over as you go, but I think it's very significant. Anyway, These passages provide insight into Wisdom in this very first this initial context, and we have to carry that along as we are moving forward through the Bible to understand what wisdom is. So, what, what kind of insight does it give us? First Wisdom is a practical skill. I mean Those men who tailored the garments for the priest did not stare at it. And something just magically went into an EOD or, or some sort of linen garment or whatever, they had to actually work with the material and sew it in a way that was fitting, proper, and excellent. And skills are developed in a person by gaining knowledge and understanding of a subject. You have to know a little bit about what you're going to do and then the real growth comes by practicing the craft. Whatever it happens to be to master it and to produce, as I mentioned just a minute ago, excellent, whatever the excellence, whatever the product is, whatever you're trying to to make come out the other end, whether you're blowing a trumpet or whether you're you're hitting a baseball or. You know, crocheting or whatever, the product should over time in the famous 10,000 hours should be excellent. So. Take this more than just In the 10,000 hours, if you want true mastery of a skill, it's a lifelong endeavor. You never stop. Trying to be better. Think about Yo Yo Ma playing the cello or, you know, somebody that you admire doing things so well and they keep doing things and producing better and better and better products as the years go on because they have mastered their craft. OK, the second thing that we can take from this. Is that true wisdom. Is a gift of God. True wisdom is a gift of God. It is a spiritual quality. This is what the old timers, the sages and the philosophers were trying to grasp. It's a spiritual quality. It has a practical aspect, but in essence it is a spiritual quality that is both given. By God And then pursued. To refine and multiply in one's life. So we are, we are given a bit of it through God's Holy Spirit. It allows us to understand. But then we have to practice what we understand in order to truly master. What it is that we've learned. Think about this. The reason why those sages and philosophers were, were grappling with this and trying to figure this, this essence, spiritual essence out, and they could not quite put their finger on it is because mankind is not wise. It is not naturally wise. Is it not the fool who has said that there is no God? And what does the world do? By the way, that's in Psalm 14:1, also in Psalm 53 1. But You know, the fools of this world. Which God lumps together as basically everyone rejects God. So they do not have the wisdom of God. They can't see what you see. Those of you who have God's spirit because you've been turned from a fool into one of the wise through his spirit. So foolish humanity has rejected God. It says it very clearly there in Romans 1 verses 21 to 23, taking Gods from creation rather than the true God. And those people have the Uh, what's the word? Well, they, they call us who have been turned into the wise, the elect of God who've been given at least a little bit of the wisdom of God, fools. But Paul says, Those the world calls fools and weak are the ones that going to confound. Those who believe they are wise. Now, since God's calling entails. Rejecting this world's ways, the foolish ways of this world, and learning and growing in God's way of life. This is the sanctification process that we all go through after baptism and we continue on it throughout our lives until we die. The essential Biblical definition of wisdom. Applying what we understand of godly knowledge becomes as my dad defined it many years ago, as skill in living. That's the best definition of wisdom I've ever heard. It's so simple. Now it leaves out a couple of things. But If you understand the skill. And What it, what it is that we are trying to do that is that we are following God's instruction and that living is true godly living, then skill in living is a wonderful thumbnail definition of what wisdom is. It's where the rubber meets the road spiritually. It's the application of God's instruction. In daily living. In big things and in small things. We could say It's doing Christian living right. It's far more than knowledge or understanding. As a matter of fact, it is sheer foolishness to learn God's way and then and and understand it. And then failed to apply it. Knowledge, wisdom, or knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are a package deal. You must know, you must understand, and you must do. Apply. So, wisdom is choosing to conduct one's life according to God's instruction. We can say also it's living as God lives. We can call it endeavoring to live as Christ lived in this world. To follow him in everything. To put on and practice his character image until we master it. We'll never master it, but that's the goal. And produce then godly excellence in our lives. We will master it in the resurrection, but not in our, our, our human lives. We can try. That's the best we can do. Let's go to I John 2. And see, this is, this is the conclusion that the apostle John came to. I John 2:36. And notice the context here. It is in context of keeping the commandments. Now by this we know that we know him. Remember, it is eternal life to know him and the Father. By this we know that we know Him