David Parker: Negative Testing Testing Good Alrighty.
David Parker: Good evening family.
David Parker: It has been a couple of weeks since our last evening service and it's been about four months for me since I last did one of these.
David Parker: So I want to thank you in advance for your patience, because I am feeling a bit rusty.
David Parker: But for those of you who are here for the first time or if you're joining for the evening series, we've been doing a series called Route 66, or book by book through the book of books, and what we're essentially doing is looking at each book of the Bible in thematic strokes, looking at each book and doing a large overview, and as we do that, we're basically understanding this bigger picture that the Bible creates for us.
David Parker: Two weeks ago, pastor Doug led us through the book of Job and for anyone who wasn't here, I highly recommend you give that sermon a listen.
David Parker: It was honestly one of my favorites.
David Parker: So if you're in a season of rest or in a season of suffering, that sermon will often offer a lot of wisdom and encouragement on how to deal with situations of anxiety or unknown.
David Parker: So I highly recommend checking out the sermon that Pastor Doug did two weeks ago, for tonight I have the privilege and the daunting task of taking us through one of the biggest books, or the biggest book in the Bible the book of Psalms.
David Parker: I hope you brought your sleeping bags, because we're doing 150 chapters.
David Parker: Obviously we're not doing 150 chapters, but I do pray that after tonight's overview you'll have a greater appreciation for the book.
David Parker: So, before we get started, please join me for a word of prayer.
David Parker: Before we get started, please join me for a word of prayer.
David Parker: Gracious Father, it is indeed a pleasure to gather as your people and to worship you.
David Parker: We ask, o Lord, that you would open our eyes so that we can behold wonderful things from your law, and I pray this, o Lord, in your Son's name Amen.
David Parker: If you have a Bible with you, turn with me to Luke, chapter 24.
David Parker: Luke, chapter 24.
David Parker: Now I know you're wondering aren't we doing the book of Psalms?
David Parker: We are, but I just wanted to give us a little snapshot of the destination, kind of like a director giving you a taste of what the end is going to look like.
David Parker: I want to do that for tonight.
David Parker: So, luke 24, and I'm just going to be reading verses 36 to 44.
David Parker: As they were saying these things, he himself stood in their midst.
David Parker: He said to them.
David Parker: Peace to you.
David Parker: But they were startled and terrified, as though they were seeing a ghost.
David Parker: Why are you troubled, he asked them, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
David Parker: Look at my hands and my feet that it is I myself.
David Parker: Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you can see I have.
David Parker: Having said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
David Parker: But while they were still amazed and in disbelief because of their joy, he asked them do you have anything to eat?
David Parker: So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their presence.
David Parker: He told them these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
David Parker: These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
David Parker: Take that last verse, start in your back pocket and we'll come back to it at the end.
David Parker: Now let's go to the book of Psalms.
David Parker: So for this evening, we find ourselves probably in one of the most appreciated books in all of the Bible.
David Parker: It is a book that speaks so pointedly to the human experience.
David Parker: It is a book that we turn to when we need encouragement.
David Parker: It is a book of those famous words that probably even non-Christians know that the Lord is my shepherd.
David Parker: It is also a book that so plainly stands out from the rest of our Bible because when you look at it in our modern translations, you're not met with long paragraphs of genealogy and narrative, but instead you're welcomed with concise couplets, stanzas and verses.
David Parker: You're met with imagery that stirs the imagination and that moves the heart.
David Parker: That stirs the imagination and that moves the heart.
David Parker: You can say that this is the language that the Lord uses to woo the souls of his people.
David Parker: Like a poet, the book of Psalms, as Matthew Henry once said I'm going to modernize it brings us into the sanctuary.
David Parker: It draws us from conversation with men, with the politicians, philosophers or disputers of this world.
David Parker: Another commentator says this literary sanctuary in the scripture, the place where God meets his people in a special way, where his people may address him with their praise and lament, in the same way that the sanctuaries of the Old Testament, primarily the tabernacle and the temple, were considered to be the physical center of the people of God.
