About this sermon
Psalm 92, a song for the Sabbath, declares that it is good to give thanks to the Lord and to declare his lovingkindness morning and night. God’s people should give thanks even in troubled times, when the wicked seem to flourish. The wicked spring up like grass only to perish, while the Lord is on high forever. The righteous, planted in the house of the Lord, flourish like the palm tree and still bear fruit in old age.
Sermon transcript
As we continue our consideration of various psalms, tonight we’re going to consider Psalm 92. So if you’d like to follow along in your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn there to Psalm 92. Dear friends, let’s hear God’s holy word. This psalm is entitled, A Psalm, A Song for the Sabbath Day. It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your lovingkindness in the morning and your faithfulness by night, with the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, with resounding music upon the lyre. For you, O Lord, have made me glad by what you have done. I will sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep. A senseless man has no knowledge, nor does a stupid man understand this, that when the wicked sprout up like grass and all who do iniquity flourished, it was only that they might be destroyed forevermore.
But you, O Lord, are on high forever. For behold, your enemies, O Lord, for behold, your enemies will perish. All who do iniquity will be scattered. But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. I have been anointed with fresh oil, and my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes. My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me. The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age. They shall be full of sap and very green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. Dear ones, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.
Let’s seek the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of His word. Let us pray. Our gracious Lord and Father in heaven, it is indeed a good thing to give you thanks and praise. We ask that you would fill our hearts with gratitude as we consider this portion of your word. We ask that you would give us inquiring minds and open hearts, and we pray that by your spirit, you would cause the seed of your word to take deep root in our hearts and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives. Be with us now, Lord, as we consider this portion of your word. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. My sermon title for this evening’s sermon is a very creative title. It is good to thank the Lord.
Well, not very creative, but very appropriate given of this wonderful passage of Holy Scripture. And if you’re following along in your bulletin outline, or rather your sermon outline, there’s a couple of words you can be listening for this evening. Thanks, Thanksgiving, righteous, wicked, and temple. Well, dear friends, as we check our news feeds and consider the many troubles and challenges of our present time, we might be tempted to think that an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving are not really called for, perhaps even inappropriate given the troubled times in which we live. After all, is it not the case that we live in a violent, fallen, sin-cursed world and that we find ourselves in the midst of uncertain and unstable times? Is it a good thing, even in such times, to give thanks to the Lord?
Well, dear ones, I think you know the answer to that question, and Psalm 92 is one portion of God’s Word that assures us, as God’s people, that it is indeed a good thing to give thanks to the Lord and to do so continuously, as the psalmist puts it, day and night. Day and night, not only when times are peaceful and prosperous and stable, but even in times when wicked men and evildoers seem to flourish. After all, this powerful psalm assures us that our sovereign God and Savior will indeed destroy and scatter the unrepentant wicked and will establish the righteous, those who are in a right relationship with God, He will establish them securely in His eternal presence. Now this Psalm was probably written by one of the Hebrew kings. We’re not told who it was, but it is entitled a Psalm, a song for the Sabbath day.
And whenever it happened to have been written, it appears to have been used in the liturgy of the rebuilt Jerusalem temple in post-exilic times. That is to say, in the time after the people of God had returned to the promised land after the period of their exile in Babylon. And it was used in the temple liturgy on the Sabbath day, and hence it is entitled a song for the Sabbath day. It is a psalm that highlights the goodness of giving thanks to Yahweh, the faithful covenant God of Israel, the God of mercy and redemption, to give praise to Him for His mighty works, including His works in bringing destruction upon the unrepentant wicked and establishing the righteous in security, strength, and fruitfulness. So let’s dive in and see what the Spirit is teaching us here in this portion of His Holy Word.
The first thing I want us to consider in the opening section of this psalm, which covers the first four verses, let us consider, beloved, the goodness of giving thanks, the goodness of giving thanks. The psalmist begins, it is good to give thanks to Yahweh, to the Lord. That term, that word that is translated there is as good could be translated as pleasant. It is a good thing, a pleasant thing to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness by night. The term good here, where the psalmist says it is good to give thanks to the Lord, this term applies not only to the giving of thanks, but also to the singing of praise and to the declaring of God’s loving kindness.
