Psalm 50:1-6
The Blunt Truth

The world that we live in places some premium on political
correctness; however, God is not into such speech.  God often speaks
in very plain terms, terms that are so plain that they offend our
delicate ears.  Such might be Psalms 50.

The book of Psalms is largely a song book and entirely a praise book
to God. It is not a book designed to teach or even to rebuke, but
rather one to comfort and to remind people of God’s goodness. It does
not matter what mood you are in (joyful, despondent, worshipful,
defeated, lonely), you can find a Psalm for you mood.

This Psalm divides itself into three sections.  Those will be the
points of my sermon.

I. \\#1-6\\ A Message to All
   A. \\#1\\ God is speaking.
       1. He is El Elohim.  Elohim is the name often used for God in
           the Bible and El means God.  So these are two different
           names for God put together.  We don’t have a translation
           that accurately conveys that thought.  Some say you could
           translate it the God of gods.  Our translators simply
           translated it, "the mighty God."  It means there is none
           other like this God.
       2. "even the LORD" - When you see the word LORD all in
           capitals in the King James Bible, it stands for the name
           of God which is the most holy to the Jews.  Devote Jews
           will not write or speak the name.  In fact, we don’t know
           exactly how to write or speak the name anymore because
           they never would.  When they wrote it, they left out all
           of the vowels so all that was left were four consonants.
           By adding different vowels, in our language, you could
           get either the name Yahweh or Jehovah.  So God is some
           times called both or either of these names.
       3. These three names for God, used together, would signify the
           most powerful and the most holy God.
       4. This is the God who is speaking.
           a. In fact, in this Psalm, God speaks directly.
           b. Notice that the Psalm continually switches the case of
               pronouns throughout the Psalm.
           c. Sometimes, the pronoun referring to God is third
               person (i.e. \\#4\\ "He") and sometimes it is first
               person (i.e. \\#5\\ "my" or \\#7\\ "I").

   B. God is speaking to the whole earth.

Psalm 50:1 …called the earth from the rising of
the sun unto the going down thereof.

        1. That would be everywhere and everyone.
        2. God wants everyone everywhere to hear what He has to say.
   C. What does God want them to hear?  I see four thoughts in this
       first section.
       1. Israel is God’s Seat

Psalm 50:2  Out of Zion, the perfection of
beauty, God hath shined.

            a. Zion is the name of one of the hills on which
                Jerusalem was built.
            b. So where does God "shin" from, Jerusalem, Israel.
            c. God is being blunt and many will not like it, but the
                Jews are God’s elect people.  They were chosen by
                God—through no merit of their own—to receive God’s
                favor and to be used or God.
            d. This is the sovereign will of God.

Ge 12:2  And I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great;
and thou shalt be a blessing:

            e. On a day when we ask ourselves, "What can America do
                to secure God’s blessings again?", we should not
                forget the very next verse.

Ge 12:3  And I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed.

       2. God will come to judge.

Psalm 50:3  Our God shall come, and shall not
keep silence: a fire shall devour before him,
and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4  He shall call to the heavens from above, and
to the earth, that he may judge his people.

            a. People today do not like the message of a coming
                Judge, but it is the blunt truth and needs to be
                told.
            b. Being ignorant of something does not make it go away.
            c. These verses are speaking of two judgments: the wicked
                and the righteous, called in \\#4\\ "his people."
       3. God’s people will be gathered to Him.

Psalm 50:5  Gather my saints together unto me;
those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice.

            a. Although both the wicked and the righteous shall be
                judged, they will not be judged together.
            b. It is not explained here but the wicked will be
                gathered for a judgment of their soul
                \\#Rev 20:11-15\\, The Great White Throne, while the
                righteous shall be gathered for judgment of their
                works, \\#1Cor 3:13\\, Bema Judgment.
       4. When God’s judgment is complete, the heavens shall declare
           that God is righteous.