if we keep his commandments. He who says I know Him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. We're going the right direction. We're on God's side. We're, we are part of, of his people. Verse 6, he who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. This is godly wisdom. So today we are going to cover An eighth genre of psalms. Wisdom psalms if he hadn't figured that out. And in these wisdom Psalms we see psalmists providing godly advice about how an upright person should live in an adversarial world, a world that is cut off from God. Many of these psalms we know very well from our hymnal. Um, we sing them or seem to sing one of them or, or whatever, just about every week. Um, And it's good that we We sing them because the words get in our head and they can provide wonderful instruction if we, you know, sing the psalms during the week as well. They provide a handy reference for God's people on how to behave generally as well as in specific situations. OK, let me give you a list of the wisdom Psalms. These ones that I'll give you first are ones that most scholars consistently put in the wisdom Psalms category. So, One, blessed and happy is the man. 37 49. 73. 112. That behemoth 119. And little itty bitty 127 and 128. Well, they are not little itty bitty. They're 5 or 6 verses, but compared to Psalm 119, they are small. So that's 137, 49, 73, 112, 119, 127, and 128. Others that are also candidates for being included in the category of wisdom Psalms. 15, who shall dwell on thy holy hill, 19, which is like a summary of 1 1978. 82. 90, Moses Psalm there and 133. How good and how pleasant. These two groups, 8 in the 1st, 6 in the second. Are 14 psalms that are generally considered to be wisdom psalms. Now, in each of these psalms, the psalmist reflects on life's possibilities and also life's problems. And they craft their advice for living righteously before God into poetic or or song forms, and those in song form or poetry are very easy to memorize and recite. So these are very special songs that that we should be carrying around in our heads if we can. Now wisdom Psalms have no regular structure. You'll go through these and see that they are very different in the way they are put together. Uh, I just emphasize one's real long, a couple are pretty short, um. So you're not going to be able to see them just from their, their structure. But they typically exhibit three elements. They one are addressed to people. As opposed to being addressed to God, they are not prayers necessarily. Uh, they may have a prayer inside them but most of what is given in a wisdom psalm is advice to other people. It's generally written or addressed to people who are upright or are called righteous or those who fear God. OK. Secondly, they focus on right doing. Versus wrongdoing. It's very simple. Uh, they usually contrast them doing good on the one hand, doing evil on the other, and this is the third one. I'll just go slide right into it. They highlight the blessings of godliness or goodness versus the curses of sinfulness or wrongdoing. So you're getting uh. A pretty straight message from a poet from the psalmist, and he's saying this is the right thing to do. This is the wrong thing to do, and he'll also say if you do the right thing, this will be the reward, but if you do the wrong thing, you're going to get this curse. Otherwise, other than these three things, they can be very different. For instance, Psalm 1 and Psalm 112 confidently express God's teaching. About certain things and the rewards for following them and the punishments for rejecting them. But on the other hand, Psalm 37 and Psalm 73, while they are ultimately positive about godliness. Uh, they sometimes approach their subjects a little more doubtfully. And question the apparent prosperity of the wicked, let's say. But they use the Psalm to work through their doubt so that they finally come out with a declaration of, of faith. Now a few of them Psalm 127, 128, 133. Comprise short sayings. That reflect on themes common to everybody's human life. Uh, piety and work. Um, The balance between labor and rest. Uh, the blessings of family life or the blessings of being in a community that fears the Lord, that sort of thing. Um So we can conclude thinking about all these things that the wisdom Psalms, wisdom Psalms cover principles and questions about godly living from the sublime. To the very mundane. Everyday type of thing. And they have a lot of Similarity to things that you will find in Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, because those are wisdom books. And so there is a lot of of uh. Similarity there. One thing that we will not find in a wisdom psalm usually is theology. There is no abstract you know, mentions about God and faith or, uh. Love. Hope. Those, those sorts of things do not appear there, they are, they are very practical songs. So they give practical lessons that we can apply every day. They all urge God's people to adhere to God's standards found in His law. And on the other hand, they tell them to avoid or reject the path of disobedience. The path of rebellion. Or deceit. Or cutting ethical corners in their work. Or taking advantage of others. And on and on it goes. They're very practical. Now, let me give a qualification though about these wisdom Psalms. Wisdom psalms offer general principles. Rather than absolute guarantees. This is especially noticeable