The Psalms: Lesson 4

Overview

Psalm 68: The Story of God, From Resurrection to Pentecost

Martin Luther loved Psalm 68 because it tells the sweeping story of God—anticipating the resurrection, Christ's victory, and the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost. Luther called the Psalter "a little Bible," a summary of the whole of Scripture, and gave us a wonderful invitation: when we don't know what to say, we can pray God's own words back to him. Verse 19 is a fitting opening: "Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up. God is our salvation."

God Rises and Scatters His Enemies

The opening verses of Psalm 68:1–3 call upon God to rise up, scattering his enemies as smoke is driven away and as wax melts before fire. When Christ was crucified, the devil thought he had won. But God rose victorious—over death, over sin, over the serpent whose head was crushed as promised in Genesis 3:15. The spiritual battle continues, but the outcome is settled. No enemy can stand before the Lord. And the Spirit, like wind we cannot see but always moves around us, drives back the darkness and propels us forward in the victory of Christ. So the righteous can be jubilant—exulting before God with confidence because we have been called his own.

Father of Orphans, Protector of Widows

Psalm 68:5–6 reveals a God enthroned in his holy habitation who is not distant but deeply concerned with the lowly: orphans, widows, prisoners, the desolate. Mary's Magnificat and Zechariah's prophecy in Luke 1:46–55 and Luke 1:68–75 echo this same heart of God—lifting up the lowly, filling the hungry, remembering his covenant mercy. Apart from Christ, we ourselves are spiritually orphaned and parched. But God gives the desolate a home, leading us to the prosperity of his eternal presence, the New Jerusalem where the river of life flows and no one will hunger or thirst. The "rebellious live in a parched land," but believers drink from the living water of Christ.

The God Who Shakes the Earth

Psalm 68:7–8 recalls God leading Israel through the wilderness, when the heavens poured down rain and the earth quaked at Sinai. Deuteronomy 5:22–27 describes how the people trembled at the voice of the living God speaking from the fire. Creation itself responds to its Maker—and the same mighty God who shook Sinai is the one who bears us up daily.

Pastoral Application

Because the Spirit dwells in us, we are sent as God's hands, feet, and mouthpiece this side of heaven. As the early church appointed servants to care for widows, we too are driven by the Spirit to share the word and to provide for those in need. We cannot save anyone, but we can share the faith and resources God has entrusted to us. Carry verse 19 with you this week: "Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up. God is our salvation." Let it be on your lips as you proclaim—through word and deed—the salvation we have in Christ.

Transcript

We're going to be studying from Psalm 68. 3s

Definitely this week, very possibly further next week. 7s

It's a really cool psalm, and Martin Luther really loved this, as it gives us the story of God, 12s

but also the resurrection and Easter and Pentecost. 22s

So we're going to start diving into that today, and we'll be returning to it next week. 27s

But one commentator had suggested that verse 19 of Psalm 68 is a great opening to prayer. 35s

And because I could do no better than anyone else, we are going to open with verse 19 of Psalm 68 for our opening prayer. 48s

So let us pray. 62s

Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up. 64s

God is our salvation. 67s

Lord, we thank you so much for indeed being our salvation, and who walks with us and guides us every single day. 69s

We ask that you would bless this time of study, that you would use your word to work in our hearts and transform us to live according to your goodwill, and the grace that you have provided. 78s

Lord, keep your words upon our lips, in our minds, in our hearts, and let this time be a time where we can sit in your word and grow together in faith with you. 91s

Lord, we lift this to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 107s

Okay. 111s

So just a quick recap, because we haven't been here since January. 111s

I mean, we've been here, anyone watching on the video, we have been here since January. 117s

We just haven't been in the Psalms in class together since January. 123s

So just a recap of what we have studied so far. 127s

Martin Luther had a great affinity for the book of Psalms. 132s

It's part of the wisdom books, and he said that it speaks to our hearts during the joys and sorrows of life and everything in between. 138s

