From ccrlist at tulip.org Mon Apr 3 10:35:10 2006
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Mon Apr 3 10:35:35 2006
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly 02 April 06
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20060403102758.030f0780@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Morning,
One week left in Psalm 35, I hope I haven't gone too political in this
meditation? But, the text rings to true to the times we live in.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
Selah: Sacred Songs of the Psalter
Max A Forsythe ? Anno Domini 2006
======================================================
Psalm 35
19 Do not let those who are wrongfully my foes,
gloat over me.
Do not let those who hate me without cause,
wink their eye maliciously.
20 For they do not speak peace;
[Instead] they devise words of deceit
against the quiet ones in the land.
21 They also gape at me and say,
?Aha, Aha! Our own eyes have seen it!?
====================================================================================
The Great Lie!
For the Lord?s Day: the 2nd of April 2006
Introduction: It doesn?t matter if we start from the pages of the New York
Times, the National Enquirer or the observations of Jesus Christ in John 8:
42-47 concerning the deviltry of lies: ?You? (meaning the Jewish leaders
of His day), ?You are of your father the devil, and your will is to
do your father?s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has
nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father
of lies.?
You know, we can well understand the sincerity and truth of the scriptures,
because they speak of the essential human condition that exists without and
apart from the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. And in every age, the
elect of any nation must contend with the abuses, persecution and spiritual
stupidity of natural men who not only despise any evidence of the holy, but
indeed go out of their way to attack any principles that smacks of the only
revealed religion.! Ever since the American media, (with very few
exceptions) began imitating the socialist propaganda of the former Soviet
publishing giant: Pravda, I have refused to support those purveyors of
garbage, filth and lies. Thankfully, in David?s time, the disloyal
opposition did not have the printing press or television to advertise their
ill thought distortions. Even without the conveniences of modernity, these
enemies of David looked for every opportunity to undermine the ability of
King David to wage war and to even govern faithfully and honestly.
Development: And so, we see in the midst of David?s battle prayer, the
anguish of dealing not only with enemies in the field, but also with a
fifth column back home, who were taking every advantage of his absence to
hound him out of his God given office and power. Look at the pain in
these heart felt prayers for safety and deliverance:
?Do not let those who are wrongfully my foes,
gloat over me.
Do not let those who hate me without cause,
wink their eye maliciously.?
As Calvin translates the charges of David here, it is a ?willful hatred?
sprung from a ?deliberate design,? that they have persecuted the man after
God?s own heart. How predictive is this attitude centuries later, when
these same verses could well have been recited by David?s greatest
Son! ?To cause hatred is the mark of the wicked,? Spurgeon tells us, and
?to suffer it causelessly is the lot of the righteous. God [Himself] is
the natural Protector of all who are wronged, and he is the enemy of all
oppressors.? After all, it is He, the Divine God of the ages that is the
final object of the world?s self-taught hatred.
As the worldly representative of heaven, David pleads that these foes of
heaven itself be given no rightful reason to be thrilled with any petty,
temporal triumph. [Don?t let people smile with satisfaction] runs the
modern refrain suggested by my Translator?s Handbook for the second half of
verse nineteen. Absolutely malicious is the wrath of the indigent enemies
of the Kingdom of God, whose earthly regnant, David just happens to
be. Years ago, when my father opposed the destruction of local control of
our county schools, he was absolutely surprised at the enemies that turned
up because he had made a logical political decision as President of the
County School Board. Thankfully, he was independently wealthy, so to speak
? and not liable to any financial threatenings.
While David is distracted, in manfully praying for the steadiness of his
home front, he still continues to campaign against the foreign enemies of
his native land. Like Rush, Sean and a small handful of other conservative
media types, I too worry about our troops fighting in foreign lands ? that
they and our rightful cause for war may be undermined by the liberality and
viciousness of our own homebred traitors. Rush is absolutely prophetic in
his analysis that too many of our own people would dance with the devil, if
our just warfare against terror should fail. Thankfully, our self-same
enemies of civilization have only their fictitious polls to flaunt in
public and as yet, the silent majority is still praying for some form of
victory that may bring peace to the people spiritually oppressed behind the
Muslim fa?ade of the Devil?s greatest religion.
