Welcome to our services tonight here at Faith Forward Baptist Church.
So good to see you all here for a Wednesday night service.
Please find your seats now.
Take a hymn.
I'll go to hymn number 64 and we'll begin tonight.
Hymn number 64, shall we gather at the river?
Hymn number 64.
Once you find your place, will you lift it up together on that first hymn number 64?
Dear heavenly Father, Lord, we come before you this evening.
We give you thanks for the opportunity to be in church on this Wednesday night.
And we just thank you, Lord, for bringing us here safely and for a—
allowing us to have the help to be able to be here
and assemble together and lift up your name
and praise and worship, Lord.
We just ask that you meet with us at this time
and that you fill us with your spirit
as we lift our voices and sing unto you
and that we identify each other as we do that
and help us just sing out loud
and that we would also just have open hearts and ears
for the appreciating to come.
We ask that you fill our pastor with your Holy Spirit.
help them preach with power and that you help them have the words to speak,
that you would have them to speak, and that we would just have open hearts and ears
to receive the message tonight, and that all that's said and done would give back the honor
and the glory that you deserve for it, and we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Back to hymn number 24, hymn number 24,
and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?
If you don't have a bulletin,
slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one.
On the inside, we have our service times.
Sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service Sunday nights at six Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study tonight
We're in Psalm 82
We've got the soul winning times listed there below as well as
Salvation and baptism's and then we've got the birth announcement
Congratulations to the Bunts family on baby Wade Michael Bunts June 18th 440 a.m.
Eight pounds nine ounces mom and baby are doing great
I don't read the length,
because it seems like they're all the same length.
It seems like every time a baby's born,
it's like 20, 21, it's just not,
it's not different enough to be that interesting,
I've thought.
But eight pounds, nine ounces is a big boy.
So congratulations to them.
Mom and baby are doing fine.
Bahamas trip, of course, huge success, 45 salvations.
On the back, pray for our expectant ladies
that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
And then also, we talked about it on Sunday,
but Brother Kevin Rowe is gonna be going on
some major cruise mission strips at the end of the year.
So he's already done the planning, thought it through.
These strips are a little bit long.
But they're very economical, so if you can get the time off I would highly recommend these particular trips
And then that way you're going with other faithful word people, so that information is there to my right
and then other upcoming events are listed down there
at the bottom.
Also, as we continue to comply with the city of Tempe,
we have a new drinking fountain that has been installed
because apparently all of our wonderful water coolers
are not good enough.
So we have the drinking fountain.
I actually really like that drinking fountain though.
It's one of those like bottle filling stations
and like you do at the airport.
I think those are cool anyway, so give me your feedback if you like it, don't like it.
I think it tastes great.
Brother Seguro was not used to the flavor, but I drink out of those things at the airport
and other places around town all the time, so I'm actually used to it.
I love the way it tastes.
So I'm good to go with that because maybe we can,
you know, ultimately install more of them
if it's a hit or something, you know,
put in two of those and stop doing the sparklets
or whatever.
We need to think, don't give me that look, okay?
We got sparklets at home, honey.
That's all that matters.
So anyway, we could maybe think about replacing sparklets
with the machine.
Gotta, you know, you know what?
Don't fear change, all right?
You gotta be able to adapt as we move forward here.
All right, that's about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and count up our salvations
for the last few days.
Any soul winning to report from Monday?
Okay, got it.
All right, anything else from Monday?
Any soul winning from Tuesday?
Okay.
Anything else from Tuesday and then how about today Wednesday? Okay. Got it. Got it
Okay
Got it. Okay, and
Then so so we got I know okay got it
So I got a you held up your you held up four fingers, but that's different than Ramon's four fingers, right?
Okay, just wanted to make sure that we're not duplicating anything. All right, very good
Keep up the great work out soul winning and with that let's sing our next song. Come lead us
All right, just find the instant from your hymnal or actually no no insert. Take your hymnals turn to hymn number 86
hymn number 86 we'll sing in the garden hymn number 86
I love you, that's why I love you.
186 number 186 Jesus loves me him number 186
186 Jesus is such a savior Jesus is such a friend
plates go round, we're gonna turn to two scriptures tonight.
We're gonna read John chapter 10,
and then we're gonna read Psalm 82.
I'm gonna be preaching out of Psalm 82,
but we're reading extra for the churches
that don't read the whole chapter.
So John chapter 10, and then Psalm 82.
Follow along silently with Brother Dan as he reads.
In John chapter 10 the Bible reads,
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climeth of some other way,
the same as a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door
is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the port are openeth, and the sheep hear his voice,
and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
And when he puteth forth his own sheep,
he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice.
And a stranger will they not follow,
but will flee from him.
for they know not the voice of strangers.
This parable spake Jesus unto them,
but they understood not what things they were
which he spake unto them.
Then said Jesus unto them again,
verily verily I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door.
By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and out and find pasture.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill
and to destroy.
I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, but he that
is not a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeeth the wolf coming,
and leaveeth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
The hireling fleeth, because he is not a hireling, and careeth not for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
As the father knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep."
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.
Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life that I might take it again.
No man takeeth it from me, but I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father.
There is a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
And many of them said, he hath a devil, and is mad.
Why hear ye him?
Others said these are not the words of him that had the devil can a devil open the eyes of the blind and
It was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication and it was winter and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch
Then came the Jews round about him and said unto him how long does thou make us to doubt if thou be the Christ tell us plainly
Jesus answered them. I told you and you believe not
The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all,
and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
I and my Father are one.
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone them.
Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father,
for which of those works do ye stone me?
The Jews answered him saying,
for a good work we stonedly not, but for blasphemy.
And because the thou, being a man, make us thyself God.
Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law,
I said, ye are gods?
If he called them gods under whom the word of God came
and the scripture cannot be broken,
say ye of him who the Father has sanctified
and sent into the world thou blasphemous,
because I said I am the Son of God.
If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works,
that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him.
Therefore they sought him again to take him, but he escaped out of their hand,
and went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized,
and there he abode.
And many resorted unto him and said John did no miracle,
but all things that John spake of this man were true,
and many believed on him there.
In Psalm 82, the Bible reads,
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty.
He judgeeth among the gods.
How long will ye judge unjustly
and accept the person of the wicked, Silah?
Defend the poor and fatherless.
Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy.
Rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
They know not, neither will they understand.
They walk on in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are out of course.
I have said ye are gods
and all of you are children of the most high.
but ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes.
Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all nations.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for today and everything that you've done for us, Lord.