Indeed, these activities, giving thanks, giving praise and declaring the loving kindness of the Lord. These are not watertight, distinct activities. These are activities that involve one another. And so we learn in these opening verses that God is pleased when His people offer Him thanks and praise from the heart. And again, the activity of thanking God and praising God and declaring His loving kindness, You notice here the parallelism involved in this psalm. But what does it mean to sing praises to the name of God? What is God’s name? Well, remember that in Scripture, God’s name represents His revealed character. that we praise God not just because he gives us warm feelings or makes us feel all ooey and gooey inside. We praise God because of who he is, because of his glorious revealed attributes as the omnipotent one, as the God who is, as our sort of catechism puts it, a spirit infinite, eternal, and unchanging in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
This is the God whom we are to praise and give thanks to and whose name, whose revealed character we are to declare. And what are we to declare and sing praises to him for? For his loving kindness and his faithfulness Faithfulness. Our God is a God of faithfulness. We sing that wonderful hymn, great is thy faithfulness. Oh God, my Father, there’s no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not thy compassions. They fail not as thou hast been thou forever. will be. Oh, what comfort we can derive from the name of God, the character of God. He is the God of steadfast love. He is the God of covenant faithfulness, a God who deserves and is worthy of praise continuously, both in the morning and by night.” Now, it’s interesting in verse two, the psalmist speaks of declaring God’s loving kindness in the morning and God’s faithfulness by night.
Why this reference to morning and evening? Well, obviously, the reference to morning and evening implies praising God continuously. As the apostle Paul writes in the New Testament, rejoice in the Lord when? Always, again I will say it, rejoice. So this has in view continuous praise, but also in the specific context of this psalm as a song for the Sabbath day, morning and evening worship in the temple are probably in view here, since the Sabbath day was not only a day of rest, but also a day for gathered worship, as we learn in passages like Leviticus 23, verse three. and also since morning and evening sacrifices in the temple would be accompanied by the singing of praise by the Levitical choirs. Because of the Bible’s teaching, beloved, on the Sabbath, and because of passages like this one that speak of praising God in the morning and in the evening, because of these emphases in Scripture, Historic Reformed churches like the OPC have always had a high view of the Christian Sabbath or the Lord’s Day.
And the historic practice of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches has been to have both morning and evening worship services on the Lord’s Day, in part because of the example and the emphases of passages such as the one that we are considering this evening. And this giving of thanks and this singing of praise and declaring of God’s faithfulness is not to be done in some morose, some kind of somber way. There is a place for for being somber, and obviously reverence is, there’s a seriousness about the reverent fear of the Lord that we are to have in our approach to God in worship. But it is also to be worship characterized by joy, and this is highlighted by the use of musical instruments in the temple’s worship. As verse three says, with the 10-stringed lute and with the harp, with resounding music upon the lyre.
This praise to God, this declaration of His loving kindness, this giving of thanks in the temple context was accompanied by joyful music with these musical instruments that are associated with worship in the temple. And the psalmist goes on to say in verse 4, Now what in particular has the Lord done for this psalmist as reflected in this particular psalm? As we will see, it could It could have particular reference to a mighty act of deliverance where God has delivered the psalmist, who again may have been one of the kings of Judah. God has delivered the psalmist from a military adversary. That is possibly a historical setting that is in the background. But again, as is characteristic of many of the psalms, The setting is presented in such a general way that the psalm can be adapted to many different circumstances in the life of the church, in the lives of God’s people.
But notice in verse 4, the psalmist is made glad by what? By the works of God. Verse 4, for you, O Lord, have made me glad by what you have done. I will sing for joy at the works of your hands. God’s hands represent His power. God, of course, as a Spirit, an infinite transcendent Spirit, the Creator of heaven and earth, does not literally have hands, but in the Scriptures, God’s hands are symbols of His power. And God has displayed His power in the works of creation, For He spoke and all things came into being in His works of providence. For God governs all things and causes all things to work out in accordance with His sovereign will and good pleasure, and also His mighty works of justice and redemption. So as we come to church on the Lord’s Day, as we come before our God to worship Him and praise Him both publicly and also in our own private devotions, let us consider who God is, how great His mighty works are, how great are the works of His hands, and let us praise Him and thank Him and declare the mighty works of His hands, especially let us consider how His mighty works have been displayed in showing us His grace and mercy, in intervening in our lives with His grace, and mercy.
Well, there’s so much that we can glean from this passage by way of application, but let me mention a number of things. First of all, beloved, like the psalmist, we should praise and thank God even in a time of uncertainty. Why? Because His loving kindness and faithfulness remain constant and unchanging. You’ve perhaps heard the saying that the only constant is constant change. But there is one thing, or I should say one person, who never changes, and that is God. God is our rock. He is constant. He is faithful to His promises. In fact, He is faithful even, praise God, when we are unfaithful. And thank God that our salvation is grounded ultimately in the faithful, divine grace and initiative of God. and not grounded in our response to that grace, although he does require a response, but he himself works that response in us by his grace.