Both the cursed warriors of the Taliban, as well as the humanistic
courtiers of our own Tellyban, are aggressive in marketing their own
versions of truth. It is almost as if the Socialist dream of telling lies
long enough can finally justify their views as any absolute truth.
For over a hundred years, we have had to put up with the socialist caveat
that only they have the interests of the little people at heart, when in
point of fact ? it is those very peasants the presume to represent who
become the most persecuted under their system. If ever the Gorean dream of
saving the earth from motor fuels ever be realized, you can be certain that
any self-appointed prophets of doom would be the last to give up their
vehicles. David understands the petty personal interests of his opposes,
they would have not only their landed estates, but also slaves to work them
for their own profit. And in his prayer, he identifies the total
self-interest of their cause:
?For they do not speak peace;
[Instead] they devise words of deceit
against the quiet ones in the land.?
The quiet ones in the land are all of those who under the administration of
Joshua, David and other godly leaders, were allowed to till their own soil
in peace and quiet while they raised families in the fear of God. Even in
Spurgeon?s time, the righteous could be scarce left alone. ?Riotous men
charge others with sedition,? he complains, and further ?those who [would]
stand up for the crown rights of King Jesus are called enemies.? And this
was in the Nineteenth Century, how much further have the liar?s courts
brought down any remnants of Western Civilization!
This is a small thing, but still it is indicative of ongoing
trends. Recently, the County Commissioners in our area attempted to
establish a dog pound separate from the local Humane Society. The
newspaper forum was early captured by the fur righteous and it looks like
those who believe humans are to be the servants of pets are going to
strengthen their position and eventually impose the quality of their
extensive care upon pet owners throughout the whole county! Heaven forbid,
if an old fashioned farmer believes that animals should be outside and not
propriety guests at the family table itself!
As I said, this is a small issue, but already in the last decades of
Western Civilization, the schooling and care of children has been dominated
by professionals, whose only real interest is to impose their will upon any
and all who may be granted the right to manage the state?s progeny
according to their own humanistic standards. Profession after profession
has been captured by the extremists who would realize a proper socialist
management of every human resource, rather than be the servant of any! And
the poor taxpayers ? they have become the ?quiet ones in the land,? whose
every whim and wish must be dominated and taxed by the self-righteous
secular-humanistic minority, whose very words of promoting paradise on
earth belie and possibility of such a thing ever coming to pass: all
because, they would decry the real paradise envisioned by the God of Creation.
Application: David truly knows the situation he describes, because ? as
God?s reagent or steward, he was charged with protecting the people from
foreign invasions and preventing the bureaucrats and politicians from
carving out their own little personal empires within the context of a
feudalistic structure.
?They also gape at me and say,
??Aha, Aha! Our own eyes have seen it!??
I could almost translate the last phrase in these words: ?Our own eyes
have realized it!? Delitzsch describes the attitude of the wicked: ?With
wide-opened mouth (haughty scorn), they cry, as they carouse in sight of
the misfortune of those they have persecuted: now we have that which we
have longed to see.? David?s destruction is their aim and if their own
kingdom be shaken to destroy him, they would still dance with the devil in
celebration. Why should we be concerned with these machinations of David?s
courtiers? All you have to do is substitute David?s cause with that of our
own President, and everything we have covered is as familiar as the evening
news or the glad rags published as objective reading in every city across
this once fair land. David had the sense of history and providence; he
realized who could salvage not only his reputation, but also the cause of
his kingdom and that of the church itself.
And so, let us all, with one accord fall to our knees and be regular in
prayer that God would turn our own world around and lead it to a better
godly paradigm instead of the worldly chaos which is being created to serve
the devil instead of the King of Kings. Amen.
======================================================
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament ? Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
============================================================================
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel035e.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go
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From ccrlist at tulip.org Mon Apr 10 07:28:37 2006
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Mon Apr 10 07:28:51 2006
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly 09 April 06
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20060410071959.03b30eb0@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Morning,
It looks like a beautiful day here in Ohio, had the mower out for exercise
last Friday briefly! Please keep my wife's family in prayer, her
mother-in-law is still hanging on.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
Psalm 35
22 You have seen, O Lord;
be not silent!
