Nov 3, 2024 "Call upon the Name of the Lord" (Psalm 7:1-5)

 Call upon the Name of the Lord 

Psalm7:1-5 

 

Everyone wants to stand on something, especially these days when there is so much uncertainty. However, we know that we can call on the name of the Lord to be saved. 

 

In Psalm 7, we read about someone who is in desperate times. When this psalm was written, salvation was God saving the person from their enemies or the nation from their enemies. For us, salvation goes beyond the body or our immediate problems; however, the words of this psalm are still true today. 

 

We have hope because the Lord is with us. Even when things are desperate, we can look to Jesus. We can call on the same name of God and be rescued. 

 

Romans 10:13 ESV 

[13] For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 

 

Some people believe the world will be destroyed and few people or no one will survive. They are building bunkers or designing spaceships to escape the end. The truth is every time we use science to fix a problem, another problem comes along. Our solutions only create more problems. 

 

The problems we face are not too different than what we have now. We need to be grateful for what we have. The desire to do more, make more, save more and overcome more is creating a world that is unattainable. We cannot sustain these resources, and we are burning ourselves out. 

 

The solution to this is to be thankful to God for what we have. We need to be thankful that Jesus has saved us. These days we see wars are increasing and more nations are coming in. While people are killing themselves, others are making profits. Companies make money by selling weapons and other companies will make money by rebuilding. 

 

The division we see today is terrible. So many people are against each other. This is not God's intention. God created man to be good and care for his creation. Let's learn how to make people feel moved and not desperate. We need to make feel hopeful and have means to live. God strives to protect and live. 

God does not share His glory with anyone. God will save you when you call on His name. The billionaires and dictators will not share in God's glory. 

 

The Earth is God's footstool. The world was created by God. God is in control and He is looking for us.  

• How He Loves

• Mercy
• In Christ alone

"Prayer of David Today"(Psalm 7:3-13)

Psalm 7:3-13

 Unless we know the whole story, we run the risk of making misinterpretations. It is easy to focus on one part of the story, and if it is out of context, we can have a quite different idea just looking at that one scene. The same is with the Bible. Reading the Bible, we might think that King David is arrogant and violent if we look at certain verses of the Bible.

 O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

Psalm 7:3‭-‬5 ESV

If we look at the standard the Law of the Bible back in King David's time, he was righteous. Jesus had not come at this time, and it was enough to fulfil the law by practicing it. Your mind and intentions were not considered. Jesus looks more closely.

 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

Romans 3:22 ESV

 If we understand just how truly evil, and how sinful we are, we probably could not accept the gift of grace considering what Jesus went through. Jesus went through tremendous pain and humiliation so that we might enjoy the gift of grace. In order to serve Jesus and serve in righteousness, we need to love Jesus and be thankful for our gift of salvation.

God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.

Psalm 7:11‭-‬13 ESV

 The above passage makes it like God is violent and ready for war. In many ways this is true. Our God is a God of Wrath. His wrath is against sin. God hates sin. In fact, he cannot tolerate sin at all and will remove those people who are wicked and sinful. Yet, when Jesus came, He came for the wicked and sinful people. Just as the wrathful God came to remove sin to save His people, Jesus came to save people. Both came to remove the unrighteous things. 

 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Genesis 6:6 ESV

 God did regret making man, but instead of creating something new, He found a way to save us through His son. We often forget that as powerful, majestic, and unfathomable our God is, He is also a very personal God, who is jealous for our love. This is our God, who fights for the righteous. 

Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!

Psalm 7:6‭-‬9 ESV

 At the time this psalm was written in this part of the world, judgements were done quickly, and it was expected that they were done fairly. The cultural matrix at that time was still the time of an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth. David was fearful for his life, but he was more fearful that righteousness would not be achieved. People would see God as weak and unjust if He or his servants did not judge quickly. 

 Fortunately, we are in a time that we can love and forgive our enemies. Jesus' sacrifice has allowed for us to do this. We do not need to judge or punish them. In the same, we are not judged or punished because Christ’s blood has washed us of our sins. Knowing this we should try to bring more people into the kingdom of God, so they, too, can enjoy the full grace of God.

David's prayer in psalm seven reminds us three important things we need to do in our world today..

1. We need to find righteousness through Jesus.
2. We need to bring new people into the kingdom of God.
3. We need to live lives that are righteous and abhor sin to please God.