THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

LIII. Increasing Our Hope By God’s Precedents

(Psalm 53:1-6)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Scripture calls us to hope in God for His help in life’s trials, but if the trials are massive, hoping can be hard:

(1) Hoping for our nation’s security can seem hard in view of the ever more devastating Hunter Biden laptop scandal: “ . . . (I)n the face of a concerted coverup by the intelligence services, the FBI, and Big Tech, the truth . . . has seeped out . . . that . . . documents on the laptop from 2011 show that Hunter offered to sell intelligence on Russian oligarchs to US aluminum firm Alcoa, Inc. . . . How Hunter, a raging drug addict with a voracious appetite for cash during much of his father’s vice-presidency, got access to classified information, is a matter of national concern.” (Miranda Devine, “File this! 72% see big Biden ‘scandal,’” New York Post, Jan. 30, 2023, p. 15)

(2) Hoping that our federal agencies will keep protecting the public can seem hard as well: “Dr. Robert Malone . . . who . . . invented the mRNA vaccination technology [behind the COVID vaccines], claims that . . . (t)he pharmaceutical industry ‘is a revolving door for all government officials . . . the people who review our drugs . . . most of them will come work for pharma companies . . . It’s pretty good for the industry . . . It’s bad for everybody else . . . because when the regulators reviewing our drugs know that once they stop regulating, they are going to work for the company, they are not going to be as hard towards the company that’s going to give them a job.’ This dirty little secret also applies to other regulators such as the SEC (see the collapse of crypto firm FTX) and the FAA (see the Boeing 737 Max debacle).” (Miranda Devine, “Pharma Whoa: Something sickening about Pfizer sting,” Ibid.)

(3) Hoping that our president will guard our personal rights seems futile: (a) Matt Palumbo of the New York Post recently wrote, “The Biden administration has been staffed by confidants of George Soros.” (Matt Palumbo, “With Joe Biden, George Soros finally had a president he could control,” Jan. 24, 2023; nypost.com) (b) However, we noted in a past sermon that Soros in his own words went with a Nazi officer when he oppressed Jews in World War II: “In an April 15, 1993 interview on the PBS television show Adam Smith’s Money World, George Soros explained that Baumbach’s ‘job was to take over Jewish properties, so I actually went with him and we took possession of these large estates’ . . . Connie Buck, who interviewed Soros for The New Yorker in 1995, wrote that, ‘he posed as the son of a Hungarian government official, sometimes accompanying the official as he delivered deportation notices to Jews, or took possession of property owned by them.’” (Richard Poe, “Soros and the Nazis: The Whole Truth, In His Own Words,” August 2, 2006; richardpoe.com) Then, in a December 20, 1996, 60 Minutes TV program when Steve Kroft asked Soros if he felt guilt over his part in these events, he tried to explain, adding, “‘So, I had no sense of guilt.’” (Ibid., Poe; “SHOCKING: George Soros admits Nazi collaboration with no regrets – You Tube,” m.youtube.com)

(4) Hoping that massive social problems at the local level will be effectively addressed by state leaders seems hard: “ . . . (N)ews organizations are full of reports . . . of students coming to school hungry because their families don’t feed them at home . . . News reports always indicate that most of Connecticut’s poor are unmarried women with children whose fathers play little if any role in their lives. But no one in authority draws a connection between this phenomenon and the poverty, child neglect and drug abuse affecting the schools and criminal justice.” (Chris Powell, “State leaders scurry to overlook child neglect,” Ibid., January 31, 2023, p. 6A)

Need: So, we ask, “How can we be encouraged to hope in God’s deliverance from massive trials that we face?!”

I. Psalm 53 is a later version of Psalm 14 (B. K. C., O. T., p. 834) and it expresses a stronger hope in God:

A. Verses 1-4a of both psalms tell how the persecution of the godly comes from the depravity of the human race.

B. Then, both psalms clarify how God resides in the midst of His people, so the Lord views any persecution of His people as a persecution of Himself (cf. Acts 9:4-5), so the wicked who persecute God’s people will be in great fear when He responds to punish them in terrifying ways, Psalm 14:5a with Psalm 53:5a.

C. However, these two psalms differ starting at verse 5b, and we italicize those thematic differences (as follows):

1. Psalm 14:5b-6 KJV reads: “There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous. (6) Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge.”

2. Psalm 53:5b KJV reads: “There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou has put them to shame, because God hath despised them.”

