THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

XCIII. Resting In God’s True Faith

(Psalm 93:1-5)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Today, potent, errant, quasi-religious ideologies and religious groups greatly affect our lives:

(1) We face the widespread, forceful cult of climate alarmism: “‘The climate cultists are so sure that the world is about to end they think almost any action, no matter how destructive, is justified.’” (Tom Slater, “How will attacking the Mona Lisa save the planet?,” The Spectator, Jan. 29, cited in “Quotable,” Republican-American, February 1, 2024, p. 8A) Take for example the irrational, harmful push to get us into electric vehicles: “‘Every EV sold places’” thousands of dollars “‘in additional costs on taxpayers,’ and ‘overwhelmingly, it is coal and natural gas that generate electricity for EVs.’” (“From the right: The True Cost of EVs,” New York Post, February 5, 2024, p. 27, citing Jason Isaac at The Hill.)

(2) It occurs with antisemitism in monotheistic Islam and atheistic Marxism: “(A)cross the Muslim world, the toxic proposition that the Jews control the world is a popular notion and provides justification for murderous terrorist attacks on Jewish civilians: according to a recent poll from the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, only 5% of all Middle Eastern and North African Arabs condemned Oct. 7 as an ‘illegitimate operation,’” and “in the West, such ideas spring from an ideology” of Marxism “that suggests a hierarchy of oppression that dominates Western societies, in which disproportionately successful groups are victimizers and disproportionately unsuccessful groups the victimized.” (Ben Shapiro, “Notes from Auschwitz,” Ibid., January 25, 2024, p. 8A)

(3) We face a syncretism of Christendom and paganism: “Devotees of St. Brigid celebrated her” on January 28 as “the saint’s feast day” is “Feb. 1 . . . the 1,500^th anniversary of her death . . . Devotees draw inspiration from Brigid the saint – and from Brigid the . . . ancient goddess” who was “worshipped by . . . Celts” and “was associated with . . . poetry, healing . . . metal crafting . . . nature, fertility and fire . . . (M)any Irish are disillusioned with traditional . . . Catholicism and its patriarchal leadership amid a secularizing culture” and “many devout Catholics are dismayed over scandals including the cover-ups of sexual abuse . . . (so), Brigid’s Day is ‘an invitation to stop the . . . war of Christianity versus paganism’ and see ‘the wisdom and beauty in both lineages,’” wrote “Melanie Lynch, founder of Herstory.” (Peter Smith, “Why St. Brigid inspires so many – 1,500 years after her death,” Ibid., Feb. 2, 2024, p. 3B)

(4) We face direct competition from foes to our discipling of children for Christ: “(T)he Satanic Temple” is “a group of political activists” who organized in Salem, Massachusetts seeking “to establish After School Satan Clubs as a counterpart to fundamentalist Christian Good News Clubs” across the United States. (Katherine Stewart, “An After School Satan Club could be coming to your kid’s elementary school,” July 30, 2016; washingtonpost.com) Lucien Greaves, co-founder and spokesman for the Satanic Temple, claimed, “‘(T)he Good News Clubs focus on . . . instilling in children . . . a fear of hell and God’s wrath’” where “‘(w)e’” in the Satanic Temple “give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of an everlasting other-worldly horror.’” (Ibid.)

Need: So, we ask, “What is God’s answer to the errant quasi-religious and religious groups that we face today?”

I. Psalm 93:1-5 by way of application is a polemic of all of the false religions that we face today:

A. The psalm is initially a polemic of the ancient Canaanite Baal worship that Israel faced in the Old Testament:

1. “In pagan Canaanite mythology,” the pagan god “Baal attained a position of power (and a house that was corrupt” through struggling with and overcoming Prince Yamm, the sea (in Heb. yam means “sea”). (Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, p. 861)

2. However, Psalm 93:3-4 is “a polemic against Baalism,” for it shows “that the Lord, not Baal, is mightier than the . . . sea. The sea is not mythological; it is a force of nature under God’s power . . .” (Ibid.)

B. Notably, ancient Canaanite Baal worship, like all false religions in history, exalted man instead of the Creator God of Scripture, so Psalm 93:1-5 by way of application is a polemic of all the false religions we face today:

1. John C. Whitcomb, Jr. and Henry M. Morris in their landmark book, The Genesis Flood, 1978, p. 440-441, claimed, “There are really only two basic philosophies or religions among mankind. The” Biblically correct “one is oriented primarily with respect to God, the Creator, of Whom and by Whom and for Whom are all things. Man is a creature of God . . . utterly dependent upon and responsible to Him . . . The other basic philosophy” that lies outside of Scripture “is oriented primarily with respect to man. This system, appearing in an almost infinite variety of forms, supposes that man is inherently capable of acquiring by his own efforts all he needs in this present life and in any possible life to come. The emphasis is always on man’s own works or his reason or his religious duties or something else that he does to bring about his own improvement and ultimate salvation.”

