Mon.3.9.15...Super Psalms- Ps.69- Imprecatory

A Man and His Mouth

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with the tongue we curse men who have been made in God's likeness...My brothers this should not be!" James 3:9,10. In our series on Super Psalms, we just looked at Messianic psalms. We began looking at Wisdom psalms. They especially contrast the way of the righteous and the wicked. We also looked at Lament Psalms. David wrote about half of the 150 psalms and about half of those were psalms of suffering or lament. They are easy to skip over for many of us, but for those who are suffering, they can be a life saver. Closely related to lament psalms are imprecatory psalms. That’s a big word which we don’t typically use when talking to people who offend us- “May a swarm of camel fleas infest your armpits for saying that to me!” An imprecation means to pray or invoke evil or a curse upon another. There are several psalms that contain a verse or two wishing to see God’s judgment come upon the believer's enemies. But Psalm 109 goes on for 16 verses calling down curses on David’s enemy. (Tell us how you really feel about that rat David:) But rather than turning to it, there is one other imprecatory psalm that is a “must read.” Why? Because the gospel writers referred to it a few times regarding Christ; Peter also quoted from it, and Paul quoted from it twice. It’s Psalm 69. Let’s read it now.

When you get to 69:22-28, you’ll notice how David uses the word “May” a few different times. Just as one would start a blessing with that word- “May the Lord bless you and keep you”- that same word was used to invoke a curse. (By the way, I’ve heard even Bible teachers mention that Peter used profanity when he denied the Lord three times. No! He didn’t cuss, he cursed- inviting God’s judgment to fall upon him. Here’s an example of such cursing- “May the Lord strike me dead if I ever knew that man!” That’s also the gist of the curse found in Ps.109:9.)

We also need to talk about the verses that are scattered throughout Psalm 69 that speak of our Messiah.  It’s hard to argue against a long passage, such as Psalm 22, which we saw describes the suffering of our Savior. But a lot of the single “messianic verses” scattered in Ps.69 and in other psalms seem to refer to what David or someone else was going through. A skeptic would certainly say that it was nothing more than that. For example, Psalm 69 is written by David who confesses his own guilt in it (69:5), so it is not messianic there. Yet a few different verses are taken from that psalm and applied to our Messiah- "They hate me without reason" (compare 69:4 with John 15:25); “zeal for your house consumes me” (compare 69:9a with John 2:17). “The insults of those who insult you fall on me.” (compare 69:9b with Rom.15:3) “They gave me vinegar for my thirst (compare 69:21 with Mt.27:34). So how can we say these are messianic? Because their author, God, says they are in the New Testament through his Spirit guided writers. Jesus himself declared that the OT spoke much in anticipation of him. For example, to a couple of disciples, our risen Lord “explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Luke 24:27. (By the way, wouldn’t you have loved to be in on that Bible study?!) So think of the 16 or more messianic phrases scattered in the Psalms as clues left for the NT writers and us to later find. We are on a God hunt and fortunately, like a father playing "Hide and Go Seek" with his little ones, He likes to be found.

Sometimes in the OT, God the Son made surprise appearances on the stage of the OT as the angel of the Lord. Many times he was predicted by prophets. Oftentimes he was foreshadowed by such things as the sacrifice of a perfect lamb, the tabernacle, the feasts, the priesthood, etc. Jesus was and is the fulfillment of all these things and so much more. So, to borrow the title of Norm Geisler’s great book, “To Understand the Bible, Look for Jesus.” This brings us to another BIG Bible Interpretation Guideline- Keep in mind that the grand theme of the Bible is Jesus. Christ himself declared, “These are the Scriptures that testify about me” John 5:39.

Ready for it’s BIG balancing contrast? Don’t spiritualize the Scriptures. Those who spiritualize tell spiritual lies. Don’t read spiritual hidden meanings about Jesus into everything. Many have done this, for example, with the Song of Songs. It clearly is about passionate love in marriage. But those who blush at that have instead said it’s about Christ’s love for his bride the church. Ugh! Teach what it teaches! The plain thing is the main thing. And the main thing is the plain thing. That’s another BIG point.

