Psalm 99
Psalm 99 says this, the Lord
reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He sits
enthroned upon the cherubim. Let the earth quake. The Lord
is great in Zion. He is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he. The king in his might loves justice. You have established equity.
You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt
the Lord our God. Worship at his footstool. Holy
is he. Moses and Aaron were among his
priests. Samuel was also among those who
called on his name. They called to the Lord and he
answered them. In the pillar of the cloud, he spoke to them.
They kept his testimonies and the statute that he gave them.
Oh, Lord, our God, you answered them. You are a forgiving God
to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings. Exalt the Lord our
God and worship at his holy mountain for the Lord our God is holy. Amen. This is God’s holy inspired
and inerrant word. And we pray that he would bless
us. I meant to say this before we read Psalm 99, but if you
track your way through the Psalm, you’ll notice three times it
speaks of God’s holiness. In verse three and verse five,
it says, holy is he. And then at the end of verse
nine, it simply says, for the Lord our God is holy. So those
three statements are one pathway through the Psalm. look through
the psalm and see how is God holy? How is his holiness displayed? The other pathway through the
psalm is the places where God does his work or the places where
he sits enthroned, the places where he sits and he rules. And that’s the pathway that we’ll
follow tonight. There’s four places where the
psalm speaks of God. sitting enthroned or doing his
ministry from that particular place. So that’s how we’ll do
it. Well, some of you might watch
the news this week and you might think the world is in great tumult
and you might begin to think that we’re the only generation
that’s had it this rough. Well, the answer to that is no,
you’re not. You’re just the only ones who’ve
had 24-hour news on multiple channels and on your telephone
and in your pocket and on your tablet and in your car and in
your bedroom and in your living room and in your kitchen. You
just know more about it than it’s all combined into one place. But there has always been tumult
in the world. There’s always been wars and
rumors of wars. There have always been difficult
times in which God’s people have had to live. And these difficult
times can shake our confidence. They can cause us to wonder.
They can cause us to doubt. They can cause us to begin to
think and become anxious. And there are times in the Bible,
Psalm 99 is one of them. There are times in the Bible
where God shows his people a glimpse of what is real, what is true,
what is firm and what is fixed. We see examples of this, like
in Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah chapter six is the great
call of Isaiah to ministry and The Israelites have lost a king
of many years, over five decades, King Uzziah ruled. And it says,
in the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. I saw him high
and lifted up. I saw him on his throne. His
train filled the temple. And it’s as if God pulls back
the curtain of heaven and says, look here, Isaiah. Look here,
Israel. Look here, people of God. The
world is falling apart around you, but heaven is firm. Heaven
is fixed. My throne is from of old, and
it will last forever. The same comes to us in… the book of Revelation. John
is on the Isle of Patmos. There’s great persecution in
the Roman era upon Christians. In fact, many Christians have
scattered from Jerusalem around the world and in God’s providence.
That’s how the gospel gets out, how it goes to the nations. But
John is on the Isle of Patmos. He’s a prisoner for the sake
of the gospel. He’s being persecuted and he
gets to see into heaven. Again, the curtain is pulled
back, and John is shown what will take place, but he also
sees into the throne room of Almighty God. And so sometimes,
like last week in our study, we begin to wonder, is it always
going to be winter and never Christmas? Well, and Psalm 98
showed us that God will come and he will make everything that
is wrong, right. He will turn on the lights, the
darkness will scatter, and he will sit in his seat of judgment
and he will rule and he will reign. And so Psalm 99 carries
on in this theme of the kingship songs. And it shows us that Yahweh
is the king of heaven. He is the king who reigns and
he reigns in holiness. And so this, this theme of holiness,
uh, helps us understand that everything else in the world
is what it is, but God is different. He is other, uh, he is holy. Uh, he is righteous. He is perfect. Now, trying to
think of a way to think about this in a way that’s practical
to us. We’re sitting in the fellowship hall tonight and we’re sitting
in a small room banded together. It’s raining outside. It’s cold
outside. It’s nice and cozy in here. And we have our evening
service in here because the crowd’s usually a little smaller. This
is a little more intimate. But if we were to go next door
into our sanctuary and we were to begin to look at the room
and say, why is the room the way the room is? Why is the ceiling
big? Why is it high? Why were churches
built that way? Of course, nowadays, churches
don’t build that way. They either build a giant gymnasium
or multipurpose room, or sometimes it’s a multimedia theater, or
they build, because of cost, they build kind of a low-ceilinged
building, and it’s closed in and it’s small. But our church
is privileged to have a sanctuary, a place set apart for worship.
