Well, turn with me in your Bibles this evening to Psalm 50. Psalm 50. I mentioned this morning, but I really enjoyed studying this Psalm. Took me a while to wrestle with it and really see the structure that’s here. This is a bit of a difficult Psalm, and some people don’t really know what to do with it. It is almost a… prophetic or a judgment prophecy to the nation of Israel.

Again, this is a little bit of a different psalm. Many of the psalms are prayers, and they are written from the voice of the psalmist or the nation of Israel, and they’re spoken to God. They’re either voicing concerns or requests or even complaints, but usually the receiver of the psalm is supposed to be God, but this one is different. In this Psalm, we see God speaking. And we see God speaking to the nation of Israel. It’s a Psalm of Asaph. It says that in the superscription there in the beginning. And it is God speaking to His chosen people. And He has some uncomfortable words for them to hear. And what God has to say to them has to do with their worship, how they are worshiping him. And this psalm serves as a warning for all of God’s people.

God himself is the judge, and that’s the title I’ve given this psalm, and that comes from the very last line of verse six, that God himself is the judge. Again, this is a great reminder of who God is and what He desires from His people. It’s written to Israel, so we need to think about it first of all in that light, and you’ll see a lot of the references in there are very specific to Israel. But there are a lot of principles we see that God communicates to them that we can use as a warning, as a reminder. place of reference for us to check our own lives and to see if we are maybe falling into the same sorts of errors or sins even that Israel is falling into. or as I’ve titled this sermon, that God himself is judge, the psalm really paints a courtroom scene.

You could almost view it as like an episode of a courtroom TV drama. And you’ll see as the psalm plays out these different pictures that were given. And we get to see the judge render his verdict upon the offenders. And again, we should look at this episode in this courtroom out of fear and reverence. We ought to be warned by the things that we hear. And we should learn from it and seek to worship God rightly ourselves. We see four divisions in this psalm.

The first six verses are really just an introduction of the judge. And that’s the first division there, that God himself is judge, that the judge is Yahweh. The second division is verses 7 through 15, and that’s the first charge that the judge brings against the defendants here. And that’s that they are insincere in their worship. Their crime is insincerity. Thirdly, we see a second charge in verses 16 to 21, and that is of hypocrisy. of saying one thing and doing another. But then we see, finally, And the last two verses of this psalm, the verdict, the verdict that the judge has for the defendants here in this courtroom. So as you see this psalm and as I read it, think of this picture of a courtroom and a judge and he calls his witnesses and there’s a defendant here that needs to answer for the things that they’ve done.

So I’ll read Psalm 50 now. Psalm 50 verses one all the way through verse 22, 23, I should say. This is the word of the Lord. The mighty one, God, Yahweh, has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shown forth. May our God come and not be silent. Fire devours before him and a storm swirls around him. He calls the heavens above and the earth to render justice to his people. gather my holy ones to me, those who have cut a covenant with me by sacrifice, and the heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Hear, O my people, and I will speak. O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are continually before me. I shall take no young bull out of your house, nor male goats out of your fields. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you. The world is mine as well as its fullness. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of distress. I shall rescue you and you will glorify me. But to the wicked, God says, what right have you to recount my statutes and to take my covenant into your mouth? For you hate discipline and you cast my words behind you. When you see a thief, you are pleased with him and you associate with adulterers. You let your mouth loose in evil and you harness your tongue for deceit. You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done and I have kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there will be none to deliver. He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me. And he who orders his way, I shall show the salvation of God.”

Again, this is a Psalm of Asaph. And first Asaph introduces us to the judge. This sounds like something out of Jeremiah or Isaiah or maybe one of the minor prophets. God booming forth his judgment from the heavens to the people who are living in rebellion against him. And as you see this psalm open, the first six verses here, the judge has entered the courtroom. It’s the all rise moment of this scene. We see a list of divine names to begin this psalm. The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, is announcing the presence of this Judge. It says He has spoken. In verses 1 and 4, it talks about calling the earth from the rising of the sun to the setting. In verse 4, He calls the heavens above and the earth. This is the judge calling his witnesses, calling those who will hear and testify to the judgment he pronounces upon the defendant here in this courtroom. Again, this is all courtroom language. And you should picture this moment as the door opens and the judge steps through it and the courtroom rises as the judge steps to his bench. And as you listen to Asaph describe the scene here, He calls the heavens above and the earth beneath. Verse three, fire devours before him and a storm swirls around him. Lightning’s flashing, thunder is rolling as this judge comes into the courtroom. It’s supposed to strike fear into the hearts of everybody there, everybody hearing.