Psalm 50:6  And the heavens shall declare his
righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

II. \\#7-15\\ A Message to God’s People
    A. God is going to be blunt in speaking to His own people.
        1. Truth may not always be pleasant but truth is always
            truth.

Billy Sunday was once told that his preaching rubbed the fur the
wrong way.  His reply was "Let the cat turn around."

        2. God had already warned His people that a judgment was
            coming.
        3. \\#7\\ God adds "I will testify AGAINST thee."
            a. That implies they are doing something wrong.
            b. I believe the bluntness God is about to share is about
                the sin they are doing that is wrong.
    B. What is the message to God’s people?
        1. \\#8-13\\ I don’t need your sacrifices.
            a. People get God’s demand for offerings confused with
                God’s needs for an offering.
            b. God does not need our offerings.
            c. God gives us an opportunity to worship Him by allowing
                us to give Him an offering.
            d. The Jews, at this time, had apparently showed
                disrespect to God either in the kind of offering they
                were giving or the lack of offering they were giving.
            e. So God bluntly corrected them.

Psalm 50:8  I will not reprove thee for thy
sacrifices or thy burnt offerings…

                (1) God was not going to waste time or effort
                     correcting them anymore.

Psalm 50:9  I will take no bullock out of thy
house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

                (2) I rescind my offer.  You may NOT worship me in
                     offerings.  I won’t accept them.

Psalm 50:10  For every beast of the forest is
mine…

                (3) It was all mine all along.  I was just giving you
                     the opportunity to demonstrate that to Me.

Psalm 50:12  If I were hungry, I would not tell
thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness
thereof.

                (4) I don’t need the offering.
            f. Christians today need to learn the same truth.
                (1) We can claim that we are living under grace if we
                     want but the purpose for tithes and offerings
                     has not changed.
                (2) They were never demanded because God needed them.
                (3) They were demanded to teach the people how
                     important it is to freely give to God to show
                     respect, honor, and worship.
                (4) While there are less rules about giving today,
                     there is no less worship in giving.
        2. \\#14-15\\ Two counsels:
            a. \\#14\\ Offering the right kind of sacrifices.
            b. \\#15\\ Once you do, call upon God and He will answer.

III. \\#16-23\\ A Message to the Wicked
    A. The wicked are defined:
        1. \\#17\\ Those that hate God’s instruction.

Psalm 50:17  Seeing thou hatest instruction….

        2. Those that cast behind them God’s words.  (Throw them away
            like trash and walk on)

Psalm 50:17 … and castest my words behind thee.

        3. \\#18\\ Those who agree with evil being done.

Psalm 50:18  When thou sawest a thief, then thou
consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with
adulterers.

        4. \\#19-20\\ Those who use their mouth to defend and do
            evil.

Psalm 50:19  Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and
thy tongue frameth deceit.
20  Thou sittest and speakest against thy
brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.

        5. \\#21\\ Those who think God is weak, carnal, and even
            sinful like a man.

Psalm 50:21 …thou thoughtest that I was
altogether such an one as thyself…

    B. God’s Blunt Warning
        1. You better stop forgetting God or God is going to tear you
            apart.

Psalm 50:22  Now consider this, ye that forget
God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be
none to deliver.

        2. If God’s bluntness offends you it is unfortunate for our
            arrogance offends Him.
        3. He has been silent but do not confuse His silence with
            approval and inaction.
        4. God is blunting warning you so that you will not have any
             reason for not knowing.   He is going to judge you.
        5. Someone says, "I don’t know where to start in remembering
            God."
            a. He tells you.

Psalm 50:23  Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me:
and to him that ordereth his conversation aright
will I shew the salvation of God.

            b. Two things:
                (1) Start by praising Him instead of blaspheming Him.
                (2) Continue by doing right instead of wrong.
                     (a) Conversation means manner, lifestyle.
                     (b) These two things will move God to open your
                          heart to His salvation.

This is the message that God wants everyone to hear.  It is blunt,
but like a bad tasting medicine, it is needful.  I pray that we will
hear it and abide by it today.

<OutlineIndex>  <Close Window>