in the rewards and curses. Not every time that you do something good are you going to be rewarded with some sort of eternal blessing. Um, and on the other hand, people who do bad things are often not cursed, at least from where we are standing, you know, from what we can see, you know, these very bad people live in great big mansions, have the best clothes, they, you know, they eat well, they drive nice cars, and, you know, nothing seems to touch them. That's true in In a limited way. But I want you just to know that when you go through these wisdom psalms and see that the upright man is going to receive this or the, the, the wicked are going to receive this other thing that's a bad thing, um, you can't say that that's going to happen every time. Yes, in the long run virtue brings rewards and wickedness usually ends in disaster. But you can't say it will happen every time. At least not in this life. So we should avoid thinking. That the principles that the wisdom Psalms deliver to us follow simple cause and effects lines. God is not that, that simple. Um, there are other things involved in, in the, the daily working out of life. He often steps in and changes things according to his purpose. And whether the wicked are punished or not or whether the righteous are rewarded or not, we have to maintain our faith that God is doing what is best for the time, for the purpose, for his purpose. Remember, Romans 8:28. You, you probably all know that one pretty well, that God works all things together for good, for those who love Him that are the called according to His purpose. That's a general promise that we can take to the bank that he's going to work things out well in the end. But We'll see that in the end. Not maybe in our physical lifetime. So the ultimate resolution of these blessings and curses may be in his kingdom as an eternal reward for a righteous person. Uh, rather than a temporal blessing or a healing or a deliverance. God reserves the right. To withhold Things until the resurrection. Let's say somebody is sick, has been sick for a long time, and everybody in the church is praying for that person. But the person dies. Well, first off, everybody dies. That's Hebrews 9:27. Maybe that person was a righteous person, did everything right. But he did not get to live. Well, he will live eternally. And God has decided that for His purposes at this point, it was best for that person to die. So we can't question God that way. He sees things far more insightfully than we can. But generally what the wisdom P psalms do is show that if you follow God's way, you walk the path of wisdom, your life is going to be good, much better than if you walked a path of foolishness and sin. Cause if you walk that path of path of foolishness, you'll end up hurting badly and maybe not just physically but maybe for all time. Um The Lake of Fire. So, Just understand that, that. The wisdom Psalms give general advice and not all the things that that it says that it says will be rewarded by or bad people will be cursed by will happen in this life. Or in the way you think they should come out in the end. All right, let's look at one of these. I've mentioned it a time or two already. Uh, please turn to Psalm 128. You can. Follow along in your hymnal if you like. This is one that we have. In our hymnal We'll read the, the full Psalm here, 1128 verses 1 through 6. Blessed is every one who fears the Lord who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house. Your children like olive plants all around the table or your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. Verse 5, the Lord bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. OK, This psalm is actually Similar to a beatitude. It's an extended beatitude, you know, blessed is everyone who fears the Lord. Um, and it has a great deal in common with the previous Psalm 1127. They share keywords and they share themes like. Um, let's see. Uh, God's centrality in life being very important. Honest labor. Uh, the family and the house being another essential part of a person's life, um, the blessing of children. is in both and also the idea of blessedness or happiness or contentedness that living God's way brings. Now, the overall message of Psalm 1128. Is that abundant life. A stable family and peace. The idea of Shalom, which is in the last line there you'll find in, in verse six, the idea of wholeness and well-being these things rest on the foundation of the proper fear of God. Fear of God is the central theme here central idea. They, he, the psalmist here wants us to know that God comes first in everything. He is the foundation of your life, you're an abundant life. He is the foundation of a stable family. He is the foundation of peace and well-being. And if you take God out of the picture in any way, your chances of having any of those things disappears. Maybe not completely, but the chances really plummet at that point if God is not involved. So his advice is that we should always please him and not disappoint him at all. Let's go back to Psalm 110. Because I want you to see here that uh. Again, the fear of the Lord. Did I say 110? I meant 111. Um 111. Because this is about what God does for His people. And it's just a good basis to begin with as we see the advice then in 128. So, let's read Psalm 111. Praise the Lord I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear Him. He will ever be mindful of his covenant. He has declared to his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of his hands are verity, truth, and justice. All his precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth. And uprightness he has sent redemption to his people. He has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name, his character what identifies him. