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GTM - A Song Book for the Ages - By Michael Heiss - May 19, 2023 We, indeed, will be looking into the Book of Psalms, a remarkable book with 150 chapters. Now, there's no way we'll delve or dive into all 150 chapters in about an hour. What I would like to present is an overview of the book. We can, however, dive into three or four of the chapters in the Psalms to give us a good understanding. And especially Psalm 1; to me, it is the most underrated Psalm because of what
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GTM - A Song Book for the Ages - By Michael Heiss - May 19, 2023 We, indeed, will be looking into the Book of Psalms, a remarkable book with 150 chapters. Now, there's no way we'll delve or dive into all 150 chapters in about an hour. What I would like to present is an overview of the book. We can, however, dive into three or four of the chapters in the Psalms to give us a good understanding. And especially Psalm 1; to me, it is the most underrated Psalm because of what
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The speaker is introducing the topic of the Book of Psalms, stating that they will be giving an overview of the book and diving into a few specific psalms. They recommend reading Appendix B in the faithful version of the Bible for more information. They discuss the five divisions of the Book of Psalms and the different types of psalms, such as psalms of lament, penitential psalms, enthronement psalms, psalms of ascent, and hallelujah psalms. They then delve into Psalm 1, explaining its significance and the message it conveys. They also briefly mention Psalm 2 and its connection to Psalm 1. The speaker finally mentions Psalm 109 and its different sections, as well as the famous Psalm 51 and its divisions. Well, good evening, everyone. Always a pleasure to be with you. Tonight, we indeed are going to be looking into the Book of Psalms, a remarkable book with 150 chapters. Now, there's no way under the sun we're going to delve or dive into 150 chapters in about an hour. So, hopefully, what I can do is give an overview of the book and do a dive into three or four of them to give us a good flavor, and especially Psalm 1. To me, it is the most underrated psalm of them all because of what it packs into just six verses. And then the last psalm, the last one, Psalm 150, is also a psalm with six verses. They're like bookends, and one truly does complete the other. So, before we actually get underway, though, if you can, I strongly urge you to read Appendix B in your faithful version. Appendix B, in large part, came from the work of Dr. Ernest Martin, who was a professor at Ambassador College in the 60s and 70s, a very smart individual. I got a chance to meet with him a time or two. Fred knew him better. He was more well acquainted with him than I was. Well, in one of the books that Dr. Martin wrote, and I have my copy here, it's called Restoring the Original Bible. Hopefully, you can see it. And in it, he gives an overview of the Bible, the canonization, and he has a section on the psalms. Before he died, he gave Fred permission to reprint any portion of it that Fred would desire for the faithful version. So, we have three pages there. Eins, zwei, drei. One, two, three. So, you can read the Appendix B. It gives a very good overview of that book. Well, tonight we're going to go right in with two brief interludes. First, the vision of psalms is in five books, and we all know that. But just in case you don't have them written down, let me give you those five divisions. Book one goes from Psalm 1 through Psalm 41. Book two goes from Psalm 42 to Psalm 72. Book three goes from Psalm 73 to Psalm 89. Book four goes from Psalm 90 to Psalm 106. And book five, the final book, goes from 107 to 150. And these books stretch over a period, time-wise, of about 900 to 1,000 years. Moses is considered to have written one of them, which takes us back into about the mid-1400s BC. And one or two of them, such as Psalm 137 and a few others, talk about Babylon and their captivity. So, we know those were written in the mid-500s. These psalms have been divided by several different scholars and several different categories, but I've developed five of them. And these are the five main ones that I think we should be concerned with or interested in. First, we call a psalm a psalm of lament. This is the crying out to God of what has happened. Trouble has come. Plagues have come. We're in captivity. So, these are psalms of asset. Then we have the penitential psalms, or psalms of repentance. Saying, Oh God, I have sinned against you. Against you only have I sinned. Remember those words? I'm sure you're familiar. In fact, we're going to go through that psalm. Psalm 51. That is a psalm of repentance. Then, three, we have enthronement psalms, or royal psalms, as they're sometimes called. These are psalms that deal with the king, whether it is an earthly king or whether it is the king of kings. But they have to do with the king enthroned in one way or another. The fourth division, we call psalms of ascent. You've probably heard that phrase. There are 15 psalms, from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134. Because going up the Temple Mount, you have 15 steps. And on each step, the Levites sang one of these psalms, ascending from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134. And then finally, we have the Hallel psalms. These are the most magnificent. They're psalms of praise, praise, praise, praise. And they're written in the most magnificent Hebrew poetry. In fact, the entire book of Psalms has magnificent Hebrew poetry and says a lot through poetry. Well, all right. Now, let's take a look at Psalm 1. Psalm 1, if you'll turn there, we'll start. Psalm 1 is the psalm that starts the whole ball rolling. It is the fundamental psalm, and all the rest of the psalms really expound on what is taught in just six verses. So let's begin. We're going to divide the psalm into two parts. Part 1 and Part 2. Verses 1 and 2. So let us read. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the counsel of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night. What does this tell us? It describes the characteristics and the state of mind of the righteous man, the man of God. Now, those were two verses. The remaining four verses give us the fate of the man who's righteous, and the man who is not so righteous. So, verses 3 to 6. This man, righteous man, shall be like a tree planted by streams of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not wither, and all that he does shall prosper. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and by implication he knows the righteous. He knows everyone who is on this way. This we sometimes call Torah road. The Hebrew word is derech, which means path, direction, but the way of the wicked shall perish. Now, in a nutshell, if I put this humorously, you may have heard of the famous story of a smart-ass individual who lived shortly before the time of Jesus during the days of the two great rabbis Hillel, and that's not Akiva, of course. Anyway, all the great rabbis. And he came up, and he said, teach me the Torah while I stand on one foot. Well, Shammai dismissed him, and all the others dismissed him, but not Hillel. Hillel was a pretty shrewd individual, smart that way. He took one look at him, sized him up, and this was his response. Whatever you don't want someone to do to you, don't you do to them. The rest is commentary, thought study, going around. Well, this is what we have here. You read this psalm, and in six verses, what it says is, he who loves God, follows God, obeys his law, shall receive life. He who does not follow God, he who rebels, he who sins without repentance, shall die. The rest is commentary. Go and read. Go and study. And that's what we have. So, back to Psalm 1. It says here, his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his love as he meditates day and night. Well, we know that King Solomon said essentially the same thing. If we compare it to the book of Ecclesiastes, the last, it is the last chapter in the book of Ecclesiastes. Sometimes my fingers don't manipulate fast enough, but bear with me while we get to Ecclesiastes. We'll find what it says in the last chapter, which is chapter 12, and we have verse 13. So, what was Solomon's advice? Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole matter. Well, that goes right back to Psalm 1. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his love as he meditates day and night. This individual is the one who is going to be like a tree planted by the streams of water. In fact, Jeremiah used the same typology, the same words. Turn with me to Jeremiah, chapter 17, and no, we're not going to Jeremiah 17, verse 9. We're going to leave that alone. We're not talking about the deceitful heart here, but up to it. Jeremiah 17, and we will begin to pick it up. Let's see, what do I want to pick it up here for? Absolutely sure, verse 8. Well, a little bit before verse 8. So, we'll say here, verse 5, thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. He shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when good comes. Well, what did Psalm 1 tell us? Not so, he shall be like dust, like ashes. And then we have, verse 7, blessed is the man who trusted the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord, for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, sends out its roots by the water, it shall not fear when the heat comes. Now, isn't that what we had in Psalm 1? Yeah, the same thing. So, the wicked will not stand, the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish. Now, this Psalm is number one. It kicks the whole book of Psalms off. The rest are commentary on the book of Psalms. Now, Psalm 2 is a kind of a continuation of it. You'll notice Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 are the only two Psalms that do not have a superscription. All the others have a superscription. It says, the Psalm of David, the Psalm of Esau, the Psalm for this, the Psalm of that, but not so 1 and 2. They are the preliminary ones, and they follow one another. Look at Psalm 2. This is what we call enthronement psalm. It is the king, and it reads, why do the nations rage, and the people flop in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, the rulers take counsel. Dropping down to verse 6, yea, I have set my kingdom upon Zion, my holy mountain. I will tell the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son. This day have I begotten you. Here we have a picture of the Father and the Christ to come. Ask of me, and I'll give you