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Turn with me to your Bibles to 
Psalm 33. I trust that most of you received 
an outline. It will help you to follow the preacher. I trust. Psalm 33. Psalm 33, beginning at verse 
1. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, 
for praise from the upright is beautiful. Praise the Lord with 
the harp. Make melody to Him with an instrument 
of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song. Play 
skillfully with a shout of joy. For the word of the Lord is right, 
and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice. 
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. By the word of the 
Lord, the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the 
breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the 
sea together as a heap. He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. 
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. 
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes 
the plans of the people of no effect. The counsel of the Lord 
stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God 
is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance. The Lord looks from heaven. He 
sees all the sons of men. From the place of his dwelling, 
he looks on all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashions their 
hearts individually. He considers all their works. 
No king is saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not 
delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety. Neither shall it deliver any 
by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is 
on those who fear him, on those who hope in his mercy to deliver 
their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Our 
soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield, 
for our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in 
his holy name. Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon 
us, just as we hope in you. Amen. Well, let's pray. Our gracious 
and our loving Heavenly Father, we've read your holy word here, 
given to us many years ago by the psalmist, and how we pray, 
Lord, that as we open up this passage now, that you would be 
pleased to bless it, and may you keep us in truth, hedge us 
in, Father, that we would only bespeak the things that are true 
of you, and that we might find to rejoice in and praise you 
over. For Lord, you are a kind God, 
you are a merciful God, and that is demonstrated clearly throughout 
this whole chapter. And so Lord, as we seek to look 
into this, your word now, we pray that you would give us the 
light of the Holy Spirit, and we pray that you would be pleased 
to cause this hour, this time, to be unto edification, and ultimately 
unto praise and to glorify you. And it's in Jesus' precious name 
we pray, amen. Well, on purpose, I read chapter 
32, Psalm 32, to open our worship this morning, because Psalm 32, 
it also talks about praise, as this chapter we've just read. 
Psalm 33 talks about praise, but Psalm chapter 32 talks about 
praise, but the sentiment in the preceding chapter, in 32, 
is really for the forgiveness of sin. And so the psalmist simply 
ends with that praise to God for the forgiveness of sins, 
and he goes on now in chapter 33, which is the chapter we want 
to look at today, but I just wanted you to see the connection 
between 32 and 33. And ultimately, 33 is going to 
be to give praise to God, not for the forgiveness of sins, 
he's covered that in 32, but in 33 for his sovereignty in 
creation. his sovereignty in history. And God is never extolled by 
our misery, by long faces. Praise ultimately is the beauty 
of the Christian. What's a bird without wings? 
Just imagine that. It's not a bird. What's a fruit 
tree without any fruit? Well, we would not call that 
a fruit tree. What's a thornbush without roses? Obviously, these 
things are meant to go together. So for the Christian, praise 
ought to be something that's on our lips. Praise and worship 
ought to be something that is in our heart, that possesses 
our bosom. There's a commentator by the 
name of Albert Barnes. I'm going to read just a paragraph 
of his. He lived in the 1800s, so some 
of his grammar might be a little bit older, but I think we get 
the gist of what he is trying to say in regards to praise. 
Praise for the Christian is befitting, suitable, proper. That is, the 
upright, the righteous, have abundant cause for praise, and 
it is for them a suitable employment, or one which becomes them. A 
man who is upright, or who is a righteous man, has in this 
very fact much which lays a foundation for praise. For the fact that 
he has such a character, is to be traced to the grace of God, 
and this in itself is a more valuable possession than gold 
or kingly crowns. That he is not an open violator 
of the law of God, that he is not intemperate that he is not 
the victim of raging lusts and passions, that he is not a dishonest 
man, that he is not profane, that he is not an infidel or 
a scoffer, that he is a pious man, a redeemed man, a man of 
good character, an heir of heaven, is the highest blessing that 
could be conferred on him. And he who has been saved from 
outbreaking transgression and crime in a world like this, and 
has been enabled to live an upright life, has eminently occasioned 
to praise and bless God." Last sentence. Assuredly, for such 
a man, praise is an appropriate employment. For such a man, it 
is comely. Moving on to verse three, as 
you continue, that kind of covers the first two verses. As we look 
at verse three, God ought to be worshipped with our best. 
What does he say? Sing to him a new song, play 
skillfully. Well, we ought to do it well. 