Thank you for bringing us all here together safely. Please deliver us all home after the service.
Lord, please open our ears to hear so we can be faithful doers of the work that you have called us unto.
Lord, thank you for bringing Pastor Anderson's family home safe and Jesus name pray. Amen.
Man, Psalm 82 is a really interesting chapter and it's really a chapter that's been abused
by a lot of people to teach a false doctrine that there are multiple gods.
And I'm going to start out just by showing you some very clear scriptures that teach
that there's only one God.
And whenever we're interpreting the Bible, it's always important to start with what we
know for sure and then move to what's unknown, right?
We know we're not misunderstanding,
and then use those to interpret the scriptures
that are not clear, right?
Those that have done math,
this is how algebra works, right?
First, you work from what you know,
and then you determine the unknown
based on what you do know.
Okay? Same thing with like those little logic problems that you'll do in a crossword puzzle,
right? And you have the little chart, and you fill in all the data that you know,
and then everything else falls into place. So people will often take things out of context
to teach something that is false, and false doctrine will go against clear Scripture.
It'll take something unclear, twist it, and then contradict something that's really clear.
So what we're going to do tonight is we're going to look at some really clear scriptures
to at least establish some constants before we go after the variables, before we figure
out the unknown.
But then not only that, we're going to look at the context because here's the thing.
that continues starting in verse 1 and continues all the way to verse 8,
and it's one coherent thought.
And so if somebody's just taking out one verse and drawing a conclusion from it,
they could get the wrong idea.
Whereas if you read the whole thing, it actually makes a lot of sense.
So let's start out with verse number one.
It says,
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty,
he judgeeth among the gods.
So you have this mention of God's plural.
What does that mean? What are we talking about?
Well, I submit to you and I've studied this very much throughout the Bible.
I've looked up every single reference to the lower case G, God, or God's plural.
And I believe that every single time you have God's plural,
it is always referring to false gods and they are not real.
They're not gods.
They're not real okay, and so there are things that are called gods and that are called lords
But there is truly only one God there are not multiple gods and anytime we see the word gods
We are talking about
false gods, because that's the only way that there could be.
And again, I've looked up every single mention
and I believe that that stands true
and I can defend that and so forth.
But let's get some evidence on this.
Look at Isaiah chapter 44, if you would.
Flip over to Isaiah chapter 44.
And while you're turning to Isaiah 44,
I'm gonna read for you from 1 Corinthians,
chapter number eight, verse four.
It says this in 1 Corinthians 8,
as concerning therefore the eating
of those things that are offered
We know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one.
So he's saying, look, let's just get this out of the way.
One thing we know for sure, idols aren't real, okay?
Because there's only one God, there's no other God, and so idols are nothing in this world.
that when you're worshiping idols, you're basically worshiping demons
who are impersonating gods
but it's not a real God because there is only but one God
and that's what the Bible clearly tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 4
and then it's clarified further in verse 5 when it says
for though there be many that are called gods
whether in heaven or in earth as there be God's many and Lord's many but to us
there is but one God the father of whom are all things and we in him and
One Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we buy him so in verse 4
He says there is another God but one but there are just entities that are called gods, but they're not actually gods
There's just one God. There's just one Lord Jesus Christ and so forth
Now, there's a false doctrine out there that says,
oh, well, there's this divine counsel of gods
in the Old Testament.
And when God says things like,
let us make man in our image,
you know, he's speaking to this divine counsel of gods
and that these different gods are assigned
different geographies and so forth.
And it's a stupid wrong false doctrine.
And look, let me just tell you something.
Avoid the work of Michael Heiser.
Okay, I'm not going to go into a big thing about Michael Heiser, he's dead now anyway,
he died a few years ago I believe, but his teachings are wrong, they are false and I've
made videos in the past where I showed his dishonest scholarship and twisting of the facts
things lies in his book, and I'm not going to redo all that,
but I debunked him on Deuteronomy 32
and showed how he basically was lying about the evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
I pulled up pictures of the Scrolls, and again, I'm not doing that deep dive tonight,
but just, if you're familiar with Michael Heiser, avoid him.
Okay? He's a false teacher and he's wrong and he's the one who's famous for this
divine counsel of God's theory. Here's the problem with that. If you have these different gods
of different geographies, then why does the apostle Paul say, well no, all these idols are nothing
because there's only one real God.
How about that?
Why don't we start there?
How about Isaiah chapter 44, if you want something from the Old Testament?
It says in verse 6, Thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel, and his redeemer, the Lord
of hosts, I am the first and I am the last, and beside me there is no God.
That's a pretty clear statement, isn't it?
Beside me there is no God.
Look at Isaiah 45 verse 5 it says I am the Lord and there is none else
There is no God beside me I girded thee though there has not known me and again this whole section of the book of Isaiah
Is just replete with verses about the fact that there is only one God saying you know before me
There was no God formed neither shall there be any God after me
I'm he and there's none else.
Beside me, there is no savior.
I'm the only God.
There's no other God.
I mean, if you just read Isaiah 43, 44 and 45.
It's just over and over again this is absolutely hammered that there's only one God
Of course, there's the famous scripture in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 here. Oh Israel the Lord our God is
One Lord how about in the New Testament James chapter 2 the famous passage thou believe us that there is one God
Thou doest well how about there is one?
God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And so we have clear scripture in Timothy, clear scripture in James, clear scripture
in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 and just a whole bunch of clear scriptures in Isaiah chapters
43 to 45.
And so to walk away saying that there are multiple gods is to defy clear scripture.
And obviously this is a cute doctrine, so it appeals to people as some kind of, ooh, new, exotic doctrine.
People sort of like the Athenians who are just always wanting to hear some new thing.
You know, and then you can be famous and you can write a book about your little divine counsel of gods or whatever.
Sorry, there's only one God.
And there's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and you know what the Bible says in the Old Testament in Psalm 96?
It says, and we might as well go there because we're going to be in Psalm 82 anyway, flip over to Psalm 96 verse 4,
I'll start reading it while you go there, for the Lord is great and greatly to be praised.
Now watch this statement.
he is to be feared above all gods.
So if you just looked at that statement,
well the Lord's to be feared above all gods,
you could walk away with a wrong viewpoint that says,
oh well, there are other gods out there,
is just the Lord's the best one.
or the Lord is the supreme God, or the Lord is the most powerful God.
But look at the next verse. It says,
He's to be feared above all gods,
for all the gods of the nations are idols, it says in verse 5,
but the Lord made the heavens.
So why is the true God supposed to be feared above other gods?
