Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Main Thought: Let a man examine himself...if we judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

This didactic psalm, written by Asaph, a leading Levite musician (1 Chron.

16:4–5) who also wrote Psalms 73–83, deals with man’s worship of God and duty to his neighbor, which are in the two portions of the Decalogue (Ten Commandments).

Asaph described a scene in the heavenly courtroom in which the Lord will examine His people.

Asaph then declared that the Lord had indictments against two sins of His people: formalism in worship and hypocrisy in living.

To please God His people must bring sacrifices of thanksgiving from obedient, trusting hearts.

[Allen P. Ross, “Psalms,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed.

J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 830–831.]

The burden of the psalm is clearly prophetic and its teaching is best brought into focus when we see it in the light of the coming judgment of Israel at the hands of an offended God in the climactic events that close the tribulation age.

[John Phillips, Exploring Psalms 1–88: An Expository Commentary, vol. 1, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ps 50.]

Body:

I.

Your Judge Summons You (Psalm 50:1-12).

A. Behold His Majesty & Power (Ps.

50:1-3).

1.

The Day Comes that God Calls (v. 1).

God the Judge summons the court (vv.

1–6) and confronts two offenders: the formalist, to whom worship is a ritual to follow (vv.

7–15), and the hypocrite, to whom worship is a disguise to cover sin (vv.

16–21).

The psalm closes with a call to all worshipers to be faithful to God (vv.

22–23).

[Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Worshipful, 1st ed., “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004), 183.]

There are three titles for God here—El, Elohim, Jehovah.

El is God as the mighty One, the awful One, in whom all the attributes and excellence of deity are concentrated; Elohim is God as the majestic One, the God of creation, the God of suns and stars and galaxies and of the planet earth; Jehovah is God as the merciful One who reveals Himself to men and signs contracts with them.

This is the One who summons the nations to witness the judgment of the Jews: the God of might, majesty, and mercy.

The threefold use of these names is found in only one other place in the Bible.

When the promised land was conquered, all its foes subdued, and the prospect hope of rest stretched before the chosen people of God, the tribes who were to settle on the other side of Jordan set up an altar.

Its erection was instantly challenged by the other tribes.

They thought it schismatic, a crack in national unity, a possible source of future spiritual departure by the Transjordan tribes.

The tribes which had erected this altar took an immediate oath that this was not so and twice, in solemn affirmation, they used this threefold name for God.

“The LORD GOD of gods, the LORD GOD of gods [El, Elohim, Jehovah], He knoweth, and Israel He shall know; if it be in rebellion” (Joshua 22:22).

[John Phillips, Exploring Psalms 1–88: An Expository Commentary, vol. 1, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ps 50:1.]

2. God Shines in His Perfection (v. 2).

Note - the Lord is the only one who can claim perfection in this manner.

3. God Visits with a Fiery Tempest (v.

3).

Note - The Hymn "O Worship the King"

B. Behold the Jury & Defendant (Ps.

50:4-6).

1. God Assembles Heaven's Witness (v. 4).

2. God Gathers His Guilty People (v. 5).

3. God Himself Ascends the Bench (v. 6).

C. Behold the Charges on the Docket (Ps.

50:7-9).

1. God Testifies Against His People for Empty Religious Formality (v. 7).

2. His Judgment Is Not About Their Sacrifices (v.

8).

3.

He Now Desires None of Their Sacrifices (v.

9).

D. Behold the Truth on Display (Ps.

50:10-12).

1. God's Supreme Ownership of Creation (vv.

10-11).

God says, “Did you really think you were giving Me something when you brought sacrifices to Me? Why, all the animals belong to Me anyway.”

This reminds us of the words of Jeremiah the prophet: “For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you” (Jer.

7:22–23).

The prophet Micah said something similar: “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow my self before the high God?

shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic.

6:6–8).

[J.

Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary, electronic ed., vol. 2 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 760.]

2. God's Self-Existence on Display (v.

12).

II.

Your Judge Can Either Sentence or Save (Psalm 50:13-23).

A. Call on Your Deliverer for Salvation (Ps.

50:13-15).

1. Avoid the Blood that Cannot Satisfy the Lord (v.

13).

2. Bring Your Heart to the Altar Instead (v.

14).

The Lord speaks first to those who are indeed His people, but their hearts are not in their worship.

Their devotion is faithful but only routine.

Like the church at Ephesus, they had “left their first love” (Rev.

2:4) and were worshiping the Lord out of habit and not from the heart.

Outwardly, they were doing what the Lord commanded and honoring the daily sacrifices (Ex.

29:38–42), but inwardly they lacked love and fellowship with God.

They forgot that God wanted their hearts before He wanted their sacrifices (Isa.

1:11–15; Jer.

7:21–23; Hos.

6:6; 8:13; Amos 5:21–26; Mic.

6:6–8; Mark 12:28–34).

[Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Worshipful, 1st ed., “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004), 184.]

3.

Call on the Lord, Give Him Glory for Salvation (v.

15).

What was God looking for in Israel down through the ages?

He wanted them to be thankful—thankful for the great sacrifice already offered for sin, thankful for the gift to them of the Scriptures, the Son, and the Spirit.

He wanted them to be truthful—to pay their vows.

He wanted them to be trustful—to call upon Him in the day of trouble, not to trust in their wealth, their works, their worship, or anything else, but in Him.

The real problem with ritual is that, if forms are all there is to our religion, they give us feelings of being right with God when actually we may be guilty of the most terrible sins.

This happened to the Pharisees in the days of Jesus.

They hated him and were trying to get rid of him.

Eventually they murdered him.

But they did so religiously, breaking the law when they had to but at the same time keeping up every possible outward appearance of piety.

Since it was the time of the Passover Feast, they would not defile themselves by going into Pilate’s courts.

They insisted that Pilate come out to them.

Yet they had already arrested Jesus by night, which was illegal.

They had forged various and unrelated charges against him, which was illegal.

They condemned him unanimously without allowing anyone to speak on his behalf, which was illegal.

Students of Jewish law say that scores of safeguards, all of which were meant to protect an innocent person, were recklessly abandoned in Jesus’ trial.

Yet in spite of this most horrible of sins, the Pharisees nevertheless kept themselves ritually clean and certainly observed the Passover with clear (though hardened) consciences the next day.

Formalism leads easily to such hardening, which is why the psalm speaks so strongly about it.

The psalmist seems to say that the cure is to realize afresh that God does not need anything from us.

That is, the cure is a good dose of spiritual reality.

[James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 42–106: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 418.]

B. Consider the Fate of the Wicked (Ps.

50:16-18).

1. God Knows the Wolves in Sheep's Clothing (v.

16).

2. Their Fruits Betray Them (v.

17).

To “hate instruction” means to reject an ordered way of life patterned after God’s Word, to reject a responsible life.

The Lord specifically named stealing (the 8th commandment, Ex. 20:15), adultery (the 7th commandment, Ex. 20:14) and deceitful speech and slander (the 9th commandment, Ex. 20:16).

These are not “old covenant sins,” for believers today who live under the new covenant can be just as guilty of committing them.

[Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Worshipful, 1st ed., “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004), 185.]

3. Their Sins Find them Out (v.