the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost part of the earth for your possession, and so forth. So this is an enthronement psalm. Well now, I would like to delve into one of the Psalms of Lament, a very interesting psalm, Psalm 109. And we will learn, I think, a fair amount from Psalm 109. Yes, the psalm itself is divided into four sections. Verses 1 to 5 is the Lament section. Verses 6 to 19 is almost a cursing. The declaration, the man who says, God, let them have it, rebuke those sinners. Verses 20 to 29, entreating, asking God for help. And the final, verse 30 to 31, the Hallel, the praising of God. And almost every psalm will have a division symbol to that. And the finale will always be to praise God, because that is the message of the Psalms. So anyway, let's take a look into 1109. We said the Lament. So here we go. And we'll go through quickly. Oh God of my praise, do not keep silent. For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are open against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They surrounded me with words of hatred, fought against me without a cause. In return for my love, they are my adversary. But I give myself unto prayer. And here is also a type of Christ who is hated and spat upon without cause. And also something very interesting that I will pick up a little later. Hopefully I'll have time for it. You will look where it says, and the mouth of the deceitful are open against me. They spoke with me. My adversary, the mouth of the deceitful. Yes, they spoke against me. They surrounded me. Oh yes, they are my adversaries. What Hebrew word do you think that is? Try satan. Because what we're going to see as we go through satan, satan is not necessarily what we think it means. Oh yes, we know the satan. We know the dragon, the murderer, the father of lies. Oh yes, but the word satan does not necessarily refer to him. It really doesn't. In fact, God specifically calls one of his angels satan. And Jesus of the Christ could also be called satan. Why? They're adversaries of something or someone. The Christ is an adversary of satan. The father is an adversary of satan. A satan against the satan. He will crush him. Satan will be driven into outer darkness. The word satan or satan by itself does not mean the evil one. It can. Context is everything. We'll see that in just a few minutes here. But anyway, that is the end of the first section, the lament. Now verses 6 to 19 tell us of the feelings of the one who has been hurt. Let us look. He said in verse 6, set a wicked man over him and an adversary, again satan, at his right hand. When he is judged, let him be condemned. Let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few. Let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. This is getting pretty heady. This is almost outright vicious. Let his children always beg and be vagabonds and seek food out of their desolate places. Let the creditor seize all that is his and let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor. Let there be none to give mercy to him, nor any to be gracious unto his fatherless children. This is hard to take. Why? Why words like this? Well, we're going to see why. The psalm is going to tell us why. Let his posterity be cut off. Verse 14, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the Lord and let not the sins of his mother be blotted out. Cruel almost. Let them be always before the Lord that he may cut off their memory from the earth. Why? Comes the answer, verse 16, because he did not remember to show mercy. He persecuted the poor and needy man, sought to kill the brokenhearted. Yeah, he loved cursing and so forth, all the way down to verse 19. So what is the assumption behind this curse? What is the assumption? No repentance. When one repents, this is made null and void. But if one does not repent, we know what it is. But what the apostle Paul said, the wages of sin is death. So if sin be there and no repentance, this is the result, one way or another. And the inventing is feelings about it. Now, we come to verse 20. And in verse 20, we have an entreaty, beseeching God. So verse 20, let this be the reward of my foes of the Lord and any of them who speak evil against my soul. But you, O God, the Lord, deal kindly with me for your namesake. We switch gears on a dime, just like that. The Psalms do that. You go from one section and all of a sudden you're in another section, no transition. It's boom, boom, boom. That's the way they're written. So, but you, O God, the Lord, deal kindly with me for your namesake, because your mercy is good. Deliver me. I'm poor and needy. My heart is wounded as a shadow when it is stretched out. I am bound. I am shaken off like the locust. My knees are weak from fasting. My flesh has become gaunt. Help me, O Lord, my God. Verse 26, save me according to your steadfast love, so that they may know that this is of your hand, that you, O Lord, have done this. Verse 28, they will curse that you will bless. Let my cursed accusers, verse 29, be clothed with confusion. Then we go to verses 30, 31. But how about just a snap of the finger? And what does it say? I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. Yea, I will praise him among the multitude, for he shall stand at the right hand of the poor. Now, I'd like to pick out a couple of tidbits in this psalm that you may find very, very interesting and helpful. One of them we talked about adversary. Well, let us turn now to Numbers, chapter 22. Numbers, chapter 22. This, if you recall, is the saga of Balaam and his donkey going to curse Israel. Numbers, chapter 22. Now, Balaam was asked by Balak to come and curse the Israelites. And Balaam said, look, I can't. I can only do what God says. Well, all right. Very well. But let's now go to verse 22. Chapter 22 and verse 22. Numbers 22 here. 18. Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balaak, if Balaak would give me my house full of silver and gold, I can't go beyond the word of the Lord nor to bless or more. But please, now stay here that I may know more what the Lord will say. Yeah, but maybe I can talk to him. Maybe he'll be more lenient. And God said to Balaam at night and said to him, if the men come to call you, rise up and go with them. But only the word which I shall say to you, you shall do. Ah, strings attached. And Balaam rose up in the morning, sat on his donkey and went with the rulers of Moab. And verse 22, God's anger was kindled because he went. And notice, and the angel of the Lord stood in the way as a Satan against him. Well, God said, look, if they come to you again, go ahead, go with them. So, Balaam gets up in the morning to go with them. And God is furious. Why? What's God doing? Is he not all there? Oh, he's very much all there. You see, when it says go with them, we're dealing with two different Hebrew words. There is going with them, and then there's going with them. So, when God said go with them, it was etem, meaning go ahead. Eh, go ahead along with them. It's all right. You know, got company along the way. But when it says that Balaam rose up on his donkey and sat on his donkey and went with the rulers of Moab, that is a completely different word. That is eem. And eem means together, at one, one purpose. He thought, hey, you get to go, and maybe you'll be able to curse. God said, I never gave you such authority. And that's why God was so fierce with Balaam. Now, we can go on, but time is going to prevent me, but I wish I could make a movie of this, right? Because there is, there he's on his donkey, and the donkey sees the angel, and the donkey's trying to get away from the angel, and finally brushes against the side of the wall, and God damn it, just kicked Balaam's foot for some reason. Balaam goes, curses the donkey. Anybody remember Francis the Toggy Mule, you know, days of old, or Mr. Ed the Toggy Horse? Here was a donkey that says, why are you doing this to me? I've served you. Balaam doesn't even have an eyelash. He starts talking to its mouth. Oh, it's okay to make a movie of this. This would be really fun. But anyway, the point being, that he went to be at one with King Balaam. God said, nah, you don't do that. And then, this is an example of the donkey, not the donkey, but of the angel being a Satan, an adversary. Now, there's another point to this psalm. And I wonder, Psalm 109, and verse 8. We're back to Psalm 109. It says, Let his days be few, let another take his office. Remember that, let another take his office? Who quoted that? What New Testament individual quoted that and used this to make a volunteous decision? Peter did. Let's turn to Acts 1. Now, I would never, in a thousand years, be able to quote this psalm and apply it to how Peter did. But then again, as I thought to myself, maybe that's why I'm not Peter, chief of the apostles. So, what do we have? The book of Acts, and chapter 1. This is where they had to have a replacement for Judas Iscariot. Acts, chapter 1, and we'll pick it up here. I believe it's about verse 15, if we have it here. Yes, verse 15. In those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and wherever it is necessary for the scripture to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas. So, here we have double confirmation that these psalms are written by David. Peter certainly thought so, for he was numbered with us. Now, this man acquired a field, and so forth. In verse 20, for it is written in the book of Psalms, let his habitation become desolate. Now, that's a quote from Psalm 69, which you would know. But Peter just rattles it off, and says, let his habitation be desolate. And then he goes straight to Psalm 109. But we don't know that, except we know Psalm 109. Let his habitation become desolate. And let another take his overseership. Let another take his office. All from Psalm 109. Very interesting. Well, that is enough for Psalm 109. Now, let us take a look at the penitential psalm, Psalm 51, the famous Psalm of David. We know that one. And that is divided into different sections, too. In fact, we have four divisions of Psalm 51. And it's easy to determine what you just have to read a bit carefully. Psalm 51. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your lovingkindness, according to the greatness of your compassion. Blot out my transgressions. So, here we have verses 1 and 2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. This is the plea for forgiveness. Then, we go right in to the confession of guilt. Or acknowledge my transgression. Sin is ever before me. Against you only have I sinned. And that goes through verse 6. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part. You shall make me to know wisdom. All right. Confession. Verse 7, verses 7 to 12. This is the plea for personal restoration. Courage me with this up, and I shall be clean. Wash me, make me to hear joy and gladness. You have broken my, you have broken, yeah, what you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sin. Blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart. See, that's the personal restoration. But now, why should God do this? Look what David says in verse 12. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Let your free spirit uphold me, and I will teach transgressors your way, and sinners shall turn back to you. This is communal restoration. See, David knows that not only he as the king needs to repent, the people need to repent as well. And so, it's combination. So, verses 13 to 19 are for public restoration. And now, a very interesting Psalm of Enfrontment. Psalms 93 to 99 are Psalms of Enfrontment. So, let's go to Psalm 98. And this is a Psalm, believe it or not, I'll show you, which is sung throughout the country every year around, oh, November, December, culminating on December 25. Ah, really, be interesting to see this. Psalm 98, verses 1 to 3, give us reasons to praise God. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand, his holy arm, have worked salvation. The Lord has made known his salvation. He's revealed his righteousness. He has remembered his steadfast love, his faithfulness for the house of Israel. Now, that's one good reason to praise God. But now, verses 4 to 8, we have a universal call to praise God. Sing to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the voice of song, with silver trumpets and sound of a ram's horn. Make a joyful noise. Verse 7, let the sea roar in the fullness. Verse 8, let the clogged floods clap hands. Let the mountains sing for joy. Before the Lord he comes to judge the earth. And verse 9 is universal judge. Now, in the early 18th, I'm sorry, 19th century, a man by the name of Isaac Watts read the psalm. And he was captivated by it. And so, he wrote a psalm, talking about, think of these words, so forth, of Psalm 98. Joy, let the sea roar, the fullness. Let the clogged floods clap hands. Let the mountains sing for joy. Joy, joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive. This is a Christmas carol. Isaac Watts took this psalm, reworked it a little bit, and we have joy to the world. Now, that said, if joy to the world is originated by and originates with this psalm, it can't be all bad. In fact, if you take joy to the world outside of its Christmas setting, it's really not a bad psalm. So, here we go. This may be what I'd call whatigua. I don't think you've heard me explain whatigua is. Whatigua is an acronym, which is worthless information, too good to throw away. I'm sorry, can't help it, but it's interesting. So, anytime you look at Psalm 98, you're really singing joy to the world. And it is joy to the world. Look, clapping hands, mountains singing. Oh well, Psalm 98. I just thought you might be interested in that. I know I was. I must admit, it did take my interest. Now, yes, I have a couple more psalms to go through before we get to the finale and once again compare it with Psalm 1, which is enough to take your breath away. It really is. It truly is. So, now we're going to look at Psalm 89. Psalm 89 is a, what should I say, it's a royal psalm, but it's also a covenant psalm. And this psalm laments the apparent failure of God's covenant. Psalm 89. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, your steadfast love shall be built forever. You shall establish your, you shall establish your faithfulness in the heavens. Verse 3. I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn to David, my servant. In fact, you can take that by myself, have I sworn. This is an actual oath that God spoke to David. Your seed will I establish forever. And indeed, it's called covenant in the Christ. That seed will endure forever. To build up your throne to all generations, the heavens shall praise your wonders, O Lord. Great. All the way through, we have the praise of God. Now, here we have in verse 10, or verse 9. You rule the raging of the sea when its waves arise. You still them. You have broken Rahab in pieces. Now, this is poetry. This is magnificent Hebrew poetry. Rahab is a mythological figure. It's a mythological monster. It's not talking about Rahab, or Rahab the Endeavor. And Egypt is called Rahab, a broken reed, one that's a nothing. No, this is mythological, but it is magnificent poetry. You have broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain. You've scattered your enemies, your strong arm. However, in verse 38, But you have cast off and rejected us. You, O God, you have been full of wrath against your anointed. You've turned away from the covenant of your servant. You have defiled his crown by casting it to the ground. Well, earthly speaking, yes. God warned the tribes of Israel over and over and over again. Do not sin. Do not forsake me. Return. They wouldn't do it. So we had it. But now look at verses 46 to 51. We're skipping for sake of time. 46 to 51. How long, Lord, will you hide yourself forever? Shall your wrath burn like fire? You see, the psalmist knows what's happening. It's not that God's weak. It's not that they've got these other nations that are more powerful than God. No. They understand that God is angry with them for their transgressions. And so the psalmist is begging, how long will you hide yourself forever? Shall your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is. Well, this is a plea. The psalmist is begging God to be merciful. You've created the sons of men. What man lives and never sees death? Shall he delivers his soul from the hands of the grave? O Lord, where are your former loving-kindnesses which you swore to David in your truth? Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants. How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people with which your enemies have reproached the Lord. But then once again, just with the snap of a finger, final verse, blessed is the Lord forevermore. In spite of all that, because it's always praise be to God, praise the Lord. Now we're going to look at two more psalms. These are Hallel psalms, the great psalms, the psalm of praise. Psalm 145. Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, meaning of course that each verse begins with the alphabet. Now, none, the end is not there for some reason, but all the others are there in order. And Psalm 145, it goes between first and third person and it's praise. Look at verses 1 to 3, Psalm 145. I will extol you, my God, O King. I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord. That's one set of praises. Then fourth through nine, one generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty. Verse six, men shall speak of the might of your awesome works and I will declare your greatness. We go to the verses 10 to 20. All your works shall praise you, O Lord. Your saints will bless you. This is all of these are praises. And this is special, verse 21, because we're going to compare this with the final message of Psalm 150. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord. Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever. Now I want to spend time comparing 150 to Psalm 1. And it's enough to take your breath away and inspire you. You see it's made in the Hebrew. You read the English and you get it. But not in the Hebrew. It just knocks your socks off sometimes. Psalm 150. There are powerful praises like no place else in the Psalms or Bible. Not in the intense form as it is. Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the ram's horn, with the harp and lyre. Praise him with the drum and dance. Praise him with stringed instruments and pipes. Praise him on the loud cymbals. Praise him with resounding cymbals. Why? One of the reasons to praise God is to understand the true greatness of Psalm 1. So we're going to turn back to Psalm 1 and we're going to think about Psalm 1 and I try to express myself in a maybe a little different way. I wasn't sure whether to do it this way or not. I went back and forth but I finally decided, yes, it needs to be done. Almost every one of us feels inadequate. I'm not good enough. No, don't pray enough or don't study enough. I don't seem to get it. I'm old. I'm gray. Look at this wrinkle. Some of us can't stand. Some of us are death-ridden. I read the emails that we get on, pray for this individual, pray for that individual, suffering from acute diabetes, suffering from cancer, multiple, whatever it may be. But the truth is, and God knows that, but that's not what is interesting. I'll use myself as a maybe a little humorous example. Technology and I do not go together and everybody who knows me knows that. You know, when they say, when technology genes were passed out, I was behind the door and they opened up the door. It's a good thing I was way behind the door. Otherwise, I'd have probably broken my nose. And can I do this? I ought to be able to set things up and do it, but I can't. I need to learn. As I said, whoa, it's me, the father in heaven, sitting on his throne, and as it were, looks at me and says, I'm like, you know, I had a servant, oh, about 34, 3500 years ago, and I had a job for him. And he didn't want to do it. He said, I'm unable. I can't speak. I stutter. And no matter how hard I tried to get him to do it, he wouldn't do it. Now, if I really twisted his arm, I probably could have. Finally, I said, all right, he's your brother. He can talk. He'll be your spokesman. The work got done. And so here I am. We're talking about the 21st century, you know. Yeah, well, the computers and ports and this and that and hooking that and hooking that and go here, go there. And God says to me, just like my servant of 3500 years, look, I got a guy in Ohio. His name is Steve Durham. I got a couple of guys up your neck of the woods. Some, you know, father, Byron Norred, Byron Norred Jr. They know computers. They can help. I can get them to provide you with all the help you need to stop whining, stop moaning, get a job, and get it done. Well, when I talk about people, that's minor. That is so minor. We have people who are bedridden. We have those who can't, as we say, cut the mustard. All age takes over. But it's interesting. Psalm 1 says none of that is needed. Let's take a look at that psalm again and see what it says and what it doesn't say. Who is the righteous man? Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. Okay. So how many of us in the Church of God go around with the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, and the scornful? We don't do that. Then it says he, his delight is in the law of the Lord. In his law does he meditate day and night. Well, we can do that. We can do that. And it goes down to the Lord knows the way of the righteous. That's the righteous person. The righteous person doesn't need to be an acrobat. He doesn't need to stand on one foot while he learns the Torah. He doesn't have to be a genius. He doesn't have to play a musical instrument. He doesn't have to be a virtuoso. He doesn't have to be a mathematical genius. He doesn't need to be a strong butcher, baker, candlestick maker. None of that. Psalm 1 says none of that. What God says, I don't care about your body. I'm not after that. I want your mind. My spirit connecting with your spirit and the link. That's what I want. Oh body, don't you worry about that. I'm going to give you such a spiritual glorified body you as a human cannot battle it. So don't worry about that. Albert Einstein, the great mathematician and physicist once said, or said maybe a couple of times. I remember him saying it and I thought, oh maybe that we humans use about 10% of our brain power. That's what he said. Which tells us something. And I think Einstein was right. God put a governor on our mind to limit what we can do with it. When we are born again into his kingdom, oh that governor is going to be removed completely. And we are going to be geniuses beyond comparison. That's because I need someone to walk with me, to talk with me. I want to instruct that person, all of you, because you are my children. And I don't need great physical specimens. There is nothing in this fall that says I have to be a scholar. Now God has granted me a certain knowledge in Hebrew. Greek, as you know I said Greek is Greek to me. I don't know Greek. I don't need to be all of that. What do I need to do? To walk in the way of the righteous. That's what we call Torah Road. The path. And all it takes, get out of the world, don't think it's weighty, meditate on the law of God, walk on Torah Road. And that's all we need. If we can get more, fine. If we are shut-ins, we can't get out, we can read the Bible, can't we? Or if we are so weak, we have recordings, we can have a place for us, and we can meditate that way. All of us can do that. That's what the great God wants. That's what he's looking for. And someone tells me, I don't have to be that great. None greater than woman. What did Jesus say? There is a none greater one of women than John the Baptist. But he in the kingdom who is least. Oh, you're right, greatest least, I'm not so sure. But whoever, however we consider the least, Jesus said is greater than John the Baptist. Which means we are going to have the capacity to create planets, galaxies, administer his power. Encourage him. I don't have to be all that. Follow God. And then, look at what the finale is in Psalm 150. Psalm 150, the finale. Now look at Psalm 145 or as I say in verse 21, I believe. Did I find the verse 21? Yeah. Look at the final sentence, verse 21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord. Let all flesh, here's the punchline, let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever. That's a plea. That's a call. But that's not what the finale in the psalms says. After five powerful praise him, praise him, praise him. It says in verse six, let every living thing or everything that breathes, everything that has breath. Look at Psalm 145. It says what? We have it in English, praise you the Lord. Oh, praise you Lord. That's English. That doesn't give you the real power. It says, hallelujah, hallelujah. One is singular, one is plural. That's by design. That's not happenstance. That's not by chance. This is the command to do that. Why? Singular one, let each one praise God. Plural, let everyone praise God. It really means in English, one and all. Everyone, let one and all. But English just says, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. But the Hebrew says in the powerful, praise the Lord. Singular and plural, one and all. Why does it say that? Because of Psalm 1 and all the psalms in between. This is what God is going to do for us as long as we're on that path of righteousness. In Psalm 1, God says he knows the way of the righteous. He knows the righteous. Jesus said, the hairs of your head are numbered. Your woe, not a sparrow, falls to the ground as your father doesn't know it. You are worth more than sparrows. Because of that, Jesus says, continue on that road and I will give you a crown of life. And because we're going to get that crown of life, and we don't have to be great. Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, 26, 27, you who compare yourselves among yourselves are not wise. God has chosen the way of foolish. He didn't choose us. He didn't choose the great Winston Churchill's, for example. He didn't choose the Einstein's, the brilliant scientists. He didn't choose the great statement, the Benjamin Disraeli, the Charles de Gaulle's. He didn't do that. He chose those who would be humble enough to be at one with him. And if we are one with him, then he says to us, one and all, praise God, you will have a crown of life. This is the message of the psalms. Oh, we could go through so many psalms with that. Oh, the poetry. It's written there. Magnificent poetry. So, I close by simply saying, true, this book of psalms is indeed a psalm book for the ages.