Because the other gods aren't real.
That is why, because they are not real, and the only sense in which they could be seen
as real is that people worship demons, people worship devils.
Those devils are impersonating gods, they are pretending to be gods, but they are not real
gods, okay?
They should not be called gods, they're only called gods because of the fact that people
And so the Bible is saying, hey, all the gods of the nations are idols.
Hey, the gods of the Philistines, the gods of the Egyptians,
don't worship them. Don't bow down to them.
That should have no other gods before me.
He's not saying that they really are gods.
He's saying the reason you don't worship them is because they're not actually gods.
They're only claiming to be gods.
And that is what the Bible clearly teaches.
And so I don't think that it's very hard to see that when you just look at a few really
clear passages.
But then you come to something like Psalm 82 and some of those people are thrown for a
loop by this in Psalm 82.
But I believe that if we look at it in context, it's all going to make good sense to you.
So in Psalm 82, it says in verse number one, God standeth in the congregation of the mighty.
He judgeeth among the gods.
and accept the persons of the wicked.
Sealah, defend the poor and fatherless.
Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy.
Rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
They know not, neither will they understand.
They walk on in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are out of course.
I have said ye are gods,
and all of you are children of the most high,
but ye shall die like men,
and fall like one of the princes.
Arise, O God, judge the earth.
for thou shalt inherit all nations."
I read the whole thing because I want you to kind of get the whole context here and
see how this works and understand how this is connected.
So it starts out in verse number one with a comparison between God and other gods.
Isn't that exactly what we saw in Psalm 96 when it says,
He's to be feared above all gods for all the gods of the nations or idols?
That's a comparison, isn't it?
Our rock is not like their rock," it says in Deuteronomy 32.
And so it's a comparison between the true God and false gods, okay?
And that's what we're talking about here in Psalm 82, false gods.
God's standard in the congregation of the mighty.
he judgeth among the gods.
So basically, God can stand up to the scrutiny
of being compared to other gods,
and he stands in judgment of these other gods
and points out their flaws and deficiencies
because, number one, they're false,
they don't exist, they're not real,
but number two, even the attributes
that are ascribed to them make them out to be
less than righteous.
And I've talked about this before, have you studied Greek and Roman mythology, other ancient
mythologies of polytheistic cultures, their gods are not even necessarily good or benevolent
or righteous.
They lie, they cheat, they steal, they commit adultery, and they are malicious, vindictive.
They're not loving, good, righteous gods like the God of the Bible.
So it says this, you know, how long will you judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked defend the poor and fatherless?
do justice to the afflicted and needy, deliver the poor and needy,
rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
And what he's explaining here is that these false gods
and the false religions that are based on them
cannot fix the problems of this world.
They can't help people that are wronged and done in justice.
They can't help the poor people.
They can't help the fatherless.
They can't help the afflicted and needy.
But you know what? God goes to bat for all of the above.
If you study the book of Psalms and study the book of Proverbs, we know that God is
looking out for the poor.
He's looking out for the fatherless.
The Bible says, when my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.
He is looking out for all of these people that are wronged and
Injustice is done under them
you know you think about the biblical character Jacob and how Laban is constantly ripping him off and
You know stealing his wages and God says you know what?
I've seen everything that Laban is doing to you and God ended up
Transferring a lot of Laban's wealth over to Jacob because he sees someone who's being oppressed ripped off
Afflicted and he goes to bat for them
Okay, and he goes to bat for them in two different ways.
Number one, God helps out the poor, afflicted, downtrodden, fatherless, you know, the people
who call out to them, he helps them by answering their prayers and by actually just supernaturally
stepping in and helping them out himself.
But number two, he helps all of these groups by teaching humanity and teaching Christians
to actually be kind and helpful to these kinds of people.
And so he helps them both directly and indirectly, right?
By doing things for them himself and by teaching us, hey.
Take pity on the poor.
Hey, don't oppress people that are handicapped,
people that are blind, people that are deaf,
you know, people that are fatherless.
Treat them well.
Don't oppress foreigners.
Don't oppress strangers.
And so he's teaching us to do it.
So that's indirectly helping those people.
But then also he's supernaturally even getting involved
and just helping those people out
and answering their prayers when they call unto him.
And so he's saying to these false gods,
hey, you know, defend the poor and fatherless.
Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy.
Rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
And then look at verse five.
It says, they know not, neither will they understand.
You see, here's the thing.
These false gods, these idols, they don't know anything
and they don't understand anything
because they are dumb idols.
They have eyes and they see not.
They have ears and they hear not.
They have feet and they go not.
They have hands and they do not.
because they can't do anything and the Bible says they that worship them are like unto them.
And so here's the thing, not only are the gods of the heathen ineffective because they're not real and in the only sense that they're real is that, you know, demonic entities are being worshipped and they're impersonating gods, devils and demons.
So not only can they not help you, but also the people who worship them are like unto them, they're also ineffective at solving the world's problems.
They're also ineffective at helping the people around them because they are part of a false religion
and worshiping a false God. And therefore it says they know not, neither will they understand,
they walk on in darkness, right? The people who follow them are walking in darkness because they
don't know and they don't understand. First of all, the gods don't know and don't understand
They're just a piece of stone, they're just a piece of metal, they don't know, they don't understand.
And then the people who worship them, they also don't know, they also don't understand,
because God repeatedly says, they have eyes and see not, they have ears that hear not,
and those who worship them are like unto them.
Just as the idol is blind because its eyes are just painted on.
People who worship idols are blind as well, unsaved people are blind.
Getting saved is when your eyes are open, it's when you are enlightened,
it's when now you can perceive and understand and know how the world works,
know the truths of God's Word.
And so there's a double meaning here because they, the people who follow them, walk in darkness
because they don't know nor understand, but also the gods themselves don't know or understand
As the Bible says and as a result verse number five ends with this statement all the foundations of the earth are out
Of course, so why is the world a messed up place?
Because the world is a messed up place and I'll tell you why the world's a messed up place because of Hinduism
Islam
Catholicism
Mormonism, okay, Buddhism
Atheism that is why the world's a messed up place
It's because we're not following the God of the Bible, it's because we're not honoring
the God of the Bible.
If everyone had the Bible in their home, if everybody in America had a King James Bible
and said, this is my final authority, this is how I'm going to live my life, and even
though we're all sinners, if everybody just believed on Jesus, had the Holy Spirit living
inside of them and was at least trying to follow this book, obviously this world would
be a dramatically different place.
Right? And if India were following this book, it would be a dramatically different place, right?