O Lord be not far from me!
23 Awake and rise to my vindication,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 vindicate me, O Lord, my God,
Let them not gloat over me
according to Your righteousness.
25 Let them not say in their hearts,
?Aha, we have our heart?s desire!?
Let them not say,
?We have [ruined] him [completely].?
26 Let them be put to shame and confused
who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
who magnify themselves against me!
27 May those who delight in my righteousness
shout for joy and be glad.
May they say evermore, ?Great is the Lord,
who delights in the well-being of His servant!?
28 Then my tongue shall tell of Your righteousness
and of Your praise all the day long.
====================================================================================
Evermore!
For the Lord?s Day: the 9th of April 2006
Introduction: I just knew, once I had chosen the title for this
meditation, that I must review my aged notes on Edgar Allen Poe?s, The
Raven, who is famous, or infamous for the oft repeated word:
?Nevermore!? Now, the first thing I will tell you about that poetic word
is what a teacher once told me. Only people of a mature mindset can
appreciate the sublime poetry in this composition. As I update that
particular discussion, the professor noted that younger children have an
immense ability to memorize all manner of information, multiplication
tables, states & capitals, presidents and so on. In today?s time, we might
call that a ?read only memory?. Adults, partially because of increasing
brain development are more apt to have a ?random access memory?, wherein
all manner of information from many different sources can be applied to a
discussion or problem at hand.
While there are many symbolic words, phrases, symbols and ideas in Poe?s
work, only a couple comments are necessary for our discussion at hand. The
first, is the bust of Pallas Athena, (a copy of which hung in the ornate
entrance to my old High School); this was the image of the Greek Goddess
Athena: whose appointed character was to represent the glories of human
wisdom. Second, there is the admitted fact that the poem was written
backwards to produce a specific effect. And finally, one commentator
reports that on purpose, Poe ?tears the whole thing down, and lets the
narrator know that there is no meaning in searching for a moral in the
raven?s ?nevermore.??
The poem is nothing more than a futile literary pursuit in a humanistic
quest for meaning and substance in the universe! ?Where is the wise man,
where is the scholar?? the New International Version translates Paul?s
question to the Corinthians. We continue that passage in the English
Standard Version: ?Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it
pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who
believe.? (1 Corinthians 1: 20-21)
Again, Paul writes of the same thing in Romans: ?For what can be known
about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his
invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things
that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew
God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became
futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claming
to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and
reptiles.? (Romans 2: 19-23)
Finally, we remember Paul?s ministry and witness on the Areopagus where he
attempted to reason with the wise sages of Athens and to all immediate
appearances, failed to make a widely accepted point. True, there were a
handful of converts, but once Paul arrives in Corinth, he determines to
only peach Christ and Him crucified.
I am sorry to have led you along for so long an introduction, but I do
think it is very important to distinguish between the worldly opposers to
God and all the elect, and to demonstrate as best I can that there is a
world of difference between the worldly ?nevermore? and the heavenly
?evermore? as we should see it being developed here in this exquisite
passage in Psalm Thirty-seven.
Development: Our psalm portion this morning may be divided into three
sequences. Verses twenty-two to the first line of twenty-four, tie this
segment into the grand theme of the whole battle prayer before us. Verses
twenty-four through and twenty-six contrasts: the way of the world and its
not so hidden agenda against the God of Creation; with the vivid images in
the last two verses: of an ongoing earthly and heavenly celebration over
all that God has and will do in this life and the next.
In the first three verses, Calvin explains that ?there is in these words an
implied contrast between the view which God is here represented as taking,
and the sight at which, as we are told in the preceding verse, the ungodly
rejoiced.? He further argues that David does not remonstrate with his
accusers, but takes his ultimate defense to the God of Ages, knowing that
God will defend His own. ?You have seen, O Lord,? he writes, knowing that
God knows all things. Stand up and do more than watch me, he pleads on
bended knee. If God will be his defender, then his righteous cause will be
maintained before a watching world.