And that ceiling is big and tall. And the reason for that is people
understood for centuries that in church architecture, it should
communicate to us something about our God. The fact that we come
to worship means that God is close. He is with us. He is eminent, we like to say.
but also there is an otherness to God, a holiness, a magnificence
of God. He is different. And so when
we come into a room that has a great feeling, a cathedral
feeling, we begin to realize that God is, he’s also distant. He’s not near us in some ways.
He can’t be because He is holy and we are not. And so sometimes
our church architecture can help us with that. We can realize
the distance that we are as creatures from Almighty God because He
is holy and we are not. Well, this psalm helps us a little
bit understand the holiness of God and it follows a pathway
through places where He does his ministry. And that first
place we find in verses one through three, it says of God, it says,
the Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble. And here’s where he
is. He sits enthroned upon the cherubim. Let the earth quake. The Lord
is great in Zion. He is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and
awesome name. Holy is he. So the first place
where we see Yahweh, we see God ministering is he sits enthroned
upon the cherubim. Now, I don’t know about y’all,
but sometimes we overuse words. We overuse the word awesome,
right? Somewhere in the 1980s, that
became an awesome word to use. We also overuse exclamation points. I got a text the other day, this
is a true story, I won’t say who. Wasn’t anybody in this room. I got a text and it said Brian,
and it had like six exclamation points after my name. And it
really made me feel good about myself. I’m not kidding, there were bunches
of exclamation points. But we’ve become accustomed to using things that
should be limited to what is truly awesome. into what is truly
an exclamation. And if you look, at least in
the English standard version of Psalm 99, there are lots of
exclamation points and they are not poorly used. And there are
also lots of awesome words, and they are not just thrown out
there because they’re awesome to use. It really speaks of an
awesome God who is worthy of our exclamation points. And it
says, he sits enthroned upon the cherubim. Now, everybody
believes in angels, right? Everybody believes in angels.
In fact, we believe in angels so much that probably most of
our bad theology is around angels. The other week I sat with someone,
another true story, not anybody in the room, the names and… features have been changed to
protect the innocent. But I was ministering to someone who had
lost a loved one. And they said to me, which is the worst thing
you could say to me in this situation, I believe my loved one has turned
into an angel and they’re now my guardian angel. And I was
inside saying, be nice, be nice. But I was having heart palpitations
and apoplectic seizures and everything else because that’s just terrible
theology. We’re humans, we’re made in the
image of God and we will remain humans and our bodies will be
raised up like Jesus. Resurrected body. And so I was
thinking about all that and trying to be nice. But we never turn
into angels. But there are angels, right?
and angels do the work of Almighty God. Where do we first see the
cherubim? We first see them guarding the way into the garden when
Adam and Eve sinned. And what are they guarding? They’re
guarding the way into the garden to the tree of life so that Adam
and Eve, in their sinful condition, won’t eat of the tree and live
forever as sinners. It opens a door, it leaves room
for them to become saved and not eat from the fruit of the
tree until God has changed them and made them holy. Where else
do we see the cherubim? Well, when the instructions are
given by God to build the Ark of the Covenant. There’s a cherubim
placed on either end of the top, the lid to this Ark. and in between
these cherubim is where God sits. It’s where he rules. It’s his
throne, and this ark was placed in the most holy place. It was
only approached certain times and by certain people who were
set apart and made ready to go in. You remember Nadab and Abihu,
they fooled around with God and he struck them dead. The presence
of God, the place of God was serious. And so this reminds
us that God sits enthroned upon the cherubim, the mighty angels. They guard and they protect his
holiness. and they keep anything that is
unclean away from the presence of Almighty God. And notice how
we are to approach God in these first three verses. The Lord
reigns, let the peoples tremble. How is it, how is it that church
in America has turned into a coffee shop? when the Lord reigns and
the people should tremble. How is it that the church has
turned into a feel-good sort of concert, a feel-good sort
of pep talk when the Lord reigns and the peoples should tremble? How is it that when God sits
enthroned upon the cherubim and the whole earth should quake? We sort of treated God as that
bumper sticker, Jesus is my homeboy, right? God is my co-pilot. We’ve reduced God to nothing,
and we need to get another sense of who God is. He reigns. He
is Yahweh. The people should tremble. I
would imagine if any of us bumped into Almighty God, we would be
like Isaiah. We would come undone. We would
sense our sin. We would sense our need for being
cleansed. We would sense the weight of
his glory and we would tremble and we would quake. And so in
the church, in our church, we have the opportunity to hold
high the holiness of God. To make worship in such a way
that people feel the reverence, they feel the awe, they feel
the presence of Almighty God in such a way that they can’t
help but leave church changed. And so our passage tells us that
when we encounter this God, we are to tremble, we are to quake. But we’re also, verse three tells
us, to praise his great and awesome name, for he is holy. The next
spot where we find God doing his ministry is at his footstool. We see that in verses four and
five. It says, the King in his might loves justice. You have
established equity. You have executed justice and
righteousness in Jacob. And then it speaks of worshiping
God for this justice. Exalt the Lord our God. Worship
at his footstool. And there’s that statement again.
