Okay, let's take our Bibles and turn to the book of Psalms. Continuing our little journey through the book of Psalms. It's more than a little journey. It's going to take a number of years. But it's, like I said, it's been a huge blessing to me just to think about these Psalms and how and why they were used and maybe in some of them we can see ourselves. Maybe they'll speak to some of the circumstances that we are in. Last week when we talked about Psalm 89, we talked about how that Psalm 89 was written in such a way that it seemed as if God had forgotten His covenant that He had made with David. Remember, they'll be one of your descendants sitting upon the throne forever. And it seemed like that was not going to happen. The psalmist expressed his lament and was the common practice in lament psalms, generally towards the end of the lament psalm, there is a sliver of hope. Yes, we're lamenting our current conditions, but there's hope in the Lord. But as we looked at Psalm 89, there was no sliver of hope. There was no hope at all. It just sort of ended with the psalmist being distraught. Also, you'll remember that we briefly mentioned that Psalm 89 was the end of Book 3 of the Book of Psalms. And so with Psalm 90, we're beginning the fourth division. Now we see as you look at the text, the title is a prayer of Moses, the man of God. And so we know that Moses wrote this psalm. And this psalm too is a lament psalm, but it is a lament that begins with the glory of God. recognizing Him as the everlasting God. And so there is hope because God is who He is. He's the everlasting God. But Book 3 ends by considering if God had forgotten His promise to David. And Book 4 begins by looking at the faithfulness of God. What I mean is that God has not forgotten His promises. This psalm was written just about at the end of the wilderness wanderings. Again, think, Moses is the man that wrote the psalm. Moses is coming to the end of his life. The children of Israel are coming to the end of their wandering and they're just about to go into the promised land. About the time of the writing of the book of Deuteronomy, And if you remember when we talked about the book of Deuteronomy, that was written for that new generation that was going to go in to the promised land. And so this psalm is not a personal lament, this psalm is a community lament. And we know that it is a community lament because as we go through, we're going to see the plural pronouns. We're going to see we in this. So we know this is a community lament. So as Moses is leading the children of Israel, he's coming to the end of his leadership. They're about ready to go over into the promised land. This is a psalm that Moses writes. And I also want to think just briefly and remember, does Moses go to the promised land? And the answer to that question is no. Moses does not step foot in the promised land. God took him up into a mountain where he could see the promised land, but he did not walk in the promised land. Remember why he's not going to go into the promised land? We'll bring that up in a little bit. So Moses writing this psalm And it is a community lament but the psalm is written to encourage the people as they're going into the promised land to remember their frailty before God, before the everlasting God. This psalm can also be used to think about the consequences of unfaithfulness to God. What are the consequences? unfaithfulness of the children of Israel. They came to the River Jordan the first time and God said, go. And they sent the spies and the spies came back and two of them said, we can go, we can take it. Some said, no, we can't. And because of that they chose not to go across the River Jordan. What were the consequences of that unfaithfulness? All of the men that were age 20 and above, the men of war, all of them died in the wilderness. So when they came to the River Jordan the first time, if you were 20 years old, as they go across the Jordan the second time, you're not present. Nineteen? You're going to go across into the promised land. So there are consequences to unfaithfulness. So Moses is reminding them for them to think about that and to keep those things in their mind. He's going to use this psalm to cause the people to recognize who God is. The Lord is eternal. He's going to encourage them to think about how frail man is. In verses 3-6 we're going to look at man's life as fleeting. Verses 7-11, we're going to see that they are brought to the end because of the wrath of God. And then verses 12-17, it's teach us wisdom and establish our work. One of the things we always want to remember also is the gospel in each one of these Psalms. You know, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and all Scripture looks to Jesus. So anytime you're reading in the Scripture, you want to think about how this Scripture points to Jesus. So when we look through this psalm and think how are we going to see Jesus? Of course We're going to see the Lord has been our dwelling place and we understand that if we're going to dwell in the everlasting It's going to be because of Jesus Think about the mercy of God and we know that mercy we're going to see mercy in this He comes only because of Jesus we know that Crossing the River Jordan is a picture of the faithful Christian life. And so we're only enabled to live a faithful Christian life because of the presence of Jesus in our hearts and in our lives. And as the children of Israel were led by the pillar of fire and by night and the cloud by the day, if we will follow the leadership of Jesus Christ in our lives, of course, We'll find rest for our souls. So there's many ways that we could point out Jesus in this song but let's always remember that every place in the scripture points to Jesus somewhere and one of the things you ought to do as you're reading through the scripture is look for Jesus in that text of scripture because Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me What when Jesus made that statement? What were the scriptures that he were talking about? Of course, it was the Old Testament scriptures. So he said, you go back to the Old Testament and you search those scriptures and those scriptures testify of me. So you should be able to see Jesus everywhere in the Old Testament. So Psalm 90, again, this is Moses writing Really writing the children of Israel, it will be a psalm that they will use as they remember as they cross the River Jordan and go and obtain their inheritance. Verses 1 and 2. And you notice this says, a prayer of Moses. Again, I'm going to get off topic for just a second, but do your prayers sound like this? This is the words that Moses spoke when he prayed. What do your prayers sound like? Match them up with the prayers of Moses. Are they kind of the same or are they different? This is another one of those places where you can pray the Word. You can take this prayer of Moses and you can utilize it in your prayers and let this be a guideline for you. But anyway, Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever, thou hast formed the earth and the world. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God." So Moses, first thing first, out of the box, Moses is exalting God. Sort of like Jesus did in the model prayer, you know, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. In our prayers, we should first come to God just expressing who he is. We should recognize who he is and who we are. We should take some time in the beginning of our prayers to praise God for who he is, to extol his mercies and his grace. That's what Moses is doing here. Again, the children of Israel, as they're coming to the end of their wilderness wanderings, and what do we know about those 40 years in the wilderness wanderings? Where was their dwelling place? Well, their dwelling place was in the wilderness. And think about how insecure they probably were. I mean, they were nomads and they were going wherever the pillar of fire led them. And they didn't know when they sat down in their tents, are they going to sit there one day, are they going to sit there ten days, are they going to sit there a year, how long is it going to be before they move. And so they were insecure. But one thing Moses wants them to remember is, even though we were wandering in the wilderness, the Lord has been with us and the Lord has been our dwelling place. He has been our dwelling place now, He has been our dwelling place in generations past, and He will be our dwelling place in generations future. All of us should recognize how the hand of the Lord is in our lives and that we have the protection in this life because the Lord is our dwelling place. God has protected them in the wilderness from their enemies and from the wild animals by the pillar of fire. God is their dwelling place. God has been their homes. Moses reminds the people why God could be their dwelling place. How can God be their dwelling place? Verse 2 says, before the mountains were brought forth, wherever thou hast formed the earth and the world, thou art God. I left out from everlasting to everlasting, but I'll mention that in a minute. They've been walking around this mountain. They've been walking throughout the wilderness. They've been walking in the mountains. And Moses, you can see him pointing to these mountains and saying, before that mountain was formed, our God is God. Our God's the God that made that mountain. And the reason that we can be protected in this wilderness is because the God who made that mountain is our God. He is the God that caught us here. He is the God that is protecting us. He is the God that's going to lead us through. He's the God that's going to lead you into the promised land. He's the God that's made the promises to you. He's God. How long has He been God? From everlasting. How long will He be God? Until everlasting. You see, He's our God. He has been our protection. He is the eternal God. Our God is the eternal God. He has been our dwelling place. We have been made secure. We have made it this far as His people because He is our God. We should remember that each and every day of our lives. That God who saved you is God from everlasting to everlasting. Verses 3-6, it begins to talk about the frailty of man and man's life is fleeting. Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest, Return, you children of men, for a thousand years in thy side are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night. Thou carryest them away as with a flood they are as asleep. In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up. In the evening it is cut down and withereth. So Moses is expressing his understanding of God's working among his people. Thou turnest man to destruction, as we said. The men that were 20 years old and older, they have died in the wilderness. The judgment of God has come upon them and because of their sin of unbelief and not going across the river Jordan, all of them died in the wilderness. They were brought to destruction. Moses is reminding them, listen, you're getting ready to go across the Jordan. Will you be unfaithful? Will you be unfaithful to God? Or will you be faithful and follow God's leadership? He goes on and encourages them to return to the Lord. To make sure they're following Him. Remember, they didn't believe that God could deliver them from the giants, so God caused them to wander. When they come to the Jordan again, will they believe or be faithless? This wandering probably seemed like a lifetime to them. Think about 40 years. I mean, we like to retire after 30 or so, right? 