Again in this section of the whole psalm, the legal terms are those of the
court house and the final judgment bench of the Lord God Almighty. Victory
in battle and vindication at home are to be seen as one and the same thing,
a demonstration of the love of God and His ordering of all things. How
well do we understand this duality of David?s heartfelt need in our own day
and time.
Awake and rise to my vindication,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
vindicate me, O Lord, my God
Then in the next section, we have a string of five specific petitions in
this regard. This is sort of like a lawyer and client?s legal goals upon
entering into a case at court. This is what David wants to see as an
immediate and even long term outcome. David?s personal requests for
himself are threefold:
1. First, he petitions that his enemies not be allowed to ?gloat
over me.?
2. Second, he begs that they will not ?have [their] heart?s desire.?
3. Finally he prays that they will not be allowed to ? [ruin] him
[completely].?
Remember, David is king with many wide-ranging responsibilities; his ruin
would also be that of the visible Kingdom of God in his day. What a grand
a glorious day it would be for all of God?s enemies if the Old Covenant
Assembly and its protectorate government were ruined and destroyed ? of
what use would the everlasting Covenant then be?
David further asks that two things be brought upon the heads of his and
God?s enemies.
4. Let them, he continues in the same refrain, ?Let them be put to
shame and confused?
5. Further, he begs, ?Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor?
What better end to those who would twist and turn the righteous cause of
Christ and Kingdom to their own nefarious ends? A double dose of shame,
plus confusion and dishonor is their due reward. May it be so Lord, David
earnestly prays.
Application: In closing this battle prayer, both foreign and domestic,
David maintains the certainty of his hope, that in the final analysis, the
battle belongs to the Lord! A short melody of praise is composed for the
victory celebration. Some time ago, in the midst of political battles with
the greater church, one of my elders and I sat down in a fast food joint
after the conflict had been finally settled after many months of intense
debate and argument. It wasn?t a fancy victory feast: a pastry or two and
raised glasses of Mountain Dew! Finally, a long chapter in our lives had
been accomplished and ended on a positive note. But what a lot of time and
political capital we had to expend for so simple a cause as a
constitutional premise, which served to maintain the integrity of our form
of government. It was a battle that needed to be fought and God in His
sovereign mercy settled things by a thin margin indeed!
David will allow himself a little more in the way of a triumphal
celebration at the end of his wars. And it is to the great silent majority
within the Old Covenant Community that he invites to share in God?s victory.
May those who delight in my righteousness
shout for joy and be glad.
May they say evermore, ?Great is the Lord,
who delights in the well-being of His servant!?
Then my tongue shall tell of Your righteousness
and of Your praise all the day long.
Evermore, the theme resounds down through the ages and all the way into
eternity. ?[Evermore is the Lord great, because He delights in the
well-being of His servants!]? Isn?t this the history of Christ?s Churches
down through the ages? Isn?t this the solid future as well? ?Evermore?,
shall we all tell of Christ?s righteousness and praise Him not only today
but forever and ever as well.
One final thought from the point of our beginning. Just as Poe crafted his
poetry from the end to the beginning, so has our Lord and Savior arranged
the providential ordering of all history. Whether the worldly know it or
not, all things work towards the consummation of the age and the great day
when all heaven breaks loose. Nevermore shall the enemies of Christ pursue
their agenda, because Christ has won the final victory and one day, His
reign will be visibly complete and final. ?Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come
quickly.? Amen.
======================================================
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament ? Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
============================================================================
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel035g.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go
to:
http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/
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From ccrlist at tulip.org Mon Apr 17 11:24:36 2006
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Mon Apr 17 11:25:06 2006
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly for 16 April 06
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20060417112004.03271e40@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Morning,
Thank you all for any prayers for our family. My wife's mother-in-law has
gone on to be with the Lord, the funeral is tomorrow.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
Selah: Sacred Songs of the Psalter
Max A Forsythe ? Anno Domini 2006
======================================================
Psalm 37
A Psalm of David
01 Don?t fret because of evildoers;
do not be envy those who do wrong!
