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you you you you you you you you you you you you 33 song number 433, away in a manger song 433 . . . . . There's a song in the air There's a star in the sky There's a lover's deep prayer And a lady's old cry And the star reigns its fire But the horses will sing For the nature of red, black, and grey Knows the king There's a tune playing For the wonderful bird For the gorgeous sweet boy Is the Lord of the earth And the star reigns its fire While the beautiful sea For the nature of red, black, and grey Knows the king In the light of that smile Like a bird By the ages in the world And a song from afar There's a soul for the world Every heart is a flame In the beautiful sea In the hands of the nation And Jesus is King On the last we rejoiced In the light And we echo the song That goes down through the night From the heavenly dawn And we shout to the lovely We rejoiced, they prayed And we prayed in this prayer Our Savior and King Amen. All right. It's great to have you all here with us this evening, Wednesday night for our Bible study. At this time we're going to go through our announcements. If you do not have a bulletin, just slip your hand up real high and then one of our ushers will get to you. And if you open up to the first page, you'll see our service times listed there. Sunday morning at 1030, Sunday evening again at 5 p.m. And then Wednesday night at 7 is our Bible study. I know there's a lot of traffic out there. I have no idea where it's coming from. So we may have a few more stragglers coming in this evening. But that's what we get for living so close to Atlanta, right? Or meeting, I should say. Not necessarily living. A lot of people are like, I don't live that close to Atlanta. You just come here. We're close to Atlanta. All right. We've got the salvations and the baptisms through the month of November as well as for the year with the offering totals down there at the bottom of the page through the month of November. If you have any salvations to report, just slip your hand up real quick. We'll get those counted up. Anyone have anything to report? Yes, sir. Amen. All right. Very good. Does anyone else have anything to report? All right. Keep up the good work there. Preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Prayer requests. So we've added a couple of people. Of course, pray for brother Matt. I guess his pain was so bad that he went by ambulance to the hospital. He was released. They gave him just basically some painkillers. Doesn't sound like, and I didn't talk to Johnson Family, so I don't know the specifics other than what was posted in the prayer app. But that they, he was released. I guess they didn't really say a cause for anything and just said that he's released for duty. But he can't even like really sit. So he's still struggling with back pains and stuff. So just pray that God will heal him and whatever the issue is and whatever's causing that will go away. We also added Veronica Paris. That's brother Jared's mom. And she has been fighting with her health going back and forth and she's in assisted living home. And she went to hospital recently and she has some problems in her lungs. So just pray that that'll clear up and she could heal again. And now I don't recall at the top of my head if they said she was already released from hospital or not on Sunday. But either way, she definitely needs our prayers. And then Natalie Cubara. Remember brother Alex and his family. Alex was a gentleman that helped us install the countertops and everything. His wife is pregnant so they gave me the card. I forgot to add it to the list but she has an estimated due date of January 27th. So it was good seeing them on Sunday. Please pray for her as well. And also pray for a blessing when it comes to her immigration documents. So we've had a lot of people come to our church just in the past five years that have had to deal with United States immigration. And it's just a big mess with all the paperwork and stuff and whatever hoops they've got to jump through. I don't know what the deal is. I just know from just about everybody I hear from that it's not easy unless you're coming from a super easy country to come from. I don't know. Maybe Canada is probably fine. But she's from Ukraine so obviously it's not like she could go back there when they're in the middle of a war either. So just pray that God will bless them and everything will go smooth and her paperwork will go through and she'll get her green card or whatever that she's looking to get. So just pray for her and for the family and of course for everyone else who's on the list. Does anyone have any updates for people who are on the list particularly right now? Pray for the Sadler family. I know brother Jeremy is not well today and I think some of their children are sick. Did you have something else to add Leslie? That's right. Yeah. Leslie's mom Patti is beginning her radiation. She started yesterday with her radiation treatment but unfortunately they found that the cancer spread into more lymph nodes and stuff. So even after all the chemo it's still spreading so please pray that God will heal her of that and help her to get through the radiation treatment. I was just talking to my coworker today about radiation therapy. We could talk about that later just what his family has gone through with that as well. So please keep everyone in your prayers. Does anyone else have any other updates to report? All right. Take us home with you. Please pray for the people on our list on the next page. The December challenge at the top of the page is listed right there and that is of course our singing challenge. Sing four hymns every day. You can bring songbooks home with you if you need to do that and and stop listening to worldly music. The whole month of December. No worldly music and singing four hymns every day. That is the challenge. We've got the Christmas caroling activity December 16th. We'll meet up here at 3 30 and then kind of get our act together. Let you know what's what's going on between 3 30 and 4. So probably by about 3 45 I'll start rounding everybody up to go over all the details. So try to make sure you're at least here by then if you want to go caroling with us. 4 o'clock we'll go. We'll be heading out the door and go caroling for approximately an hour and then we'll meet back up here for dinner. So if you're attending this and you want to participate in the dinner please sign up. So we know that you're coming for the food. If you're not coming for dinner it's not required that you sign up. And after hearing this now if you did sign up and you don't plan on eating dinner let us know that on the sign up sheet so that we don't count you for food. That was kind of the whole intent of the of the sign up sheet to begin with. So just let us know about that. New church find Greenville South Carolina. Please be in prayer about that. We've got a couple of prospects where the