This is the same picture of when God came forth and gave his law to the people on the mountain at Mount Sinai. Exodus 19 sounds very familiar as you read verse three of this psalm. Exodus 19, 16 says this, so it happened on the third day when it was the morning that there was thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. This is what it’s like when God appears. God appears and it should strike fear into the hearts of his people. God is not coming to judge the nations here. He’s coming to judge his people, Israel. The defendant has been identified. Verse four, he calls the heavens above and the earth to render justice to his people. gather my holy ones to me, those who have cut a covenant with me by sacrifice.” That’s Israel. That’s not the nations. That’s not anybody else. Pagans or heathen nations are not on the docket in this courtroom today. Will the nations be judged? Yeah, they will. But here, the focus is on Israel, on his people. Just because they’re his people, they don’t get out of jail free card. This is God’s people who he’s entered a covenant with, and they haven’t been holding up their end of the covenant.

As 1 Peter 4 talks about, judgment begins with the household of God. It’s God’s people who ought to be aware of God’s judgment, and in fear of the God who is judge. Verse 6, the last verse of this opening section, says, the heavens declare his righteousness. for God Himself is judge, selah. This is the standard of the judge, perfect righteousness. He is perfectly righteous and the heavens declare it. These are the judge’s credentials. This judge doesn’t have degrees hanging on his wall in his office. He has the heavens to declare how righteous of a judge he is. So here the stage is set. The opening scene has announced to us the judge, the witnesses, and the defendant. Now we come to the first charge. The judge has arrived, he’s taken his seat, and he’s ready to speak forth to the one who is on trial here.

He says, verse 7, “‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel. I will testify against you. I am God, your God.’” God the judge is ready. He is ready to testify. Interestingly, he starts with what it’s not about. He says in verse eight, I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are continually before me. I’m not confronting you because your quota of sacrifices is too low. It’s not that you haven’t brought enough animals to me. Oh, there’s plenty of dead animals to go around here. You’ve sacrificed a lot. But that’s not what worshiping God is about. He continues in verses 9 to 11, I shall take no young bull out of your house, nor male goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains and everything that moves in the field is mine. God says, I don’t need your animals. I’ve got plenty of them. In fact, your animals are mine to begin with. It’s not about the number of animals you’ve brought to sacrifice.

Because he says in verses 12 to 13, if I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, as well as its fullness. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats? I mean, this passage of scripture, what a picture of God it presents to us. I don’t need anything from you. If I could be hungry, I wouldn’t ask you for food. I’d go get my own. I own all the animals. The whole world is mine. Why would I come to you expecting your sacrifices in order to feed me?” In the ancient Near East, the pagan religions believed that the gods depended upon their sacrifices in order to eat. In fact, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the ancient writings, in the stories of the gods of those religions, there’s a record of the flood, the global flood that happened. In the story, when the flood happened, there was nobody alive to give any sacrifices, so the gods nearly starved to death. That’s what people believed about gods.

Yahweh, the God of Israel, is confronting them like, I’m not like these false gods. I don’t depend on you to stay alive. I don’t need your animal sacrifices in order to be who I am. He doesn’t eat food like human beings do, and if he did, he has enough food of his own. His cupboards are full. So what is the issue then? What’s the problem here? He’s confronting them over their worship, but he says it’s not the number of sacrifices that you’re doing. They’re sacrificing plenty. What’s the issue here? Well, in verse 14, God gives them a solution, and the solution explains the problem. Because in verse 14, he says, offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. and pay your vows to the Most High. That’s his solution for this first charge against them. Sacrifice to God because you want to, not because you feel like you have to.