Holy is he. Now what is a footstool? Some
of you have an easy chair with an ottoman. Some of you may have
a rocking chair with a footstool. You can prop a foot up. Some
of you, or all of you, I’m sure, do not have a throne, but God
does. And generally, a throne sits
on a larger base, and where the king, when he sits, rests his
feet is called his footstool. And often in the Bible, when
God speaks, or when God is spoken of as ruling and reigning, heaven
is his throne and the earth, is where he puts his feet, it
is his footstool. And so, what a picture that is
for us to sort of look up at the immensity of God. He’s so
big, the earth is his footstool. We worship at his feet because
his presence is so great, it is so mighty. Exalt the Lord
our God, worship at his footstool. Some consider, since It’s already
mentioned in Psalm 99 that he sits enthroned upon the cherubim,
that the footstool in mind here is the base of the ark. It’s the base of the ark of the
covenant. It’s the most holy place. where
God is to be worshiped, he is to be approached. Well, we remember
that no one could come near the presence of God without proper
preparation or being the proper person. But we are thankful that
no longer can God’s throne, his footstool, be approached only
once a year. But through Christ, the great
high priest who’s entered the Holy of Holies, he’s entered
into that place once and for all, he sat down and His priestly
work is done, and we can daily, we can moment by moment approach
the mercy seat of Almighty God, where He hears and answers prayers
and offers forgiveness, where His justice and His righteousness,
His equity, His holiness can be experienced, and it’s only
through faith in the Lord Jesus. So he’s enthroned upon the cherubim.
It’s at his footstool we worship. The third place, or the third
area where we see God’s ministry, we find in verses six and seven,
and he answers prayer from the pillar. It says in verse six,
Moses and Aaron were among his priests. Samuel also was among
those who called on his name. They called to the Lord and he
answered them. in the pillar of the cloud he
spoke to them and they kept his testimonies and the statute he
gave to them. You remember in The Old Covenant,
when God had brought Israel out of Egypt, they had the pillar
of fire to lead them at night. When the pillar of fire moved,
they followed it. And by day, it was a pillar of
cloud. Whenever the pillar got up, as
it were, and moved, they got up and they moved with it. It
led them in the wilderness. It led them along the way. God
communicated. He led his people through this
pillar. It was his sign and his wonder.
And God is saying to us in this passage, hey, I listened to Moses. I listened to Aaron, they were
preached. I listened to Samuel. They called to God and he answered
them. from that pillar of fire, from that pillar of smoke, he
heard, he answered, he was merciful, he was responsive. How much more
now will he hear and answer us if Jesus, who is greater than
Samuel, if Jesus, who is greater than Moses, Jesus, who is greater
than Aaron, if he is our high priest, God speaks with him face
to face. God hears our prayers that are
offered in Jesus’ name straight at the throne of grace. How much
more can we have confidence that he answers our prayers? He answered
the holy men of old, and he answers those of us who trust in Christ,
our great high priest. There’s one last place mentioned
where God does his ministry. and we find it in verses eight
and nine, and it’s at the holy mountain of God. It says, O Lord
our God, you answered them. You were a forgiving God to them,
but you were an avenger of their wrongdoings. Exalt the Lord our
God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy. We’ve seen a lot of locations
here, the cherubim where God is enthroned, his footstool where
he is to be worshiped. He’s ministered to his people
through the pillar, and now he is to be worshipped at his holy
mountain. If you trace through the Bible
all the places where God is worshipped, you’ll see that there’s a mountain
theme. We believe that there was a mountain
in Eden where God was worshipped. Abram was asked to sacrifice
his son, his only son, Isaac. He said, go to a mountain, go
to Mount Moriah, and I will show you the place where you shall
worship me and offer your son as a sacrifice. You go on and
see that when Israel is rescued from Egypt, God brings them and
puts them at a mountain. He puts them at Mount Sinai where
he meets with Moses and he gives the law of God. And then of course,
Mount Zion and Jerusalem. And then you get to the book
of Revelation. and you see that the New Jerusalem is a mountain,
much like the Garden of Eden, where God is to be worshiped.