He said the human heart is like a ship on a stormy sea driven about by winds blowing from all four corners of heaven. 148s

The book of Psalms is a full of heart-felt utterances made during storms of this kind. 156s

Where can one find nobler words to express joy than in the Psalms of praise or gratitude? 163s

In them you can see into the hearts of saints as if you were looking at a lovely pleasure garden or were gazing into heaven. 170s

How fair and charming and delightful and the flowers you will find there. 178s

The best of all is that these words of theirs of the psalmist are spoken before God and to God which puts double earnestness and life into the words. 182s

For every man on every occasion can find it in Psalms which fits his needs, which he feels to be as appropriate as if they had been set there just for his sake. 194s

Place the book of Psalms in front of you, you will see your own self in it. 205s

For here is the true no thyself by which you can know yourself as well as the God who created all things. 210s

Martin Luther calls the Psalter a little Bible where he says it's the spirit summary of the whole Bible promising the death and resurrection of Christ, his kingdom and the nature and standing of all Christian people. 218s

When we first met we talked about how it's really easy to shy away from studying the Psalms because it's a heightened language. 233s

It's a poetic language oftentimes, it's songs oftentimes. 242s

We get lost in the poem or the poetry of it and kind of get scared or back off. 247s

But it's really a beautiful word for us and we talked about how we can use these beautiful words. 257s

As Martin Luther says, there is a Psalm for every occasion, every season of life and we can pray those to the Lord. 266s

So we are using God's own word to pray to him. 275s

Remember in Romans how it says that God, the spirit, intersees on our behalf interseeds when because we don't even know how to pray. 279s

We are weak in our own prayers and so when we use the Lord's word to pray to him we are communicating with him in the spirit and through the spirit. 290s

We also looked through the Psalter so then that next week, because you know Martin Luther has this claim that it's the summary of the whole Bible and so we took him up on that claim and we wanted to see if he was right. 303s

And sure enough, he was right and we found more than enough verses to prove that will be funny if when you hear the sermon for today. 319s

We find more than enough verses to prove that the Psalter is the Bible. 333s

It does tell us the full story of God for us. We found creation, we found sin, we found repentance, we found God's steadfast love and faithfulness, we found the crucifixion, the resurrection, the victory that we have in Christ through the resurrection and we found the lights of the Christian. 341s

And so we are able to say firmly boldly with Martin Luther, which that's good company to stand in, that indeed the Psalter is a summary of the whole Bible. 368s

Then our last time together we studied Psalm 23, that beautiful psalm that speaks to the heart. 381s

Absolutely, one author described it as a psalm in which we see the heart of our Lord most clearly and we we studied the shepherd and how he leads his sheep to all good things and we then see how the tenth changes. 392s

And so we found that the first chapter of the Bible was, instead of talking about this shepherd, we talked directly or pray directly to the shepherd, the one who guides us and leads us and gives us comfort. 411s

So are we ready to keep going? Yay! Excellent, because if you'd say no, I'd say I don't know what to tell you then. 425s

Okay, so let's go ahead and if you are not already opened up to Psalm 68, please do so for anyone who does not know where this book of psalms is, it's the very center of the Bible. 435s

So open up to the center of the Bible and you will find the psalm. So Psalm 68, just beginning with the first few verses. 452s

So verses 1 through 3, let God rise up, let his enemies be scattered, let those who hate him leave before him. 464s

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away, as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish before God, but let the righteous be joyful. 472s

Let them exalt before God, let them be jubilant with joy. 484s

When Christ was crucified, his enemies thought that they had him. They thought he had him. He was dead. 491s

He had died upon the cross. The devil thought that through the power of death he had overruled and ranged supreme over God himself and the devil believed that he had finally clinched that victory. 498s

And by God's grace, he let his enemies believe that they had won. 517s

He let his enemies believe that they had won, but God rose up. God rose up victorious over death. 526s

Victorious, over sin, victorious over the devil, and it turns his enemies to scatter. 538s

