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Psalms 3: Christ gives Faith to Sinful Humans

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Translation: NASB 95

Verses 1-4:

Christians will be attacked for the faith that Christ gives. These are God’s people from Genesis to Revelation because God has one people throughout history. Salvation from sin comes from Christ who saves many throughout history. Christ’s faith comes through salvation alone. Notice it is Christ’s faith in humans washed of sin through Jesus Christ alone. The faith means the teachings of God written in the Bible through the Holy Spirit for Christians to receive. Christians should follow what God teaches through the examinable and definable Bible. Why? To love Christ means to follow what He commands. This will lead to hatred from the sinful world because of Christ’s faith. The sinful world will want to persecute Christians in various ways. Persecution is from following the commands of God that sin hates. It is best summarized in the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20. Christians are at fault when they act foolishly or break laws that do not violate God’s moral standard revealed throughout the Bible. Persecution comes as God’s light shines through faithful Christians who follow what God commands.

Persecution brings much discouragement. Many non-believing humans will mock God as they persecute Christians. Christians can become discouraged as persecutor’s words distract them from listening and remembering God’s teachings found in the Bible. These words are meant to undermine Christians to reject God’s ways for an easier life. An easier life would be to end persecution. Is there hope in God? Yes. All Christians should have hope because God is a shield. God protects His special people even if it means Christians die physically. Through death all Christians are secured through Jesus Christ alone from sin and all its consequences. God goes even further with the shield of faith. The commands and encouragements through God’s teaching shields Christians. Christ through the Bible protects His people with a mighty shield that cannot fail. This does not mean persecution will end. It means Christians will endure these difficult times at least. Christians should look to God knowing there is protection to endure as God answers prayers. Prayers to God should be present in the minds and mouths of Christians when there is persecution. God will answer the prayers of His children. Christians will not be abandoned or forgotten by God because of Jesus Christ’s salvation.

Verses 5-8:

Christians should lay down to sleep with confidence that God is there. Why? God sustains His people. There are many ways and methods by which God sustains His people. There are spiritual activities like prayer where God listens to His people and then through the Bible God speaks to His people. God will strike down and end persecutors from persecuting or take their lives at the right time. Sinful humans only deserve God’s justice like ending persecutors lives. God does this without any darkness within Himself. Christians should not be afraid because God is always with them through Jesus Christ’s salvation alone. There is nothing that can remove Christians from God’s hand. There is nothing to fear from persecution when it comes because God’s salvation keeps His people safe. This is due to Christ’s power to secure His people.

Christians pray and seek that God will save you from persecution or provide strength to endure persecution. Pray that God will comfort and help you during these troubling times. There is a time and place to pray that God will be merciful towards persecutors. Then there are other times to pray that God will deal harshly with persecutors. Ask God for wisdom in what way to pray for persecutors. All non-believers will face God’s judgment in this life or in death. Persecutors have already been judged as guilty in God’s holy court because of sin present in the human soul. This assumes there will be no resting and trusting in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ protects many humans from His own justice. May all Christians remember salvation comes from God. This is indeed a blessing from God who comes to sinful humans who cannot save themselves from sin. This Psalm shows Christ’s power to defeat enemies of His people. Amen!

Psalms 2 – Christ as King

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Psalms 2 Family Worship Notes:

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Translation: NASB 95

Verses 1-5:

Sin has the nations plotting against God. God commands through His word as in the Ten commandments. The Ten Commandments reveal sin that leads many humans into God’s mercy. Jesus Christ takes their sin to give His perfection where God’s justice against sin is satisfied. All true Christians will rest on Jesus Christ for God’s mercy to avoid finding a false way to God. These cleansed humans do not plot against God and His word. Christians should pray for strength from God to follow what He commands.

Non-believers are not so. All plot against God and His word by rebelling through sin. Nations follow sin because non-believers rule to create laws and plans that are opposed to the Triune God. These nations will attempt to destroy God’s mercy and commands. The Gospel witness through words will be limited. Many laws that promote God’s commands will be replaced with laws that promote rebellion against God. Christians will be mistreated to the point of imprisonment or death. Will the Triune God see sinful rebellion and not respond? No. God will see these rebelling nations and scoff at their sinful plans. God will decree from heaven His will on earth that causes sin to cease. Sin will be crushed and prevented at the right time through what God is. The Gospel of Christ will cleanse sin away from many humans or God’s justice will come on many nations to prevent sin. This is according to God’s infinite wisdom that flows out of His goodness.

Verses 6-12:

God continues through His decree explaining Christ will come. Christ will come and create a spiritual kingdom where He is king of a holy group of humans. These humans are Christians who are cleansed and forgiven of sin. Why? In God there are three divine subsistences without dividing God. Subsistence means to have substance and be real. God the Father sends God the Son Jesus Christ to come as a sinless human. Jesus Christ obtains a sinless human body without changing His divinity. God the Holy Spirit comes and impregnates a woman named Mary to conceive Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is fully God without limitation and fully human without any sin. The begotten Son of God comes to be the king of all Christians through His death and resurrection. Begotten means to be unique as in being one of a kind. Jesus Christ is one of a kind in a special relationship with God the Father. Christ’s death and resurrection leads to many humans becoming Christians throughout all history. This is God’s will through His decree.