When we worship, do it well. If we're playing the piano, we're 
playing an instrument, do it well. If we sing, that's something 
we all get to participate in. Unfortunately, only one person 
gets to play the piano, but we all get to sing. Well, do I do 
it skillfully? Do I do it well? Do I do it to 
the best? Do I do it with all the volume 
that is in my lungs? God ought to be earnestly worshipped. What does it say in verse 3? 
Play skillfully with a shout of joy. The music should be such 
that it would be expressive of the highest joy. So in my singing, 
do I give voice to the highest joy? This is a privilege to sing 
before God. The opposite, I suppose, of worshipping 
God with this sense of of shouting for joy would be a dirge, and 
we know what a dirge is. It's kind of a bit of an old-fashioned 
word, but a dirge. We ought not to praise God in 
a dirge. We ought to praise God with hearty 
worship, with worship that the Lord desires. I believe that 
is what the Lord desires, is hearty worship. That's what he 
deserves, and that's what we should render to him. Moving 
to the second point. In your outline, it covers the 
bulk of this chapter, so the first three verses just set the 
stage that worship is something that ought to be evident in the 
Christian, and we ought to do it well. We ought to do it with 
every fiber of our being, to the excellency of God. Now we're 
moving to verses 4 to 19. And there are many reasons in 
this chapter, many reasons for praising God, for His majesty, 
for His wisdom, and for His power displayed in the creation. If 
you were listening when I read the chapter, just verse after 
verse is heaped upon itself in terms of praising God for the 
creation that's around us. Looking at verse 4, 4a. excuse me, the word of the Lord 
is right. Whatever God says is true. The fact that God says a thing 
is the highest proof that we need for it to be true. We live 
and have always lived, I suppose, in times when we certainly it 
happened in the garden, it began in the garden. Has God really 
said, and we still probably to some degree we still ask the 
same question today, certainly the heathen do and sometimes 
Christians do as well. Has God really said that I must 
do this or I must not do that? Well, that ought not to be a 
question we should ask, for the word of the Lord is right. The 
Lord has said it. We need to believe it. We need 
to act upon it. Verse 4b, and all his work is done in truth. All that he does is executed 
faithfully. It's in truth that God does all 
things. He does all that he promises. 
He's not like a spouse. He's not like a mother. He's 
not like a father. Sometimes we might let people down around 
us. We may not always be faithful to the things that we have said 
we're going to do or ought to do as fathers, as spouses, as 
children. as parents, mother and father. 
But whatever God does, He is worthy of the confidence of His 
creatures. I see here in verse 4b. And as 
I say, who else can that be said of? Certainly not us, but it 
is something that can be said of God, to have absolute confidence 
that He will execute all things faithfully. I hearken back to 
something I referred to last Sunday, and that is covenant 
theology. Covenant theology, it came to us when we first began 
attending here at Free Grace Baptist Church. It's not just 
a doctrine that's to be held on a shelf over here, but it's 
a doctrine that ought to live in our hearts. The fact that 
we are in covenant with God, that God is a covenant-keeping 
God, that ought to put a smile on our face every day we wake 
up. It could be the worst day of our lives, or when we go to 
bed at night, it could have been the worst day of our life. about 
the fact that we are in covenant with God. That means God is going 
to do all things that he has covenanted to do, and just rehearse 
the promises of God when we consider that, and all that God says is 
right. Looking at verse 5b. The earth 
is full of the goodness of the Lord. Well, ask any astronomer, 
any geologist, any naturalist, botanist, chemist, anyone who 
works with the physical things of this earth. We could say even 
ask a fisherman who we have amongst us here this morning. And all 
will say that they will confirm this declaration of verse 5b, 
the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Excuse me. It's easy for God to create the 
universe as easy as it is for man to take a breath. Although 
we'd probably say even man taking a breath in his lungs is dependent 
upon God. But not God our maker. He simply He simply has endowed 
this whole earth with wonders and he's filled it with wonders 
Matthew Henry Commenting on this verse says what a pity that this 
earth which is so full of God's goodness Should be so empty of 
his praises and that of the multitudes that live upon his bounty There 
are so few that live to his glory So I ask that of myself, I ask 
that of you. How do we fare in terms of living to praise God 
for His goodness, the bounty that He supplies us with? Because that's what verse 5 is 
referring to. The earth is full of the goodness of God. in the 
valley here. They have evidence of that every 
day. We see evidence of that. The berry crops right now are 
just bursting with berries. And that's evidence of the goodness 
of God. So not only has God blessed this 
earth, verse 6 refers to the heavens above. Verse 6, by the 
word of the Lord, the heavens were made. and all the host of 