And so there’s this theme of worship God at the mountain,
at the holy mountain, His holy mountain. used to be Mount Zion
on earth, now Mount Zion in heaven. You remember the words from Hebrews.
You have come to Mount Zion. You have come to the place where
God is worshiped, where the saints who have gone before us gather
in their festal clothing and they worship the living and true
God. That’s what we do every week when we gather for worship.
Some of you I think heard this morning we mentioned talking
to Freeman before church, and every Sunday, Freeman speaks
about his mom being in heaven, looking down, being pleased with
his life, his progress. And I said to Freeman this morning,
you know we’re worshiping with your mom today. And he said,
I never thought of that. And I said, we worship together
here at Saddle Club Road. We worship together with everybody
who calls on the name of the Lord. around the world today,
but we also worship with all the saints who’ve gone before
us and who are gathered around the throne of God at his holy
mountain. And that’s where we worship in
spirit and in truth. And his eyes just got big and
he thought that was something special, but that’s the way it
is. We worship at his holy mountain
and it’s where he forgives our sins. It’s where his name is
to be Exalted. Now there’s a little phrase here
in Psalm 99 verse eight that might trouble some of you. It
says, Oh Lord, our God, you answered them and you were a forgiving
God to them. And we’d like for that verse
just to stop right there. Cause we always like to talk
about our justification, right? It’s just as if I’ve never sinned
and just as if I’ve always obeyed. But what does that verse go on
to say? But you were an avenger of their wrongdoings. What happened
to that first generation that came out of Egypt? They whined,
they fussed, they complained. They saw all the signs and wonders
and they complained. And what did God do? He said,
fine then, you can die in the wilderness. He avenged their
wrongs. Oh, they were forgiven. They’ll
be in heaven, the ones who had faith in God. We need to remember
that, that though our sins are forgiven, that they sometimes,
many times, oftentimes, they can wreak havoc in our lives.
Sins have consequences. And yes, we may be pardoned.
Yes, we may have ultimate salvation, but our sins can wreak havoc
in our lives. And that can be seen sometimes
as the avenging by God of our wrongdoings. And that’s something
to think about because sometimes when we preach God’s grace, God’s
mercy, God’s forgiveness, God’s justifying grace, sometimes we
can think, it doesn’t matter what I do, he’ll always love
me. Well, that’s true. Nothing can separate you from
the love of God. There is therefore now no condemnation for those
of us in Christ Jesus. But never, ever, ever lose sight
that sins have sometimes temporal and earthly consequences. You
cannot get away from the cause and the effect of our sins. And
so worship at his footstool, the one who has forgiven. And
yes, we worship at his footstool. And we say, you have been one
who has avenged sin. And yes, it’s true that he placed
his wrath on Christ at the cross. And there is a great truth that
we will never experience the wrath of God due to us for sin.
But yes, there are effects to our sin. So we worship God and
we exalt Him at His holy mountain. So what are the two things that
we can take away from this psalm? One is that God the King is to
be worshiped. And two is that God the King
is holy. And we’re living in a time where
God the King is not worshiped. Oh, a lot of people go to church.
A lot of people are religious. but God the King is to be worshipped
and he is to be worshipped for who he is, for what he has done,
for what he has promised to do, and he is to be worshipped in
the way he tells us in his word that he wants to be worshipped. We’re not to create worship for
ourselves or invent it, but also we are to be holy. And that’s
another missing key ingredient in our American church. We are to be holy as God is holy. God didn’t save us. Oh, and that’s
our fire insurance from hell. He saved us, yes, from his wrath,
and yes, from his enduring and everlasting punishment, but he
saved us, as Ephesians says, for good things. We are his workmanship,
and he has prepared for us good works from before the world began
that we might do and bring honor and glory to his name. And he
gives us all that we need to be holy. And so it ought to be
our great prayer as we participate in the life of the church to
worship the holy great God and king and to grow in grace so
that we become more like him. Let’s pause and pray together.
Our Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to hear from Psalm
99, to hear of your greatness, your majesty, and your holiness,
your rule, and your reign, and your ministry from these various
places. And we pray that you would give
us a desire to worship you as you ought to be worshiped, and
for all that you reveal to us that you are, help us also to
be holy as you are. because that is what is pleasing
in your sight. And you have opened the way for that through Christ,
cleansing us, giving us his church, giving us his spirit and giving
us the power to be transformed, to turn away from our sin and
to walk in righteousness. Help us in this. We pray in Jesus
name. Amen.