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever. OK, that's the foundation that we are setting our lives upon when we Do his commandments when we fear him and we do what he has instructed us to do. Now, getting back to Psalm 128, we see that that's how the Psalm begins. Blessed is every one who fears the Lord. Who walks in his ways. So a proper fear of the Lord will surely bring blessing. And when he says this, He decides in the next line. In a parallel. Line. That he better define what he means by the fear of the Lord. He doesn't necessarily define it in a dictionary way. That's not what he is thinking about. He's thinking about advice that he's going to give you that is going to help you live. Um, do things. And so he defines the fear of the Lord as. A person walking in God's ways. Blessed is one who fears the Lord who walks in His ways. You show that you have fear of the Lord. By walking in his ways. He's not talking about intellectual agreement with the theology. Of God of his covenant or any of those things. He's not talking about some sort of emotion. That you feel this great devotion or zeal for God. I mean, those are fine things. But he's bringing it down to our everyday life, everyday doings. So to him, fearing God means living out God's instruction. Keeping his law, putting his principles into action in the everyday circumstances of life, every time he has a decision to make about one thing or another, he harkens back to God's instruction and he does what God says and so he shows that he fears the Lord. He reverences God. He wants to please God. He doesn't want to displease God and so in the proper fear of God, he does what God says. And so it's not necessarily a definition of what it means intellectually. It's a definition of what it means practically. In actions So. The New Testament writers picked up on this, Paul and James. James and Paul both talk about being doers of the law. Paul in Romans 2:13, the doers of the law will be justified or declared righteous. But let's read what James says in James 1:22. He and the, the psalmists are in syzygy on this. They're In parallel He says this in James 1:22 will read down through 25. But be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourself, for any if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it. And is not a forgetful here but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. So here is a New Testament expression of the same thing that we are seeing in Psalm 128. The psalmist is saying that if you want to fear God, be a doer of the law. Be a doer of the work that God has given you to do. Don't just look into the law of liberty and say, hm, that sounds wonderful, and then go and do nothing. And forget everything that you've learned and what you should be. But instead, look into that law of liberty and say, how can I apply this in my life? And that shows a proper fear of the Lord. OK, back to Psalm 128. Let's read 2 through 4 again. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house. Your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. He repeats this verses 2 through 4 contains two examples of the blessed life. Of the God-fearing man or God-fearing family. And then it does restate the blessing of fearing the Lord. Now, notice here that the Psalma speaks directly to you as the reader. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you, your wife, your children. And then he goes back to more general in verse 4. But he's making sure. That he's talking directly to you that it's applicable to you right now in your house, in your family with your children in what you do out in the field at work doing these things you can apply God's instruction. And show the fear of the Lord by how you do these things. And If you do them right, if you do them well. You do what God says, then you're going to reap blessings. They'll come automatically. Say you do these things, you're going to eat. The labor of your hands. It means there is a reward for the work that you do as you fear God. Some enemy is not going to take what you earned or what you grew, what you produced. God will make sure that you can enjoy the blessings that come from your hard work. Because you fear him, he'll put a hedge about you. He'll make sure that that you receive back even more than what you put in. Because he loves you, he's promised you blessings, and you've responded properly by. Practically applying his instruction. And he says it's the same in your house with your wife and your children. If the whole family is together. Fearing God in in their activities that they they do around the house, daily chores and whatnot that have to be done, daily decisions that must be made, then you're going to see. That the whole family blessed. He mentions here the wife will be a fruitful vine and the next. Clause here is very important at the very heart of your house. The whole house will revolve around her work and what she does, and she makes the house a wonderful place to live for her children. Uh, children like olive plants, uh. All around