David Parker: So too is the book of Psalms in the middle of the Bible.
David Parker: I thought that was beautifully put.
David Parker: So in the same of the Bible.
David Parker: I thought that was beautifully put.
David Parker: So in the same way.
David Parker: The Bible was written over a long period of time with various authors.
David Parker: The book of Psalms is the same.
David Parker: The book of Psalms has 150 chapters.
David Parker: 47 of the chapters have anonymous writers.
David Parker: We have one chapter written by Moses, one written by Ethan the Ezraite, two by King Solomon, 12 by the sons of Korah, 12 by Asaph and 73 by King David.
David Parker: Now the 150 chapters of Psalms are divided into five books.
David Parker: Book one is chapters one through 41.
David Parker: Book two, chapters 42 to 72.
David Parker: Book 3, chapters 73 to 89.
David Parker: Book 4, chapters 90 to 106.
David Parker: And book 5, 107 to 150.
David Parker: As I mentioned earlier, we will not be covering every single chapter in this book, but instead we're going to be looking at patterns that can be seen throughout the entire book.
David Parker: And as we look at these patterns, I think it will help us get to what is at the heart of Psalms.
David Parker: So here are the four patterns that we're going to look at this evening.
David Parker: We're going to look at patterns of praise and worship, patterns of prayer and petition.
David Parker: Patterns of acknowledging the past and prophetic patterns of a person.
David Parker: Number one patterns of acknowledging the past and prophetic patterns of a person.
David Parker: Number one patterns of prayer and worship.
David Parker: Number two patterns of prayer and petition.
David Parker: Number three patterns of acknowledging the past and prophetic patterns of a person.
David Parker: Time doesn't allow us to be exhaustive in each of these points, so for this evening, I'm just going to look at one or two, maybe three psalms in each of these sections and then, for further study, I will list psalms at the end of each section for study, if you're interested.
David Parker: So, patterns of praise and worship.
David Parker: Before we turn to a psalm, it's important to note that the Hebrew word for psalm is tehillim, which is translated to praise or praises, and the English title that we have for psalms is derived from the Greek word psalmoi, which means songs of praise.
David Parker: So from the title alone, we can anticipate that this book is going to be saturated with praise.
David Parker: Now, if you have your Bible, turn with me to Psalm 117.
David Parker: Now, this psalm is an example of what is called a psalm of praise, or a praise psalm, or a hymn.
David Parker: Now, even though Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in all of Scripture.
David Parker: It gives us a very clear pattern of how psalms or praise are usually structured.
David Parker: And psalms or praise can be structured in three parts.
David Parker: There's a call to praise, there's a reason or a basis to praise, and then there's a repeated call to praise or a closing reflection.
David Parker: Now can I have someone volunteer just to read Psalm 117?
David Parker: Thanks, Mom.
David Parker: So our call to praise is found in verse 1.
David Parker: Praise the Lord all nations, glorify him all peoples.
David Parker: Our reason or basis for worship is found in the first two lines of verse 2.
David Parker: For his faithful love to us is great.
David Parker: The Lord's faithfulness endures forever.
David Parker: And our repeated call to praise is the final line, hallelujah, which is also praise the Lord.
David Parker: Now, in this psalm our call to praise starts with the word praise.
David Parker: So it's pretty easy to spot in this example.
David Parker: But a formal call to praise will not always literally start with the word praise.
David Parker: In other cases the psalmist will exhort to sing or rejoice or ascribe.
David Parker: An example of this is ascribe to the Lord.
David Parker: Psalm 29, verse 1.
David Parker: Shout for joy to the Lord.
David Parker: Psalm 100, verse 1.
David Parker: Sing unto the Lord.
David Parker: Psalm 96, verse 1.
David Parker: Now, in addition to the exhortation to praise or to rejoice, a call to worship will include two other elements as well, include two other elements as well.
David Parker: One element is who the call is directed to.
David Parker: We see that in Psalm 117, the call is directed to all nations and all peoples Praise the Lord, all nations.
David Parker: Glorify him, all peoples.