27, 28, whatever it is. But they wandered for 40 years. It seemed like a lifetime. No place to call their really home. They were just kind of out there wandering. How many times are we going to go around this mountain? No, for some of them it was a lifetime because we already said they died in the wilderness. But those 40 years that seemed like a lifetime to them, they were but a moment of time in the eyes of God. As they watch in the night, those thousand years are but as yesterday. Their days are few. And it tells us that the days of man's life are but a few, like the grass that grows and the grass is cut. That's the way man is. So since our days are so few, we should spend them being faithful to God. That's the encouragement that Moses is giving to the children of Israel. He goes on to say that men are brought to the end by the wrath of God in verses 7-11. For we are consumed by thy anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as they tell that is told. The days of our years are threescore and ten. If by reason of strength they be fourscore, yet is their strength labor and sorrow. For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger, even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath." Notice here again those pronouns, those plural pronouns. We are consumed by your wrath. Moses is speaking to God on behalf of the people. God, we're underneath your wrath. We've suffered your wrath. We are consumed by your anger. Understand that Moses is speaking to God on behalf of the people. He mentions how they are troubled. And the reason they are troubled is because of their secret sins. You know, again, as we think about the secret sins, what were the secret sins of the children of Israel? Well, it was the secret rebellion. When they came to the River Jordan, instead of being faithful to God and following God, they rebelled against God in their heart and they turned away from God. They are facing, as Moses said, we are facing because of our secret sins. And what happened? Those that were above the age of 20, they died in the wilderness. You see, those that died in the wilderness lived out their days experiencing the judgment of God. You know, just think about that for a minute. They had the opportunity to enjoy the land. They had the opportunity to go into the land that floweth with milk and honey. When they brought back, remember that cluster of grapes that says the cluster of grapes was so large that they had to tie it to a post and carry it on their shoulders between two men. They had to promise to enjoy that. But instead, they spent their lives wandering in the wilderness, searching for water, having to eat manna, They lived out their lives, instead of enjoying the blessings of God, they lived out their lives experiencing the judgment of God. Let me encourage you tonight, please, don't follow that path. When the blessings of God are available, if you will faithfully walk with the Lord, and if you will, you know, He that loves me keeps my commandments. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." Why not dedicate yourself to keeping the commandments of God so you won't live out your days underneath the judgment of God? How their lives could have been different if they would have just walked across the River Jordan. They would not have experienced those 40 years in the wilderness. The man that the days of man's life are 70 and if by reason of strength they be 80, yet is their strength labor and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we fly away. So even if they lived to be 80, they were cut off before moving into the promised land. Remember this Psalm is a lament over current conditions. And we also want to remember this, that this lament psalm is a warning to future generations. Who knoweth the power of your anger? In verse number 11. Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. So it's a warning to future generations. Beware! Learn! God is a just God and God is a jealous God. And if He tells you to go, if He promises you to go and tells you to go, the best thing for you to do is go. Don't rebel against God. Don't turn your back from following Him because He is a just and a jealous God. You may suffer under His wrath, under His anger. You may wonder like the children of Israel did. So it's a warning to them to learn. You know, it's always a warning to us to learn from those that have gone before us. You know, as the song we sing, will those who come behind us find us faithful? You know, we want to set that good example for those that come behind us so they can learn the blessings of faithfulness. But you know, there are times in our lives when we need to make sure that we're looking back to those who've come before us and learning the lessons from them. Now there are some lessons that I wish I would have learned from my mom and dad that I just didn't get. And I wish I would have. But anyway, so this is a warning to the children of Israel, not for this generation, but for the generations to come. And as we said, this is about the time of the writing of the book of Deuteronomy, the second giving of the law. If you will listen to the law and you will be faithful to the Lord and follow His word, you'll find blessings. But if you turn your back and you don't walk by faith, this is the outcome of that. So, the conclusion is to teach us wisdom and establish our work in verses 12 through 17. So understanding, God, that we came to the River Jordan, we rebelled, and because of that, those that were 20 and older have died in the wilderness, and we know that our days are just a few, and the frailty of our days, understanding all of that, teach us to number our days. Teach us to take consideration of our days. You know, to think about, you know, 70 years. You know, if you just think about that, I'm 53, JR. I'm 53. That means I got 17 left. Now, we know that that's not true. I mean, well, we know that not everybody's going to live to 70 and not everybody's going to die at 70. Some of you are thankful for that, right? But anyway, that's beside the point. But you know, I ought to think, 70 minus 53, 17. I got 17 years left. What am I going to do with those 17 years? Teach us to number our days and to be conscious of those days. I remember when Haley and Markie were growing up that someone told me, now listen, You better have everything you want to teach them by the time they're 14. Because once they've reached 14, you know, it's kind of over. You've kind of got everything in them that you're going to get in them because it's just, and I was like, oh no, no, not 14. That's too young. Boy, were they right. So parents, number the days you have with your kids. Think about it. Adrian, would you tell me that he'll be 12 soon? He's 12. You got two years to get it in him. Well, that's hard to believe. Two years to teach him all of those things. 