car is going to check out and we'll see if anything will be a good fit for us. So there's definitely things going on behind the scenes. You just not always going to talk about stuff too much because it's like you could you could look through a lot of brother Brian James that you know you know it's all about that you go through a lot of different properties whether you're looking for a home to buy or whether you're looking for a commercial property to rent. You know you look a lot of different places before we finally settle down on one and you find something's going to work for you. So that's what's going on right now. So the best that everyone could do for us at the moment is just continue to pray. And once we get something established then we'll have plenty of work to do. And I'll try to make a list of all the things depending on whatever place we choose what needs to be done and things where people can help out to to get things off the ground and running. Just continue to pray for that Bible memory passage. We're on week two of nine for the second this latter half of Hebrews Chapter 10. We've got the upcoming events listed there. Of course Christmas caroling Christmas cookie exchange on Christmas Eve December 31st our watch night service. So after church in the evening we'll have a dinner and then hang out and enjoy some fellowship. And if you want to join us bring in the new year we'd love to have you here for that. And then January 19th is movie and pizza night. And then May 13th of course is that camp. So make sure you are registered for that if you plan on attending the camp on the back we've got the birthdays and the anniversaries for the month of December. And that's about it for announcements. So I will turn the service back over to brother Peter lead us our next song. One hundred fifty seven. So one hundred fifty seven. So one hundred fifty seven. First. One hundred fifty seven. One hundred fifty seven. One hundred fifty seven. One hundred fifty seven. Church while the offering plates are being passed around if you could open up your Bibles in the book of Psalms chapter eighty two. And that's the book of Psalms chapter eighty two. As we do customary here in Toronto Baptist Church we're going to read the entire chapter. Please do that in Acts. Amen church. Once again that's the book of Psalms. Psalm 82. Psalm 82 the Bible reads. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty. He juddeth among the gods. How long will you judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked? Sila defend the poor and fatherless to justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor needy rhythm out of the head 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 you are gods and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes. Arise oh God judge the earth for thou shall inherit all nations. Let's pray. Father God we thank you for being king of kings and Lord of lords. For being Alpha and Omega beginning and end. God thank you for who you are in our lives. And God fill past the birds with your spirit and allow for him to preach with power and boldness. Allow for our ears to be attended to your word. And God thank you for all the souls that have been saved and all the future souls to be saved and all the souls that have been warned. God thank you for this ministry. Thank you for all that you've done in this church. And we just praise you. Thank you for all that you do. We say this in Jesus name. Amen. All right. Psalm 82. Of course not very long psalm but you know that that doesn't mean anything and how long I'm going to preach tonight. Right. This point. Psalm 82 and actually this is really just one main subject that we're dealing with tonight. I want to focus pretty much the entire sermon just on the subject of gods like little G gods. And this is also quoted famously in the book of John. Of course we'll get to that a little bit later. And I just I want to spend a lot of time on this because I think for many people can be a very confusing passage especially when Jesus quoted us. He's quoted it back to the Pharisees in the book of John he's quoting this psalm. So I really just want to dig in and make sure that we lay a good foundation and kind of understand what the psalm is talking about. Why Jesus references this psalm so that we could have a real clear understanding of what the Bible is even talking about when he says is not written I've said you are gods right. And let's just let's jump right in here and verse number one the Bible says God standeth in the congregation of the mighty. He judges among the gods. Now one of the things that you'll notice multiple times throughout this psalm and only the eight verses that are here at least three times he's talking about judging how he's the judge and he judges. And here obviously it says he judges among the gods. Now we know that there really are no other gods like there is one God and the Bible is very clear about this as well that that there's one God. You know there's one Lord there's one God and father of all and over and over again we see that. And if you turn to First Corinthians chapter eight keep your place here. In Psalm eighty two put a book market there and go back to go forward to me the first Corinthians chapter number eight. We'll see this express because there's lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of references to gods in the Bible. And they have to be referenced because people worship false gods all the time and have all throughout history so you have to be able to talk about this subject of there being gods even though they don't really like really exist like there is no other God but one. But people are setting up gods for themselves they're putting other things in God's place of the one true God and they're worshipping what they call God. And whether that be an image an idol or whether that be a name you know like like the Jehovah's Witnesses worship a God called Jehovah which got the God of the Bible is Jehovah. But their God is not the same God as the God of the Bible. Now they'll tell you that it is but they've created a different God they have a different Jesus right because their God is not does not exist in three persons. They do not believe in the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and that these three are one they do not believe in that God but you know that's who God is. So if you're going to have a God and you're going to say no God does not exist in three persons then you don't have the God of the Bible and you've made up your own God. And you could try to claim it from the Bible but that would be false and people do the same thing with Jesus. Oh yeah I believe in Jesus but Jesus wasn't God in the flesh but he's the son of God and that's you know the Mormons do that Jehovah's Witnesses do that and there's plenty of other people who will have a false God. And 1 Corinthians 8 just covers this pretty succinctly in verse number four there the Bible reads as concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols. We know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one. Right so here's the truth of the matter people build idols and statues and they have all this stuff but that means nothing like inherently it is just an object. I mean it's an idol people that literally will get down and worship that's made out of wood is no different than this wood is no different than any other wood that comes from a tree or any you know metal that comes out of the earth like it's all just the work of man's hands and literally just has nothing special about it whatsoever. It's just an object and we know that we also know that there's none other God but one there's one God and that is it and that's final there's no other gods. This is true. But then he says in verse five for though there be that are called gods. Whether in heaven or on earth as there be gods many and lords many right it's explaining there are plenty of things that are called gods in the earth. We know there's one God and he says 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. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled. Now first Corinthians 8 is talking a lot about eating things sacrifice idols and kind of dealing with that specific issue but within the explanation. It definitely lets us know that there are no other gods for real like and the gods that people worship are you know devils right but they're still not devils aren't gods and angels aren't gods by the way too and there's a lot of confusion when it comes to certain passages that might be a little bit difficult to read. But let's you know let's do the studying on the passages where people kind of come up with these weird ideas and they come up with some pretty bizarre stuff. And it starts off like oh okay I can see how you might think that but then they always end up with some pretty serious changes and weird interpretations understanding of scripture so. But if we would just let the Bible define itself let's let let's see what it's saying on the surface here let's see how it's being used in context and I think we could get a good understanding of what the passage is talking about. So when the Bible says there back in Psalm 82 that God stands in congregation of the mighty he judges among the gods. Well the gods are just going to be these false gods right so it's not like God is is around Zeus and you know Mercury and Apollo or whatever like I'm probably mixing Greek and Roman gods but whatever those are fake gods those are gods that are made up they're not real. But God is the judge God is the supreme authority the Bible is even saying just over everybody and when the Bible is talking about gods here and we'll see this I'm going to prove this to you in just a minute. That this is primarily I believe speaking about people who think their gods are kind of act like their gods in this in this earth right and these are going to be people of great power or of great stature and in within society. These are going to be certain kings and rulers that just wield so much power that it gets to their head and they're puffed up and they just think like they are gods and they act like their gods on this earth. So in a way they are gods like the lowercase g but they're not God right clearly so this is the people who says he judges among the gods and then it says in verse 2 how long will ye judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked. So ye is plural there it's talking about the people of the earth and the judges of the earth that judge unjustly and one of the ways of judging unjustly is accepting persons where you change the judgment of what's right and what's wrong of who's going to win in a dispute based on just who the person is. And this is how you know people with a bunch of power influence money whatever are able to buy verdicts for themselves they're able to buy favor by greasing the wheels and you know bribing the judges and getting away with murder in many cases getting away with murder like literally. And it happens to this day and everybody knows about it and it's just one of those things that God sees and it makes God angry and God is the ultimate judge and that we just need to remember when there are corrupt judges and when there are people evil wicked people in high places that do wicked things and are never being brought to justice that they will face their day one day. It is coming because God judges among the gods. God is their judge and he will do justice. And this also this passage is showing us how a judge should properly judge because the unjust judge is going to accept the persons of the wicked like it says in verse number 2 they're going to just show favor to someone regardless of just going off of what's true and what's right and what's just. They give preference to specific people verse number 3 defend the poor and fatherless do justice to the afflicted and needy so a good judge again will be able to defend the poor and the fatherless the people who don't have the means to defend themselves. I mean this is one of the reasons why that the country that we live in that was founded as a Christian nation. Even as the opportunity of having public defenders and things like that just to provide people who don't have any means with the ability to be able to defend themselves in a court of law and not just requiring them to be the mouthpiece for themselves if they don't have anyone else to advocate for them or speak for them. And that is what a righteous society should do we ought we ought to be looking out for the cares and the needs of the needy of the poor of the fathers of those that don't have power influence or money in their life because. And why would we ever do that because we care about justice we care about right and wrong. We care about the truth and if you care about those things we ought to seek that our judges that are justice system would be set up in a way so that everybody will get a fair shake everyone will get a fair trial everyone will be able to have justice executed. And at the end of the day the way the Bible is I was at the judges are really responsible for making sure that everything is done decently and in order and that justice will prevail. Through these judges and a judge in the Bible. You know it's it's not necessarily just the way that we think of a judge as far as you know the guy wearing the black robe sitting behind the bench or whatever. The judges are people that would oftentimes be the rulers of the kingdom as well now of course you have judges as well and people who judge matters. But judges also can be called people who were the rulers of the nation as well we read through the whole book of judges before there was a king they had judges. And these are the people who were the leaders the ones that that kind of. Ruled over not with with the authority of a king but they they were the ones that were leading the way and and guiding the people and protecting