David Parker: And the second element that we see, in addition to the call, is the mode or the manner of praise.
David Parker: This could include song or dance or instruments.
David Parker: So turn with me to Psalm 33.
David Parker: , psalm 33.
David Parker: And let's read these first three verses Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones.
David Parker: Praise from the upright is beautiful.
David Parker: Praise the Lord with the lyre.
David Parker: Make music to him with a ten-stringed harp.
David Parker: Sing a new song to him.
David Parker: Play skillfully on the strings with a joyful shout.
David Parker: In this call to praise we see the exhortation to rejoice in the Lord and we see the call being directed to the righteous ones.
David Parker: But in verses two and three we are invited with a mode of praise.
David Parker: The psalmist says to praise the Lord with the lyre.
David Parker: Now, it was not unusual for the psalms of praise to be accompanied by instruments in the Israelite community, particularly in temple worship.
David Parker: Listen to these words from 1 Chronicles, chapter 23, verses 1 through 25.
David Parker: When David was old and full of days, he installed his son Solomon as king over Israel.
David Parker: Then he gathered the leaders of Israel, the priests and the Levites.
David Parker: The Levites, 30 years old or more, were counted.
David Parker: The total number of men was 38,000 by headcount.
David Parker: Of these, david said, 24,000 are to be in charge of the work of the Lord's temple, 6,000 are to be officers and judges, 4,000 are to be gatekeepers and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments that I have made for worship.
David Parker: Listen also to these words from 1 Chronicles, 25.
David Parker: This will be verse 1, and then verses 6 and 7.
David Parker: David and the officers of the army also set apart some of the sons of Asaph, heman and Judathan who were to prophesy, accompanied by lyres, harps and cymbals, accompanied by lyres, harps and cymbals.
David Parker: All these men were under their own father's authority for the music and the Lord's temple, with cymbals, harps and lyres for the service of God's temple.
David Parker: Asaph, judith and Heman were under the king's authority.
David Parker: They numbered 288, together with their relatives, who were all trained and skillful in music for the Lord.
David Parker: Now, while there is debate about whether instruments or certain kinds of instruments are appropriate or not for worship.
David Parker: I think what we can learn from the heart of the praise psalms is not so much the mode of worship but rather the reason for worship.
David Parker: Let's look again at Psalm 33.
David Parker: I'm going to read verses three to nine and let's pay attention to the basis, or the reasons for worship.
David Parker: The psalmist says sing a new song to the Lord, play skillfully on the string with a joyful shout.
David Parker: Here are our reasons, for the word of the Lord is right and all his work is trustworthy.
David Parker: He loves righteousness and justice.
David Parker: The earth is full of the Lord's unfailing love.
David Parker: The heavens were made by the word of the Lord and all his stars by the breath of his mouth.
David Parker: He gathers the waters of the sea into a heap.
David Parker: He puts the depths into storehouses.
David Parker: Let the whole earth fear the Lord.
David Parker: Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him, for he spoke and it came into being.
David Parker: He commanded and it came into existence.
David Parker: Now notice how the reason for praise is tied to who God is and what he has done.
David Parker: In this psalm, in verses four to five, we learn about who God is, and in verses six through nine we learn about what he has done.
David Parker: This is also known as theology proper.
David Parker: It is the study of the attributes and the acts of God, and there is a lot of theology proper found in the book of Psalms, especially in the Psalms of praise.
David Parker: But if we were to go back to the structure of the praise psalm, I believe there is a pattern that helps us to understand what praise and worship is all about.
David Parker: The call to worship is the call to worship the Lord.
David Parker: The reason for worship is based on who the Lord is and what he has done, and then the repeated call to praise, or the conclusion, is praise to the Lord.
David Parker: The beginning, the middle and the end of worship is the Lord, for from him and through him and to him are all things.
David Parker: So what we learn from the psalmist is that true worship is ultimately not about us, but it is about the Lord.
David Parker: Other psalms of praise that you can look at for your own study you can look at Psalms 8, psalms 113 to 118, psalms 145 through 150.
