Steve Webb 0:00 What a great way to start each day. Steve Webb 0:10 This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I'm your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is Psalms Wednesday. We'll read chapters 90 through 92, and I'm calling this episode "When You Are Afraid." Before we get started, let's pray. Our heavenly Father, how we love you and how we love the Psalms. I thank you, Lord, again for giving them to us. I pray that as we read today, you would bless us and that you would give us something that we can hang on to in our daily lives. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, let's begin, shall we? Steve Webb 0:50 The title of Psalm 90 is "A prayer of Moses, the man of God." Now scholars disagree on whether this is *the* Moses, but there's good reason to believe that it is. This is the only song of Moses in the Psalms, but there is one in Exodus 15 and one in Deuteronomy 32. According to commentator James Montgomery Boice, "The historical setting is probably best understood by the incidents recorded in Numbers 20: number one, the death of Miriam, Moses’ sister; number two, the sin of Moses in striking the rock in the wilderness, which kept him from entering the Promised Land; and number three, the death of Aaron, Moses’ brother.” Steve Webb 1:30 Psalms, chapter 90. Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God. You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals!” For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours. You sweep people away like dreams that disappear. They are like grass that springs up in the morning. In the morning it blooms and flourishes, but by evening it is dry and withered. We wither beneath your anger; we are overwhelmed by your fury. You spread out our sins before you— our secret sins—and you see them all. We live our lives beneath your wrath, ending our years with a groan. Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away. Who can comprehend the power of your anger? Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve. Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. O Lord, come back to us! How long will you delay? Take pity on your servants! Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives. Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good. Let us, your servants, see you work again; let our children see your glory. And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful! Steve Webb 3:20 We don't know who wrote Psalm 91 because it doesn't have a title. Commentator Derek Kidner wrote, “Some of its language, of strongholds and shields, reminds us of David, to whom the Septuagint ascribes it; other phrases echo the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, as did Psalm 90; but it is in fact anonymous and timeless, perhaps all the more accessible for that.” And Charles Spurgeon particularly liked this psalm. He wrote, “In the whole collection there is not a more cheering Psalm, its tone is elevated and sustained throughout, faith is at its best, and speaks nobly.” And Spurgeon quoted the 17th-century French scholar Simeon Murad de Muis (I hope I'm saying that right) as saying, quote, “It is one of the most excellent works of this kind which has ever appeared. It is impossible to imagine anything more solid, more beautiful, more profound, or more ornamented.” Steve Webb 4:22 Psalms, chapter 91. Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, those evils will not touch you. Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished. If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet! The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.” Steve Webb 5:56 The title of Psalm 92 is "A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day." Spurgeon wrote of this one, “The Jews have for a long while used this Psalm in the synagogue-worship on their Sabbath, and very suitable it is for the Sabbath-day; not so much in appearance, for there is little or no allusion to any Sabbatic rest in it, but because on that day above all others, our thoughts should be lifted up from all earthly things to God himself.” Steve Webb 6:25 Psalms, chapter 92. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening, accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp, and the melody of a lyre. You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done. O Lord, what great works you do! And how deep are your thoughts. Only a simpleton would not know, and only a fool would not understand this: Though the wicked sprout like weeds and evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever. But you, O Lord, will be exalted forever. Your enemies, Lord, will surely perish; all evildoers will be scattered. But you have made me as strong as a wild ox. You have anointed me with the finest oil. My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the defeat of my wicked opponents. But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God. Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green. They will declare, “The Lord is just! He is my rock! There is no evil in him!” Steve Webb 7:51 I have some short thoughts on each of our three Psalms today. For Psalm 90, it was written by Moses most likely. Though it's only 17 verses it sums up his entire experience with God. And Psalm 91 is a great one to read when you're feeling afraid. Verse 2 says, in part, “He alone is my refuge, my place of safety.” Beloved, let's face it, all of us feel afraid from time to time. Remember Psalm 91 the next time you're fearful. And Psalm 92 is a song to be sung on the Sabbath day, but it is actually good to sing every day. It's hard to read this one without feeling a sense of joy and worship. It begins. "It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High." Yes, it is good. I've discovered that when I sing praises to the Most High, I can't help but be overwhelmed by the feeling that God is pleased by my praises. What a great way to start each day. I highly recommend it. So what are your thoughts? What did you get out of today? Let me know call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511, or comment via boostagram or go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Tomorrow will be Poetry Thursday and we'll read Proverbs 14 and 15. Steve Webb 9:24 This is number nine in our series on the Essentials of the Faith and today we're going to continue talking about what we believe about Jesus. Today we'll talk about the fact that Jesus lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in him alone. There's a lot there. So today we're just going to cover the part that says Jesus lived a sinless life. It seems simple, but there's a lot there. So here we go. How was it possible for Jesus to live a sinless life if he was fully human? We know that he was fully God, but he was also fully human, right? We've talked about that. Well, if he was fully human, we know that humans have a sin nature. So why didn't he sin? Well, the fact is that Jesus did not have a sin nature because of who his parents were. Who are his parents? Mary was his mother and she became pregnant miraculously by the Holy Spirit. Now let's step back a bit, all the way back to the Garden of Eden when God told Adam that he was not to eat of the tree. Listen here to Genesis 2:16-17. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'” Now notice that God was speaking only to Adam. Did you hear that? It said, "And the Lord God commanded the man..." All right, well, where was Eve? Well, Eve had not yet arrived on the scene. It wasn't until verse 18, that God said that he would make a helper for Adam. And now going to Genesis 3, the serpent said to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Okay, well, let's stop there. Is that what God said? No, God said, you can eat of any tree in the garden except for the one. So already the serpent is twisting God's word. Remember, Eve wasn't even there when God gave the command. But her answer to the serpent was correct. She said, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” So she got that part right. But the serpent said in response to that, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Again, this is only half of a truth, right? Yes, after eating the fruit, they did know good and evil, so he got that part right. But at that point, they did begin to die. It took many years for their physical body to die, but at that point, they spiritually died. They had separation from God. So why is this important? Well, because when God brought judgment on them, God held Adam responsible. Yes, Eve sinned, but she was deceived by the serpent. Adam, on the other hand, was not deceived. He deliberately chose to listen to Eve instead of listening to God's direct command. So God held Adam accountable for sin and for the fall of mankind. Now, are you with me? Okay. After they sinned, God told the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” So in other words, God told Satan that a descendant of Eve would bruise his head, but the serpent would only bruise the heel of Eve's descendant. Not Adam's descendant, Eve's descendant. Now, we've already established that Jesus did not have a human father. He was the offspring of a woman (or an offspring of Eve, right?) but not of a man. He was therefore not made in the image and likeness of Adam. Jesus bore the image and likeness of God. And this is why he did not have a sin nature and why he was able to live a sinless life. He was tempted by Satan in the desert, but he didn't sin. Now, because he didn't sin, he was qualified to be the sinless sacrifice for our sins. And we'll talk about that next Wednesday, Lord willing. I welcome your comments and your questions at steve@lifespringmedia.com. And speaking of comments a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I'm seeing the Essentials being taught in various places around the country. And I asked you if you were seeing it too. Well, Steve Dew sent this and he said, "I'm not sure this is a direct parallel, but I think it's similar. I found out about a new apologetics course about to be taught at my church. Very appealing to my analytical mind and also being new in Christ." Well, thank you, Steve. I think that's awesome. And I don't think you can teach apologetics without including the Essentials. So even though it isn't exactly the same, it's a great parallel. I hope you really enjoy that class, I'm sure you will. Steve Webb 14:35 Praises and prayer requests. I got a call yesterday from a guy that goes back several years as a Lifespring family member. As a matter of fact, he was the first person to consistently send in donations to help support the show. So he's a good guy. He told me that he had been in the hospital for the past three and a half months. That's all I'll say in the interest of his privacy, but let's pray for him. I'll call him Bob. And let's ask the Lord to bless him and continue his healing. And also let's remember Cassie and Bryan. Tomorrow is the day they're supposed to see the doctor at USC Medical Center for Cassie's painful nerve problem in her face. So let's pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank you for your mercy, Lord. You are a God of righteousness and justice, but without your mercy, we would all be lost. Thank you for your love that made a way for us to be forgiven. We praise you, Lord, and we worship you. I pray now for Bob, and I thank you that he's been able to return home from the hospital. And I pray that you'll continue to bring healing. He loves you, Lord. Bless him, we pray. And now we pray for Cassie that the appointment with the doctor will take place as planned and that he'll be able to see a solution to her pain and will be able to bring her relief. Bless Cassie and Bryan, Lord. And I thank you, Lord, for the Lifespring family. And I pray that you would bless them today as well. Give each of us a new measure of desire to know you and to follow you, Lord. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Our next time of prayer together here on the show will be Sunday. So if there's a praise we should know about or if there's something you'd like us to pray with you about, tell me about it on the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511 or at prayer.lifespringmedia.com. You'll find a form there that it's really quick and easy to fill out. If you'd like to remain anonymous as Bob did just let me know. Steve Webb 16:37 Our show today was again from Jason Paschall. Thank you, Jason. And thanks to Sister Denise who does the transcripts, Michael Haner who does the chapters, Scott Snider our other artist, and Sister Brittaney who produces the newsletter. Thank you, guys. God bless you. And thank you, Beloved, for inviting me to come along with you today. Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye. Jingle 17:06 Lifespringmedia.com/support Transcribed by https://otter.ai