them by the breath of his nostrils." So, just like that, they were 
made. Innumerable stars in the sky above us. And the stars are 
represented throughout scripture almost as armies. They aren't 
just scattered willy-nilly across the sky, but God marches them 
out every night in the same order, almost like an army going into 
battle in a ray. They're in the perfect place 
that God has placed them. And so, next time you look up 
the sky, then I trust that you can say with the psalmist here 
in verse 6, by the word of the Lord the heavens were made all 
the host of them by the breath of his nostrils and give praise 
to him for that for the blessing of even the stars as as armies 
that are led forth into battle every single night and they're 
in the same places they're not willy-nilly across the sky and 
we ought to give praise to God for that so we've looked at the 
earth in verse 5 verse 6 the heavens and then verse 7 we look 
at the oceans that is that's what's being referred to in in 
verse 7, he gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deep in storehouses. The Hebrew word for gathers there 
represents a continuous act, not merely the original creation, 
but an act that continues, that God has, in a sense, heaped up 
the oceans into a pile in the ocean, and he keeps them there 
in their place. If you just refer to Hebrews 
chapter, sorry, not Hebrews, Proverbs. Proverbs 8, verse 29. 
Proverbs 8, 29. in reference to God's immense 
power and the fact that the oceans are kept in place and they don't 
cross that boundary. As you stand on the ocean shore 
and you look across that massive amount of water, surely we must 
give praise to God that he has set a boundary for that ocean 
that it will not cross. Proverbs 8, 29, when he assigned 
to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress 
His command. So they will not come past that 
spot that God has told even the oceans to stop at. I'm going 
to read a... It's a little bit of a longer 
passage. You're going to have to forgive me. I'm going to read 
a little bit more than certainly last Sunday in regards to good... books that I've read or a good 
piece of writing that I've read. I just think this captures so 
well the power of God when it comes to the creation that it 
just felt I had to read it. It is by John Piper. I know we 
always have to give a bit of a caveat to say, well, we don't 
recommend all things of John Piper, but this, I believe, is 
very excellent. I think you'll be able to say 
a hearty amen when I finish it. And he's commenting on rain, 
something that we know a lot about in the lower mainland here. 
But do we ever stop to give thanks to God for rain and just consider 
what rain is? He's referring in this passage 
to Job chapter 5, 8 to 10. And this is Job. But as for me, 
I would seek God, and I would place my cause before God, who 
does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. He gives 
rain on the earth and sends water on the fields. And now I'm going 
to read John Piper. If you said to someone, my God 
does great and unsearchable things. He does wonders without number. 
And they responded, really? Like what? Would you say rain? Is rain a great and unsearchable 
wonder wrought by God? Picture yourself as a farmer 
in the Near East, far from any lake or stream. A few wells keep 
the family and animals supplied with water, but if the crops 
are to grow and the family is to be fed from month to month, 
water has to come on the fields from another source. From where? 
Well, the sky. The sky? Water will come out 
of the clear blue sky? Well, not exactly. Water will 
have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea, over 
several hundred miles, and then be poured out from the sky into 
the fields. Carried? How much does it weigh? 
Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland 
during the night, That would be 28 million cubic feet of water, 
which is 200 million gallons, which is 1.6 billion pounds of 
water. That's heavy. That's actually 
what he says too. So, how does it get up in the 
sky and stay up there if it's so heavy? Well, it gets up there 
by evaporation. Really? That's a nice word. What 
does it mean? It means that the water sort 
of stops being water for a while, so it can go up and not down. 
I see. Then, how does it get down? Well, 
condensation happens. What's that? The water starts 
becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles 
between one ten millionth and one millionth of a centimeter 
wide. That's small. What about the salt? Salt? Yes, 
the Mediterranean Sea is saltwater. That would kill the crops. What 
about the salt? Well, the salt has to be taken 
out. Oh, so this guy picks up a billion pounds of water from 
the sea and takes out the salt and then carries it for 300 miles 
and then dumps it on the farm? While it doesn't dump it, if 
it dumped a billion pounds of water on the farm, the wheat 
would be crushed. So the sky has to dribble the 
billion pounds of water down in little drops. And they have 
to be big enough to fall for one mile or so without evaporating, 
and small enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks. How 
do all these microscopic specks of water that weigh a billion 
pounds get heavy enough to fall, if that's the way to ask the 
question? Well, it's called coalescence. What's that? It means the specks 
of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger. 