David Parker: Now we're going to look at patterns of prayer and petition.
David Parker: Prayer ought to be something that is normal and constant for Christians, and yet oftentimes it can be a great struggle, and this can be for various reasons.
David Parker: Sometimes there is a desire to be formal and articulate before the Lord, and sometimes the root of that can be more so about impressing others.
David Parker: We can also think that our problems are too big or too small, so we forget to pray or choose not to pray all together.
David Parker: There's also the fear of sounding too repetitive and then, if you're like me, there are just some days you do not feel like praying.
David Parker: In Scripture we see more examples of the people of God praying rather than words about prayer, and this is certainly the case with the Psalms.
David Parker: And while there are different types of prayers in the Psalms, such as prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of adoration or imprecatory prayers, for this evening I want to focus on a couple of the laments.
David Parker: Laments make up nearly one-third of the entire book of Psalms.
David Parker: And the reason why I want to focus on the laments?
David Parker: Because I think it's the laments that make the book of Psalms relatable.
David Parker: It's the laments that we see the humanity of the writers.
David Parker: I think the laments provide a pattern of what dealing with God honestly looks like in prayer.
David Parker: So turn with me to Psalm 13.
David Parker: Let's start with verse 1.
David Parker: How long, lord, you don't have to be a Christian, you don't have to be an expert to understand the question.
David Parker: How long?
David Parker: We all know what it's like to wait.
David Parker: I taught VBS this week and even when my kids had a general idea of what the schedule is, they were always asking me when are we going to the next station?
David Parker: How long are we going to be waiting for this?
David Parker: How long, lord, will you forget me forever?
David Parker: How long will you hide your face from me?
David Parker: How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day?
David Parker: How long will my enemy dominate me Now?
David Parker: I want you to keep in mind that this is the same person who said in a previous psalm I cry aloud to the Lord and he answers me from his holy mountain.
David Parker: Psalm 3, 4.
David Parker: This is also a person, the same person who said of the Lord you have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and their new wine abound.
David Parker: These words are coming from a man who has seen the faithfulness of the Lord.
David Parker: He has experienced the joys of knowing him, and yet we see in this psalm him crying out, or you can even say complaining, in a way that almost seems that he has forgotten about who the Lord is.
David Parker: Now.
David Parker: Haven't there been moments for ourselves where we have seen the Lord answer prayer.
David Parker: We've experienced his joy and goodness and yet, with that knowledge and experience, we still find ourselves asking the Lord sometimes how long?
David Parker: This is one of the reasons why I say the laments are relatable.
David Parker: Now, there are generally seven elements that make up a lament psalm and they're not strict in their order, but I do think that there are three consistent things that you'll see that can help us spot a lament.
David Parker: The three things that you'll see is an opening cry to God for help.
David Parker: Two, a complaint or complaint.
David Parker: And three confidence in God's character.
David Parker: And we can see these three things in the psalm that we just read.
David Parker: In verse one, we have our cry to God for help how long, lord?
David Parker: In verses one and two we see the complaints, but I think the real complaint is at the end of verse 2.
David Parker: How long will my enemy dominate me?
David Parker: In verse 3, we have another cry for help and in verses 5 and 6, we see confidence in the Lord's character.
David Parker: But I have trusted in your faithful love.
David Parker: My heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
David Parker: I will sing to the Lord because he has treated me generously.
David Parker: Now let's turn to Psalm 102.
David Parker: This is another Psalm of lament, psalm 102.
David Parker: I'm going to read verses 1 through 13 and then skip over a few verses and then read verses 25 through 28.
David Parker: Psalm 102.
David Parker: Lord, hear my prayer.
David Parker: Let my cry for help.
David Parker: Come before you.
David Parker: Do not hide your face from me in my day of trouble.
David Parker: Listen closely to me, answer me quickly when I call For.
David Parker: My days vanish like smoke and my bones burn like a furnace.
David Parker: My heart is suffering, withered like grass.
David Parker: I even forget to eat my food Because of the sound of my groaning.