Africa, Asia, you name it, okay? God's people know how to live right.
And they know what the right thing to do is, and obviously I'm not saying that Christians are perfect,
but Christians at least have the perfect guidebook.
And if they're attempting to follow the perfect guidebook, and if they're showing up at church
and constantly hearing teachings from a perfect book,
Well, guess what?
They're going to have a lot more answers to the world's problems than the heathen will.
And that is why the foundations of the earth are out of course.
Everything's messed up.
Everything's out of place.
The world is a very messed up place because of not following the Bible, because of not
being Christian, because of not taking heed to the word of God.
The people who don't follow the Bible have the most messed up lives.
people that are following the Bible, that's going to improve their lives.
And this is very clear in this passage as you read through this that there's like a flow of ideas here, okay?
Because
Otherwise, I guess you just have to believe that these are just sort of random verses stitched together for no reason.
But I want you to try to follow the logic here.
He starts out in verse number one with a comparison saying, God stands in the congregation of the mighty.
You know, He stands as being the ultimate in strength and might.
He holds his own he stands in the congregation of the mighty and he judges among the gods
So it's like he can basically look around at the Hindu gods and all these other false pagan gods
And he can look around at that and say okay. Well, you know what?
This is what you are. You are dumb idols
You are judging unjustly.
You can't defend the poor and fatherless.
You can't do justice to the afflicted and needy.
You can't deliver the poor and needy.
You can't rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
And here's the thing that you need to remember.
This is a poem.
We have to remember the genre here. This is poetry, so it is obviously not always to be taken super literally.
You have to understand this is a metaphor. It's a poetic device.
Just like when God talks about the idols, how they have eyes and they can't see, they have ears, but they can't hear.
Obviously they don't really have eyes and ears, they're painted on.
They're just molded or shaped or whatever, but basically it's a poem and so he's saying,
okay, well, you know what, if you're a God, why don't you do something?
Why would you serve a God who can't do anything and can't fix anything?
Why would you pray to a God that can't hear you?
Why would you worship a God who isn't even coherent of anything that's happening because
he's a piece of wood or a piece of metal or doesn't exist?
And demons don't have the power to fix your life or to fix this world or to do anything good, right?
They're harmful entities.
And so he goes through and talks about the fact that they know not, you know, why can't they defend the poor, deliver the poor, help out the afflicted and the need?
Why can't they? Because they know not. They don't even know what's going on. They don't even understand what's going on.
The people who follow them are walking in darkness and therefore the world is a messed up place.
All the foundations of the earth are out of course.
Okay, now we're getting to the next.
So I feel like we probably have a pretty good understanding of the first five verses here.
I think you can see the logic here of God comparing himself to other gods
and then talking about all the injustices in the world that are not being addressed
because the gods don't know.
And the people who follow them don't know, and they're walking in darkness, and therefore the world's a messed up place.
So don't blame the world's problems on God.
The world's problems are from people ignoring God.
It's from people disobeying God.
It's from people rejecting God.
God has given us free will, and we have in many cases messed things up.
So now that we understand verses 1 through 5 and understand where God's going with this,
then we can look at beginning in verse number 6 where the kind of the sticky part of the chapter
that people may be struggle with.
I have said ye are gods and all of you are children of the Most High.
So, here's the problem is that if you take a verse like this out of context, it'd be
pretty easy to twist this to say, well, you know, God is saying that these entities really
are gods and so forth.
But first of all, that's not really even what's going on because the I here is the
Psalmist.
Because the Psalmist talks about God in the third person, he says, God standeth in the
congregation of the mighty.
It is the Psalmist talking, okay?
And here's the thing, he says,
I've said ye are gods and all of you are children of the most high.
Now, let's say we were to just take this at face value, right?
Let's say we were to take this, oh, they really are gods.
Oh, they really are children of the most high.
And then you get this doctrine that, you know, the sons of God
are these other deities in the divine council.
And, you know, this is all the Michael Heiser goofball stuff that you should avoid.
But the next verse just completely debunks and destroys this
Because he says I've said you're gods and all of you are children of the Most High
But ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princess
I mean if these were truly gods isn't the
Hallmark of what it even means to be a god that gods are immortal as opposed to humans that are mortal
I mean, if you read any ancient Greek literature, ancient Roman literature, if you read pagan
polytheistic literature, the gods are usually, in fact, just referred to as the immortals.
In fact, they're referred often more as just immortals than they are even using the word
gods.
Obviously, the Greek counterparts of those words, I'm speaking English to you tonight,
but the point is that they're called immortals.
is that they're supposedly immortal, they're false gods.
All of them, that's the point.
That's what it even means to be a god
in their polytheistic worship practices.
And I would assume that Hinduism is probably the same way
that the Hindu gods are considered immortal, am I right?
All right, and so here's the thing about that
is that if these are really gods,
then why does he say you're gonna die like men?
You're going to die.
like humans, okay? If we're talking about actual gods or divine being, sons of God, divine counsel,
then why would he say you'll die like men? Now, I say that when the Bible says sons of God,
it's talking about actual saved people, people who have eternal life.
So, the sons of God are immortal as well.
Why?
Because the Bible says, behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that
we should be called the sons of God.
Therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not, beloved, now are we the sons
of God.
And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
The Bible says we're the sons of God.
Right? But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. So if the sons of God are saved Christians, guess what
they have? They have everlasting life. They have eternal life. Sons of God have eternal
life. You say, well, in the Old Testament people will claim that in the Old Testament
sons of God meant angels. That's funny because in Hebrews chapter 1 it specifically says
It says in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 5,
But under which of the angels said he at any time,
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee,
Or I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
Right?
Nowhere did he ever say to the angels,
Thou art my son, I'll be to you a father,
You're going to be to me a son.
I mean, I don't see how you get much clearer than Hebrews 1, 5, and 6,
You know one thing that we know sons of God are is regenerate people and I think that that could be regenerate people of the
Old Testament or the New Testament
People still got saved in the Old Testament and people get saved in the New Testament people had eternal life in the Old Testament
Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was glad Jesus said
And so Abraham, he was up in heaven, seeing Christ and seeing all the wonderful things
and rejoicing.
And the Bible lists all those Old Testament saints in Hebrews chapter 11, and it says,
what compasses about with the great cloud of witnesses?
So those Old Testament saints, they're not dead, they're alive.
Hey, God's the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
God's not the God of the dead, but of the living.
And so Abraham's alive.
Isaac's alive.