14 years. I mean, you know, number our days. Pay attention to our days and recognize, yes, they could be over in an instant, but we need to number our days. So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Help us to be conscious of our days and use our days wisely so that at the end of our physical life we will have accomplished God's will and we will have gained rewards. So this is encouragement not to the generation of the day in the day of Moses but for all of us we can learn the lesson from that to number our days that apply our hearts unto wisdom and to make sure we're walking wisely and that we're not wasting our days on things that have no value. Things that last forever as the song is. We're going to be focusing on those things that bring eternal reward. Again, as they're coming to the end of their wandering, verse 13, return, O Lord, how long? I don't know at this point if Moses really knew when the end of the wandering was going to happen. I mean, when God told Moses, You train Joshua, you get Joshua ready to go, and you come up in the mountain, and when you get up here, it's going to be it. You're not going back down. I think it was kind of a surprise to Moses. I don't think he knew that he was coming to the end of his days. And so at this point, he's, all right, God, how much longer are we going to be here? How much longer are we going to wander? Let it repent thee concerning thy servants. God, give us mercy. I know we're here because we're under your discipline, but Lord, remember us, be merciful to us. Oh, satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all of our days. So help us to understand your mercy. Be merciful to us so that we can live out our days with rejoicing and being glad. Forgive us is kind of the unwritten or the implied meaning. See, make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil. See, forgive us. Let us move on into the promise. You know, it's not written here, but I think you see a A latent plea by Moses for God to forgive him. Again, let's remember. Is Moses going to go into the promised land? No. Does Moses know he's not going to go into the promised land? Yes. He doesn't know when, but remember, when he sinned, God told him to speak into the rock so the rock would bring forth water and Moses took the rod and smote the rock twice. God said, okay, Moses, your punishment for not being faithful to me and following my words is that you're not going into the promised land. So Moses knew that and I think I can see in that plea is Moses asking God to forgive him and allow him to go into the promised land and of course we know the answer to that was you're not going. Verses 16 and 17. Let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us. Yea, the work of our hands establish thou. Give us mercy so we can be glad and rejoice. We will rejoice and be glad when we receive the promise. Make us glad according to the years of our affliction. Again, that's 40 years of wandering. You can hear Moses pleading for the people, look God, we've been wandering here for 40 years. Thousands have died. The wilderness is full of the graves of our loved ones. Allow us to go into the promised land. Let thy work appear unto thy servants. Let us see thy glory. Allow us to go into the promised land so that our affliction may seem light. Give us joy. by allowing us to see your miraculous deliverance. So Moses kind of finishes this. Allow us to see your beauty. Give us wisdom to establish your work. Give us wisdom so we'll be able to do that which you've called us to do. Notice this also. God established and established thou the work of our hands. In other words, God, okay, we went, we went to the river, we failed, we've wandered through the wilderness, so God, the next time we come, God, you do the work. You establish our work. It's your work. You do it in us. When we move to the promised land, let us do it with rejoicing. in the glory of your deliverance. So you see Moses pleading for the people, you see Moses pleading for himself, but you also see this prayer being used as a warning to those who would come behind to make sure that they remain faithful to God and they won't face the discipline of God anymore. You know the outcome also, right? Were they faithful? Or did they fail? They did not drive out all the inhabitants of the land. And because of that, they didn't acquire all of the promise. So they didn't learn the lesson. So Israel will use this psalm anytime they're in trouble, in battle, to remember that even though the odds may seem against them, God is faithful to his people. He will deliver by establishing the work of the people's hands. God will accomplish His work in His people. And that can be encouraging to us also. God does His work and He will accomplish it in His people. God is faithful. And we can be encouraged by that tonight, that God is faithful. Heavenly Father, we thank You for this time that we have to be together. We thank You for Your Word and example that You have given to Moses. Pray that we'll learn and that we'll not fall and that we'll not fail as your people did. Help us to be encouraged to trust in you, knowing that you will lead your people into your promises. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.