When Christ rose from the grave, there was no going back for the demons. 549s

They could not refute the power of God. We read in the book of Acts of the demon possessed girl who says, you know, I get away from me, get away from me, or she calls them out, calls Paul out as the one who comes in the name of the Lord. 558s

The demons know, the enemies know that Christ is victorious. They know that they have no ground to stand on. They keep fighting. 583s

We're told we have a spiritual battle that will rage, has been raging, and we'll continue to rage until Christ comes again in his glory to call those who believe in him to himself. 593s

But looking at verse two, as smoke is driven away, so drive them away as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish before God. 607s

Think of that imagery. Can you picture that? A candle? Standing tall, standing strong, themes like it will be just fine. You can splash water on it, and it does nothing. 619s

You can move it, and it does nothing. You can break it in half, but it still solid. But the moment it comes near fire, it cannot stand. It melts away. 632s

And so we are seeing this power of God in front of evil, and it no one can stand within the power of God, or in front of the power of God. 646s

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. Think of the Holy Spirit. How the Spirit is moving always, at all times around us, and we cannot feel it, as far as, you know, like, feel it in the air, just like we don't feel the air around us. 660s

But the Spirit is always moving, and the Spirit moves through and vanishes, vanishes the evil around us. It's the strength of the Spirit. 682s

It's the sort of the Spirit that is God's Word that pushes us forth and allows for us to move forth through His Word, victorious in the victory that we have in Jesus Christ. 696s

Verse 3, but let the righteous be joyful, let them exalt before God, let them be jubilant with joy. 713s

So the first two verses, we're seeing how the psalmist is calling. David is calling for the Lord to rise up victorious. We know he does. 722s

We know he does, but have a good Word for those who believe in God, have a good Word where they can be jubilant, the righteous can be jubilant and joyful before the Lord. 735s

We stand here today, we will hear and sing praise of God, worshiping Him for who He is, worshiping Him for what He has done, and we can do that confident and jubilant because we know that we have been called His own. 754s

We know that we have the victory that He won for us on the cross through the empty tomb, that that is our victory and we can be jubilant and joyful because of that. 773s

So we sing to God, we sing praises to His name, we are exultant before Him. If we jump down to verse 5, verses 5 and 6, Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation. 788s

God gives the desolate a home to live in, He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land. 808s

So this, if you go to the gospel of Luke, you can keep your hand in Psalm 68 if you would like, because we will be coming back to it. 818s

The gospel of Luke, the second chapter, we read in a couple of places here, sorry, first chapter, first chapter. 828s

We first have the song of Mary's praise, the Magnificat, where she is praising the Lord for making her a chosen servant, though she is lowly, but in verse 49, for the mighty one has done great things for me and His holy is His name. 841s

His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm, He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts, He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. 867s

He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away, He has helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy according to the promises He made or promise He made to our ancestors. 882s

Then if you continue down in chapter 1 into Zechariah's prophecy, verse 68, he says, 896s

Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors and remembered His holy covenant, the oath that He swore to our ancestor Abraham to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. 926s

So God and elsewhere in Scripture, we find that God is concerned with the lowly, He is concerned with the orphan, He is concerned with the widow. 948s

So how many times do we see places in Old Testament and New Testament that drive His people to do justice for those who cannot get justice for themselves or receive justice for themselves? 963s

And here we see that the father, David, is saying that the father, God the father is indeed concerned with those, the orphans, the widows, the needy, those who cannot do for themselves and really in our sin we cannot do for ourselves. 981s

We are who, God is concerned with, we are part of those whom God is concerned with, we are needy, we are wanting, we are orphaned, we are widowed, when we are in darkness without God. 1004s

And so He cares for us, He calls us to be His own and He supplies us with every need, namely salvation, namely Himself. 1023s

And so He is, and always will be, the protector of widows, the father of orphans. And I like that it puts right in here that He is the father of orphans, the protector of widows, is God in His holy habitation. 1037s