Because the sons of God have eternal life because the sons of God are human beings who have called upon the name of the Lord and been saved.
Whether in the Old Testament they called upon the name of the Lord and were saved, or in the New Testament they called upon the name of the Lord and were saved,
that is what we're talking about and we're talking about the sons of God.
And so this verse right here that says, you shall die like men, apparently we're not talking about anyone who's immortal, are we?
Because he says well, I've said you are gods that doesn't he didn't say you guys really are gods
And you really are all children of the most high. No, he said I said that
You know what I said that
People say stuff
That isn't true people have wrong ideas people have wrong thoughts and it's corrected in the next verse
Right. It's sort of like when Mary says hey Jesus, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing
then Jesus corrects her and says well watch you not that I must be about my
father's business. So she's like oh your dad and I've been looking for you he's
like well no I've got to be about my father's business basically saying no
Joseph's not my father.
Mary calls Joseph, Jesus' father, but Joseph is not his father, and so he corrects her.
So if you read the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon comes to a lot of wrong conclusions throughout
the book of Ecclesiastes as he's learning and thinking through things, and then ultimately
he gets to the right conclusions.
But we see his process as we read through the book of Ecclesiastes, so it's really
to understand the genre that you're reading a poetic book and you have him
saying well I said I said your gods and all of you are children of the Most
High but ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes and I'm gonna go
into that in more detail in a moment but think about how this is probably
something that a lot of people think and say even in 2025 hey we're all God's
I mean, how many people do you think in America think we are all God's children?
I think tons of people, even Christians, think that.
They would just say, we're all God's children, everybody's God's children.
Yet the Bible says, but as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the
sons of God.
Even to them that believe on his name. If you become the sons of God that means you weren't previously and now you are
That's what the word become means. Not only that it says you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus
The means by which we are children of God is faith in Christ Jesus
And so you become a child of God when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because God has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That's what the Bible says.
So we've been born again.
We've been begotten again.
That's why we're children of God.
And so this is a wrong attitude that just says, oh, all of you are children of the Most High.
Thinking that other deities and gods are children of the Most High is a wrong doctrine.
Right in again polytheistic systems of mythology Greek is the one that I'm the most familiar with so that's kind of
What I'm going to keep hearkening back to but here's the thing if you study other
Mythologies of the Near East or of Europe. It's the same stuff and then you look at Hinduism and the tons of similarities
So you they're all the same
It's all garbage, but you can grab Roman, you know, Scandinavian, Greek, and and it's all pretty much same
I'm gonna just kind of use Greek because I think that that's one that maybe most Americans are even more familiar with and
Certainly what I'm more familiar with than some of these other systems
But again, if you study these other systems, you'll see
Polytheism is polytheism in many ways a lot of the same patterns are over and over again
And so a lot of times you'll have like a father figure God
Zeus, right? And then it's like, he's called Father Zeus because he's the father of the
other gods. And these other gods are children of Zeus or whatever. But even Zeus has a father
and a grandfather and he's a created being and blah, blah, blah. It's not the God of
the Bible folks, okay? But the point is that a lot of people want to make the God of the
and they want to connect this.
And you can even see this linguistically,
you can see how even the word Zeus, Z-E-U-S,
you change the Z to a D and you have Deus,
which is the Latin word for God.
Or how about the Romanian word for God?
Dumnezeu, you know?
And so you can see linguistically
how these things are connected, okay?
And so a lot of people, unfortunately,
bring pagan ideas to the table when they're thinking about who the God of the Bible is,
but the Bible defines who the God of the Bible is.
Okay?
And here's the thing.
There are not other gods,
and God doesn't have all these other little gods that are like His sons.
that are like minor deities or a divine council of gods or something.
I mean, this is just a polytheistic idea, pagan idea is what it is.
And it's just being repackaged for modern Christians
as this cute thing, this divine council theory. It's really just a repackaging of
ancient pagan polytheistic ideas.
And even in, and again I'm not claiming to be an expert on Hinduism, but even in Hinduism you have all of these gods and they talk about, oh there's just millions of gods, right?
But you know what, if you really get into Hinduism you find out that there is one supreme deity to them, and some of them would even claim that they're not polytheistic because they do have one supreme deity.
And you know what, we're not going to do that to the God of the Bible.
You understand what I'm saying?
No, there's only one God.
He has no equal, okay?
And his sons are human beings who have called upon the name of the Lord.
Angels don't have that privilege, right?
You know what the Bible says about our salvation in 1 Peter chapter 1?
It says which things the angels desire to look into.
It basically is saying, you know, the angels, they wish they were us in some ways in 1 Peter chapter 1.
And let's turn there because I don't want to get it wrong here.
Go to 1 Peter chapter 1 and let's just look at it in context here.
It says in verse number 9, let's start with verse 9 of 1 Peter chapter 1.
It says receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation
the prophets have inquired and searched diligently and prophesied of the grace that should come
unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them
did signify.
Notice the Spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets.
When it testified, when the Spirit testified beforehand, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow,
unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you,
with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.
I mean, look, the angels would love the salvation that we enjoy and have.
Everything, right? But it's not for them.
It's for us the angels are not sons of God under which the angels said he had any time thou art my son
This day have I begotten the end again. I will be to him a father and he will be to me a son
Let me ask this did God say to human beings. I will be to you a father and you will be to me a son. Absolutely
How about in second Corinthians?
Rennie says,
Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and I will be a father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, sayeth the Lord."
So we are sons and daughters
of God as saved Christians. Do the angels have that privilege?
Do they have that salvation? Are they sons and daughters of God?
They are not. Okay, the Bible
And so there's this attitude out there that basically says,
oh, other gods, those are sons of the main god.
Eh, wrong, okay?
That's a wrong idea.
Here's another wrong idea.
Oh, all humans are children of God, also a wrong idea.
Does everybody understand this?
Well, guess what else is a wrong idea if you're still there in Psalm 82?
Go back to Psalm 82 so we can wrap up there.
I have said ye are gods.
You know what?
He was also wrong about them being gods.
He said, well, I said ye are gods
and all of you are children of the most high,
but, but turns out you're gonna die, sucker.
So, you know, it's like, oh, I said you're gods
and all of you are children of the most high.
What good is that if you're gonna die like a man?
Why?
Cause you're not really sons of God
and because you're not really children of the most high,
that's why you go and die.
because children of the most high are not going to die.
God's by definition don't die.
And, of course, there is only one God.
And you know what the Bible says about God?
Who only hath immortality.
Who only!
God, the Bible says in, what is that?
