Please open with me now in your Bibles to Psalm 50. Our consecutive study of the book of Psalms, we come now to Psalm 50 together. Let us now hear the Word of God from Psalm 50. We'll read it in its entirety. A Psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. Our God shall come and shall not keep silent. fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together to Me, those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. Let the heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is judge. Selah. Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God your God. I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings which are continually before me. I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains and the wild beasts of the fields are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine in all its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you and you shall glorify me. But to the wicked, God says, what right have you to declare my statutes or take my covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction and cast my words behind you? When you saw a thief, you consented with him and have been a partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I kept silent. You thought that I was altogether like you, but I will rebuke you and set them in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver. Whoever offers praise glorifies me. And to him who orders his conduct aright, I will show the salvation of God. This ends this reading in God's Word. Let's look again to him in prayer. Lord, this is indeed your holy word. We pray now that you would enable us as your covenant people gathered together before you to have ears to hear. Grant to us minds to grasp and to understand this truth. Grant to us hearts, O Lord, and wills to receive it and to act upon it for the glory of Your name. You, O living God, have come now to meet with us. O Lord, enable us to stand before You, to be silent, and to listen, and to apply these things to our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen. Most people in the world don't like to think of God as judge. They prefer to think of God as loving and kind and merciful, which are biblical ideas, of course. But they also like to think of God, according to their 21st century values, as tolerant and as unconditionally accepting of all. He's never wrathful, always understanding. Trying to do his best to help people, though, not always succeeding. And the idea of God as a sovereign ruler, and as the judge before whom all people are morally accountable, and as the great judge of all, is something which few people really believe. And yet, in the Bible, That is what God says that He is. Among many other things, God says that He indeed is the Judge. And that's where Psalm 50 comes in. Psalm 50 shows us that God indeed is the Sovereign and the Great Judge of all. And He commands us to live our lives in light of the fact that He is the Judge who is sitting upon the throne. And so I want us now to pay careful attention to this psalm so that we might know who this God is as our judge and respond rightly before Him. This psalm can be broken up into four different sections. First of all, we are going to see here a summons to God's judgment. That's in verses 1-6. And then secondly, a warning against formalism in verses 7-15. Third, a warning against hypocrisy in verses 16 to 21. And then finally, a serious call to self-examination in verses 22 and 23. A summon to God's judgment. A warning against formalism. A warning against hypocrisy. And then finally, a serious call to self-examination. Well, first of all, in verses 1-6, this psalm sets the stage for us by delivering to us a summons to the judgment of God. Verses 1-6 describe a theophany. Now, a theophany is a large word that simply means an appearance of God. That the great and the glorious God is going to appear before all the earth. And the text here describes His appearance in a number of ways that emphasize the great glory and the dread majesty of our God. The text begins by announcing His name. The first three words of this psalm in the Hebrew are El Elohim Yahweh. There are three names for God. He is described as El, the Mighty One, and then Elohim, which is the Creator God, and then Yahweh, the Covenant God of Israel. Just as when our President is about to make an important speech, they might announce His presence by saying, and now the President of the United States of America, and suddenly the band breaks into hail to the Chief as He walks to the throne, or walks behind the podium. That's the idea here, is that before God appears, there is a great and glorious announcement. Who is it? It is El Elohim Yahweh. He is the One who is now appearing. And so we have this declaration of His name. But not only is His name announced, but then His universal reign is described in verse 1. It says that this One has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. There is no facet of creation that is outside of His control and that does not hear His voice. And next in verse 2, He is described as coming forth from Zion. God, of course, dwells in the midst of His people, the church. And it is God who makes Zion, or His church, beautiful. And that is where His glory is most seen. And so God here rises out of Zion to speak. Next, in verse 3, we read that His coming is attended by various physical phenomena that remind us of His unspeakable glory and His dread majesty. Verse 3 says that our God shall come, He shall not keep silent. A fire shall devour Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. And that whole scene is reminiscent, is it not, of Mount Sinai? When God descended to give the law, and we read that on that mountain there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud and a blast of a trumpet. and an earthquake and the smoke of fire. And we are reminded throughout Scripture that to come into God's presence when God appears, it isn't a frivolous thing that He is indeed the great and the glorious God. So He's attended by this physical phenomena. But we are still left now asking, as God's appearance here is gloriously described, we are left asking why this theophany? Why has the living God appeared before us? And the answer is that He has appeared to judge. Verse 4, He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth, and that is He is calling the heavens and the earth as witnesses that He may judge. Verse 4 says, He has come as the glorious and great God to judge. But to judge who? To judge whom? Verse 4 says that he may judge his people. Not simply all of the peoples of the earth or the heathen nations, but he has gathered here, we are told, to judge his people. He says, verse 5 and 6, gather now my saints together to me. Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice, let the heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is judge." That is, He has come here to judge His visible church. Those who have made profession of His name. You know, you and I often think of God coming to judge the wicked, or the heathen nations that know nothing of God. But we need to be reminded, as 1 Peter 4 and verse 17 says, that judgment begins at the house of God. And when God appears as judge, He also appears as judge over His professed people, over the visible church. So what does this mean though? What does this mean that God comes to judge His church, His people? Well, sometimes, you know, as church members, we can grow very relaxed and comfortable and think, well, just because I am a part of the church, that everything is okay between me and God. All is well. All is well. And we sometimes can trust our church membership more than we trust in God. But the Bible makes very clear that there are some who are outward, visible members of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ who have professed God with their lips and joined the community of believers, and who even often come to worship at the community of believers, who nevertheless have not experienced God's saving grace. They are still under the bondage and dominion of sin. They haven't truly forsaken the world and followed Christ. They aren't truly God's children. And so when we remember that judgment begins at the house of God, we realize that such who are Christians by name only will not escape the judgment of Almighty God. Merely joining the church or going to worship doesn't save you. Rather, what God the Judge wants is your heart. And He indeed exposes the true spiritual condition of all. There isn't safety by merely joining a church, because God is judge, and judgment begins at the household of God. But knowing that God is the judge, and that He judges the church, also reminds each one of us, and those of us who are truly God's children, that the Lord expects fruit from us. Luke chapter 12 and verse 48, The Lord Jesus says, to whom much is given, much will be required. And we need to realize that the living God stands over the church as judge and he sees our works. Revelation 2 and 3 contain a section called, The Letters to the Seven Churches. And if you look through those various letters, you'll see right after the introduction is given, there the Lord Jesus Christ is described. And He is described in those verses as walking in the midst of His church. As having eyes like a flame of fire. as having a sharp, two-edged sword. And the idea is that the Lord Jesus Christ notices. He sees what goes on in the church. In fact, to the churches in Sardis, in Philadelphia, in Laodicea, in Revelation 3, the Lord Jesus says, I know your works. He sees, He notices, He knows where our hearts are, and He demands that we follow Him and produce the fruit of repentance and devotion to His name. And so, dear friends, as Psalm 50 here gives us this magnificent, glorious picture of the appearance of God, it should remind each one of us in the church that we all stand before God as judge, that He's not a dead God, but that He's living, that He stands over us, that He sees us, and He sees what kind of fruit we are bringing forth, whether it is to the glory of His name. We dare not relax or coast along in the Christian life simply presuming on God's favor, but rather He is the judge. So I simply ask you at this point, Do you have a conscious recognition that you live daily before the throne of the Mighty One? God, the Lord, El, Elohim, Yahweh, that He is on His throne. He is the supreme and only ruler. He is the one who is attended by fire and by storm. And to Him you are accountable. He remains the judge of all the earth. He remains the judge over His people. So that's the first thing that you and I need to recognize. It is indeed a summons to God's judgment. But now secondly, secondly, what does God the judge say to us? And we're going to see, first of all, a warning against formalism. Our third point is then going to be a warning against hypocrisy. These are the two things that God the Judge is saying to His church. But first of all, in verses 7-15, it is a warning that He gives us against formalism. God the Judge warns you today against formalism. Now you see, the Israelites were a worshipping people. When God formed them into a nation at Mount Sinai, delivering them out of the land of Egypt, the Lord at that point appointed various sacrifices that they were to offer to the Lord. And by these sacrifices, God was worshipped within Israel. But now we read in verse 7 that God has something against His worshipping people. He says there, verse 7, "'Hear, O My people, And I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God, your God." And the problem that he now has with Israel isn't that they had stopped worshipping, for they were continuing to offer sacrifices continually. We see that in verse 8. He says, I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings which are continually before me. You are continuing to engage in all of the outward activities. of worship. But rather, what is the problem then? The