the people and stuff like that and the people that people look to for judgment for. And for discernment look at verse number four about says deliver the poor needy rid them out of the hand of the wicked. These are all things that a good judge would do. Verse five. They know not neither will they understand. They walk on in darkness all the foundations of the earth are out of course. So. Verse two started out with how long will you judge unjustly it explains good just you know a good judge was bad judge. And then goes back to they know not they don't understand they walk out in darkness why because they're not seeking the Lord because they're their own gods because of judging just according out of their own heart or whatever. And their own interest instead of seeking the Lord to be the judge and looking to the law of God to be the truth and to be the deciding factor on how we ought to be judging. Verse six says 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 now get to that point about you're all children most high in a little in a little bit. I'm just going to skip over that for right now. And he says just to put that phrase out for just a second because we're like I said I'll come back to that which is I have said ye are gods but you shall die like men. You said you know. Yeah I called you gods because you guys essentially it's because they think they're gods they think they're so powerful and they're so mighty and they they've got all this influence of power. He says but you're going to die like men right because you can't just go and like kill God right like God is if God's all powerful like what do you think you're doing right you can't do anything but you're just going to die like a man. You think you're gods you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes. Arise O God judge the earth for thou shalt inherit all nations and there's that reference again to judging in that last verse now. The gods here reference in this passage are the rulers or judges and whether they're men who claim to be gods or idols representing some false god those are the gods that we're seeing in the Bible. And let's turn to Ezekiel chapter 28. I want to show you an example in scripture of a ruler who is acting like or thinking like he's a god. And actually I'm going to turn there too because there's there's actually Ezekiel 28 is real interesting there's two references here and without spending too much time going through this passage and you could read it later. There is a what I believe is going on in this passage is that you have the ruler who's referenced at the beginning the prince of Tyrus who would be the king of Tyrus at that time. Okay but then you also have Satan referenced as well as being someone who's ruling there and I believe both are referenced here. You've got the prince of Tyrus and you've got the king of Tyrus because they're both these powers in authority there one of them is the physical human being ruler and the other one is Satan himself. Let's start reading your verse number one. The Bible says the word of the Lord came again unto me saying son of man say unto the prince of Tyrus thus saith the Lord God because thine heart is lifted up and thou has said I am a god I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the seas. Right and remember Tyrus was a coastal city it was one that got a lot of wealth and traffic from from the ships and and it was a powerful city at one time and he's saying to the prince and prince oftentimes is used as a king as well as someone who is going to be king. Right like someone the first one prince comes from the word principle the first right that is going to be in charge there and he says that you've your heart is lifted up you said I am a god I sit in the seat of God. Right that's that's where this guy's heart is at he's thinking it's like I'm God. And look at look at the next phrase yet thou art a man and not God though thou set thine heart is the heart of God. Just like Psalm 82 was saying you know I've said you're gods but you shall die like men. You think you're a god you think you're so powerful but you're going to die like a man you're going to you're going to find out that you are truly no god no matter what crazy thought you've got going on your mind. It's going to you know you're going to find out real quick that you're just a man and and you know just pausing real quick right here. This is one of the dangers of pride. And this is what you really you really need to get yourself in check when it comes to pride if you ever start noticing proud tendencies in your life. And normally I think especially for believers and most of us here are proud of me I don't know everybody's financial situation but I think we're mostly humble like. Mostly humble people right like no one in our church I think is like really just extravagantly rich or anything like that. Not that there would be anything wrong with a rich person being part of a church I just don't think we have that here. But the reason I even bring that up is because it's easier to start becoming full of pride when you're being blessed. Now it could be financially that's one of the easiest ways like you just started coming across all this money. And if you really just start coming across a lot of money it's easier to start thinking higher of yourself like like you start to think you deserve this. You know what I mean. As opposed to being real humble and just be like look Lord I don't deserve all this stuff. Thank you for giving this to me and just being real humble about it. Right. God bless me. Yeah I work hard but you know what God's blessing you with this stuff and keeping a humble mindset. But the more you're increased the easier it is to start letting that go to your head. And then on top of that maybe you've got a bunch of people telling you how great you are and people are looking up to you and you've got this status and you say you know like you started to have more influence. This is when it really can start getting to your head into thinking that you're just greater than other people. And when you start thinking that like I'm just so special and I am so much better than other people that's you know this is where the pride kicks in and it becomes blinding. Now. Again people from humble backgrounds and where we're at. It's rare you run across someone who's just really full of pride in those scenarios. It's just it's just hard to be like that because when you don't really have a whole lot. Even if you kind of think you're you know you're something that's super special you just kind of look around and be reminded like well. No I'm still just more like everybody else. Right. It's the people who get elevated in status that can really start letting this go to their head. But the real danger is when you allow yourself to get to give into that lust of the flesh of of having that self love and self exaltation. That goes along with being proud and being just full full of pride