D. We thus note an increased intensity of hope in God in the Psalm 53 version over what is stated in Psalm 14:

1. Psalm 14 states that God’s presence as a refuge for the godly left their foes afraid and shamed in counsel.

2. However, Psalm 53 claims that the foes feared where no fear existed, for God had scattered the bones of the dead foes who had encamped against the godly to war against them, and that God had put not just the counsel of the ungodly to shame, but that He had shamed the ungodly themselves since He despised them!

3. So, Psalm 53:5 “suggests a miraculous deliverance as the background for adapting Psalm 14 for the occasion (perhaps that of 2 Kings 7:6-7)” where the Lord caused Israel’s enemies to kill each other off, and Israel only had to go out and collect great spoil! (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Psalm 53:5)

II. Thus, recalling God’s past deliverance led the psalmist to modify Psalm 14 in Psalm 53 to express even greater hope in God and thus in His instituting His future Kingdom as noted in Psalm 14:7 and 53:6!

Lesson: Recalling how God had recently greatly rescued Israel, the author of Psalm 53 modified David’s version of Psalm 14 to express a greater assurance in God’s current and final deliverance of Israel in His future Kingdom.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) May we recall God’s past aid for hope for His continual aid!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message and provide additional guidance . . .)

We apply this sermon to the issues of concern in our introduction by recalling God’s past rescues in Scripture:

(1) Regarding the Hunter Biden laptop scandal that reveals the threat to our nation’s security as Hunter was trying to sell government secrets for personal gain and fund his drug addiction, we can be encouraged to hope in God from 2 Kings 6:8-23: (a) In 2 Kings 6:8-10 when the Aramean king repeatedly tried to apply the secret advice of his counselors to ambush Israel’s king, God told Elisha of the enemy king’s plans, and Elisha told Israel’s king of the plans so he could avoid being ambushed! (b) Then, in 2 Kings 6:11-23, when the Aramean king learned that Elisha was telling Israel’s king of his secret plans, and the Aramean king’s army tried to surround and capture Elisha, God caused the Aramean army to be blinded so that Elisha could lead them to be surrounded by Israel’s army! Thus, God can reveal the secrets of His people’s foes so they can avoid harm, and He can hide information to guard His people.

(2) Regarding concern over employees in federal agencies who fudge in their duties of protecting the public to retain good relations at big companies for lucrative jobs there once they leave the agencies, in 2 Kings 8:1-6, Elisha told the Shunammite woman to sojourn in Gentile territory for seven years to avoid a famine. When she returned to Israel after the famine and went to beg Israel’s evil king Joram to restore her property, Joram was speaking with Elisha’s servant Gehazi about Elisha’s miracles. Just as the woman approached the king to beg for her land, Gehazi was telling Joram about Elisha’s raising her son from the dead, and Joram was so impressed by this coincidence and the account of the miracle that he not only restored the woman’s land but ruled that she should receive all the produce that had been harvested from her property in her absence! Thus, God can cause even evil officials to help His people!

(3) Regarding the risk that our president will not protect our rights since he is influenced by a man who went with a Nazi officer in World War II when he afflicted Jews, 2 Samuel 17:1-22 records that when David’s traitorous adviser Ahithophel told David’s traitorous son Absalom to pursue David without delay since David was then in a weakened state, God used David’s friend Hushai to counter Ahithophel’s advice as Hushai advised Absalom to wait until he had rallied Israel’s entire army to pursue David! Absalom heeded Hushai’s word, so David was able to cross the Jordan River to safety. God is thus sovereign over decisions the president makes regardless who advises him!

(4) Regarding the fact that big social problems in our state not being rightly addressed by officials, since Mr. Powell’s column noted that fatherlessness is behind these problems, and government welfare makes it easy for men to let the state support their children, the core vice is welfare, and Exodus 16:14-21 offers the solution: when God gave Israel manna in the wilderness, He put it on the ground for the people to pick up in the early morning before the sun melted it. The people were NOT to put the manna they gathered into one big national pile for Moses and the elders to mete out to the people as in welfare, BUT, as Exodus 16:16 ESV states, “You shall each take an omer according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent” (This accurately translates ‘omer lagulegolet mispar napshotekem ‘ish la’asher be’ahalo tiqahu of the Hebrew text, cf. Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 103)! There WAS pooling, with those who collected much sharing with those who collected less, but ONLY WITHIN EACH FAMILY TENT, Exodus 16:16 with 17-18. Since 1 Timothy 5:8 requires that each head of household today earn a living for his family, the guidelines of Exodus 16:14-21 with 1 Timothy 5:8 direct that each head of household today is to get up each weekday morning and go to work to earn a living for his family – not to rely on a government welfare system!

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. To strengthen our hope in God’s help in our trials, may we recall His past help recorded in Scripture or even in our own lives that enhance our hope in meeting our needs both now and in eternity!