your table. The idea of is of growth. And not just growth now, growth later, because those little slips of olives that are around the table grow up to be olive trees. And they pass things down in in their generation to their children. So there is a an idea here of of not just happening now but future rewards, future blessings because it started with one man and his wife deciding they are going to fear the Lord and apply the lessons and instruction that they received from from God and as well as they could and this starts a process of of generational blessing. Verse 4, behold, thus shall the man be who man be blessed who fears the Lord. Uh, it restates the, the theme again, so you do not forget these things come, these blessings happen because of the fear of the Lord. So it's, it's emphasized here. OK, let's, let's hit the final two verses. The Lord bless you out of Zion. This is kind of a prayer. Um It's a hope if you will, but it's, it's a kind of a prayer. The Lord bless you out of Zion and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. So the psalmist prays for God's blessing to extend. He says out of Zion that's where God dwells, that God would send, send a blessing to you from where he is. Um. And so Immediately As he says, may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life, the blessing that he asked for. The God-fearing house. Extends to a God-fearing nation. And this blessing that he asks for is not just now but all the days of your life. Now this is important. Because this again shows a generational thing that God's blessing. Never is just for now. There are always Uh, intimations of future blessings that this blessing will increase into other blessings, greater blessings down the road, and not just for you but your family and the people in your community all the way out to the whole nation. And we know with God ultimately out into the whole world. But he's trying to to show you here that The fear of the Lord, if you, if you practice the fear of the Lord and doing the things of God, you're starting something big. It starts with one person or a couple and expands to their children and this if it's kept up if people are faithful, if you use the blessings of God properly, it expands you always get more. From the original seed that that is put in the ground. And so. The psalmist is saying. Look, if you want to change the world. Practice the fear of the Lord. Walking in his ways. Because it has a chance. To grow so large and it will ultimately encompass the whole world. With God's help But we've got to start that ourselves, um, trying to do as much as we can to create that environment at least within our families. Now, here is where we have to draw in the caveat I, I talked about a few minutes ago. He will always, God, that is God, will always try to bless those who are obeying Him. But larger circumstances may curtail those blessings because of things like national war, natural disasters, foreign invasions, or whatever is happening, and those things are often curses that God brings on a nation who is not or that is not following his ways. So, the blessings may be stymied because the rest of the people are not following God's God's ways. So that limits The, the way the blessings may multiply. And this is why he's saying at the very end, peace be upon Israel. Because If God gives Israel peace, the whole nation peace, then the chances for the multiplication of the blessings of fearing God can actually commence. They can expand. So pray for the nation, pray for your neighbors. Pray that things go well because As things go well across a broader area, the chances of Shalom and blessing, and all of those other things multiplies. That's the word I'm looking for. OK. Let's go to another one. We have time to get this one in. I think this one is really neat. I do not know. I, I know I've read it before, but I never got out of it. What I got out of it. In preparing the sermon. So, we were just in 111, let's go to 112. Psalm 112. And it's good that I read 1/11 because it's it's a vital part of 112. Uh, they should be read. Or I should say they can be read as one psalm. Uh, split in half, but We can read them as 2, as 1 as a response to the other. Now, remember I, I mentioned that Psalm 111 deals with what God does to set up things for us. Uh, we could say that Psalm 111 deals with God's mighty works done on Israel's or our behalf. And then Psalm 112. Is the the practical thankful response of the people to what God has done. So let's read 112. We were just there in 1/11. We know what it says 112 here. Praise the Lord Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. A good man deals graciously and lends. He will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he will never be shaken. The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established. He will not be afraid until he sees his desire upon his enemies. He is dispersed abroad. He is given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor. The wicked will see it and be grieved. He will gnash his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall perish. Very interesting song. Hope you, you followed the pronouns. Here OK. Let's go into it here. We could say That Psalm 111 presents theology. It's what God does, what He promises, what He is doing. While Psalm 112 presents humanity. What humans do, what humans should do. As a result of what God has done. So