Jesus Christ will receive all the earth as His inheritance to rule over. The sinful nations should fear because Jesus Christ will judge and crush any rebellion against His rule. This could be any nation receiving Christ’s judgment now or at Christ’s second return where sin is dealt its final blow. The final blow leads to sin being removed from the earth with its many curses. Sin is easy to break for God because God is infinite in power and ability. Sin is limited and weak compared to God. God shatters sin with ease.

Let the nations listen to understand this warning from the Triune God. May the law makers and judges follow God’s commandments. Can a non-believer follow God’s commands where God will accept it as good? No. May the nations look towards Jesus Christ for a cleansed soul first then uphold God’s commands. May all the nations seek after Christ before Christ’s second return begins. All nations should seek to worship the king with rejoicing and healthy respect. The nations should follow the king Jesus Christ with tenderness to show closeness and follow what He commands through the Bible alone. Why? To avoid God’s holy justice. Sin will be punished either through Christ’s cross or non-believing humans suffering under God’s justice. All rebelling humans are blessed when they take refuge in Jesus Christ for the free forgiveness of sin. This Psalm shows Christ’s power to rule and judge the nations. Amen!

Psalms 1 – Christ meditating on the Law

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Psalms 1 Family Worship Notes:

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Translation: NASB 95

Verses 1-3:

All humans by birth are in sin. Adam passed on a sinful nature to his children. The thinking of all humans is set on evil that leads to sinful speech and actions. All humans are worse through thoughts, actions, and speech than Adam’s first offence in the garden. God sees all humans as children of wrath by nature. Christians still struggle with the remaining effects of sin from their bodies and temptations from various sources. A Christian body has sinful tendencies that remain after salvation. This first section is not about Christians seeking after God through meditating on God’s law and avoiding the way of sin. Why? Christians join into sin in many ways. Who did this perfectly? Jesus Christ is the only one. There is no sinful nature in Jesus Christ by birth or by Jesus Christ becoming a sinner by sinning.

Jesus Christ never joined the path to practise sin but the opposite. He did not stand in the way of sinful humans to join in or stop them from their sin as He walked on earth. Jesus Christ did not join in with humans who mocked others out of sin. Jesus Christ called many out of their sin to find rest. There were times when Jesus Christ passed judgment in the Jewish temple because of stealing that was occurring. God passing judgment is different than preventing sin. How? God’s response to sin was in passing judgment. This is not preventing sin that leads to God’s judgment. Humans in sin were not prevented by Jesus Christ from following their sinful nature. What did Jesus do instead?

When Jesus Christ was young He stayed days in the Jewish temple to meditate on the law. The law would be what we call the Old Testament with the writings of Moses and the Prophets. Christ in His public ministry delighted in the law. He quoted love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Then He continued with love your neighbour as yourself. These are Old Testament passages that summarize the whole law. Jesus Christ delighted in the law as a sinless human to serve God.

Did Jesus Christ as a sinless human worshipping God through delighting in God’s law cause Him to prosper? Yes. There were many fruits from God’s law in Jesus Christ’s life because His soul as a human was well nourished. Jesus Christ prospered being full of spiritual nourishment. This spiritual nourishment leads to greater trust in God to become a better servant. Jesus Christ’s well nourished soul led Him to His crucifixion. Christ’s crucifixion leads many humans to be set free of Adam’s curse of sin and additional offences.

Verses 4-6:

Are humans in sin like Jesus Christ? No. All humans without salvation will perish quickly. To live 100 years is quick compared to the non-aging and unchanging God. These humans will have souls not nourished by God’s law. There will be no delight in what is good and pure. Humans in sin will feel the effects of sin until death comes. God is timeless without change inside of Himself that rules over every point in history. Humans in sin die while Jesus Christ continues forever.

Will these humans in sin be able to stand in God’s holy and perfect court? No. Adam imputes to give death to whom he represents. Impute means to give something to someone from another. All in Adam die. God will see the sinful nature and additional sinful crimes done by each human. Will God say to sinful humans you are guilty and that leads to conscious hell forever? Yes. No human can stand in God’s court. Is there hope? There is hope found in Jesus Christ who imputes to give life. Jesus Christ knows the way of being legally faultless in God’s holy court. Where Adam imputes death to all humans Jesus Christ imputes life to some humans. Either Adam or Jesus Christ represents humans. The promise of Christ’s salvation is given to Adam and his cursed family. What if there is no sin passed on to humans because humans are not a part of Adam’s curse or family? Salvation is optional at best. This is not the case because all humans descend from Adam with his curse. Any human that rests and trusts in Jesus Christ will be found faultless because Jesus Christ imputes His perfection to these humans through salvation. Christians after salvation delight in God’s law where they receive some spiritual nourishment that is intermixed with sin. How? By following Jesus Christ’s way of life as explained in the Bible. Sinful tendencies will still affect Christians. This Psalm shows Christ’s perfect ability to delight in God’s law where Christians imperfectly delight in God’s law. Amen!