problem and the thing that the Lord had against them was their attitude in worship. That is, they merely went through the motions of worship. They offered God sacrifice. But in offering God sacrifices, they did not have a corresponding heart attitude of love and devotion and gratitude and penitence." Now you see, the nations around Israel had false gods that they worshipped. And these false gods in all of the other nations often asked for worship because they were needy. They wanted sacrifice because they were hungry. They wanted drink offerings because they were thirsty. They wanted worship because they were in competition with all of these other gods. They required blood to appease their awful fits of rage. And so all of the pagan nations worshipped their gods because their gods were needy. But Yahweh, the true God of Israel, says, that He doesn't need anything. You don't worship Me because I need something. Look with me at verses 9-13. He says, I will not take a bull from your house nor goats out of your folds, because every beast of the forest is Mine. The cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field of Mine. If I were hungry, well, I wouldn't tell you. Why? Because the world is Mine in all its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?" Now, these verses here are absolutely crucial to our understanding of worship. And they're crucial for this reason. They completely rearrange our thinking about worship. And it is because of this. It is because the sacrifices that Israel brought to God didn't represent what they gave to God, but rather the sacrifices represented what God gave to them as a way for them to approach Him. And similarly for us, when we come to worship God, we don't worship God because God needs us. We worship God because we need Him. The primary thing in God's worship is God's grace, God's favor, God's mercy as He draws near to us, and thus our worship is always a response to Him. Worship isn't essential to God. Worship is essential for us. And friends, it is when we grasp this basic truth, that all mere formalism in worship is undermined. What do I mean by formalistic worship? Well, formalistic worship is this. It is when you come to worship and you merely mouth a few hymns, and you half listen to the prayers, and your mind wanders when the Word of God is read and when the sermon is preached, and you take the Lord's Supper and drop a few dollars in the offering, but it's merely a matter of outward action. Your heart isn't in it. In formalistic worship, there is no heart of faith, no mind hanging on every word of the sermon seeking to understand God's Word. No enthusiastic zeal for God's praise in your singing. No longing to know God more and to see Him worshipped in your life. No gratitude for all that He has done. When these things are absent, then you've merely gone through the motions. Your worship is what we would describe as formalistic. And what the Bible says is that such worship stinks in God's nostrils. Formalistic worship stinks in God's nostrils. And the reason is, is that He doesn't need your church attendance. You haven't done any favor to Him by merely mouthing a few hymns. Or merely by showing up to worship. You've done no favor to God. God owns all things. He's the Lord of Heaven and Earth. You've brought nothing to Him. But rather, when we come to worship, we come in response to the God who has drawn near to us. The God who owns all things, but in His sovereign grace and mercy has opened up a way for us to come near to Him and know joy and satisfaction in the knowledge of Him. And friends, that demands a heart response. It is our hearts that indicate that we understand what true worship is that it's not us giving something to God that He needs because He owns all things, but rather it is our response to the living God who is given first to us. And that's why God wants, that's why He desires our hearts in His worship. And friends, this is such an important lesson, especially, I think, for us in a Reformed church. In a Reformed church, praise the Lord. We seek to order our worship very carefully according to God's Word. We follow something called the regulative principle of worship, and we say we will worship God in no other way but what He has commanded in His Word. And we don't indulge in a lot of the foolishness that a lot of other churches are engaged in. They call it worship, okay? As Reformed Christians, we say we are serious about worship. We're going to worship Him according to His Word and we're very careful about it. And praise God for that. We ought to be, yes. But dear friends, we ought never to be satisfied with merely the outward forms of worship themselves and think because we have shown up And because we have engaged in these activities of worship, singing, praying, hearing God's Word, that we have truly worshipped Him. Because what God desires is our hearts. He says, formalism in worship does not please me. It doesn't please me. Rather, He wants sincerity. He wants us to be engaged. He wants hearts of faith and love and devotion and zeal. And that's what matters more than anything else when we come to worship God. And we see this in verses 14 to 15. God says, then, offer to God thanksgiving. Pay your vows to the Most High. Then He says, call upon Me. Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." Do you see what the Lord desires is this relationship with Him and not mere ritual. He wants sincerity and not mere ceremony. He wants us to see that when we come to worship, we come to meet with the living God who has first of all been gracious to us. And so that's a warning. to us, to each one of us, against mere formalism in worship. And I just simply ask you, when you gather to worship God, are you praising Him with all that you have? Are you listening diligently to His Word? Are you panting after His glory? Oh dear friends, beware, beware of formalistic worship. But now third, this is the second thing that he warns us against. Thirdly, now he warns us against hypocrisy. In verses 16-21, a warning against hypocrisy, because now the Lord turns to another class of people. And this is a group of people who, though they identify themselves outwardly as God's people, their lives reveal that they really aren't. And so here in verse 16, he says, but to the wicked God says. And these are hypocrites now that he is addressing. Now, what is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a person who outwardly professes to know the Lord, but his conduct contradicts his profession. That is, there is a radical disconnect between what his lips say and how his life is lived. That's what he warns against in verses 16 and 17. He says, What right have you to declare my statutes or take my covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction and cast my words behind you? Do you see what he's saying there? He's saying, you are those who have declared that you are among the covenant people. However, you hate the instruction that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Do you see how the Lord ties these two things together? If we would be the covenant people of God, know Him as our Savior, as our Lord, If we would enjoy fellowship with Him, then the right response to Him is to love, not hate, but to love the instruction that He gives to us. It's the idea simply of grace leading to works. Of trust in God bringing a demand upon our lives. You remember what the Lord Jesus says, John 14, verse 15, that if you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And so one of the marks, one of the clear marks, one of the necessary marks of belonging truly to God is not only that you outwardly say that you're a Christian, but that you live the life of a Christian as well. These two things must be tied together. And that's exactly the thing that hypocrites don't do. Look with me at verses 18 to 20 as it speaks about the things that the hypocrites were doing in the psalmist's day. In verse 18, it says there that instead of obeying the eighth commandment, which says thou shalt not steal, when you saw a thief, you consented with him. Then again in verse 18, instead of following the seventh commandment, which says that thou shalt not commit adultery, instead you have been a partaker with adulterers. And then verses 19 and 20, instead of obeying the ninth commandment that says thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor, instead you have given your mouth to evil. and your tongue frames deceit, and you sit and speak against your brother, and you slander your own mother's son." And it's speaking here of the lives that hypocrites live. The hypocrite lives a life that contradicts his testimony. Now these verses here aren't denying the reality that true Christians still struggle with indwelling sin. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, throughout this life, your old man is going to continue to rear its ugly head in your life, and you are going to sin daily against the Lord in thought, in word, and in deed. And at times, you are even going to wonder, how can I, as a Christian man or a Christian woman, continue to fall into these same sins over and over again? And you may even begin to think, do I really belong to the Lord? Because the struggle with sin is so intense. But what I can say to you is this, that when you struggle against sin as a Christian like this, the answer to that is to repent of your sin, turn to the Lord for help, and don't give up the fight. As you continue to struggle against sin, don't give up the fight, but daily, continually repent of your sin, turn again to the Lord, and dear friends, the very fact of your repentance and your fight against sin means that you are not a hypocrite, but rather that you are a Christian who is struggling against sin. For the hypocrite is the one who is perfectly content to say one thing, and do another. And the dangerous thing about being a hypocrite is that you think that you're going to get away with it all in the end. And that's what verse 21 addresses. He says to these hypocrites, these things you have done and I kept silent. In other words, the Lord is saying, I haven't yet come in judgment. In other words, for 5 or 10 or 20 years, you've been living the hypocrite's life. Saying one thing and doing another. Saying that you're among the people of God, but living life according to your own selfish ambition and desire. And it's gone on many years. And it seems that no judgment has come. And so what you've concluded in your heart is maybe God doesn't care about sin after all. If there's even a God, Maybe he doesn't even care about sin after all. And that's what the Lord says here. Verse 21, you thought that I was altogether like you, indifferent to sin. But is God like us? Or will He come as judge? And the Lord says, verse 21, but I will rebuke you. The Lord's promise is this, and we need to understand this, is the Lord has seen He will judge. And there is no hypocrite who is going to stand in the day of the Lord's wrath. Not one. All that you have done in secret is going to be revealed. And if you are saying that you are a Christian, but are content to live life in your own way, and there's no struggle against sin at all, friends, that is going to be revealed on that day. The Lord sees. And He will judge. And I simply ask you, are any of you living that life of a hypocrite? Oh, you think that you're going to get away with it. You think that your life is going along just fine. Let me solemnly warn you today that God will judge. You can guarantee it. He will judge. And if He hasn't judged you yet, it is because He has been patient with you. And it is the day of repentance and the day of saving grace still. And you need to repent and to turn from your sin. Turn from your sin unto God. Don't return back to your sin like a dog that returns to its vomit. Turn again to the living God. And so it is a warning there against hypocrites who are in the church. And so those are