that you can start to blind yourself. And it gets to the point with some people where they're just like they just they get so full of themselves they just think they're gone. And there was a story once and I remember reading the story. And I think it got dumped down the memory hole somewhere. Does anyone remember the story of Mark Zuckerberg. Acting real crazy like I think he was like running down the street naked or something or almost naked like just like out of like people were saying like they thought he might have been on drugs or something else and just kind of. Does anyone remember hearing that story in the news at all ever. I mean this was years ago. OK I've got a couple people who people are saying yeah I remember reading that. Like you don't see anything about that anywhere. Yeah they try to hide it well especially someone who's who's part of the social media giant right like they're real good at hiding what they don't want you to see. And I remember when I saw that because it wasn't that long after Facebook was just like blew up. And he came across so much money from from Facebook as being so popular just such as this social media giant right. And in kind of amassing all this wealth and power and it really is powerful. To sway the opinions of people and I'm not going to get into all the details on that through social media and stuff like that where it you know one person having so much given to them in such a dramatic change to to go from like. I mean I don't know I don't know Mark Zuckerberg's background or anything like that or history but just as you know if you're just a college kid or whatever but then going into just having wealth untold like just. Being able to do anything you want ever whenever you want just having people serving you all the time and just all this stuff like that can get to your head. And this is the type of wealth that the really rich and really wealthy people have and the rulers of the world different time just think like like we're gods. And it blinds you into because right now we can think I'd be like who would think they're God like you know you're not a God. But when you give yourself over that pride you just do your delusional. You get so wrapped up in that self love you you you literally start to think like I'm a God. And this is what the Bible is talking about here with these people who are in power. And I think I believe also and this is just my personal belief. I believe that this is also why Satan continues to fight. And even as we read the revelation how he's going to still try to gather people together even after he's been bound for a thousand years and still tries to get people together. Like like if you ever thought you could ever win or beat God somehow. I believe that he gets that way because the Bible says that he is lifted up with pride and that that was one of the major sins of Satan at all was that you know he was built beautiful. He was this this anointed cherub and how great he was. And then sin was found in him and he thinks that he you know he's the one who wants to be God and he's the one who's you know when when the Antichrist comes. And that's the beast again but we worshipping the beast and his image you have to receive the mark of his name in your hand or in your forehead and in all of this stuff around the worship of him. Why because he wants to be God. He's so full of himself and so full of pride and thinks he's so great and wants people to worship him that I believe he's just self deluded into thinking that he still might have a chance at like somehow overthrowing God or usurping God's authority and becoming God himself. Because when people get so lifted up in that pride you just literally just become blind to reality. This is why I think even with with everything prophesied and just foretold like no this is the way it's going to go down. That Satan still is going to go along and do that we know he's going to do this stuff and I think the reason why from Satan's perspective would be because he's just so wrapped up in himself and full of pride. Now I could be wrong about that you know angels and human beings aren't exactly the same but to me it makes sense because you can see when people get that crazy level of thinking they're so you know when they get so blinded with that pride that that's what pride does to a person. This is why we need to just always keep ourselves in check and just don't let yourself start even going down that path of being proud. Verse 3 there in Ezekiel 28, Behold thou art wiser than Daniel there is no secret that they can hide from thee with thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou has gotten the riches and has gotten gold and silver into thy treasures. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic has thou increased thy riches and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. So we're saying look you've got all this great wisdom and you've been able to traffic and trade and do all these different things to increase your riches and you've just amassed so much wealth that now that has lifted up your heart to now to where you've gotten to this point where you think you're a god because of all of these riches that you've accumulated to yourself. Therefore thus saith the Lord God because thou has set thine heart as the heart of God behold therefore I will bring strangers upon thee the terrible of the nations. They shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee I am God. And I just love this it's so powerful right like like I'm going to bring these other nations against you and they're going to kill you right. They're going to come and they are going to cut your head off. And are you going to say and I added that right doesn't say that literally but they're going to it says they're going to kill them. And he's like are you going to like right before they kill you're going to be like but I'm God. Like what are you going to you're not going to be able to stop them. Like I'm going to have you killed right. The true God is going to bring these people in and kill you. But thou shalt be a man and no God in the hand of him that slay at the yeah the guy that comes and kills you. You're not a God to him. You're going to fall like a man. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers for I have spoken and said the Lord now verses 1 through 10. I do believe that this is talking about the human being that came the prince that's in charge here of running this place because he's talking about him being killed with you know by the hand of these other nations that are going to come in and destroy him right. And that he his heart is lifted up. But if we keep reading here verse number 11 says moreover the word of the Lord came under me saying son of man take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus. Now remember verse 1 or 2 was talking about the prince of Tyrus and now he's talking about the king of Tyrus and say unto him Thus saith the Lord God thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Verse 13 says thou has been in Eden the garden of God. Now all of a sudden it's like whoa what are you talking about you've been in Eden. This physical human being that was the ruler of Tyrus was not in Eden. In the garden of God just to clear it up is not talking about just some place called Eden. Like oh yeah I've been to Eden or I've been to nowhere there's a place called nowhere Arizona. Like I've been I've been to nowhere right. You have another city called Eden somewhere it's like that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about the garden of God. Like we all know the Eden that is that has the garden of God where God made Adam and Adam and Eve dwelt. That's the Eden he's talking about. Every precious stone was thy covering and he lists off how great all these stones the workmanship thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in the day that thou was created thou art the anointed cherub that covereth and I have set thee so. Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence and thou hast sinned therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God and I will destroy thee oh covering cherub from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. And so here remember the king had amassed riches to himself the prince was said in the first he amassed riches to himself he was really good at trading and was really good at gathering wealth. And that's why he was lifted up in pride. But Satan here the anointed cherub that was in the Garden of Eden. Why was he lifted up because of his beauty because God made him so beautiful. And look you could be sitting here today going I don't have any money how come I'm not gonna get lifted up with pride. Well how wrapped up are you in your looks. And the funny thing about beauty is that some people can get lifted up in beauty. That many other people might not consider to be that beautiful but they think themselves are just that beautiful right. Because it's subjective right it's something that you can just look at yourself and think oh I am just so beautiful and. Whatever I mean now not everyone can do that like I know I don't have a chance at getting wrapped up that way. But people you know it's another area where someone can look at themselves and just stare at themselves in the mirror and think how great they are because oh I'm so beautiful and this and that. And this is how Satan was he thought you know he was created beautifully God created him beautifully he was able to sing he was able to you know he just looked really beautiful. And that allowed his heart to get lifted up the heart was lifted up because of that beauty that was corrupted by wisdom by reason of my brightness. I will cast thee to the ground I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. And on and on and it just talks about him taking you know Satan down so we see the two references there one being to the king the other being to Satan who was also like the real one I guess in charge there. Spiritually speaking of that city so these are the gods and this is these are the people who are calling himself this is in line with what we're seeing in Psalm eighty two right does that make sense. And Satan's lie even from the very beginning in turn if you would to. If you would to Hosea chapter fourteen. Hosea chapter fourteen. Even going back to Genesis Genesis chapter three the Satan's lie to Eve. The Bible says in the serpent said unto woman you shall not surely die for God doth know that in the day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods. Knowing good and evil. So he was going back to trying to get people to want to be like God saying that you'll be gods. Right because you'll you'll have all this knowledge you know God has all this knowledge so you'll be gods because you're going to get that knowledge. And that was how he was tempting them tempting Eve specifically to be like God. And Satan still uses that tactic tempting people to want to be like God. And to offer them something to have a god like status. And that is that is the heart of. Pride. Covetousness. Everything that the Bible talks about as being wicked are the things that Satan exalts. And the things that Luciferians would say are good things. But but we know that they're they're not and they destroy a person you give yourself over to these things and the thinking you're so great. It destroys you. Now. There's one other passage I'm going to read for you from Exodus 22. That I believe is I'm bringing it up it just one verse. Because I think it's relevant to Psalm 82. Again given the context of Psalm 82 because just just to kind of back up for a second and clear things up. While the vast majority of time in scripture gods are talking about idols false gods that people worship that people think are gods. Right. Just in general vast 90 some percent of the time you're going to see references to gods as people worshiping false gods. OK. Psalm 82 is a little bit different because it's referring to people who are considering themselves like gods. Right. These are the people who are in charge as rulers. And there are much fewer references to this application of someone being like a god or wanting to be God. We see the temptation in Genesis of being like gods. We see the example of Ezekiel of a king just thinking that he is God because he's in this position of power and wealth and everything else. We have Exodus 22 verse 28 which says thou shalt not revile the gods nor curse the ruler of thy people. And here I believe that reviling the gods is talking about the rulers. So when it puts it right next to nor nor curse the ruler of thy people not reviling the gods nor the ruler of thy people is talking about those that are in those positions. Of having that power and you know kind of being like they think they're God. Right. Because this isn't talking I don't think this is talking about the idols actual idols not reviling the idols or the idolatry. This is specifically being conjoined with the ruler of thy people. So that's another example that we can see here showing some more support that would be similar to context Psalm 82. And then we have Hosea 14. Now Hosea 14. We're going to see that God is a helper of the needy and all the good attributes we saw in Psalm 82 of how a judge should be. We see this being attributed to the Lord. Look at verse number one the Bible says oh Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou has fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. So will we render the calves of our lips. Asher shall not save us. We will not ride upon horses. Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands. Ye are our gods. For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. So this is a repentant people who are going to the Lord and seeking his graciousness and seeking his mercy and expressing you know and say Asher shall not save us. They're not trusting in flesh. They're not trusting in any nation or any powerful people to help them. They're going to put their trust in the Lord. Asher shall not save us. We're not going to ride upon horses. We're not going to trust in our military might. We're not going to think that any weapons that we have are really going to save us and that that is what we're trusting in for our safety. No we're looking to the Lord. He says neither will we say any more to the work of our hands. Ye are our gods. Right. The recognizing the idolatry and stuff. Look that's just these are just things that we made. They're not really gods. And then he says for in thee the fatherless find mercy. So the attribute of the true God is that the fatherless get mercy from God. The the the wood and the stone and the idols. They don't do that. They can't do anything. They're dumb. They're dumb idols. Now with all of this groundwork being laid. Let's go to John chapter 10. I think Psalm 82 as a whole those eight verses. Pretty simple to get the understanding of what it's talking about there. It's it's the whole psalm is just referring to God being a righteous judge. As compared to men who think they're gods. Right. Pretty pretty straightforward. But where people might get confused more frequently isn't with Psalm 82 as much as it is with John 10. Let's look at John 10 and we're going to get John 10 in context because this it really does matter when Jesus references this that we understand why he's even bringing it up to begin with. So look up there at verse number 23 in John chapter 10. We're start reading there the Bible says in 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 he believed not. The works that I do in my father's name they bear witness of me. So these Jews just just like they're kind of harassing Jesus and just saying how long like just just tell us plainly if you're the Christ. He's like. I am. And you don't believe me. Like the works are bearing witness like just look at what I'm doing. Look at the healing. Listen to what I'm saying. You just can't hear it. You refuse to hear it right. This is this is what's going on between Jesus and these Jews. They're not really interested in it. They're just trying to catch him in his words to have him arrested or to have him killed or to have him say something that they can use to accuse him of to get rid of him. They've already decided they know they don't think he's good. They don't think he's of God. But they say come to him as people who are saying oh well just just tell us plainly. Verse verse 26 says but you believe not because you're 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. Amen. My father which gave them he 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. Now look at this because again I mean isn't he just saying he's the Christ here. Also like I mean he's still just answering your question. Verse 31 then the Jews took up stones again to stone him again because they already tried doing this before. Verse 32 Jesus answered them how many good works have I showed you from my father for which of those works do you stone me. So now he's talking to him just going like. You've seen all the good I've been doing so why are you why are you about to stone me what what good work that I do. What work did I do that is going to make you want to stone me. The Jews answered him saying for a good work we stone thee not but for blasphemy and because that thou being a man makest thyself God. Now. These people are out to stone him they're trying to catch him in his words or try you know just by asking him the question that they already don't want to know the answer to and don't want to hear. They're trying to find a way to kill him. Now look in John Chapter 10 Jesus hours not yet come either. And this is no different than with the woman taken in adultery right where they're like well Moses said that she should be stoned but what sayest thou. Right. So they're trying to trap him and they're trying to catch him into saying in that situation. That if he says well yeah she should be put to death that they could get him in trouble with the Romans because they weren't allowed to deliver a death penalty sentence against anyone they didn't have that authority to do that. And then if he said if he said not to put her to death. Well they're going to say well Moses clearly says that she should be put you know so there's a contradiction and they're trying to trap him. And of course he answered them wisely by saying hey he that's without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her. We still. Proclaims the death penalty. In such a way. That no one can you can't get in trouble with the Romans and he's not going to you know and it convicts them and everything else right so there's he's just super wise in his answers. You know we see here. Another use of wisdom. From Jesus. The people who don't believe on him they're not going to believe on him they don't want to believe in. Their heart is already rejected. OK. So. He says you know many good works. Why do you still me. And then they answered saying for good work. We still need not but for blasphemy because that thou be a man make yourself God. Jesus answered them. 34. Is it not written in your law. I said. You're God. Now. Notice this too because you'll see this on a couple of occasions. Two or three occasions at least in scripture. That like all of the Old Testament can be referred to as the law. And this is clear from this passage right here. Because Jesus says it's not written in your law. I said ye are God now. In the first five books which are called books of Moses you will not find. The this this quote. I said ye are gods. Doesn't exist. It does exist in Psalms and Psalm 82 specifically. That's where you find it. But he's saying is it not written in your law. So he's including. The Psalms as part of. The law and and the prophets are also considered as part of the law. It's it's just this this big. Encompassing. The law right as being all of the Old Testament the law and the prophets sometimes are separated but. Don't don't let it bother you that is saying it's written in law it's not a mistake it's just a it's just a grouping of all of the Old Testament scriptures. As being the law. Verse thirty five but not and now he's going to he's he just he brings them this passage because they should know this there there are these Pharisees and stuff. They know what the Psalm says I said ye are gods. They did it's all maybe two. They didn't have the numbers then but. Verse thirty five. If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken which by the way that's another important fact right there. Scripture cannot be broken. Meaning. God's word doesn't have contradictions. The scripture can't be broken again. God does the Bible can't just say something and be and be the word of God but it's not really true. Or it's not you know it's not going to come to pass or something you know something to that effect or there's just some inherent contradiction. No