First Timothy.
6, I don't know, 1, chapter 1, I don't know, it's in there somewhere, I promise.
He says, who only hath immortality, yeah, 1 Timothy 6, who only hath immortality, dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man is seen nor can see, to whom be
honored in power everlasting, amen, who only has immortality, only God, but then the Bible
says that he has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.
Not demons, not Satan, they're going to spend eternity in hell, which is a place of eternal death.
It's not considered being alive. It's considered being dead when you're there. It's a place of death.
Now you're conscious in hell, but that's not life. That's death.
Even though it is a conscious eternal torment in hell that the Bible teaches.
And by the way, it's not just a conscious eternal torment in hell for humans.
It's a conscious eternal torment for demons and the devil as well.
In fact, the everlasting fire, according to Matthew 25, was prepared for the devil and his angels.
That's who it was prepared for.
God doesn't want anybody to go there.
God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
That's what God would love to see.
Now, with everything that we've understood so far, let's put it all together, okay?
So with our understanding of verses one through five, and then we roll into verse six, well, I've said you're gods.
So what did I say gods always means? Anytime we have gods plural in the Bible, what is it referring to every single time, according to Pastor Anderson?
False gods, okay. So we're talking to false gods here. I've said you're gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.
But you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes.
Here's what's interesting about the false gods that existed at the time that Psalm 82 is written.
Nobody's worshiping any of them anymore.
Stop and think about it.
I mean, what are the big religions today?
Islam...
Buddhism, Hinduism, and here's the thing, back then what were people worshiping?
They were worshiping Baal, and Ashtaroth, and Molec, and okay, how many Molec
worshipers are there today? Okay, besides the people in Congress.
that go to Bohemian Grove or whatever.
I'm saying, look, worshipping Moloch's not a thing anymore.
Worshipping Cayenne is not a thing anymore.
Worshipping Remfan is not a thing anymore.
Worshipping Bale is not a thing anymore.
Worshipping Astroff is not a thing anymore.
You know what? Those gods have died.
It's sort of like languages have died, right?
Dead Latin is a dead language.
Sanskrit is a dead language.
What's that one in Asia Minor, the Anatolian language, it's called Hittite. Hittite is a dead language.
They're dead languages out there. Old English is a dead language. Languages come and go, they die.
Well, guess what? These false gods have died. Somebody started worshiping a false god.
It popped up, people worshipped it, and then the religion died.
And the false religions of this world come and go.
Jesus Christ will never go.
The Bible, the Word of God, these 66 books will never go.
You know, John Lennon of the Beatles famously said, we're more popular than the Beatles
right now.
Or excuse me, he was the Beatles.
He said, John Lennon of the Beatles famously said, we're more popular than Jesus Christ
Okay, that's what John Lennon of the Beatles said we're more popular the Jesus Christ right now
And he said after people are done worshiping Jesus people will still be listening to the Beatles is what he said
So he said someday people are no longer going to be worshiping Jesus
But they'll still be listening to the Beatles and you know what's funny is that in 2025 when I talk to young people
They don't listen to the Beatles
You know what I mean, and I'm sure that there are some retro kids out there listening to it
But the vast majority of young people are like what who huh the Beatles they're not into it and once all the boomers are gone
There aren't gonna be a lot of Beatles listeners left
But give it a hundred two hundred five hundred years and no one's gonna care about the Beatles
But you know what more people are worshiping Jesus Christ today than ever
You know, you know, it's funny is that you have literally
Every Sunday morning in America you have just tens of millions of people going to church.
I forget the exact number. Don't quote me on this, but maybe it's like 70 some million people going to church every Sunday in America, right?
So I wonder if 70 million people are getting together and sing and I want to hold your hand on Sunday.
You know, they just aren't.
Guess what? Way more people are thinking about Jesus than John Lennon, and every single year people are going to forget the Beatles more good.
Forget the stupid Beatles. Let's talk about Jesus.
And so the point is that these so-called gods, these so-called children of the most high, they die like men.
They have a lifespan, they live, they die, and then they're gone.
And all of that, they fall like one of the princes, right?
Just like a dynasty falls, princes, leaders, kings, their dynasty falls, their kingdom falls,
their government falls, they have a regime change.
And so, the Bible says, you'll die like men and fall like one of the princes.
You could, if you wanted to, even apply this phrase even more broadly as well, and think
about the New Agers who kind of tell everybody, you're gods, ye are gods, and all of you
are children of the Most High.
Isn't that sound like something that Oprah Winfrey would tell you?
But yet, the people that she's saying that to, the people that are eating up that New
are gonna die like men and they're gonna fall like one of the principle. I think the primary application is talking about how the
false gods will die like men and the reason they die like men is because they're not men because they're not human because they're not real and
Again, if you want to think of them as oh the demons that represent them, then you know, they're gonna die too
And they will die like men in the sense that they're going to go to the same hell that humans go to.
And here's the thing, when unsafe humans go to hell, they're going to be tormented day and night in hell, in the fires of hell.
But guess what? So will the devil.
The Bible says in Revelation 20-10 it says,
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.
The devil, the false prophet, the Antichrist are going to be tormented day and night forever
and ever in hell.
It sounds like they're going to die like men.
And then it says in verse 8, more proof that God is not the one speaking here, arise, O
God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all nations.
Again, this is the Psalmist speaking, and this is our buddy Asaph.
that we've been hearing from for the last, what, 10 Psalms that we've been reading.
Our buddy Asaph is the one that's saying,
Arise, O God.
And our buddy Asaph is the one who says,
Well, I said you're gods,
and all of you are children of the Most High,
but you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes.
You know, he could be talking about a,
there's a couple different ways to interpret this, okay?
Number one, he could be talking about a previously held belief,
where he used to be a new age kind of guy.
Because there's nothing new about new age.
There's no new thing under the sun.
That could be one explanation, or it could be that he's being sarcastic.
Oh, yeah, you guys are gods. You're all children of the mother side.
No, you're gonna die! Suck up!
That could be sarcasm as well, or it could be a previously held belief.
Either way, it's a wrong belief.
That's being corrected now here is now again. I don't think that this I think once it's explained to you
I think it's clear isn't it on the page in front of you? I think you're looking at it
You're seeing it you're tracking. It's making sense verse one two three four five
all the way down to the end.
So he says in verse 8,
Arise, O God,
Asaph is praying,
Arise, O God,
judge the earth,
for thou shalt inherit all nations.
Again, it's not like,
oh, I do this geography,
you do this geography,
Philistines have their God,
Israel has their God.
