Psalm 50:1-6
The Blunt Truth
The world that we live in places some premium on political
correctness; however, God is not into such speech. God often speaks
in very plain terms, terms that are so plain that they offend our
delicate ears. Such might be Psalms 50.
The book of Psalms is largely a song book and entirely a praise book
to God. It is not a book designed to teach or even to rebuke, but
rather one to comfort and to remind people of God’s goodness. It does
not matter what mood you are in (joyful, despondent, worshipful,
defeated, lonely), you can find a Psalm for you mood.
This Psalm divides itself into three sections. Those will be the
points of my sermon.
I. \\#1-6\\ A Message to All
A. \\#1\\ God is speaking.
1. He is El Elohim. Elohim is the name often used for God in
the Bible and El means God. So these are two different
names for God put together. We don’t have a translation
that accurately conveys that thought. Some say you could
translate it the God of gods. Our translators simply
translated it, "the mighty God." It means there is none
other like this God.
2. "even the LORD" - When you see the word LORD all in
capitals in the King James Bible, it stands for the name
of God which is the most holy to the Jews. Devote Jews
will not write or speak the name. In fact, we don’t know
exactly how to write or speak the name anymore because
they never would. When they wrote it, they left out all
of the vowels so all that was left were four consonants.
By adding different vowels, in our language, you could
get either the name Yahweh or Jehovah. So God is some
times called both or either of these names.
3. These three names for God, used together, would signify the
most powerful and the most holy God.
4. This is the God who is speaking.
a. In fact, in this Psalm, God speaks directly.
b. Notice that the Psalm continually switches the case of
pronouns throughout the Psalm.
c. Sometimes, the pronoun referring to God is third
person (i.e. \\#4\\ "He") and sometimes it is first
person (i.e. \\#5\\ "my" or \\#7\\ "I").
B. God is speaking to the whole earth.
Psalm 50:1 …called the earth from the rising of
the sun unto the going down thereof.
1. That would be everywhere and everyone.
2. God wants everyone everywhere to hear what He has to say.
C. What does God want them to hear? I see four thoughts in this
first section.
1. Israel is God’s Seat
Psalm 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of
beauty, God hath shined.
a. Zion is the name of one of the hills on which
Jerusalem was built.
b. So where does God "shin" from, Jerusalem, Israel.
c. God is being blunt and many will not like it, but the
Jews are God’s elect people. They were chosen by
God—through no merit of their own—to receive God’s
favor and to be used or God.
d. This is the sovereign will of God.
Ge 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great;
and thou shalt be a blessing:
e. On a day when we ask ourselves, "What can America do
to secure God’s blessings again?", we should not
forget the very next verse.
Ge 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed.
2. God will come to judge.
Psalm 50:3 Our God shall come, and shall not
keep silence: a fire shall devour before him,
and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and
to the earth, that he may judge his people.
a. People today do not like the message of a coming
Judge, but it is the blunt truth and needs to be
told.
b. Being ignorant of something does not make it go away.
c. These verses are speaking of two judgments: the wicked
and the righteous, called in \\#4\\ "his people."
3. God’s people will be gathered to Him.
Psalm 50:5 Gather my saints together unto me;
those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice.
a. Although both the wicked and the righteous shall be
judged, they will not be judged together.
b. It is not explained here but the wicked will be
gathered for a judgment of their soul
\\#Rev 20:11-15\\, The Great White Throne, while the
righteous shall be gathered for judgment of their
works, \\#1Cor 3:13\\, Bema Judgment.
4. When God’s judgment is complete, the heavens shall declare
that God is righteous.
Psalm 50:6 And the heavens shall declare his
righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
II. \\#7-15\\ A Message to God’s People
A. God is going to be blunt in speaking to His own people.
1. Truth may not always be pleasant but truth is always
truth.
Billy Sunday was once told that his preaching rubbed the fur the
wrong way. His reply was "Let the cat turn around."
2. God had already warned His people that a judgment was
coming.
3. \\#7\\ God adds "I will testify AGAINST thee."
a. That implies they are doing something wrong.
b. I believe the bluntness God is about to share is about
the sin they are doing that is wrong.
B. What is the message to God’s people?
1. \\#8-13\\ I don’t need your sacrifices.
a. People get God’s demand for offerings confused with
God’s needs for an offering.
b. God does not need our offerings.
c. God gives us an opportunity to worship Him by allowing
us to give Him an offering.
d. The Jews, at this time, had apparently showed
disrespect to God either in the kind of offering they
were giving or the lack of offering they were giving.
e. So God bluntly corrected them.
Psalm 50:8 I will not reprove thee for thy
sacrifices or thy burnt offerings…
(1) God was not going to waste time or effort
correcting them anymore.
Psalm 50:9 I will take no bullock out of thy
house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
(2) I rescind my offer. You may NOT worship me in
offerings. I won’t accept them.
Psalm 50:10 For every beast of the forest is
mine…
(3) It was all mine all along. I was just giving you
the opportunity to demonstrate that to Me.
Psalm 50:12 If I were hungry, I would not tell
thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness
thereof.
(4) I don’t need the offering.
f. Christians today need to learn the same truth.
(1) We can claim that we are living under grace if we
want but the purpose for tithes and offerings
has not changed.
(2) They were never demanded because God needed them.
(3) They were demanded to teach the people how
important it is to freely give to God to show
respect, honor, and worship.
(4) While there are less rules about giving today,
there is no less worship in giving.
2. \\#14-15\\ Two counsels:
a. \\#14\\ Offering the right kind of sacrifices.
b. \\#15\\ Once you do, call upon God and He will answer.
III. \\#16-23\\ A Message to the Wicked
A. The wicked are defined:
1. \\#17\\ Those that hate God’s instruction.
Psalm 50:17 Seeing thou hatest instruction….
2. Those that cast behind them God’s words. (Throw them away
like trash and walk on)
Psalm 50:17 … and castest my words behind thee.
3. \\#18\\ Those who agree with evil being done.
Psalm 50:18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou
consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with
adulterers.
4. \\#19-20\\ Those who use their mouth to defend and do
evil.
Psalm 50:19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and
thy tongue frameth deceit.
20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy
brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
5. \\#21\\ Those who think God is weak, carnal, and even
sinful like a man.
Psalm 50:21 …thou thoughtest that I was
altogether such an one as thyself…
B. God’s Blunt Warning
1. You better stop forgetting God or God is going to tear you
apart.
Psalm 50:22 Now consider this, ye that forget
God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be
none to deliver.
2. If God’s bluntness offends you it is unfortunate for our
arrogance offends Him.
3. He has been silent but do not confuse His silence with
approval and inaction.
4. God is blunting warning you so that you will not have any
reason for not knowing. He is going to judge you.
5. Someone says, "I don’t know where to start in remembering
God."
a. He tells you.
Psalm 50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me:
and to him that ordereth his conversation aright
will I shew the salvation of God.
b. Two things:
(1) Start by praising Him instead of blaspheming Him.
(2) Continue by doing right instead of wrong.
(a) Conversation means manner, lifestyle.
(b) These two things will move God to open your
heart to His salvation.
This is the message that God wants everyone to hear. It is blunt,
but like a bad tasting medicine, it is needful. I pray that we will
hear it and abide by it today.
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