God is our constant. He is our unchanging rock. We can build our lives securely upon him. Jesus is the rock of our salvation. Let us build our lives upon the rock of Jesus Christ, our Lord, for he is. faithful, and He is constant, and we are secure as we take refuge in Him. Also, like the psalmist, we should rejoice in God, as I mentioned, because of His mighty works. Again, let us especially thank and praise God for His mighty work of redeeming us through the divine person and saving work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear believer, Have you ever paused to reflect upon your life, to look back on your life and remember and recall the many times that you have failed your Lord and fallen short, but then come to the realization once again that in spite of your many failings, in spite of the roller coaster ride of life, In spite of all these things, God has loved you and continues to love you and continues to forgive you and continues to preserve you and persevere with you.
That He continues His work of grace in you and He will continue it even unto the day of Christ Jesus. Reflect upon how faithful God has been to you in spite of your unfaithfulness, and we’ve all fallen short, we are all unfaithful, but God is faithful, and he keeps us in his sovereign grace and care. Trust in him, look to him, rejoice in him, abide in him. But next, beloved, as we move on to the next section of this psalm, let us take to heart God’s mighty work of bringing the unrepentant wicked to ultimate destruction in spite of their temporary strength and flourishing. Take to heart God’s mighty work of bringing the unrepentant wicked to ultimate destruction in spite of their temporary strength and flourishing. So often, if you study human history, so often it seems that like the wicked abound, So often it seems like the servants of Satan have the upper hand.
They’re the ones it seems more often than not in positions of power and influence. And it’s tempting for us as God’s people to get discouraged. But we can take heart that just as God is faithful and constant in showing mercy and grace towards his people, God’s faithfulness and constancy is also a source of confidence that he will indeed bring justice to bear in the end. He will either convert his enemies, and we pray for that, we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us and to seek their repentance and conversion, but if they do not repent are not converted, we can be assured that God will knock them off their high horse, that God will bring down the wicked in their pride in His timing and by His omnipotent power. Verse 5, the psalmist, now some suggest that verse 5 should go with what comes before it, sort of as a summary of the opening section of this psalm.
Others believe that verse 5 should go with what follows, and you know, it’s debatable. In the New American Standard version that I’m using to preach from, verse 5 goes with what follows, and I think that it makes sense. But the psalmist goes on to say, how great are your works, O Lord. Your thoughts are very deep. In what sense are God’s thoughts deep? His thoughts are infinitely deep because he is the infinite God. While the psalmist here extols the greatness of Yahweh’s works, the depth of God’s thoughts are seen in the often mysterious way that he seemingly allows the wicked to flourish for a time but only to bring his judgments upon them in the end and to vindicate his people in the end, all to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glorious grace in the case of his elect, the praise of his glorious justice in the case of the unrepentant wicked, the reprobate.
We see this mysteriousness of God’s thoughts and God’s plans and God’s decree in many passages of Scripture, but let us just review a few of those passages as we compare Scripture with Scripture. Look with me, if you would, at Romans 11, verses 33 through 36. Romans chapter 11. verses 33 to 36 as the Apostle Paul kind of wraps up the doctrinal section of Romans where he’s been just extolling and explaining the gospel in all of its depth and riches. And then he bursts out in these words of doxology. Romans 11, beginning at verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. There he, in this passage, he’s been talking about how God is a temporary hardening has come upon Israel so that the Gentiles might be brought in.
And it’s just so mysterious, so deep. And he says, how deep, who can figure out God’s ways? Verse 34, for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became his counselor, or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again? For from him, and through him, and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Or again, consider what the prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 55, verses eight and nine. Isaiah 55, verses eight and nine, we read these powerful words. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. The psalmist praises God and says, your thoughts, Lord, are very deep.
Well, as God himself says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. God does not look at things the way that we do. His thoughts are very deep, indeed infinitely deep. Or we consider once again that wonderful passage from Deuteronomy 29 verse 29, which I think really confronts us with the limitations of our own ability to perceive and wrap our brains around the ways of God but the assurance that God has indeed revealed to us everything that we need in His Word. It says, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed, that would be things revealed in this book, the Word of God, the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever that we may observe all the words of this law. With all of this in mind, the psalmist goes on in verses six and seven to say the following.