And when they're big enough, they fall. Just like that? Well, 
not exactly, because they would just bounce off each other instead 
of joining up if there were no electric field present. What? Never mind. Take my word for 
it. I think instead, I will just take Job's word for it, or we 
could say the psalmist's word for it here, as he depicts the 
creation. I still don't see why drops ever 
get to the ground, because if they start falling as soon as 
they are heavier than air, they would be too small not to evaporate 
on the way down. But if they wait to come down, 
what holds them up till they are big enough not to evaporate? 
Yes, I'm sure there's a name for that too, but I'm satisfied 
now that by any name, that is a great and unsearchable thing 
that God has done. I think I should be thankful, 
lots more thankful than I am. grateful to God for the wonder 
of rain. So, I know it was a long reading, 
but I hope it just conjures up in your mind and your heart, 
wow, just something as simple as rain is evidence of a great 
God. Or the heaping up of the oceans 
is evidence of a great God. Continuing on to verse eight. 
Obviously I will not go as slowly through each verse, otherwise 
we'll be here much longer than we need to be. Verse eight. Let 
all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the 
world stand in awe of Him." Well, worship, reverence, adoring, 
standing in awe of a being so great in power. That's what we're 
to be evidence here. And notice it's all the inhabitants 
of the earth. It's not just the believers. 
It's believers and unbelievers. We would have to assume by the 
fact that it says all inhabitants. No distinction is made between 
the believer and the unbeliever. We're all to worship this God. Verse 9, For he spoke, and it 
was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. 
God didn't have to struggle to create this earth. God didn't 
have to struggle and strain to create the whole universe. He 
just simply spoke it into by his bare word. That's called 
ex nihilo, and it serves as a confirmation of Genesis 1, this verse, in 
verse 9 of our chapter here this morning. Remember, what does 
it say in Genesis chapter 1? Then God said, let there be And 
it was so. And he also confirmed it was 
good. Let there be light. Let there be water above. Let 
there be water below. Let the earth bring forth vegetation. 
And it continues on in the first chapter of Genesis. And that's 
just, again, being referred to in this chapter that God simply 
spoke. And it was good. God spoke all 
that we see in this creation into being. And it was not a 
difficult thing. It wasn't a strain for him. It 
was by the word of... It was by his very word. Moving 
on to section B in verses 10 to 11, the stability of his counsel. The stability of his counsel 
or purposes. I just have one illustration 
here to kind of drive home the point of verses 10 to 11. You can refer to 10 to 11 on 
your own. I'm not going to take the time 
to read it, but you can kind of skim over it. And let me just illustrate 
it with a story here. The year is 1902, and a young 
English boy came down to breakfast to find his father reading the 
newspaper, which carried news of preparations for the first 
coronation in Britain in 64 years. In the middle of breakfast, he 
turned to his wife and he said, oh, I'm sorry to see this worded 
like that. And she said, well, what is it? 
Why, he replied, here is a proclamation that on a certain date, Prince 
Edward will be crowned king at Westminster. And there is no 
deo valente, or God willing. Sometimes you may see people 
refer to it as DV. There's no deo valente in this 
article in the newspaper. The words stuck on the boy's 
mind for the very reason that on the appointed date, the future 
Edward VII was ill. with an appendicitis, and the 
coronation had to be postponed. At this point, at the end of 
the Queen Victoria's reign, the political, economic, and military 
power of the British Empire, it was at its zenith. It was 
as high as it ever had become. Yet for all its might, Great 
Britain could not carry out its planned coronation on the appointed 
date. Was the omission of God willing 
from the proclamation and the subsequent postponement of the 
coronation merely a coincidence? two events without any relation 
to one another? Or did God cause Prince Edward 
to have an appendicitis to show that he was in control? We don't 
know why the situation occurred as it did. One thing we do know, 
however, whether we acknowledge it with Deo Valente or not, we 
cannot carry out any plan apart from God's will. And the Bible 
leaves no doubt about that. In fact, if you just refer to 
James chapter 4, He has a commentary on this very 
idea of the stability of the counsel or purposes of God. James chapter 4, verses 13 to 
15. Come now, you who say, today 
or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year 
there, buy and sell, and make a profit, whereas you do not 
know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is 
even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes 
away. Instead, you ought to say, if 
the Lord wills, we will live and do this or do that." Well, 
that's God's commentary on this aspect of the stability of His 
counsel or His purposes. Moving on to the third point, 
reasons for praising God, the blessings which He bestows upon 
those who acknowledge Him to be their God. The blessings of 
care, the blessings of protection, and deliverance are contained 
in verses 12 to 19. Verse 12, blessed is the nation 
whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance. I think certainly election probably 
is at the bottom of that verse, verse 12, that God's blessing 
and His care is with His elect especially, in a special way, 
so that ultimately His elect become almost a seasoning effect. They have a seasoning effect 
upon the nation in which God has placed them, upon those around 
them. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah. 