The problem here was that Israel was going through the motions. They were sacrificing the animals and doing the rituals and all the things because they felt like this is what we have to do in order to be holy, in order to check the box and do our religion. They were coming to the temple, they were walking the walk, and they were talking the talk. But they weren’t actually worshiping God with their hearts. You see, Israel was an agricultural society, so for them to give their animals as a sacrifice to God was a form of sacrificing their wealth. But God doesn’t need their wealth or their animals. He wants their hearts. He wants them to be grateful to Him. He wants them to acknowledge He’s the one that they receive these things from. He wants them to actually pray to him and it says, pay their vows to him. Well, what are their vows? What are the vows that Israel’s made to God as they entered this covenant with him?

Deuteronomy 6, 4 and 5, hear oh Israel, Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your might. That’s what they vowed. You will love the Lord your God with all that you are and all that you have. And God’s saying, you are not paying your vows. You’re not doing that. You’re doing all the rules and regulations that I gave you. You’re completing all the sacrifices that I gave you, but you’re not giving me your heart. You’re not loving me with all that you are and all that you have. Do that. Go back to doing that. Go back to the things that you promised to do. Actually love God. Treat him like he is God. He says in verse 15, call upon me in the day of distress and I’ll rescue you and you will glorify me. His people ought to enjoy the privilege they have in worshiping the one true God. He wants to be their God. They made a covenant with him to treat him as such. And that’s all he wants from them. Pay your vows. Do what we agreed to. Love me with all that you are.

The people, you see, were reaping all the benefits of this covenant, of being God’s people. They were getting all the good out of it. But this was a two-way covenant. God had his end and they had their end. Listen to what God’s end of the deal was in Deuteronomy chapter 8 verses 7 through 10. For Yahweh your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything, and a land whose stones are iron and whose hills you can dig copper. That’s God’s promise to them in this covenant. I will make you wealthy. I will put you in the best land. You’re gonna get all of this wonderful stuff. But verse 10 continues with Israel’s part of the deal. And so you will eat and be satisfied and you will bless Yahweh your God for the good land which he’s given you. That’s what they weren’t doing. They were getting all of the rewards. They were reaping all the benefits of being God’s chosen people. And they weren’t even thanking Him for it. They weren’t recognizing that it all comes from God. And they weren’t thanking Him for what He’d given them.

So how do we understand this from a New Testament perspective? We aren’t under this covenant. We don’t have the same stipulation. So how does this apply to us? We don’t make animal sacrifices. We weren’t in a conditional covenant like this. Well, think about it this way. How sincere is our worship? Why do we come to church on Sundays? Do we come just so people won’t notice that I wasn’t there? Or do we come to glorify God and give Him thanks for who He is and what He has done? Do we come to meet with God? Or think about the way that we give. This is part of Israel’s giving. Animal sacrifice is a way of them giving of their first fruits. So when we give, do you give money in the offering plate because you feel like you have to? Because you’re checking the box, you’re paying the offering bill for the month? Or are you sacrificing a portion of what God has already given to you?

You know, God doesn’t need your money. He wants your heart. That’s what God’s issue with Israel is here, and God doesn’t change. He doesn’t need your money. He wants your heart. And his solution to them is not to stop giving, it’s give to me out of thankfulness. Give to me out of the depths of your heart. The first charge from the judge here is that they were insincere in their worship. They were doing the things, but they weren’t doing it out of a sincere and thankful heart.

Which brings us to charge number two, starting in verse 16 here. But to the wicked, God says, What right have you to recount my statutes and to take my covenant in your mouth? This is God’s words to false believers in this congregation. That’s who the wicked are. Those who pretend to be God’s people, but they’re not. And these are harsh words. What right do you have What right do you have to enjoy the benefits of being God’s people when you prove by your actions and your lives that you’re not? Their lives are betraying their words, their confession, the covenant that’s on their lips, God’s covenant.