A senseless man has no knowledge, nor does a stupid man understand this. Scriptures are sometimes very blunt and straightforward in how they describe folks. Verse seven, that when the wicked sprouted up like grass and all who did iniquity flourished, it was only that they might be destroyed forever. When the wicked sprout up like grass, grass can sprout up very quickly. This is a time of year when when, I don’t know about you folks, but our lawn, this time of year, grows at such a rapid pace that sometimes I have to mow the lawn more than once a week, because it grows so fast, or if the lawn’s not growing, at least the dandelions are growing, and the weeds, and they have to be dealt with. And so often, the wicked seem to sprout up quickly, and they seem to predominate.
When the wicked sprouted up like grass, And all who did iniquity flourished. They seemed to flourish. They seemed to be everywhere. They seemed to be in control. And their presence seemed so threatening to the people of God. But then it was only that they might be destroyed forevermore. Remember, God raised up Pharaoh to display his glory in judging Pharaoh and redeeming and delivering his people. Now the psalmist here speaks of a senseless man. Here the psalmist describes the foolish man, the man who lacks the fear of the Lord. And remember the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He describes the foolish man who appears to see only the immediate strength and flourishing of the wicked and therefore is tempted to join in with the wicked. but who seems incapable of taking the long view and understanding the ultimate long-term defeat and destruction of evildoers, of the unrepentant wicked.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is easy for us to see only what is immediately before us. But we in the OPC, we like to emphasize eschatology, right? Which is not just about the way end. All of Christianity is eschatological. God has us moving in a direction, and He’s working out His plan and purpose in history. And history may seem to be dominated by the wicked right now, but Jesus Christ, the Messiah, our King and Lord, rules in the midst of His enemies. And He is calling His elect through the gospel from the four corners of the earth, and He is working out His plans and purposes. And therefore, We can trust that God’s purposes will prevail in the end. Then in verse eight, there’s a contrast here. He speaks about the wicked who sprout up like grass, who sprout up quickly, but then they are defeated and destroyed quickly as well.
What a contrast that is to Yahweh, the true and living God, the God whom we love and serve and worship and trust. But you, O Lord, are on high forever. The wicked so often seem to be on high. They seem to be beyond, you can’t even touch them. They seem so stable and secure in their wicked reign. But Yahweh, the Lord, He is on high forevermore. He reigns. The eternal exaltation of Yahweh is here contrasted with the eternal destruction of the unrepentant wicked. And then verse nine, for behold, your enemies, O Lord, and then he repeats himself for emphasis, for behold, your enemies will what? Will perish. All who do iniquity will be scattered. The enemies of Yahweh are doomed to perish and shall be scattered. And this, brothers and sisters, should not fill us with a spirit of revenge and like, yeah, I can’t wait till these folks get what’s coming to them.
It instead should fill us with a burden to reach these with the gospel before it is too late. This is a time of grace. This is a time where God through the gospel extends an olive branch. He extends the offer of peace to the wicked that they might repent. Praise God. Those of us, we are, apart from His grace, we are wicked too. We are among their company unless the Lord calls us in grace. The only reason that we are on this side of the divide rather than the other side, the only reason that we have been brought into the kingdom of His beloved Son and do not continue to abide under the domain of darkness is because God in sovereign grace has brought us to repentance through the gospel. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.
So we should realize that yes, God will defeat the unrepentant wicked in the end, but in the meantime, let us seek to proclaim the good news and call the wicked to repentance. to display the love of God, even for sinners. Let us remember, there go I, but for the grace of God. Let us remember that Christ, that God demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, rebels shaking our fist against our holy creator, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Hallelujah, praise be to God. And then the psalmist goes on in verse 10. But you have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox. The horn in the Bible is often used as a symbol of strength and power. And here the horn is being used in a creative way because he talks about God exalting his horn like that of a wild ox, but then he talks about being anointed with fresh oil.
Well, anointing with oil, the oil was often poured out from a horn. One Bible commentator says that the wild ox here is the aurochs, A-U-R-O-C-H-S, which is the ancestor of domestic cattle but is now extinct. The animal was known for its strength and its horns were effective for goring. The psalmist says, you’ve exalted my horn like that of a wild ox. Perhaps the psalmist, especially if he was one of the Davidic kings, has in view how God has strengthened him for battle against the enemies of Israel. And then verse 11, it says, And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes, my ears hear of the evildoers who rise up In other words, God has given the psalmist victory over his enemies, a victory which he has witnessed firsthand with his eyes. He’s seen it with his eyes.