What did Abraham plead for? Abraham pleaded for the city 
of Sodom, and he said, if there were about 50, will you spare 
the city? And if there were 50, we believe God would have spared 
the city. And he pled for 45, for 40, 30, 20, 10. if God would have spared the 
city for even 10. So there is that sense that God 
does look down upon a nation, and he sees his elect amongst 
that nation, and they do have a sense of, there's the blessing 
of that seasoning, that Christian seasoning from the people of 
God in the places that God has placed them throughout society, 
from high to low. and across society, that God 
has placed us in those places of influence, in those places, 
so that he might have a sense of pity upon a nation. Verses 
13 to 15, if we look at verses 13 to 15, we see that God's care 
is with all men because of His common grace. And I'm going to 
read a section again. I know, homiletically, I'd probably 
be fired. That's okay. I'm not looking 
for a job to preach after this Sunday. I'm done. But I know, 
homiletically, people who would say, well, you read too much. 
Well, I'm afraid that if other people say things better than 
me, then I'm all for reading them. I'm just going to read 
one page, a couple of half pages, out of a book called Trusting 
God. It's by a very excellent man, a very excellent author, 
Jerry Bridges. And it's on this theme of God's 
sovereignty, God's absolute sovereignty. And then we're going to look 
at an example from Scripture from 2 Chronicles that kind of illustrates 
it. So just a section here on God's 
absolute control. God is in control. He is sovereign. 
He does whatever pleases Him and determines whether we can 
do what we have planned. This is the essence of God's 
sovereignty, His absolute independence to do as he pleases and has absolute 
control over the actions of all his creatures. No creature, no 
person, no empire can either thwart his will or act outside 
the bounds of his will. For us to trust God in times 
of adversity, We must believe in God's sovereignty, His love, 
and His wisdom. Of these three truths, the sovereignty 
of God seems to be questioned the most frequently and the most 
stridently. It seems we will allow God to 
be anywhere except upon His throne, ruling His universe according 
to His good pleasure and His sovereign will. Some Christian 
writers fail to acknowledge the controlling hand of God, either 
directing or permitting, in every event of our lives. One writer, 
for example, speaks of suffering sometimes coming because of misfortune 
or accident, things just happening. and pain coming our way due to 
circumstances beyond our control. Our response to such statements 
is more than mere theological discussion. Confidence in the 
sovereignty of God in all that affects us is crucial to our 
trusting Him. If there is a single event in 
all the universe that can occur outside of God's sovereign control, 
then we cannot trust him. His love may be infinite, but 
if his power is limited and his purpose can be thwarted, we cannot 
trust him. You may entrust to me your most 
valuable possessions. I may love you, and my aim to 
honor your trust may be sincere, but if I do not have the power 
or the ability to guard your valuables, you cannot truly entrust 
them to me. Paul, however, said we can entrust 
our most valuable possessions to the Lord. In 2 Timothy 1.12 
he said, That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, 
because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able 
to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. But, someone 
says, Paul is speaking there of eternal life. Without question, 
we can entrust our eternal destiny to God. But what about our problems 
in this life? They make me wonder about the 
sovereignty of God. It should be evident, however, 
that God's sovereignty does not begin at death. His sovereign 
direction in our lives even precedes our births. God rules as surely 
on earth as he does in heaven. He permits, for reasons known 
only to himself, people to act contrary to and in defiance of 
his revealed will, but he never permits them to act contrary 
to his sovereign will. From our limited vantage point, 
our lives are marked by an endless series of contingencies. We frequently 
find ourselves, instead of acting as we planned, reacting to an 
unexpected turn of events. We make plans, but are often 
forced to change those plans. But there are no contingencies 
with God. Our unexpected, forced change 
of plans is a part of His plan. God is never surprised, never 
caught off guard, never frustrated by unexpected developments. God 
does as He pleases, and that which pleases Him is always for 
His glory and our good. Well, I trust that that brings 
encouragement to you. It's a book that Leslie and I 
are reading through, and I just thought, well, it does tie into 
the chapter, and I just thought that, well, that should be an 
encouragement to the people of God this morning in regards to 
that blessing which He bestows upon His children. That blessing 
of care, protection from danger is something that cannot be changed. 