Verses 17 to 20 show how their lives betray them. It says, for you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you associate with adulterers. You let your mouth loose in evil, and you harness your tongue for deceit. You sit and speak against your brother, and you slander your own mother’s son. It’s as if God goes through the list of the Ten Commandments. and shows them how they’re breaking them all. The first one, verse 17, you hate discipline and you cast my words behind you. You’re not treating me like I’m God. You throw my words away. You don’t even listen to what I say. You’re treating other things as though they’re God. Well, that can summarize the first four commandments right there. They’re not worshiping God like He’s God. They’re not listening to what He has to say. They’re treating Him as though like, well, whatever. So what? God said that, big deal.

Then verses 18 and 19, you see a thief and you’re pleased with him. You associate with adulterers. You let your mouth loose in evil and harness your tongue for deceit. This is the seventh and eighth commandments. You shall not bear false witness and you shall not commit adultery. Those are gone. Verse 20, you sit and speak against your brother, you slander your own mother’s son. Well, according to Jesus, that’s hate and therefore murder and bearing false witnessing. So there’s the sixth and ninth commandments. They’ve got a full house. They’re winning the 10 commandments bingo.

All this type of living and they still show up to worship. They sacrifice their animals like they’re good little covenant people. And the next verse is the most terrifying verse in this psalm. Verse 21, these things you have done and I have kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes. Oh, you thought that because I didn’t strike you down immediately, you got away with it. You thought that because I haven’t said anything yet that I didn’t know. And worse yet, you thought because you’re getting away with it and you’re God’s people, then God must be just like you. Well, we’re God’s people and this is what we do, so that must mean he’s like us, right?

Oh, do we see this attitude today! Oh, my Jesus wouldn’t judge. My Jesus wouldn’t say things that offend people. My Jesus would be accepting of all lifestyles. Let me tell you, if you have your Jesus, your Jesus isn’t real. If your Jesus is anything other than the Almighty God, Yahweh, if that’s not your Jesus, you’ve made a Jesus in your own image. You thought I was just like you. Can you imagine hearing those words from God? You thought I was just like you. I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes. Yahweh, the judge, says, enough. I’ve kept silent for a long time, that’s true. But no more. That’s enough. The chickens are coming home to roost.

In this world we live in, they think our faith is false because they don’t see the immediate consequences of their disbelief. Our world thinks hell isn’t real because it’s not hot out. It’s like Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 8 verse 11. Because the sentence against evil work is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.” Because people think they get away with it, they can do what they want. 2 Peter says the same thing, and he warns us that in the end times this is what it’s going to be like. 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 3 and 4, knowing this first of all. That in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

That is the world we live in. What God? I don’t see any judgment. I haven’t gotten scolded from God yet. God hasn’t zapped me yet. Why should I change my ways? And this world thinks hell isn’t real because it’s not hot out. But hell is real. God’s judgment is real. And here in Psalm 50, this is the attitude among these people. You thought I was just like you. These things you’ve done because I was silent. This is why it’s called hypocrisy. They’re supposed to be the people of God. They’re supposed to know better. They’ve received God’s word.

This is why Jesus called out the Jews in his day in Matthew 15:8. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. It’s hypocrisy. They go to the temple. They offer their sacrifices. They say one thing with what they do on the Lord’s day, the worship, but then they go and live like this. They claim one thing and live something totally different. And this is what it looks like when we act hypocritically. When we claim to be Christians and act just like the world. When we sing one thing on Sunday, but then on Monday we do something that we wouldn’t be caught dead doing in church. That’s what this is. And God hates it.

He says in verse 16, what right do you have to recount my statutes and take my covenant in your mouth? What right do you have to read God’s word and then act like that? And he will reveal hypocrisy. You thought because he hasn’t done it yet that he was just like you. Galatians chapter 6 tells us, don’t be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. That’s the second charge in this courtroom scene. First, we had insincerity in their worship. And then you have outright hypocrisy. God says, you act like you’re my people, you aren’t even close to my people.