No, the Bible says God's going to inherit all nations.
And again, that's a bold claim.
Back when this was written, you know assuming that this is the asaph of David's day that wrote this this is being written around a
Thousand BC. It's a pretty bold claim to say well the Lord God of Israel is going to inherit all nations
But now here in 2025 that makes perfect sense because literally people in every single nation on the planet are worshipping the God of the Bible and
The Bible has been translated into every language that has any literature in it whatsoever
That has any kind of a writing system the Bible's in that language
Okay? And so you have the Bible in all languages. The knowledge of the Lord has covered the
earth as the waters cover the sea. And that's what we see. Bold claim in a thousand BC, but
it's prophetic and the prophecy has been fulfilled through Jesus. The whole world knows about
the Bible, knows about Psalms, knows about Christ and God the Father. So God, you judge
Right the ones who judge unjustly and the ones who can't defend the poor they can't deliver the poor need
They can't rid them out of the hand of the wicked and so on and so forth
So I think we have a really solid understanding of Psalm 82 without even going to John chapter 10 and looking at the New Testament
Just taking the Psalm in its own right
understanding it in its own context asaf surrounded by polytheistic religions it all
in a self-contained way makes sense, we understand it, okay?
Now let's go to John chapter 10 and we're going to look at the quotation of this by Jesus
because this is a very strange quotation by Jesus. But again, if we look at it in context,
I think it's going to make sense. John chapter 10 and we're going to look at this quotation.
And I remember when I was, let's see, 16 years old, 16 years old after church on a Sunday night,
The whole church went to Denny's
because the evening service had a small attendance
at the church that I went to.
And so every single Sunday night at church,
we would all go to Denny's and eat at one big long table.
And I remember when I was 16 years old,
walking up to my pastor and opening my Bible
to John chapter 10 and saying,
what the heck does this mean?
And the pastor is just like, I don't know, man.
And he kind of gave me some thoughts
and gave me some ideas, but at the end of the day,
he's like, yeah, it's just a rough passage
and I don't really know.
And look, I'm not faulting him or criticizing him
because it is a difficult passage.
It is strange, okay.
And so it said, I'm just pointing that out to show
that this is a passage that people are sometimes confused
about or struggle with, but I believe that I'm gonna be able
to shed some light on it for you tonight.
So we already read the whole chapter before the service,
but we'll just kinda jump in and look at this a little bit.
It says in verse 30, I and my father are one.
So John 10, 30, I and my father are one, okay?
It says in verse 31, then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father.
For which of those works do you stone me?
The Jews answered him saying, For a good work we stone lean on, but for blasphemy, and because
that thou being a man, makest thyself God.
Now look, this is an accusation that Jesus gets repeatedly.
Making it sound like you're God. You're making yourself out to be God now. Is Jesus God?
Absolutely Jesus is God
By virtue of the fact that he is the son of God right because God is a trinity
The father the son and the holy ghost and these three are one
And the Bible is very clear that all three members of the Trinity are all God.
God the Father is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.
They're not partially God, they're not kind of God. Jesus is not a lesser deity.
He is equal to God in His divinity.
You know, the Bible said about Jesus that in him dwelled all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and that's an old word that would be in our modern act, or the Godhood.
All the fullness of the Godhood dwelled in Jesus bodily.
All fullness of divinity dwelled in Jesus bodily.
Jesus Christ is fully divine.
He's just as much God as the Father is God, just as eternal.
He's not a created being. He's not a lesser being, right? We believe in the Trinity.
very clear. So it says in this verse, well, they're saying, well, you're making yourself
God. Now, here's what we have to understand about the context. Jews are picking up stones
and they're about to murder him right then and there.
And some of the most confusing passages in the four Gospels
are because Jesus is talking to unsaved people
and kind of speaking to them in riddles and dark sayings
and really just confusing them.
And then he goes and explains things to the disciples
and makes things clear later.
But he speaks to them in parables and dark sayings and everything.
And a lot of times he's just trying to outsmart them
because they're trying to get him arrested
and trying to get him killed.
So Jesus is ready to sacrifice his life,
but it has to be in the right time, in the right place.
So there are certain times, for example,
they tried to kill Jesus and they tried to throw him off a cliff
in Luke chapter 4, but he escapes because it's not his time yet.
And then there are other times when they come to him and tempt him about the woman taken
in adultery, or they come and tempt him like, hey, don't you pay taxes?
Or hey, should we give a tribute unto Caesar or not?
This is one of those things where he's in a situation where they're literally picking
up stones and about to throw them at him and about to kill them.
And Jesus has to talk his way out of this.
That's the context.
And if we miss that context, I think that's where we can go astray, okay?
That's the context. They're taking up tons of zone and so he smarts off to them.
The first thing that he says is a smart alec thing to say. He says,
many good works have I showed you from my father. For which of those works do you tell me?
Now, does Jesus actually think he's being stoned for doing good deeds? No, he's being sarcastic.
He's being a smart dog. He's saying, oh, okay, so you guys are going to kill me.
So I've done so many good deeds in front of you guys. I wonder which of the good deeds I did
Is he serious? No.
He is going to engage in some verbal sparring with them.
He often verbally spars with the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees,
and that's what's going on here.
He says, so which good work are you going to stone me for?
Verse 33 the Jews answered him saying for a good work
We stoned thee not but for blasphemy and because that thou being a man make us thyself God
Now here's the thing Jesus could have just said why I'm God, but remember
Jesus is not going around proclaiming to every single person. I'm God. I'm the Messiah
I'm the son of God. He doesn't do that. Remember he asked his disciples privately. Hey, who do you think I am?
Oh, you're the Christ. Yeah, you're right
I am the Christ. But he'll heal people. What about in Mark chapter 1? He heals the leper. He says,
see that thou say nothing to any man. See that no man know it. Don't tell people that, right?
He tells, oh, you know that I'm the Christ? Okay, but don't go around telling people that.
Have we read the four Gospels, people?
He repeatedly says, don't go around telling people that.
Don't tell people that I healed you.
Don't tell people I'm the Christ.
Because it gets to a point in Mark chapter 1
where he can't even enter into the city anymore
because he's too famous and he has to go out into desert places,
into solitary places and they resort to him from every quarter
because he's out in the wilderness
because he can't even enter a town anymore
because people are finding out about the miracles.
And they're trying to make him a king by force.
The reason why he doesn't just tell everybody,
I'm the Messiah, I'm God, I'm the Son of God.
Then they make him the king by force.
What's his actual game plan?