We may think God can look after the big things. God looks after 
even the small things, such as even a leaf that falls from a 
tree. the course of that leaf has been set by God. And so therefore, 
our lives, the course of our lives, is equally set by God. Verses 16 and 17 talk about, 
no king is saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not 
delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety. 
Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. I want 
to refer you to King Sennacherib in 2 Chronicles. If you could 
turn your Bibles, please, to 2 Chronicles, chapter 32. as an illustration of verses 
16 and 17 in our psalm, chapter 32 of 2 Chronicles. I'm going to read verse 1, and 
then I'm going to skip down to 9. So I find myself here. So 2 Chronicles 32 and verse 
1 kind of introduces what's happening here. After these deeds of faithfulness, 
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came and entered Judah. He encamped 
against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to 
himself. So just so you get the context, 
Sennacherib was the great empire at this particular time, and 
Judah had been paying money for their protection, and they stopped 
paying money. And of course, Sennacherib has 
already invaded Israel, and he's coming down to Judah to invade 
them because they had stopped paying their protection money. 
And this is what our great God did in terms of protecting the 
people of God. So I'm going to pick up at verse 
9. So it just gives you a flavor of this wicked man, Sennacherib. And ultimately, it was Sennacherib 
who was trusting in his own army. It was Sennacherib who was trusting 
in his own great strength. But we see that there was great 
vain hope in the horse that he was gonna come riding into Judah 
on. So verse nine of 2 Chronicles, chapter 32. After this, Sennacherib, 
king of Assyria, sent his servants to Jerusalem. But he and all 
the forces with him laid siege against Lachish, to Hezekiah 
king of Judah, and to all Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, 
Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, In what do you trust, 
that you remain under siege in Jerusalem? Does not Hezekiah 
persuade you to give yourself over to die by famine and by 
thirst, saying, the Lord our God will deliver us from the 
hand of the king of Assyria? So he was trying to discourage 
the people of Judah. He was trying to get their enthusiasm 
down and ultimately they would turn over to him and not trust 
in King Hezekiah. Has not the same Hezekiah taken 
away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and 
Jerusalem, saying, You shall worship before one altar and 
burn incense on it? Do you not know what I and my 
fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were 
the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver 
their lands out of my hand? Who was there among all the gods 
of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed that could 
deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able 
to deliver you from my hand? Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah 
deceive you or persuade you like this, and do not believe him, 
for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people 
from my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your 
God deliver you from my hand? Furthermore, his servants spoke 
against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. He also 
wrote letters to revile the Lord God of Israel. and to speak against 
him, saying, as the gods of the nations of other lands have not 
delivered their peoples from my hand, so the god of Hezekiah 
will not deliver his people from my hand. Then they called out 
with a loud voice in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were 
on the wall, to frighten them and trouble them that they might 
take the city. And they spoke against the god 
of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the peoples of the earth, 
the work of men's hands. Now because of this, King Hezekiah 
and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out 
to heaven. Then the Lord sent an angel who 
cut down every mighty man of valor, leader and captain in 
the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned, shamefaced, to 
his own land. And when he had gone into the 
temple of his God, some of his own offspring struck him down 
with the sword there. Well, amen. That's what God thinks 
of those who trust in their own strength, those who trust in 
their own horse. Obviously, not a literal horse, 
but whatever that is that we might be trusting in to bring 
us comfort. Think of another couple of examples. 
