In the Days of Disaster


Psalm 44



I. God Takes Care of His Own


A. The Bible and the church it directs are intensely historical; telling the story of grace defines the culture of the saved. “To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.” (Psalm 44:1) Believers share testimonies. See Deuteronomy 6.

B. Grace drove the pagans from the Holy Land and gave it to the Chosen People; hell is as deep as heaven is high. “How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.” (Psalm 44:2-3) “He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.” (Psalm 78:55)

C. Grace and success are always gifts from God; believers have evidence for praise. “Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob. Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.” (Psalm 44:4-8) “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6)

D. The prophets continually instructed believers to teach the history of grace. “Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.” (Joel 1:3)

II. National Disaster Comes


A. Sometimes God steps back and enemies prevail without any apparent advantage to the church. “But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies. Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen. Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.” (Psalm 44:9-12) “How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?” (Deuteronomy 32:30)

B. Even the holy people experience disaster. “Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.” (Psalm 44:13-16)


III. Apostasy and Idolatry Are Not the Only Causes


A. Disaster sometimes comes when the people are faithful. “All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.” (Psalm 44:17-19) Victory must wait for God’s time.

B. Sometimes the only interpretive parallel is sacrificial sheep. “If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” (Psalm 44:20-22)

C. Martyrs have always been the seed of the church; following in the way of the cross brings nations to their knees before the Lord of Grace. “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” (Romans 8:36) “Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”(Hebrews 11:35-38)


IV. Disaster Tests Loyalty

A. Faithful people draw close to God in the face of disaster; it propels them toward their only comfort. “Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.” (Psalm 44:23)

B. Disaster reminds people that all things serve God’s purpose; if God had wanted peace and prosperity, it would have prevailed. “Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?,” (Psalm 44:24) “But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:7)

C. The way out of disaster is only through God’s gracious providence. “For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.” (Psalm 44:25-26)

Start Where God Starts

I. God Is God-Focused

A. Serious students of the Bible come up with one primary insight into how life works and what God expects. “And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Luke 10:27)

B. Moses used even fewer words than the gospel writer to make the same point. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

C. God is so great that He can’t really be called the best; there is no god to compare with Him. “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11)

II. Draw the Obvious Conclusions

A. Serve God without reservation or evasion; the alternative is eternity in hell. “And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.” (1 Chronicles 28:9)

B. Serve God on His terms rather than someone else’s plan; march to the beat of the ultimate drum. “Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:” (Deuteronomy 26:17)

C. Tell everybody about God and what He says He wants. “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.” (Isaiah 43:10)

D. Christ gave the church a summary of this primary doctrine as He left for heaven. “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

E. Worship and glorify God appropriately; if it is not the Bible way, it is hell’s way. “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,” (Psalm 95:6-7) “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Matthew 4:10)

F. Meditate on the ways of God; fill the mind with truth and the history of grace. “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.” (Malachi 3:16) “When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.” (Psalm 63:6)

G. Act now; do not put off getting to know God and His ways. “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;” (Ecclesiastes 12:1)

III. Worship Actively

A. Honor God in obvious ways. “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?” (Malachi 1:6)

B. Spread the gospel passionately; forget multiculturalism and neutrality. “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” (Isaiah 45:23)

C. Always seek the Lord’s way and deliberately choose it over all other options. “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15) “And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.” (Joshua 24:22) “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” (Revelation 3:15-17)

D. Delight in God. “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

Election Sermon

Psalm 2:1-11; 1 Timothy 6:1-21 / Psalm 24:1-10

I. Protect What You Have Received

A. Truth is not subject to opinion or focus groups. “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.” (1 Timothy 6:3-5)

B. Stick to things which really matter; God doesn’t have a lively interest in some of the things which excite the age in which we live. “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:” (1 Timothy 6:20)

C. Intellectually distracted people damage the Christian testimony; consider how petty yesterday’s defense of cultural norms often sounds. “Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. The first to Timothy was written from Laodicea, which is the chiefest city of Phrygia Pacatiana.” (1 Timothy 6:21)

II. Measure Candidates Biblically

A. The sound and fury seem frightening. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” (Psalm 2:1-3)

B. God does not take great people and their great ideas very seriously. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” (Psalm 2:4-6)

C. Here is a bit of heavenly advice for people who think they and their policies are necessary. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” (Psalm 2:9-12)

D. Wise people calculate from things which are certain; God wins. “Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.” (Hosea 14:9)

E. Do not give much credence to common human answers. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3) “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” (Proverbs 12:10)

III. Here Are the Relevant Facts

A. The creator still owns and manages everything He made. “A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.” (Psalm 24:1-2)

B. Ultimately, the election that matters is the election of grace; only God’s people go to heaven. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.” (Psalm 24:3-6)

C. Political platforms which ignore the great reality of God’s revelation will toss people into eternal unhappiness; entrusting the nation’s future to someone who enlarges the doors of hell could be a very bad move. “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:7-8)

D. Think twice before voting; don’t waste a vote on an eternal loser. “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” (Psalm 24:7-10)