"The mighty God even the Lord hath spoken"

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2021

PSALM 50

The opening words of Psalm 50 "The mighty God even the Lord hath spoken" speaks of the revelation of God.  It was a revelation of the reality of God.  The Psalm was either written by Asaph or written to Asaph.  The Psalmist wanted his readers to get a glimpse of God.  Sometimes we forget, we need to be reminded again.  Verse 22 "now consider this ye that forget God."  The people were in danger of coming and going through the motions of singing, praying, reading the word of God, even preaching yet missing out on the revelation of God.  The mighty God was turning every eye and head.  Remember John the Baptist when we saw Jesus approaching said "behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."  Jesus had come into the world to seek and to save that which was lost.  We get our minds on other things.  What have you done with Jesus?  Have you neglected him, forgotten him, set him aside?  Or have you taken him as Saviour and Lord?  Would it not be great to say to him one day "I took your son for myself and I lived my life for you."  We live in a day when people take the standpoint there is no God, everything came about by chance.  Psalm 53 "The fool hath said in his heart there is no God."  In Exodus 5 Pharaoh asked "who is this Lord, I have never heard of him, I don't know he exists."  Genesis 1 verse 1 "In the beginning God."  You and I get so caught up with the things around us. The Psalmist reminds us we are coming into the presence of the mighty God, the one who spoke and everything came into being.  Isaiah the prophet on that day when he went into the temple saw the Lord high and lifted up.  Everything else that went with it.  Isaiah on that particular day, a prophet in the land was standing in the temple that day.  What was going though his mind that day?  It was "the year that King Uzziah died."  Was he going up with a heavy heart, a burden?  The Lord knew exactly what he needed.  He had a heavy heart that day.  You need the Lord today if you have a similar heavy heart.  I wonder as Isaiah went into the temple was his eyes on something else, somebody else?  Maybe this was a time of great tragedy, heartache and sorrow.  Now he saw the Lord.  Many times he had been there before and didn't receive this revelation.  Wonder will you like Isaiah stand before God and be able to say "here am I send me."  Remember Acts 16 in Philippi Lydia came to the Sabbath day.  A few of the women folk went out to a meeting by the river.  Lydia came along.  Her lifestyle is set to one side for the Sabbath day.  She made her way out.  She must have been a religious woman, a busy woman, a seller of purple.  She set everything aside to go out and worship the God of heaven.  On this particular occasion God opened up her heart to receive the things Paul spoke on.  God met with her.  Maybe God wants to meet with you today.

A revelation of the reasoning of God.  God communicates with us.  How often have you gone to the word of God with a burden on your heart, have a heavy decision to make.  Then you sit down with the word of God.  The Psalmist says the mighty God, the one who created everything has spoken.  He has spoken and called the earth together - "from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.  Hebrews shows the supremacy of God.  "God in sundry times ... unto the fathers ... through the prophets.  But he hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son."  The supremacy of the son.  God spoke to the exiles in Babylon through Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Cyrus.  We today have the everylasting word fixed in heaven.  God is still speaking to us even today.  God is still speaking to us even today.  God is speaking to us through this Pandemic.  Perhaps we are caught up with all the inconvenience of the Pandemic and not giving God the proper thought.    "I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.  Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most High.  And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me."  God is asking for a sincerity from his children.  "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentest with him and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frameth deceit."  God sees these things.  He is communicating, reasoning with his people though the Psalmist.  "Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother thou slanderest thine own mother's son.  These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thougthest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver."  God demands righteousness.  We can go through the motions of reading, praying and preaching yet there is no reality.  That is what God is reasoning with the church today.  God speaks to you and I today.  I wonder are we really listening to what God has to say?

The revelation of God's range.  We must pay attention this morning.  Are we crying out to God today?  Not going through the motions but asking God to speak to us.  God has spoken through the mighty prophets of old, he even spoke to the young boy Samuel.  Samuel was tending to the needs of Eli in the temple.  One night as he is resting his head on the pillow God spoke to him.  He didn't recognise the voice of God.  Do we recognise the voice of God that is speaking to us today?  It is too easy to forget about our children.  We say they wouldn't understand what is being said.  God spoke to Samuel as a child.  God spoke though his prophets yes but he wants to speak to us today too.  Verse 5 "gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."  Revelation tells us that one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth when the Lord comes as judge.  The heavens and earth will flee at his presence.  "And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the even fled away and there was found no place for them."

A revelation of what God requires.  Looking at what God has done for us but what does he require of us - "And call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."  You are dealing directly with me this morning, not anyone else.  You and I as individuals.  God is speaking to you this morning.  What will our response be?  "The mighty God even the Lord hath spoken."  What will we do this morning?