We've got Goliath. He was stronger than any other 
man who came up against the people of Israel. And what did God do, 
but how very soon that Big, strong man laid dead on 
the earth with a single stone shot from the sling of David. 
Small, relatively young David. He was a mere youth, yet that 
stone struck Goliath in the forehead. Just a small thing, because they 
were not trusting. in the horse, but rather they 
were trusting their God, that God brought Goliath down. What 
about Pharaoh and his horses and chariots, who were chasing 
the Israelites after they had escaped from Egypt, to pursue 
the Lord's anointed through the Red Sea? Well, very soon we see 
that those Egyptians were trusting in their own strength, in the 
strength of their horse, while they were trusting in vain, because 
our God is a great God. I'm going to read one quotation 
here. This comes from a man by the 
name of Bert Parsons. He's with Ligonier Ministries. 
I thought just an excellent review of some history to encourage 
our hearts with. Perhaps more than anything else, 
John Knox is known for his prayer, give me Scotland or I die. Knox's 
prayer was not an arrogant demand, but the passionate plea of a 
man willing to die for the sake of the pure preaching of the 
gospel and the salvation of his countrymen. Knox's greatness 
lay in his humble dependence on our sovereign God to save 
his people, revive a nation, and reform his church. As is 
evident from his preaching and prayer, Knox believed neither 
in the power of his preaching nor in the power of his prayer. 
but in the power of the gospel and the power of God, who sovereignly 
ordains preaching and prayer as secondary means in the salvation 
of his people. Although Knox had been imprisoned 
and enslaved, and though he was often infirm and under threat 
of persecution, he consistently lived out his theology, believing 
that one man with God is always in the majority. As such, the 
prayers of one man heard at the throne of God were a threat to 
the throne of Scotland. During the time of the 16th century 
Scottish Reformation, Knox's ministry of preaching and prayer 
were so well known that the Roman Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, 
is reputed to have said, I fear the prayers of John Knox more 
than all the assembled armies of Europe. Praise the Lord. Well, I see in the course of 
time, it does fly, so I'm just going to skip. I was going to, 
well, maybe I'll just do a couple of points on verses 18 to 19 
so that we don't, we aren't completely remiss. So continuing, these 
are just the last couple of reasons for praising God as we consider 
verse 18. Verse 18, what better way to 
conclude this psalm than with this hope of verse 18, that the 
God of Psalm 33, that is the God of providence and sovereignty, 
is watching over His children. That's what verse 18 is saying. 
He's watching over us. Psalm 103, verse 13, says a different 
way. It says, as a father has compassion 
on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear 
him." So we have a Heavenly Father who's watching over us, and I 
hope that we take great encouragement in that. In verse 19a, our souls, 
sorry, to deliver their souls from death. Now, probably not 
a corporeal death. For the soul never dies. We know 
we have an eternal never-dying soul. So that's not in danger 
of death. And that's probably what the 
psalmist has in mind here, is that that eternal never-dying 
soul is never in danger. What did Paul tell us? That they 
may kill the body, but they can't kill the soul. To be at home 
with the Lord, that was going to be a great blessing to him, 
because he knew that his soul was never going to die. God does 
care for the souls of His children, and that we can be certain of, 
that our souls will be delivered from death, from that last enemy. Verse 19b, the famine here, speaks 
of to keep us alive in a famine. Again, is that a physical famine? 