David Parker: My flesh sticks to my bones.
David Parker: I am like an eagle owl, like a little owl among the ruins.
David Parker: I stay awake.
David Parker: I am like a solitary bird on a roof.
David Parker: My enemies taunt me all day long.
David Parker: They ridicule me and use my name as a curse.
David Parker: I eat ashes like bread and mingle my drinks with tears because of your indignation and wrath, for you have picked me up and thrown me aside.
David Parker: My days are like a lengthening shadow and I wither away like grass.
David Parker: But you, lord, are enthroned forever.
David Parker: Your fame endures to all generations.
David Parker: You will rise up and have compassion on Zion.
David Parker: Skipping to verse 25.
David Parker: Long ago you established the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
David Parker: They will perish, but you will endure.
David Parker: All of them will wear out like clothing, you will change them like a garment and they will pass away, but you are the same and your years will never end.
David Parker: Your servant's children will dwell securely and their offspring will be established before you.
David Parker: We have our opening cry in verses 1 and 2, our complaints in verses 3 to 11, and our confidence in God's character in verses 12 and 13, and 25 through 28.
David Parker: The laments serve as a reminder that life will be difficult, especially for the righteous, as we've heard today in Tao's sermon.
David Parker: But the ongoing pattern that we see in the Psalms is that we can go to the Lord in our honesty, with our struggles that we face.
David Parker: But the most important thing for us to do, once we have expressed ourselves, once we have made our complaints, is to simply remember who God is and what he has done.
David Parker: For more laments for further study, you can look at Psalm 12, psalm 25, psalm 39, and Psalm 86.
David Parker: Next we're going to look at patterns of acknowledging the past.
David Parker: The psalm that we will be looking at in this section is coming from what is called the historical psalms, or you can call them a psalm of remembrance.
David Parker: These psalms simply draw our attention to God's redemptive work throughout the history of Israel, and this is done so by recounting a series of God's acts.
David Parker: If you're ever doing a Bible reading plan and you're somewhere in, like the prophets, or even in the historical narrative, and you forgot what has happened, these psalms serve as really good Old Testament summaries of the first five books.
David Parker: So turn with me to Psalm 78.
David Parker: This is the most popular one and I'm not going to read all of this, but I want us to look at a couple of things in regards to the psalmist looking at the past.
David Parker: As I read verses 1 through 8, we're going to learn about why the psalmist looks at the past.
David Parker: My people hear my instruction, listen to the words from my mouth.
David Parker: I will declare wise sayings, I will speak mysteries from the past, things we have heard and known and that our ancestors have passed down to us.
David Parker: We will not hide them from their children, but will tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, his might and the wondrous works he has performed.
David Parker: He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children, so that a future generation, children yet to be born, might know they were to rise and tell their children so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God's works but keep his commands.
David Parker: Then they would not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart would not boil and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
David Parker: For the psalmist, looking back at the past was not information for the sake of information, but rather something that served as an impetus to prevent disobedience and to urge obedience.
David Parker: Looking back for the psalmist served as a way of instruction and caution.
David Parker: There's that famous quote those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
David Parker: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
David Parker: The end goal for the psalmist and his hearers was communion and confidence in the Lord.
David Parker: Listen to these words from Paul from Romans 15,.
David Parker: For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the scriptures.
David Parker: Now I'm going to read verses 13 through 19,.
David Parker: And I want us to see how the psalmist looks at the past.
David Parker: We just looked at why he looks at the past.
David Parker: But now I want us to see how he looks at the past, starting with verse 13.
David Parker: He split the sea, referring to God, and brought them across the water, brought them across the water, stood firm like a wall.
David Parker: He led them with a cloud by day and with a fiery light through the night.
David Parker: He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.
David Parker: He brought the streams out of stone and made water flow down like rivers, but they continued to sin against him.
David Parker: I want us to notice how the psalmist looks at the past with a biblical lens, meaning that when he makes mention of the Red Sea or the water coming from the rocks, those situations were not happenstance or some kind of scientific mystery to be solved, but rather these were wonderful acts done by the hand of God.