Now we have, finally, the verdict. The verdict from the judge. And that verdict is sincere obedience. Verses 22 and 23. Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there will be none to deliver. He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me. And he who orders his way, I shall show the salvation of God. Now consider this. After all the first 21 verses, all of the things he’s listed in condemnation of these defendants in the courtroom, this is the conclusion. This is the judge’s ruling.

Consider this, and it comes with a warning. Consider this, you forget God, lest I tear you in pieces. That’s pretty harsh, and it’s meant to be. Sometimes God has to scare his people into repentance. There’s a reason why the Bible talks about judgment and hell. And the reason Jesus gives us so much detail on the lake of fire and eternal physical torment. It ought to scare you. That shouldn’t be the only reason you come to Christ, but it ought to be a motivation in your life. That there is a hell. There is a judgment. But there’s an offer here, too. He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and he who orders his way, I will show the salvation of God. This is an answer for each one of the charges brought against these people.

The judge has offered a verdict, and it’s conditional. It’s a conditional verdict. If you ignore everything that he said, if you ignore this warning, and continue in your unrepentant hypocrisy and your fake worship, you will be torn to pieces and there won’t be anybody to save you. That was the threat in verse 22, and it’s a real threat. It’s the threat of eternal damnation in hell, eternal physical suffering. But the other condition, the first condition is being ripped to pieces. The second condition is salvation. It’s salvation. The judge will issue a pardon for the crimes committed if he sees a heart of thanksgiving and sincere obedience.

This verse is not saying, if you obey me, then you will have salvation. This is what God is looking for in these people. They already tried that, remember? The, well, if we obey, then we’re God’s people and everything will be fine. If we make our sacrifices, that’ll be good enough. They tried that. Worked salvation doesn’t work. That’s never been the way that God has worked salvation for his people. The implication here is faith. The Psalm promises salvation by faith alone. Faith that this judge is who he says he is. In verse one, the mighty one, God, Yahweh. And faith that what he says in this psalm is true. What else is faith other than believing what God has said? And what does that faith look like? What does your life look like if you live by faith? Sacrifices of thanksgiving and ordering your way. or obedience. It’s to that person that displays those things in their life that God will show salvation. Not because they’ve worked it, but because they have the faith that produces these things, and that’s what leads to their salvation.

Salvation comes to those who come to God by faith. Because of that faith, they live in sincere obedience. And salvation, as we know, now that we’ve had the revelation from the New Testament, salvation comes through Christ. He is the one who bore the punishment for all of our hypocrisy and fake worship, our law-breaking and our sin. He is the one who bore God’s wrath in our place. He was ripped to pieces for us. so that we can be shown this salvation that’s promised. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. And He is the judge of all the earth.

John 5:22 tells us this, for not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son. So when we read this Psalm, who’s the judge? The Son of God is the judge. He is the speaker in this psalm.

If you have not yet come to Christ, come to him before the judge of all the earth tears you to pieces. We should read Psalm 50 as a warning. We should read Psalm 50 in fear and reverence of who this judge is. It’s a warning against hypocrisy, fake living, saying one thing and living another. It’s a warning against insincere worship, going through the motions, doing what we think we ought to do without actually worshiping God from our hearts. We ought to be motivated to live lives of sincere obedience and thankfulness through faith. He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and he who orders his way, I shall show the salvation of God. It was in the New Testament that this judge, Jesus, said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. This is how God’s people are called to live, in thankfulness and sincerity. in living like what we actually confess, living like what we actually sing on Sunday. That’s how we ought to live. What comes out of our mouth ought to be seen in our life. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Let’s stand and close in prayer this evening. God, we thank you for this psalm. this picture that you’ve given us of your courtroom as a warning against insincere and false worship and hypocrisy in our own lives. I pray, Lord, that we will take this psalm to heart, that we will look for these things in our life, and we will look for ways where we may be falling into these habits in our life, and we would put those things to death, that we would live by faith. Through faith, we would live our lives in thankfulness to you and sincerely seek to obey you. And we thank you for the salvation that you do provide, that you are forgiving of these horrible sins that we are prone to. But that through faith, you’ve provided salvation in your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for who you are. We pray all these things in Christ’s precious name. Amen.