We know that God reigns, we know that God rules from His throne on high, His holy habitation and that He is not distant from us, but that upon the throne He is sovereign over all. 1056s

And He can provide for us all and He can lead us all. God gives the desolate a home to live in, He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land. 1073s

Looking forward from this that now not yet sort of thing, we are wanderers, we are aliens in a foreign land, right? 1087s

We are without a home this side of heaven, but we are promised the heavenly home, the eternal home in the presence of God with the communion of all the saints for all time, the rebellious live in a parched land. 1102s

When we read in Revelation of the New Jerusalem and the New Heaven, the New Earth, that is to come, we read of the river that flows through, we read of the trees that are always with fruit in season, that no one will hunger, no one will thirst, that all will be provided for its, it's this unimaginable picture of glory of all the world. 1122s

We are all glories that we are promised to live in wanting for nothing and being in complete pure communion with the Lord and with one another, but the rebellious will live in a parched land. 1152s

They will not have the water, the water of life that they need. When we think of hell, the Bible is very clear that there are fires, it is hot, it is desolate, it is a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, they think of going through a desert. 1167s

And just that perched feeling upon the tongue that can never be quenched and outside of the presence of God, outside of God, our lives are not quenched. 1194s

Our thirst is always there, always remaining and we're always searching and here the rebellious live in a parched land, while those who believe, those who have been claimed as righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ, will be living in that prosperity, in that glorious world. 1209s

There was a church that I had read about, I thought this was really interesting during the Lenten season. So it was a practice of that church where when they would enter into the place of worship, they would put their hand in the baptismal font and make the sign of the cross. 1240s

That's a common practice in some Christian churches. And during the Lenten season, this blog writer had gone in, put her hand in the baptismal font and it was filled with sand. 1259s

And it was filled with sand to be that tangible symbol of the perched land that we are in in our sin, that Christ is the living water, that He is who will allow us to thirst no more. 1274s

But that outside of Him, when we are left to our sin, when we are only in our sin and we do not know Christ, we are like that parched or we are like living in that parched land. I thought that was a really neat symbol for that church to do. I just thought that that was an interesting, interesting way to get at that. 1295s

Let's continue. So now David is going to tell of the story of the people of old, the Israelites. So he says in verse 7, 1323s

Oh God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, say, la, the earthquake, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of Sinai, at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 1335s

So if you go to Deuteronomy, the fifth chapter, verses 22 through 27. So if you go to the beginning of your Bible, you'll find Genesis and then you keep working your way right and you'll go through the Pentecost, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers. 1350s

Then you'll find yourself at the fifth book of the Pentecost. That's Deuteronomy. And we're going to go to Deuteronomy chapter 5 verses 22 through 27. 1378s

Yes, okay. So this is when the Lord had given his will to Moses and the people are at Mount Sinai, picking up in verse 22, these words, the Lord spoke with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud and the thick darkness. And he added no more. 1392s

He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them them to me. When you heard the voice out of the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me all the heads of your tribes and your elders and you said, look, the Lord your God has shown us His glory and greatness and we have heard His voice out of the fire. 1416s

Today we have seen that God may speak to someone and the person may still live. So now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire as we have and remained alive? 1436s

Go near you yourself. This is the Israelite speaking to Moses. Go near you yourself and hear all that the Lord our God will say. Then tell us everything that the Lord our God tells you and we will listen to it. 1458s

So as they were at Mount Sinai and they heard the word of the Lord, they heard the voice of the Lord speaking to Moses, they trembled. Oh God, when you went out before your people, when he went and led them out into the wilderness, when you marched through the wilderness, the earthquake, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of Sinai. 1474s

Thunder, roared, the earth shook. There was fear within the Israelite people at the very sound and presence of the voice of the Lord. 1499s

They wanted to follow the Lord. They were fearful to follow the Lord. And so they told Moses, you go ahead, you talk to God for us and just tell us what he said because the earth was quaking. It was scary. It shook them to the core of their being. They were scared. The earth was reacting to God. 1513s

