This Godless World Is Headed For The Wrath Of God In Spite Of Their Optimism Series

Intro:

1. The world’s hope is like the little boys definition of hope, who said, “Hope is wishing for something real hard you know you ain’t gonna get!”

2. This world is totally oblivious to where they are really heading, they remind me of a fat, happy, dumb lamb heading for the slaughter house.

3. This Godless World is headed for the Wrath of God in spite of their optimism.

Trans: Psa. 9

I…FIRST, THE PRAISE. 9:1-2

A. Praise needs to be a Volitional response. “I will…I will…”

We will not always feel like praising God, but we can always praise God by an act of our will.

Praise means “to throw, to cast” so we are to throw praise God’s way.

Praise the Lord:

Praise Him when the sun is shining,

When the winds of trouble blow,

When you see no silver lining,

On the clouds that hang so low.

Praise illumines clouds of sorrow,

Turns the gray skies into gold

Giving promise of a morrow

Bright with blessings manifold.

Praise Him when your load is heavy

And the day no comfort brings,

Then your burden God will carry,

Bear you, as on, eagle’s wings.

God delights to have us praise Him,

And believe His holy Word;

And He know them that trust Him,

And they always praise the Lord.

B. Praise needs to be Total.

Whole heart – “without reservation, wholeheartedly.” Deut. 6:5/ Mt. 22:37

Barnes, “Not with divided affection, or with partial gratitude. He meant that all his powers should be employed in this service.”

C. Praise needs to be Vocal.

I will tell of all Your marvelous works – we should be vocal in our praising God (Psa. 26:7; 66:1; 63:3; 145:21).

D. Praise needs to be Emotional.

glad and rejoice – this comes only as we make a choice to rejoice! Feeling get on board sooner or later, they are a great caboose but a poor head engine.

E. Praise needs to be Musical.

Will sing praises – one great blessing is to secure a song book and use it.

“It is striking that in each part the psalmist combines singing and preaching. And it is interesting to remember that great periods of church history have always been marked by both. At the time of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther’s hymns were on the lips of the German people as much as his words were in their hearts. At the time of the Wesleyan Revival in Great Britain, the recovery of the gospel was accompanied by an equally stirring recovery of gospel singing, as the hymns of John and Charles Wesley, Augustus Toplady, William Cowper, John Newton, and others show.

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “So sing on brethren, and preach on, and these shall both be a token that the Lord still dwells in Zion.”

Trans: Praise needs to be volitional, total, vocal, emotional, and musical. But the key is volitional.

Reminds me of one dear aged lady who always sat on the front row and yelled out Praise the Lord! The preacher didn’t like it because it disrupted his sermon.

He took her aside and said, “I’ll give you an electric blanket if you just refrain from shouting “Praise the Lord” during my preaching. She was very poor and sorely need the blanket so she reluctantly agreed.

A few Sundays went by and she kept silent. But then one Sunday the preacher started preaching about God’s slender and glory and majesty…she couldn’t take it any more. She stood up, raised her hands, and shouted out “Blankets or no blankets – Praise the Lord!”

II. FURTHERMORE, THE PROMISE. 9:3-12

A. Promise that He will Judge. 3-8

1. Judgment will be Personal. 3-4

Notice the “my…my…my.” David expected God to take up his case personally.

2. Judgment will also be Eternal. 5-7

Stanley, “God never had a beginning, and He will never have an end. That makes Him the perfect Judge, for He knows all the causes leading up to an event and all the consequences that result from it.

3. Judgment will be Universal. 8

world – big shots little shots and those that ought to be shout as Bill Stafford would say.

Trans: People today view God as a feeble old grandfather. It reminds me of three tough looking hoods that pull into a highway café. They came up to a little guy who was quietly eating his lunch. They messed up his hair, grabbed his food, and laughed as they kicked his chair from under him. The little man said nothing. He just picked himself off the floor, paid for the meal and left.

One of the thugs said, “Boy, he sure wasn’t much of man, was he?” The waitress looking out the window said, “I guess not” and then added, “He’s not much of a truck driver either, he just ran over three motorcycles in the parking lot!”