2. Thus, Psalm 93:1-5 by way of application critiques the climate alarmism cult, the antisemitism in Islam and Marxism, the syncretism of Christendom with paganism and the Satanic Temple that exalt man versus Scripture’s exaltation of the Creator God on Whom man is utterly reliant and to Whom he is accountable.

II. Therefore, Psalm 93:1-5 asserts the Biblical God’s eternal, total sovereignty over the sea in critique of Baalism that held that Baal struggled to overcome Prince Yamm, the sea, to attain a position of power:

A. The Lord is presented in Psalm 93:1-2 as reigning in complete sovereignty over the world with the throne of His majesty as having been established from eternity past before He thus created the universe!

B. Thus, though the seas have lifted up the sound of their waves, though they have lifted up their pounding waves in violent storms, the majestic Lord is mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea since He is always sovereign over them, not needing to struggle against them, Psalm 93:3-4.

C. Also, in contrast to the ancient Canaanite false god Baal and the false god of man in the world’s false religions in history, the statutes of the Lord stand firm, and God’s holiness, His separation from sin, adorns His abode forever in vast contrast to the vile wickedness of ancient Baal and his corrupt house, and all the wickedness of world religions that exalt morally corrupt, sinful man, Psalm 93:5! (Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T.)

Lesson: Scripture’s eternal God and Sovereign Creator of the universe is always sovereign over the mighty sea that is not a mythological force, but a created entity, so ancient Canaanite Baalism along with all non-Biblical quasi-religious and religious systems that exalt man in place of the Creator God are false and to be rejected.

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 hold to the Sovereign Biblical Creator God as the only true God upon whom we are utterly dependent for blessing and salvation and not hold to any non-Biblical religious belief system that exalts man in place of God for the production of blessing and salvation.

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

We apply the truths taught by Scripture’s Sovereign Creator God regarding the issues in our introduction:

(1) Instead of holding to the cult of climate alarmism that exalts man as being able to affect the earth’s climate, we must hold to Genesis 8:22 that states the Sovereign Creator God’s pledge that as long as the earth exists, He would keep the earth habitable for man regardless of the temperature fluctuations that occur in human history.

(2) Instead of holding to antisemitism that exalts man as espoused by monotheistic Islam and atheistic Marxism, we hold to God’s Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12:1-3 that is also reinforced by John’s vision of Revelation 12:1 (by way of the interpretation of Joseph’s same dream in Genesis 37:9-11) that God will bless the believers of all of the nations of the world through the believers of Abraham’s seed, the nation Israel, in the Messianic Kingdom to come. Accordingly, we must bless and not curse the Hebrew people if we would be blessed by the Lord!

(3) Instead of merging paganism with Christianity to exalt man’s religious views, the Creator God testified in 1 Thessalonians 1:9 how believers in Thessalonica “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,” and believers are not to fellowship with believers who are idolaters according to 1 Corinthians 5:11! Man-authored syncretism is a corrupt practice in the New Testament for Christians just like it was for Israel in 1 Kings 12:25-13:3 when Jeroboam mingled the worship of God with the worship of golden calves at Dan and Bethel!

(4) Instead of yielding to the man-exalting, Satanic Temple group’s claim that Christian Good News Clubs wrongly instill a fear of hell and God’s wrath in children by way of the Gospel of Christ where the Satanic Temple allegedly gives children an appreciation of the natural wonders around them, we note that in Satan’s temptation of Eve in Genesis 3:4 KJV, Satan told her that if she ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “Ye shall not surely die!” That claim is similar to what the Satanic Temple people tell children in their After School Satan Clubs, that they will not surely go to hell if they do not believe the Gospel of Christ! Satan lied in Genesis 3:4, for when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, death entered the human race (cf. Romans 5:12), and the Satanic Temple people are not telling the truth today! The universe was created by the Bible’s Creator God, and we must obey Him and believe in Christ like Acts 17:30 claims or we will go to hell like Revelation 20:15 predicts! The truly loving thing we can do for children is to give them the Gospel taught in Good News Clubs that they might be saved!

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. May we hold to the Biblical Creator God and obey His Word for blessing.