The earth was reacting to the power of being in the presence of God at Sinai. And so as he commanded Moses, Moses was to command the people not only because God told Moses to lead them, but the people were scared and they wanted Moses to lead them. 1537s

They wanted Moses to take them forth. So let's go back to Psalm 68. 1562s

Okay. So we have this constant movement in this psalm where we have the call for God to rise up, to scatter the enemies. 1579s

And we know we see that he does this. We see that when Christ was resurrected, that he scattered his enemies and that he crushed the head of the serpent as promised in Genesis chapter 3. 1596s

3. We see that by the spirit, the spirit within us, the spirit of God as he moves about drives out the enemy scatters the enemy that all who are in opposition to the Lord melt like wax before him. 1611s

No one can stand before the power of the Lord. We see that the Lord is upon his exalted throne and he is sovereign and he is almighty. 1630s

He is ruling and providing for all who are in need. And ultimately we are all in need. We are all in need of his saving grace. We are all in need of his power of his provision. 1641s

We also see that by his spirit we are driven to do for those who are in need this side of heaven. We are driven by his spirit to share his word. 1656s

We are driven by his spirit to care for the orphan in the widow. The first church in acts as we read, we hear and read about the call to make sure that the widows are cared for. 1670s

We read about how the disciples appointed Stephen and others to make sure that the needs of the community of the church were met. The father, the son and the spirit are constantly at work, not only in all of eternity but this side of heaven constantly at work driving us forward to be useful in his kingdom. 1683s

We are all in need of him that he would use us to provide his righteousness. That is not a blasphemous. It is not meant in that way. We are not providing as far as we cannot give ourselves to save anyone but we can share the faith that God has given. 1711s

We can share the resources that God has given to us. 1732s

So he uses us as his hands and feet. 1737s

He uses us as his mouthpiece to provide for those who are needy this side of heaven. 1740s

We also saw where David is bringing us back and how all of the earth reacts to the presence of the Lord. 1748s

How he is mighty. 1759s

He has always been mighty. 1762s

He will always be mighty. 1763s

And so this is where we find ourselves again in those couple of verses or in verse four where we're singing to the Lord, 1765s

where the jubilant are singing and praising God for his glory. 1775s

We can sing with joy because we know that we are those who are called to be living with him eternally 1780s

in that prosperity, in that abundance of grace and mercy and love. 1788s

And we are not called to be in the parched land out of God's mercy and grace. 1796s

He has called us to drink from the living water, the fountain that always gives life and will always provide life for us. 1802s

So we're going to continue on there. 1813s

We're going to continue on looking to see how David works us through for telling, 1821s

continuing to for tell of God's victory through the cross, continuing to for tell of God's victory through that empty tomb and into Pentecost, 1833s

where then the gift of the Spirit is given and we go forth and the church ignites. 1844s

It goes forth, continuing to bring his witness and continuing to call and draw more and more into that promise of eternal glory. 1851s

So let's close in prayer. 1864s

Again, praying that verse 19, praying, praying God's own word back to him. 1867s

Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up. God is our salvation. 1876s

Lord God, we ask that this truth would be upon our lips this week as we go forth, that we would be able to proclaim the salvation we have in you. 1882s

We thank you, Lord, that we are promised to be in your eternal presence. 1892s

We thank you, Lord, that we are promised the victory of your death and resurrection, that it is our own. 1896s

We thank you so much, Lord, that you have given us the opportunity to care for the needy, to care for the needy who need your word, to care for the needy, who need provisions this sight of heaven, and to care for all that you put in our path that they would come to know you and believe in you as their Savior, that we would be promised to live in the eternal glory of your presence now and forever. 1903s

Lord, let us go forth this week, singing your praises, worshiping your holy name until we gather again next week, to once again, hear your word. 1933s

Lord, we lift this to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 1943s