02 Soon they will be cut down like the grass
and wither like the green herbs.
03 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so shall you dwell in the land and enjoy [His]
faithfulness.
04 Delight yourself also in the Lord,
and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
====================================================================================
Don?t Worry ? Be Trusting
For the Lord?s Day: the 16th of April 2006
Introduction: In our consideration of this acrostic poem, there are
several points with which we should begin. First, we should understand
that the alphabetic arrangement here is more proverbial in structure than
most psalms. We know this to be a didactic or teaching psalm with a simple
message woven all through the bits and pieces of thoughts and information
gathered by David over many years. The point of the teaching is to
encourage the saints of every age to hold fast to the faith given to them
in spite of worldly visitations that hint so strongly that wickedness is
more akin to prosperity than godliness. Calvin observes that ?the more
boldly any man despises God, and runs to every excess in wickedness, so
much the more happily he seems to live.?
Dear hearts, we are not to believe it so, we are to take the long view of
history, and this is our second point in introducing this lengthy
psalm. Some suppose that history began with a golden age, then declined to
a lesser silvered time, followed more and more by baser eras, each more
pathetic than the last. A second view supposes that history follows cycles
of events that leave the participants at the mercy of a very fickle
fingered fate. Another, more progressive view held in our time is that
everything is getting better and that any change, no matter how sinful must
be viewed as progress. A last view, that we must consider the truth, is
that history has a beginning and an end, and that the Creator God is moving
events along, albeit slowly, to a final d?nouement when all things will
come to judgment and He and His Son will dispose of every human as they
decide, in righteousness and holiness for all time.
But, we are frail humans who have a very limited view of eternity, and like
the soldier in the trenches of battle, we know not the big picture seen by
our heavenly father. Delitzsch observes that ?the fundamental thought
running through the whole Psalm? is that we should not ?let the prosperity
of the ungodly be a source of vexation.? He continues in his initial
analysis: ?This fundamental thought the poet does not expand in strophes
of ordinary compass, but in shorter utterances of the proverbial form
following the order of the letters of the alphabet, and not without some
repetitions and recurrences to a previous thought, in order to impress it
still more convincingly and deeply upon the mind.?
Development: So, with those reading and meditation instructions clearly
before us, let us begin with the first four verses and see what the Lord
has laid upon the heart of David. Some years ago, there was a popular song
that became almost nauseating by its continual repetition of four
words: ?Don worry, be happy.? A simple enough theme, but hearing the same
lyrics, sung to various arrangements of notes, over and over again and
again ? left many hearers jaded and even depressed when they could not
attain the bliss that was so easily encouraged.
Within the last year, as I was traveling around the Presbytery, I chanced
upon a radio station that played this song exclusively. As I ranged
through the radio dial seeking some classical music, every time I passed
this one station, there it was again and again. It was almost like an
oriental mantra, it even reminded me of the self-esteem mantra that was so
vital to the education of our children when this song made its first debut,
when I first preached on this topic in 1990. That whole movement, which
has colored the view of far too many young adults in our time, is too
simplistic and sinful. Now matter who you are, now matter what you are ?
you are the greatest person you will ever be, so be yourself, follow your
passions and please your every wish and desire, no matter how decadent it
may be.
How much better off we all are, if we, like David are encouraged to lift
our vision above and beyond the human landscape to realize daily that there
is a God in heaven and that He has a purpose to fulfill in and through all
things, great and small. History, as we observed earlier is working
providentially towards a specific final end. An as we watch ?His-Story?
unfold day by day, we should not doubt that God?s purpose and plan is being
unfolded before the eyes of all those who have been given spiritual insight
to acknowledge His person and Son.
But this truth, the worldly little realize, and when things go their way,
they thing they have accomplished something. For a decade or more,
Napoleon dominated the history and politics of continental Europe. Then in
a few afternoon hours, one fine summer day in 1815, it was all over. The
Napoleonic Era was disenfranchised. Certainly, we can admit that some good
had been accomplished in and through the political revolutions that marched
across Europe, but these were not the mere works of men. No indeed, there
were a result of God?s turning what was meant by men for their personal
triumph, into some small steps for improvement in daily living for the
masses as well as the lessening of power for every tyrant on every throne
in Europe.