David Parker: And then he deals with the actions and the motives of the people of Israel in a biblical way.
David Parker: He doesn't sugarcoat their behavior, but he views it in light of who God is and what he has done for them.
David Parker: Look again at verse 16.
David Parker: He brought streams out of the stone and he made water flow down like the rivers, but they continued to praise him.
David Parker: No, but they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
David Parker: They deliberately tested God, demanding the food they craved for.
David Parker: They spoke against God, saying is God able to provide food in the wilderness?
David Parker: What we learn from the pattern found in this psalm is that taking time, taking the time to acknowledge the past, will rightly help us to remember who we are and where we have come from, but, more importantly, it reminds us of God's dealing with sin and his faithful love that endures forever.
David Parker: And being reminded of those things should have a two-fold effect of sobering us but also encouraging us.
David Parker: The ultimate purpose of looking back is to stir our hearts to worship the Lord for his marvelous acts, and, as fallen Christians, we need the constant reminder of the Lord's faithful acts in the past, especially when he seems to be quiet in a particular season in our life, because the Lord does not change.
David Parker: For further study, you can look at Psalms 105, psalms 106, psalms 135, and Psalm 136.
David Parker: Again, just to reiterate the point of the importance of looking back at the past, paul says these words in 1 Corinthians.
David Parker: Now, these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did.
David Parker: Don't become idolaters, as some of them were.
David Parker: As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to party.
David Parker: Let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in a single day, 23,000 people died.
David Parker: Let us not test Christ, as some of them did.
David Parker: And and in a single day, 23,000 people died.
David Parker: Let us not test Christ, as some of them did.
David Parker: And were destroyed by snakes.
David Parker: And don't grumble as some of them did.
David Parker: And they were killed by the destroyer.
David Parker: These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.
David Parker: So wherever things he stands, must he be careful not to fall.
David Parker: No temptation has come upon you, except what is common to humanity, but God is faithful.
David Parker: He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.
David Parker: And now we move on to our last pattern this evening prophetic patterns of a person.
David Parker: Now, to be honest, you can spend a lifetime on this point, and I was figuring out what to do for this point, but for this evening I'm just going to do a few things.
David Parker: I'm going to zoom out and then, once I'm going to zoom out and then I'm going to zoom in, concentrate on one psalm and then bring us back to where we started.
David Parker: Now, the reason why I want to zoom out is because before we started this whole series Route 66, book by book.
David Parker: I want to zoom out is because before we started this whole series, route 66, book by book we did a series by Vaughn Roberts called God's Big Picture, tracing the storyline of the Bible, and the purpose of that series was to give us a general understanding of how the Bible fits together to tell one big story.
David Parker: Now you can liken that series to what would be the border of a really big, complex puzzle.
David Parker: Without the border, it's hard to establish and to figure out.
David Parker: Be the border of a really big, complex puzzle.
David Parker: Without the border, it's hard to establish and to figure out where the other puzzle pieces fit together and how they relate to the whole.
David Parker: So the Bible is a big book and there's obviously a lot in it, but taking the time to remind ourselves of its borders will help us to understand what to focus on in the smaller areas and how to make sense of the parts.
David Parker: That can be confusing.
David Parker: So before we look at the prophetic patterns of a person found in the Psalms, I'm going to take us back to Genesis.
David Parker: So I'm zooming way way out.
David Parker: Listen to these words from Genesis 3.15.
David Parker: I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring, or seed, and her offspring.
David Parker: He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.
David Parker: The question of the Old Testament since the fall of Adam is who will be the one who crushes the serpent?
David Parker: Who is the Lord's true anointed one, the Lord Messiah?
David Parker: It can be argued that there are some prophetic patterns of the anointed one seen in each of the patriarchs Abraham, isaac and Jacob but they all eventually die.
David Parker: When we get to Moses, god uses him as a primary instrument in redeeming his people from slavery, from the land of Egypt, to bring them into the promised land.