Lastly, there is a place for cursing others. But it is not ours, it is God’s. As we come to the NT, Jesus said, “bless those who curse you.” Luke 6:28 (see also Rom.12:14; James 3:9-10). This leads us to another BIG point- Recognize the progress of revelation. The NT supersedes the OT. That’s of course why we also don’t offer sacrifices anymore. We are not under the law of Moses, but under the law of Christ. You would have to be an ancient Israelite farmer with sheep to sacrifice at God's holy place to live out the 613 Mosaic commands. It was never meant for all people or forever. Jeremiah 31:31-34 even predicted that the old covenant would be replaced by a new covenant. Thankfully, Christ replaced the old with the new through his death. So make sure someone is not trying to get you to follow Mosaic commandments, instead of Christ. That so angers God and Paul that he wrote a curse or imprecation upon them- “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you have accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” Gal.1:9. As we have learned, Jesus is center of Scripture whom God sacrificed out of love for our salvation. He suffered the curse we deserved. To reject him, rather than to receive Him out of grateful love, it to receive God’s curse- "If anyone does not love the Lord- a curse be on him.” 1 Cor.16:2. Instead our hearts say, “Come O Lord!” "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"

1.- Share one thing that you liked from what we covered today.

2.-Please write on your MP3 card this great truth that Jesus declared, "These are the Scriptures that testify about me" John 5:39. 

G. How many individuals or groups did you get to share and enrich from your MP3 card?

R?

E? Did you Encourage a teammate since yesterday?

A? Attacked in warfare prayer? O Lord give us Power HOUSE men to train and battle with us to forcefully advance your kingdom.

T? Feel free to also share outreach opportunities you had, or you can just put up numbers.

Announcements
Several of you had good opportunities to minister to men at the Encounter Retreat. Way to sow!

As you know, this Wednesday is the deadline for Pros to send in their applications to me. If you would like me to talk with anyone on the fence, I'd be happy to help you. Juslemeknow.

You'll be uplifted by this week's short and easy GDP, posted yesterday. Check it out.

This Sunday's meeting at 3:00 at Jack's home will be a great time of welcoming our new Pros. I also look forward to honoring my honorable unstoppable brothers. 

High Fives to several of you! Highest honors to those scoring 10 or more- Jack and Sam, both with 12 points.  

1 Tim.4:15	G=God's Word	G MP3 sharing	Right Wrongs	Encouragement	A= Attack Prayers	T	Totals
	For Th.3.5.15
Alpha Force
Fire Team 1
Jack Rogers U.3	1	6		4	1		12
Roger Vinlasaca U.3	1	1		1	1	1	5
Fire Team 2							0
Mike Pagan U.3	1	1			1		3
George Rabiela U.1	1	1		2	1	1	6
Fire Team 3							0
Sam Vargas U.3	1	3		3	1	4	12
Gary Remson U.3	1	2		3	1	1	8
Fire Team 4							0
Robert Roman U.2	1	3	1	3	1		9
Vince Diaz U.2	1	1		3	1		6
							0
Delta Force							0%
Fire Team 1							0
Alvin James U.2	1			1	1	1	4
Kentrayle Adams U.1	1		1		1		3
Fire Team 2							0
Dave Heidekruger U.3	1	1		1	1		4
Israel Fuentes U.3	1	3		1	1		6
Fire Team 3							0
Daniel Contreras U.2	1			2	1	1	5
Antonio Palomar	1	1			1		3
Fire Team 4							0
Eddie Morales U.3	1	3			1		5
Ismael Andrade U.2	1		1	3	1		6

Here’s a summary of our BIG Bible Interpreting Guidelines we've discovered so far-

Ask questions!

Give careful consideration to what you read.  

The purpose of rightly interpreting the Bible is to rightly obey it.

The Bible is the best interpreter of itself. So compare scripture with Scripture.

Being prayerful is commendable but it is not a dependable replacement for the careful study of Scripture.

It’s imperative that we know what kind of literature we are reading to interpret it and apply it correctly.

Knowing the background to what we are reading helps us better understand the passage. Commentaries and online resources can help us with such.

Knowing the mood of the author helps you better understand his message.

The apostles often quoted the OT from the Greek version of it called the Septuagint; thus don't be surprised that it doesn't line up exactly with our OT translated from the Hebrew. Plus,they paraphrased at times, all under the inspiration of God.

Since the Bible is God’s perfect word, if you think you’ve found an error in the Bible, it’s your error, not God’s! Many people think they’ve found a contradiction, when it may only be a contrasting statement, not a contradictory statement.

“Humbly accept the word” We don’t stand in judgment on it, it stands in judgment on us.

Keep in mind that the grand theme of the Bible is Jesus.

Don’t spiritualize the Scriptures. Those who spiritualize tell spiritual lies. Don’t read spiritual hidden meanings about Jesus into everything.

The plain thing is the main thing. And the main thing is the plain thing.
Recognize the progress of revelation. The NT supersedes the OT.