?Don?t fret because of evildoers;
Do not be envy those who do wrong!?
The humanistic voices that informed Napoleon?s revolution decried the
wisdom and principles of Western Civilization and society. By contrast,
the Wesleyan revival that swept through the United Kingdom and the Great
Awakening in America ? did indeed transform minds and hearts, setting in
motion all sorts of societal improvements, which the rights of man (as
understood in France) could not have fathomed. Those fatalistic humanistic
thoughts were briefly diminished after Waterloo, at least until a new
champion arose in the form of Charles Darwin, but that is another
story! But all such humanistic roads have but one end leading to
destruction instead of construction. We have only to reflect on where
those trends took us in the last century: into National Socialism,
Communism and New Dealism. At least two of those radical panaceas have
already become Napoleonic in timeliness.
So David is prophetically correct when he writes: ?Soon they will be cut
down like the grass and wither like the green herbs.? Do we begin to
fathom that the currents and purpose of history proves the idleness of
every utopian dream? Are we ready to admit that any popular ideology which
gains prominence must prove over and over the sad incompetence of humanity
to define and pursue its own future? David?s assessment is more accurate
that the worldly will admit humanistic endeavor is only so much grass and
herbs!
Application: And so, like a contented hog, we have had our worldly wallow
in the mud and suds of mankind?s vicious nightmares. Let us then seek a
more solid foundation for our present life and future.
?Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so shall you dwell in the land
and enjoy [His] faithfulness.
He shall give you the desires of your heart,
delight yourself also in the Lord,
Before we analyze the meaning here, let us make certain we get our
translation as best as we are able from the text. You will note that the
focus of my translation is slightly different from most. As I read my
Translator?s Handbook and the notes of Delitzsch, it seems to me that the
primacy of the Lord?s actions must be made more noticeable. Calvin catches
the essential theme in this discussion: ?The meaning simply is, that if we
stay our minds wholly upon God, instead of allowing our imaginations like
others to roam after idle and frivolous fancies, all other things will be
bestowed upon us in due season.?
Spurgeon too, realizes a progression in the instructions of these four
verses. ?He who was first bidden not to fret, was then commanded actively
to trust, and now is told with holy desire to delight in God.? Further he
admonishes us: ?In a certain sense imitate the wicked; they delight in
their portion ? take care to delight in yours, and so far from envying you
will pity them.?
The promised land, while it is bound up in David?s thought with the hills,
valleys and plains of Israel ? is still nothing more than living in the
presence of the Almighty Creator and Lord day by day. This we know in the
Christian era can be accomplished in any clime and place ? where-so-ever
the Kingdom of the Spirit is acknowledged and accepted. The enjoyment that
is ours is simply that which He gives and the desires of our hearts should
be to do His divine and holy will as we know it and learn it.
With this introduction to the Psalm that stretches out before us, there is
much in the way of meditation that can encourage and sustain us, even as we
live in but not of the world around us. By trusting in the Lord, we do
exceedingly well, and in trusting in Him we demonstrate His love, grace and
mercy to those who He is preparing to open their hearts to Him. ?Don?t
Worry, be trusting? is the opening admonition of David the King, may we
learn to do so. Amen.
======================================================
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament ? Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
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From ccrlist at tulip.org Fri Apr 28 20:14:08 2006
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Fri Apr 28 20:14:36 2006
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly 23 April 2006
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20060428200929.02d182f0@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Evening,
It's been a hectic week, just catching up with necessaries.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
Selah: Sacred Songs of the Psalter
Max A Forsythe ? Anno Domini 2006
======================================================
Psalm 36
10 Oh, continue Your steadfast love,
to those who know You,
And Your righteousness,
to the upright of heart!
11 Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There the evildoers lie fallen;
they are thrust down, unable to rise.