Die on the cross.
Everybody understand?
So he can't answer them in a straightforward way.
He has to answer them in a tricky way.
He can't just say to them, they're like,
you made yourself God.
He can't just be like, well, that's because I am God.
Because then they're going to kill him right then and there
Or number two, his followers are going to just take him and make him a king by force.
It's just not part of the plan.
And so here's what he says to them.
He basically just hits them with a scripture that they don't understand and discombobulates
them just to get out of there.
That's what he's doing here.
And so he says to them, he says, is it not written in your law?
I said ye are gods.
And what's interesting, what I like about this too is that he's calling the book of
Which goes to show you that the word law often mistakenly is thought to just be the first five books of the Bible
But you know what according to Jesus Jesus just kind of considers the whole Old Testament
the Torah, the law. You see that? Because the Jews, what do they do? They take the first five books and all these are special,
these are the law, these are more authoritative, and then they have the law, the prophets, and the writings, and, you know,
the book of Psalms is getting relegated to a lower status to Jews.
The book of Psalms is just as authoritative as
Exodus.
numbers or Deuteronomy, right? Amen? The whole Testament, all scriptures give
my inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine. And so I love this
right here that he says, your law, and then he quotes Psalm 82. He says, is it
not written in your law? I said, ye are gods, and that's exactly what we just
read in Psalm 82. If he called them gods,
Okay, now, now, who's the he here?
Again, you can't just guarantee, oh, this is God who called him.
It just says, if he called them gods, he is Asaph, the author of the Psalm.
If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, what does it mean, unto whom
the word of God came?
To whoever he's talking to.
Psalms is the word of God, whoever is the audience that Asaph is talking to, he's calling
someone gods in that thing.
He says, I said ye are gods, if ye called them gods unto whom the word of God came and
the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent
into the world thou blasphemest, because I said I'm the Son of God.
So he's saying, how could you get mad at me for saying I'm the Son of God when Asaph says to someone you are gods in Psalm 82?
You know, and we can't say that the Bible's wrong in that sense, you know, because somebody said that about somebody
for whatever reason and
he says
If I do not the works of my father believe me not but if I do though you believe
Not me believe the works that you may know and believe that the father is in me and I and him
Now, let me just stop and say this, I'm out of time, I've got to hurry up and get these
last thoughts in.
First of all, in the King James Version, Jesus says in John chapter 9 verses 35 and 36 that
He is the Son of God.
That is removed in the modern versions.
So you have Jesus saying that He said He's the Son of God but you never have Him actually
saying that.
Whereas in the King James, He says it in chapter 9 and then in chapter 10, He says, I said
It's incongruous in the modern versions. That's why you got to stick to the King James
Reason number 579
But here's the thing about this is that
Another let me give you one more layer of meaning here for Psalm 82 because we we saw a good
understanding of saw made to from start to finish
But let's stop and think about another layer of meaning based on what we just read in
John chapter 10 here is that what about in the Garden of Eden?
When the devil said to Adam and Eve if you eat of the forbidden fruit, you will be as gods
knowing good and evil
Okay, but then what was the result of eating that fruit being as gods?
What's the result you die?
The good news is, you're as God's knowing good and evil, the bad news is you die, right?
And so here is another aspect of this, is like he said, I've said you're God's, Psalm 82,
and all of you are children of the Most High, but you shall die like men.
You shall fall like the princes. And so the idea here is that in a sense,
Right?
Human beings are as gods because we know good and evil, but without Jesus Christ we die
and we only have eternal life through Christ.
We don't get immortality by being sons of Adam and knowing good and evil.
I said you're gods and God, or not God, the psalmist called them gods unto whom the word
of God came and the scripture could not be broken.
Again, remember we talked about kind of a dual meaning because most things in the Old
Testament all have dual meanings.
A dual meaning, who are the two groups that are being addressed in Psalm 82 according
to the dual meaning?
It is the false gods themselves and the people who follow false religion.
Remember we talked about this repeatedly this evening, how those who follow them are like unto them.
So you have the false gods and those who follow them.
You have the false deities themselves and then you have the Oprah Winfrey's of like,
hey, we're all gods and we're all children of the most high and we all have the Christ spirit inside of us or whatever.
Psalm 82 in reality is that people are told that they are gods, but they die and go to hell.
Oprah Winfrey's crowd are told that they are gods and they go to hell.
You know, humans in the Garden of Eden are told that they will be like God, but they die and without Christ they would go to hell.
You know, obviously we assume that Adam and Eve
got saved and went to heaven, you know, whereas
Obviously that's dependent upon whether they called upon the name of the Lord and we know that Abel
was saved, we know that Seth and Enos are saved and so forth.
But that's beside the point.
So I hope that this clears things up for you.
I hope that this helps you understand here
that Jesus is not just making some statement in John chapter 10.
Hey, I'm just rolling out polytheism for you guys in John chapter 10.
I mean, that's absurd.
Hey, here's the divine counsel in John chapter 10.
No, no, no, what he's doing is he's basically just giving them a hard scripture that they
can't interpret, that they can't understand, and he's just saying, well, here's a verse
where somebody says, you are God's, and I'm just saying that I'm the Son of God, so why
would you kill me for saying that?
And you know what?
You should see the works that I'm doing and know that I'm in the Father and the Father's
in me.
and then that kind of just diffuses the situation
and allows him to get out of there.
And he says, you know, believe me for the work's sake.
And then it says in verse 39,
and this is the last verse we'll read,
therefore they sought again to take him,
but he escaped out of their hands.
So again, there's only one God,
all other gods are fake,
demons are called gods,
but they die,
humans who follow demons.
think they're gods, they die and go to hell.
Human beings are promised divinity in the Garden of Eden,
but they die and without Christ they go to hell.
New Age, Oprah followers are told they're gods
and they die and go to hell, but are they really gods?
Is there really any other God except the one true God?
No.
And are other pagan deities part of a divine council
or have they ever been part of a divine council?
No.
They're demons, they're devils, they're evil,
they've always been evil.
Idols have always been wrong, period.
They've never been right.
Even in Genesis, he's like,
hey, we gotta get rid of these idols, bury them,
get rid of them.
And Jacob had to bury all the idols.
Let's pray, there's no word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Lord God's a difficult passage strong meat of the word in Psalm 82 and John 10
But Lord God just open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of thy law which includes the book of Psalms and
Lord God, please bless us as we go our separate ways and in Jesus name we pray amen
Those please and go to him number one
Him number one Jesus I my cross have taken him number one