we are looking at 111 all about God. 112, all about how men respond to God. So God's deeds and man's deeds. And if Men do what God. Instructs as a response. To what God has done. Then they are in sync. They're walking on the same path. We could also say. This is not mentioned here, except I think there is the word covenant in here somewhere, but they are both performing their duties under the covenant, covenant. God does what he does in these great big awesome ways that he does, and then we respond by doing these things. Which is mostly following his instructions. I was going to say destructions, following his instructions. OK, just by the way, as an aside here, these are both acrostic poems, um, meaning they, the, the lines start with each letter of the alphabet. Uh, both of them start with praise the Lord, hallelujah that is not part of the acrostic but the 22 lines afterAfter each praise the Lord starts with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet, alphabet. Ali Bet. Gimmel delet, yeah, on and on through there. You do not need to know that. I just thought I'd pass it along. Also Psalm 111 and Psalm 112 kick off the praise Psalms or the halal which runs through chapter 118. So pretty important psalms here to begin the praise of God. All right, let's look at this in little sections here. Verse one I hope you noticed how much it was like. Chapter 128. Praise the Lord blessed. Is the man who fears the Lord. Who delights greatly in his commandments. This psalmist does the same thing as the psalmist in 128. He says that. The fear of the Lord rightly practiced brings the blessing of God. And he also decides that he's going to define it. And he defines it in his own way, that is the fear of the Lord, and he says, Very much like the one in 128, that the man who fears the Lord delights greatly in his commandments. Do you remember what he said there in 128? 128 is. One who fears the Lord walks in his ways. There is not much difference between delights greatly in his commandments and walks in his ways. If someone delights in God's commandments, what does he do? He observes them. He keeps them. He walks in his ways. And so they are basically saying the same thing. That a person who truly fears the Lord responds. By doing what God has instructed him to do. Keeping the covenant keeping the commandments doing what is right and good. OK, let's go on to verse 2 here. Actually, we will go 2 through 4. OK. His descendants will be mighty on earth. This is talking about the man who fears the Lord. What's the result? His descendants will be mighty on Earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. Now this is a list. Of the rewards for fearing God. This is what comes to the person who fears God. His descendants will be mighty, they will be upright, they will be blessed, they will be wealthy, they will possess enduring or eternal righteousness. That's wonderful. He's saying if you apply the principles of God's law in your everyday activities. You're starting something that's going to amount to just wonderful blessings. Now do not think of these things in physical terms, uh. I mean, he will give you um. Wealth in proportion to, you know, what he wants for you at the time and those sorts of things, but Look further Than just the physical here. Especially in terms of the last one. His righteousness endures forever. The pronouns here talking about the man who fears God or the person who fears God. His righteousness will go on and on. And on And on Forever Now verses 3 through 4. Harkens back to Psalm 1 and 1134. I want you to catch this. This is very important. Let's read Psalm 1113 through 4. What's the pronoun referring to his? In 111, it's God. Remember, it's, it's God on this one. The next one is man. So, God. God's work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. 112 3 to 4 wealth and riches will be in his house and his righteousness endures forever. Demands Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness. Who is light? Jesus Christ, right? He's the one that shone out of darkness and gave us this marvelous light. He is gracious, not Christ. He's not talking about Christ here or God, he's talking about the man. The man, the fearful, the one who fears God, is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. Do you see what the Thomas is doing here? It's almost You shall be God. He's saying that if you follow the instruction and fear the Lord in the proper way, you're going to grow up in the character image of God and you will start doing godly things. Like Being gracious And full of compassion. And everything you do is righteous. This Psalm 112 takes Psalm 128 and turns it up to 11. In terms of the blessings of fearing the Lord. And doing what he says. OK, let's go to 5 through 9. This is a long description of the actions and disposition of this righteous person. A good man deals graciously and lends. He will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he will never be shaken. The righteous will be an everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established. He will not be afraid until he sees his desire upon his enemies. He has dispersed abroad. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor. So we see. Things just piled on this man. Who fears the Lord. Or this woman. Doesn't matter the gender here. This person is gracious, generous, discreet, calm during bad times, steadfast, faithful, stable, compassionate, and strong. These are all remarkable qualities that we all want. And they all result from the fact that this person feared the Lord and delighted in his commandments and walked in his ways. Now, in verse 3, I do not know if you noticed this, verse 3, verse 6, and verse 9, the psalmist declares that this person's righteousness endures forever or that he himself will have an ever, everlasting remembrance or everlasting memorial. No, sir. Those are words that are usually. Applied only to God. It's not just his goodness will be remembered forever, but his own right doing will go on forever. You can't be righteous when you're dead. But if your righteousness endures forever, that means you're continuing to live in righteousness. So again, he's saying if you follow God's commands, if you keep His covenant, if you keep on fearing the Lord and you do it right, You're going to be just like God. Your righteousness will go beyond the grave. I think that there is more than just a little hint here of eternal life. Especially when you consider what comes next. I think That this phrase at the end of verse 9, his horn will be exalted in honor. Takes on the additional meaning of like. Oh, and the, you will be given a crown of righteousness or. You know, you will be given all these great rewards in the kingdom of God. Because this normally doesn't take place in a physical life. These blessings, I mean. Some of them do But what we are seeing is an aggregate of all the blessings that God wants to put on us in the kingdom. Now, let's look at verse 10. Cause the psalmist. As in most wisdom psalms, applies a contrast so we can see what's going on here. And see it in stark contrast to to the other side. So verse 10 The wicked will see it and be grieved. He will gnash his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish. OK, what we see here. Is a description of the fate of the wicked. First The wicked will see the exaltation of the upright and grieve. He'll be sorrowful. What's another word? Jesus uses it all the time. They'll be weeping. And what does it say secondly, or what does it say after that? He'll gnash his teeth. Do you wonder where Jesus got it. Right here. Those who will be who are the wicked will be weeping and gnashing their teeth when they see the exaltation of the righteous. Isn't that what happens at the parable of the talents? The one who hid his talent. was thrown, you know, into the, into the Gehenna, and there will be weeping and gnash gnashing of teeth. I think it's at the end of the sheep and the goats. It's also used this. Was it also in the parable, the, the 10 versions? I'm not sure, but Jesus uses this expression several times. But notice the second thing here, OK, the first one, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Second, what does Jesus or what does the psalmist say that's going to happen to the wicked? He will melt away. What makes things melt? What makes snow melt? What makes wax melt? Heat. Often produced by a very Strong source like the sun or magma or. Just a fire What are we seeing here? That the wicked melt. Seems to me, I do not know if I'm stepping too far here, but I think this is an early allusion to the Lake of Fire. That the ultimate Curse of the wicked. Is this sorrow, gnashing of teeth being, you know, being angry, and, and then melting. Being burned up. OK, we are not done yet. Third, And notice here you can't see it in English, but the word wicked in the first two lines was singular. Now it turns to plural. So these are all the wicked. The desire of all the wicked shall perish. The psalmist takes it to the very end, the ultimate, and this is why I think that what he's talking about in terms of the, the person who fears the Lord. You know, all his ultimate, all his blessings ultimately are in the kingdom of God. I think here in the contrast, all of the curses ultimately are at the end of what the wicked can expect if they continue in their way of life and rebellion against God all the way to the Lake of Fire. And not just for the single person or the, the individual person, but for all of them. What he's saying is That all of the wicked go through the same process that the individual wicked person goes through and all of their desires to rebel against God and to do evil. Perish There is no more sin. There is no more wickedness. It's the ultimate. Fate of the wicked in their wickedness is it to be snuffed out of existence. No more wickedness ever. Not even the thought of wickedness, it will be all gone. He's referring here to the complete erasure of sin and rebellion against God, when all that is evil will be done away and only righteousness dwells on the earth. Let's go to II Peter 3, where Peter, he must have gotten it here. I, I do not, do not know where else he could have gotten it other than Direct inspiration. II Peter 3:10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt. There is that word with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? That's what I've been talking about this whole sermon. The path of wisdom Fearing the Lord. Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And he doesn't say it, but he also means that there is no unrighteousness there. None So Verse 14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace without spot and blameless. Dropped down to verse 17. You therefore beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.