====================================================================================
To Love & Protect
For the Lord?s Day: the 23rd of April 2006
Introduction: One of the most primal instincts shared with the animal
world is the protection of the young by mothers and of the family by
fathers. In human terms ? literature is full of illustrations that men
show no greater love than the giving up of their lives for God, country and
home.
In the classic film, Patton, George C Scot well acted the profane part of
the real blood and guts figure of history. In so doing, he changed that
essential literary and historic attitude to allow the enemies of freedom,
the privilege of dying for their infamous cause.
That was the movie image and the public persona of the real
character. Historically, Patton had a soft side and was counted somewhat
devout ? if we don?t probe too deeply into areas where he was reluctant to
share with the world.
Now, I realize this is a stretch, but if you compare the opening and
closing thoughts of the three verses before us, we could almost picture
David the king with a similar mind set to that of Patton. However, David?s
heart is on his sleeve and the poetic emotion is visible to all.
Development: To develop this idea, I have chosen a variation of the usual
police motto: ?to serve and protect? as our title for this short section
of three verses in four strophes. David, of course has preceded both the
antics of bravado and the patience of police service.
And because of David?s poetry and his understanding of who and what God is,
plus all the good things he stands for and does ? all of history is better
informed of God?s greater love and protection.
Further, if we truly understand the absolute holiness of God, we must
marvel and stand in awe of the fact that His abiding love defines His
merciful relationship to those called into His Kingdom of the Spirit.
If He loves us, David is all the more certain that His church in both
Covenantal periods will be protected. So David frames his prayer by
reminding the Lord of man?s covenantal understanding:
?Oh, continue Your steadfast love,
to those who know You.?
In these words, he asks nothing more than God?s former protective loving
into the present and future. Notice the descriptive adjective associated
here and forever with the concept of God?s eternal love.
This ?steadfast? love is much more than what we as frail humans are ever
capable of. All too often human love grows cold and old, it even fails
altogether much of the time. But the greater ?agape? of God is steadfastly
different from the all too typical experiential and erotic focus of mankind.
Even the ?storge? (familial love) and ?philia? (friendship) which inform
human relations with others falls short of the great ?agape? celebrated by
Paul centuries later in the sublime context of 1 Corinthians 13:
?If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a
noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all
knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have
not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my
body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
or rude. it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing. but rejoices with the
truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues,
they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part
and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass
away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I
reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For
now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part;
then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these
is love.?
Second, David humbly requests that he also be covered, if I may frame it
that way, with the righteousness of God. Actually he requests this for all
who are ?upright of heart.? Now what are we to think of that phrase?
I can remember an old physics experiment from High School, where the
movement of a magnet under metal filings would cause them all to stand
upright. I know that this is a crude analogy, but isn?t this what David is
praying for? Something like the old spiritual that ran: ?everytime I feel
the Spirit, I want to pray.?
Move upon us today, David humbly asks for the same spiritual manifestation
of knowing and realizing God?s power, grace and love. And in so doing, the
very fact that God is for us, must discourage the worldly and even the
great enemy Satan and all his ill gotten brood of unholy spirits and servants.
?Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.?
He prays urgently. Don?t let me be kicked while I am down and don?t let
the wicked drive me away from Your house and home.
Application: Finally, in verse twelve, we read from the heavenly
perspective whereby one day, David will look back over his life and see all
of those fallen carcasses that litter the pages of history.
David has been lifted up, but all the servants of Satan lie in heaps upon
the ground. I wander if this is David?s survey in the after math of some
battle?
After Waterloo, Gettysburg and countless other fields of gore and glory ?
spectators could follow the action and drama by simply noting where the
battle line had once stood and to where it had moved.
Within the last few decades, a wild fire had burned over the hills near the
Little Big Horn River out west. With metal detectors, note pads and
cameras, the details of that famous battle more than a hundred years ago,
was better outlined and understood.
How will it be at the end of the age, when all heaven breaks loose? Will
we have the blessed hope in our hands and be allowed to look back and see
how the Spirit led us through thick and thin, all the way home, according
to His love and protection divine? May that be your experience one and
all. Amen.
======================================================
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament ? Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
============================================================================
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel036c.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go
to:
http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/
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