the two warnings that the Lord, the righteous Judge, delivers to His people. Friends, it is a warning against formalism, and it is a warning against hypocrisy. But now, finally, fourthly and finally today, I want us to consider a serious call to self-examination. A serious call to self-examination, because this is where Psalm 50 ends. It ends with a call. The Lord Himself tells you, in light of these realities, of the fact that I am judge, and I have told you of formalism, and I have told you of hypocrisy, you have no other option but to consider your own life. Verse 22, now consider this, He says. He turns to you, and the voice of God says to you, now consider these things. Don't walk out of here and continue the same. Consider the words that I have spoken to you. God is your judge. Repent of your sin and turn to Him. In the year 1805, Thomas Chalmers was a 25-year-old minister in the Church of Scotland. But his religion at that point in his life was merely formalistic and hypocritical. He had become a minister because he thought that ministers had an easy life, and for him it was. He spent a couple of hours on a Saturday night preparing a sermon. He would go through the rituals of worship on a Sunday morning, and then he had five days of the week to do what he liked and pursued his own ambitions. And that's exactly what he did for a number of years. Well, in the year 1806, his brother became very ill, and in the year 1808, his sister became ill, and as the clergyman in the family, they had asked him to minister to them in their time of death, and so Chalmers did that. And then in the year 1809, Chalmers himself became very, very ill. While he was ill and on the brink of death, he read a book by William Wilberforce, And this book changed his life. And he realized, as the saving grace now came upon him, that his whole religious life up to that point had been a sham. That he had lived the life of a hypocrite and of a mere formalist. And that there was nothing substantial to it at all. And his life radically changed. And now, instead of being indifferent to the things of God, he studied the Word of God continually. And now instead of being cold to religious things and living his life for selfish pursuits, now zeal and devotion to God is what fired him. And indeed, now 200 years later, we realize that in the age in which he lived, it was Thomas Chalmers more than any other man who became the greatest spiritual force in Scotland during that age. You see, his life was transformed. But it was transformed because by God's grace, He came to examine His life, as Psalm 50 calls us to do. He examined His life seriously. And He saw what His worship was. And He saw what His life was. And He did the only thing that sinners can do in that condition, and that is to repent of it and to turn to the living God. That's what Chalmers did. And that's what this psalm calls each one of us to do. Verse 22 says, consider this, you who forget God. And isn't that our problem? That we forget God. And when the Bible talks about forgetting God, it's not talking about how certain things sort of involuntarily leave our memory, but rather what it's speaking here is of a willful ignorance and abandonment of the God in whom life is to be found. He is saying, you who have forgotten God, who have tried to block the living God out of your life, Realize this, that the Lord, if you continue in this path, is going to tear you in pieces and there will be absolutely none to deliver. He will come as your judge. But, and verse 23 ends with glorious hope, he says this, but whoever offers praise glorifies me. And to him who orders his conduct aright, I will show you the salvation of God." And what a wonderful hope this is, because it means that the God who is the judge, who stands over His church, is also the God who saves sinners who turn unto Him in repentance and in faith. That it is this God who stands as judge over His church, is the same God who sent the Lord Jesus Christ out of His love for sinners, so that you and I might have our sins forgiven, and we might be made right with this God. And the Lord is saying to us, repent of your sin. Turn in faith to the living God. Begin to praise Him with your mouth, and you will bring God glory. Repent of your sin and begin to order your conduct aright according to what God says. Come to love His instruction and to live under His Lordship. And if these things mark your life, He says, I will show unto you the salvation of our God. He will be your Savior from the pit of hell and from His condemning wrath in this age and forevermore. Friends, that is the hope of this psalm. That there is no other way of salvation, there is no other path of deliverance, but to turn from your heart to this living God. And dear friends, there are many of you who might be true children of God, who nevertheless say, in these words that we've read today, I see things there. I haven't worshipped God with all of my heart. My conduct has not always been ordered according to His Word, and I say to you, simply repent and turn again unto Him. Daily turn unto Him and seek that He might get the glory from your life. Let's pray together. Lord, our God and Heavenly Father, we thank You for this Word that You've given us. We thank You for the reminder that you indeed are the judge over all, the mighty God, the Lord. Lord, how prone we are to forget that you are the judge even of your people. How quick we are, O God, to live life coasting along. Lord, grant to us the remembrance that you know, that you see, But grant to us also the help of Your Holy Spirit, O Lord. We need not despair. You give the Holy Spirit, O God, to those who ask. And we come to You today to ask, O Lord, what good father does not give gifts to his children? And we come to You today, O Father of lights, give Your Holy Spirit in great abundance to us, that our lives would increasingly show forth Your praise. Do this, we pray. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.