David Parker: But due to Moses' disobedience, he's not able to go into the promised land and he also eventually dies.
David Parker: Joshua comes into the picture and through him the people of Israel managed to defeat a lot of their enemies in the promised land that God gave them.
David Parker: And it is in the life of Joshua that we have these words None of the good promises the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed.
David Parker: Everything was fulfilled Joshua 21 to 45.
David Parker: But eventually Joshua also dies and we move into the time period of the judges.
David Parker: And if you were around when I led that study, we saw that the main problem and the theme of the book of Judges was that in those days there was no king in Israel.
David Parker: Everyone did whatever seemed right to him.
David Parker: Israel needed a king and they eventually got one, and his name was Saul.
David Parker: He seemed promising at first, but he was not from the tribe of Judah, to which Israel, it was promised that the scepter will not depart from him, judah or the staff from between his feet until whose right it comes and the obedience of the peoples belong to him.
David Parker: Now, during the time of Saul, comes a shepherd boy from the tribe of Judah who gets anointed to be the next king of Israel, and this shepherd boy goes by the name of David, and this was a man after God's own heart.
David Parker: Shepherd boy goes by the name of David, and this was a man after God's own heart, and he was most certainly twice the king Saul was.
David Parker: Now, even though David was a great king, it was made clear early on in his life that there would be one to come after him.
David Parker: The Lord made a covenant with David and said these words when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body.
David Parker: I will establish his kingdom.
David Parker: He is the one who will build your house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
David Parker: I will be his father and he will be my son.
David Parker: When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and blows from mortals, but my faithful love will never leave him, as it did when I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
David Parker: Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever and your throne will be established forever.
David Parker: And this brings us into the last psalm I would like to look at for tonight Psalm chapter 2.
David Parker: Psalm chapter 2 gives us a more detailed pattern of David's greater son and a pattern of God's future rule through this son.
David Parker: Why do the nations rage in the people's plot in vain?
David Parker: The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his anointed one.
David Parker: Let's tear off their chains and throw their ropes off of us.
David Parker: The one enthroned in heaven, laughs.
David Parker: The Lord ridicules them and he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath.
David Parker: I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.
David Parker: I will declare the Lord's decree.
David Parker: He said to me you were my son.
David Parker: Today I have become your father.
David Parker: Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession.
David Parker: You will break them with their iron scepter and will shatter them like pottery.
David Parker: So now, kings, be wise, receive instruction.
David Parker: You judges on the earth, serve the Lord with reverential awe and rejoice with trembling.
David Parker: Pay homage to the Son, for he will be angry and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment.
David Parker: All who take refuge in him Are happy.
David Parker: From the very beginning of this altar, we are met with a prophetic pattern that speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ and his future kingly rule.
David Parker: And throughout this altar we are given many prophetic patterns that foreshadow the life of the Lord Jesus in various ways.
David Parker: You have Psalm 2, psalm 22, psalm 69, psalm 78, psalm 110, just to say a few, and this is likely why the Psalms is the most quoted book in the New Testament.
David Parker: Now listen to these words again from Luke 24, verse 44, the words that we started with.
David Parker: He told them these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
David Parker: The book of Psalms is a book that leads us and shows us to what true worship with the Lord is.
David Parker: And as we sing the Psalms, as we pray the Psalms, we now worship the Lord in light of what he has fulfilled through his son, jesus Christ.
David Parker: Let us pray, father.
David Parker: We thank you that we have the Psalms.
David Parker: We thank you, lord, that we see that we are weak and that we can cry out to you in our humility, that we can complain, lord.
David Parker: We are reminded of the great things that you have done for your people in the Old Testament and what you have done for us through your son, jesus Christ.
David Parker: We thank you for his kingly rule.
David Parker: We thank you for his intercession for us, and Lord, may we worship you for his kingly rule.
David Parker: We thank you for his intercession for us and Lord, may we worship you in spirit and truth as we continue to read your word faithfully, be honored and glorified in all that we say and do the rest of this evening and the rest of this week in your son's name.
David Parker: I pray amen.