Is it a spiritual famine? If it's a physical famine, well, 
God, in the Old Testament, we see God can send ravens. God 
can increase the crews of oil in the hand of the widow. So 
if it's a physical, yes, God can. But if it's a spiritual, 
perhaps God may send a famine of hearing the word of God. in 
our land. But the Lord also prepares a 
place for His church in this land, a place for His people 
in the wilderness, so that whether we can meet and be privately 
nourished by the Word of God in our own homes, or through 
the ordinances of the church, our spiritual souls are kept 
by God. So, again, whether it's a physical 
or a spiritual famine, I'm not honestly sure. I did read the 
commentators, and they didn't seem to be certain either. But 
let's be assured of this one thing, that we do have the Church 
of Christ, and the Church of Christ is here for our edification, 
for our building up, so we will be kept alive in famine, if it's 
a spiritual famine, from hearing the Word of God. And finally, 
in verses 20 to 22, the last couple of verses, the last three 
verses of our chapter, in light of God's Greatness, the psalmist's resolution 
here is to have a strong confidence in God. I think that's what the 
psalmist wants us. He's told us to praise him, he's given 
us many reasons to praise him, and now he is saying our resolution 
as believers, our resolution as New Testament Christians ought 
to be to have a confidence in this God. Having praised God 
and considered his greatness from many different angles here 
in the created order of things as we've gone through them here, 
it's only appropriate that the psalmist and ultimately that 
you and that I simply wait for the Lord, for His guidance, for 
His word, for His deliverance, as we look to Him to be our help 
and our shield, as it's said there in verse 20. So let's make 
that our our covenant this day. Let's be committed to seeking 
after God and asking that He be our help, that He be our shield, 
and we not be trusting in other things. Looking at verses 18 
to 22, they're filled with many synonyms for trusting in God. Verse 18, it talks about fearing 
God. Verses 18 and 22, it talks about 
hope. These are all synonyms for trusting 
in God. Verse 20, waiting for God. Verse 
20, another one, our help and our shield. Verse 21, our heart 
shall rejoice in Him. Verse 21, we've trusted in His 
holy name, which means ultimately in His holy character. And so 
the psalm, which emphasizes praise and thanksgiving, also emphasizes 
trust. And the Hebrew word for trust 
occurs 50 out of 180 times here in the psalms. It occurs most 
often in the psalms, this idea of trusting God. And so the psalmist 
is saying to us, finally, he's saying at the end of the psalm, 
having just looked at the sovereignty of God, having just looked at 
God's sovereignty in all these different aspects, that these 
truths must serve to ultimately reorientate our thinking. Our 
trust cannot be in anything but in God and God alone. So, just 
a couple of applications when we, as I consider, well, okay, 
what can we take away from this chapter, and then we will be 
finished. Can any Bible-believing Christian believe any form of 
evolution when we consider a psalm like this, even theistic evolution, 
which gives God part credit for the things we see around us? 
It's not evident in this chapter. This psalm sets forth a powerful 
God, in creation, and it ultimately serves to build our trust in 
that God. And we need to find that balance. 
Secondly, we need to find that balance between using the human 
methods and means and trusting in God. But ultimately, our trust 
ought to be in God alone. Yes, God uses means and God blesses 
means as they are applied to our physical surroundings, but 
ultimately, Our trust needs to be in God alone, and I trust 
that's who we're trusting in. Is our worship about delighting 
in the God whom we see in this chapter? Then it's going to influence 
our enthusiasm for worship. Do we come in here just mumbling 
our words, mumbling our praise, our worship to God in our singing, 
or do we come with exuberance and heartfelt exuberance in our 
worship to God? I trust that that's what we're 
coming here to do, an ardent, heartfelt, exuberant worship 
towards our God. And fourthly, I guess I would 
want us to affirm God's sovereignty over all. will cause us, ultimately, to 
be a thankful, worshipping, praising people. Even the leaf falling 
to the ground, God's sovereign over that. The army walking out 
to battle, God is sovereign over that. So, if we can affirm that 
God is sovereign over these things, as I've read, given so many examples 
and illustrations, even from the scriptures, Are we worshiping 
that God? Are we thankful to that God that 
He is our sovereign, that He is our Lord, and that we get 
to worship Him? We've had our minds and our hearts 
enlightened by the scriptures. Our hearts have been opened by 
Christ and that forgiveness of sins. So are we enlightened and 
therefore worshiping God with that enlightenment? I trust that 
we are. And ultimately, I guess as Pastor Butler always finishes, 
to the unsaved, let me read verse eight again. Let all the earth 
fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the 
world stand in awe of Him. Because we're all going to stand 
before Him. That's clear in the passage. We're all going to stand 
in awe of God. And how much better to stand 
in awe of this God, completely forgiven and delivered from that 
dominion of sin, that power of sin. I want to stand before God, 
and I know Brethren here in this church would want every single 
one of us to be able to stand before that God knowing that 
our sins are forgiven and that we can truly as verse 8 says 
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe before him. 
That's what we get to do in eternity That's what heaven is going to 
be about is standing in awe of that great God that God of Psalm 
33 so I trust that your hearts been built up this day. I trust 
that you will leave here worshiping praising God for all that we 
have in in the creation in the created order but also in that 
covenant-keeping God that caught that God that is Personal that 
God who goes with us and is is with us in every circumstance 
of life. Well, let's go to God in prayer 
Our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father