He’s heard it with his ears. And again, perhaps a military victory against the enemies of God’s people is in view. Well, brothers and sisters, what are some of the takeaways or lessons that we can glean from this portion of Psalm 92? Well, first of all, there’s many things we can learn from this, but I would encourage us, let us not be like the senseless man described in this psalm, the man who is incapable of self-reflection, the man who only sees the short-term victory of the wicked, but cannot see with the eyes of faith the long-term eschatological victory of Almighty God. Instead, by His grace let us trust in the Lord and wait upon Him.” God’s Word calls us to patience, doesn’t it? How many scripture passages, it would be interesting to count the number of times if you look it up in your Bible concordance that we are exhorted as God’s people to wait upon the Lord.
Oh, I hate waiting. Don’t you hate waiting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office? Or the other day I was on the road and I got stuck in some traffic. There was construction on the road and I was sitting in my car for about maybe 10 minutes, completely stopped on the road. And it’s amazing how long that 10 minutes seemed, because I’m so impatient, right? that we are to wait upon the Lord. God takes the long view. May we take the long view as well. May we trust in the Lord and wait upon Him. And let us understand that Christ has already gained the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. He’s already secured our victory. We are already, if you are in union with Jesus Christ, you are already a victorious.
You are already more than a conqueror through Him who loved you. So rest in His victory and by faith, Give Him thanks for His victory. But when you are tempted, as we all are, to fret because of evildoers, be assured that God will bring his righteous wrath down upon the wicked who refuse to repent, and he will vindicate his believing people in the end. And so when we see wickedness and injustice, when we see the suffering of God’s people and persecution of believers, when we see such evils, let us realize that God will bring every deed into the open and He will indeed vindicate His people and bring His holy judgment upon the unrepentant wicked in the end. Though they seem so strong and stable today, They will perish like the grass. They will wither and fade like the grass.
And that leads me to my final point in the closing verses of this Psalm. Beloved, let us rejoice in the ultimate flourishing of the righteous. Rejoice in the ultimate flourishing of those who through sovereign grace are right with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 12, the righteous man will flourish like what? like the palm tree.” Do you see the contrast? The wicked are compared to the grass, which flourishes quickly but then is soon destroyed. But the righteous man will flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those were tall, strong trees. And then verse 13, planted in the house of the Lord they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age. They shall be full of sap and very green to declare that the Lord is upright.
He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness. Again, notice that the righteous are sharply contrasted with the wicked. The wicked in verse 7, as I mentioned, the wicked in verse 7 being compared to the grass that sprout up and seem to prevail everywhere. But the righteous are like fruitful trees, like a palm tree. And like a cedar of Lebanon, there is security there, there is stability there, there is fruitfulness there. And not only that, but they are compared to trees that are planted where? Look at verse 13, planted in the house of the Lord. In the old covenant context, that would be in the temple. Now where, what is the significance of the Old Testament temple? The temple was the place, yes, where sacrifices were offered to God, where God was worshiped through sacrifices, but the temple was a symbol of God’s reign over and presence in the midst of his people.
And so this imagery of being planted in the house of the Lord, the house of the Lord was where the Lord dwelt in a special way amongst his people. They will flourish in the courts of our God. In ancient temples, in the ancient Near East, trees were often planted within the precincts of the temple, and that may have been the case as well in God’s temple in Jerusalem. And so the righteous are compared to those who flourish in the courts of the Lord. Planted in Yahweh’s house, in Yahweh’s temple. This is a picture of spiritual safety and security. The safety and security that comes from living in communion with the living God. The temple, of course, was the place of atonement and forgiveness. It was the dwelling place of God. And notice also the temple was also the place where corporate acts of worship took place.
So we are planted in the Lord’s house As individual believers, yes, we are planted in Him. We are stable and secure in Him. But we also, this security and stability that we have in Christ is especially exemplified when we gather together for corporate worship on the Lord’s day, to worship and rejoice in Him. Beloved, by His grace, we are a temple of the Holy Spirit, united to Christ. That being the case, let us trust in Him to cause us to bear fruit for His kingdom, and let us declare as the last verse of this psalm says, He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. May He be your rock and your refuge. Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, it is indeed a good thing to give thanks to you. We thank you that you in Christ have granted us stability, security, and the ability by grace to bear fruit for your kingdom.
We ask that through faith in Christ, we would indeed be planted like a cedar in Lebanon, like a palm tree in the courts of the Lord. Be with us now, Lord, bear fruit in and through us in the week ahead. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said. Amen. Dear ones, as we close our time of worship this evening, let’s rise and we’ll sing from the Psalter hymnal, Psalm 92a. It’s good to thank the Lord, 92a.
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