it can't be broken. So he gives them he posits the question to them. Hey if he called them gods unto whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken. Say ye of him whom the father of sanctified and sent in the world thou blasphemous because I said I am the son of God. So. His claim to be the son of God is what he's throwing back at them saying you're calling me a blasphemer. The scripture said to these other people to whom the word of God came. I said you're gods. But you want to stone me because I said I'm the son of God. Do you see what he's doing there. He's using scripture against them. Because they don't understand the scripture anyways because they're not saved. They don't hear the voice. They don't get it. So it's easy for him to just throw this passage out there because they won't have an answer at all to that. Because they might not even understand why he said I said you're God right. So he's like Jesus is throwing this out there to them going OK well scripture can't be broken there. He called them gods. Well what about me. I just said I'm the son of God. 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 look. That question that he throws back at them. Is Jesus being wise so that they don't try to stone him. He's diffusing the situation with that. I don't think that he's intentionally trying to make some extra type of teaching out of this other than just to say like. Look. This is what the scripture says there. I'm making this claim. You know what's that what's the problem here now. We know in the context of Psalm 82 is it what it's talking about. And who these gods is why I said I've said ye are gods is talking about these rulers. Now you can say well what about. Where it says and all of you are children of the most high. I told you I was going to get back to that. From Psalm 82 verse 6. Because this is the literal quote I have said ye are gods. And all of you are children of the most high. Someone getting so full of pride and thinking they're like a god still doesn't make that person a reprobate. OK. It's not inherent that you just must be I mean people could be saved and get full of pride and full of themselves and lift it up. It happens. And people do foolish things. I mean. You know. There's plenty of people that I believe can get to that point. Of allowing the pride to get the better of them. And it may not specifically say it and it may not be even necessarily I'm thinking of examples in my mind right now in scripture. It might not be so extreme to where the person thinks they're God. But I would say like King Solomon is a good example of someone who probably got lifted up in pride through all of his wealth and his wisdom. Like he had this knowledge of wisdom but he ended up doing these things almost as if like like he knew it but he did it anyways. He knew he shouldn't be marrying all these outlandish women and heathen women but he did it anyways. He had the wisdom to know better but he did it anyways. And it's kind of like well where did this even come from? And I did a real interesting Bible study back in I think it was in 1 Kings where right after it mentions the amount of gold that Solomon was getting in. And it mentions it was 666 talents of gold in that year. That's when you start reading of like the downfall of Solomon and him doing it's really interesting in the scripture the way the whole story is written. You can look that up later if you don't remember that. But I think that shows you know with all of those riches amassed and with all the ease that he had there was no wars, there was no troubles, there was a time of peace. Everyone was looking up to him that he overindulged and that's for a fact he overindulged. I mean look at how many wives and concubines he had. That alone tells you yeah he overindulged. Okay and he allowed himself even in Ecclesiastes he's given himself to wine. He's like yeah but I kept my wisdom but he's saying how he's tried all these other things and just kind of trying everything that the world has to offer. Which if you have the wisdom you don't have to try those things you don't have to prove it. He did it and he's saying that he did it. It's not that he was right to do things that way. You don't have to try getting drunk to know that it's bad for you and to know that the effects are going to be bad for you. You don't have to go down that path and be like well I just wanted to check it out for myself. No if you have the wisdom just get the wisdom from the word of God you don't have to do that. But we see that Solomon did do a lot of those things that he should have done. And you know part of it I think had to do with being lifted up with pride. Now do I think he got the point where he thought he was God? No I don't think he got that far. But he did get to the point to where he's even like building these altars to false gods for his wives that turned his heart away from the Lord. And I mean you're losing a lot of fear of the Lord if you're willing to do something like that. And if you're losing a fear of the Lord you're probably thinking a lot higher of yourself. I mean they all kind of go hand in hand you see I'm saying here. Now back to what I was talking about though about being where he said and all of your children are the most high. So this the people he's talking about here is saying hey I've said your gods and all of your children most high. They could be saved people because here's the thing. All we see about people being a child of God or in this case a child of the most high are people who are born again. And you're going to have a hard time finding someone being referred to as a child of God that is not a believer in scripture. And I don't have time to get into well what about the angels being the sons of God in Job or whatever. The Bible never says that. And in fact over and over again you know we've got Hebrews. But unto which of the angels said he at any time thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. OK. Implying that God has never said to any angel. You're my son. So you would think that if they are sons of God and they can communicate with God. That at some point he would have said you're my son. To an angel. But the scripture says he's never said that. So that's kind of solid evidence. About angels not being the sons of God because he was one also says that they're ministering spirits right sent to minister. We also see in John Chapter 1 it says but as many as received him to them gave me power to become the sons of God even in them that believe on his name. So how to become a son of God by believing in your faith in Christ. So that's kind of a little bit more of an exhaustive study on its own of checking out all the time where the Bible is referring to people as being sons of God or children of God or children of the most high. But it's talking about people who are saved. And one other place I want to turn to is Genesis Chapter 6. Because this is also a place where I think that you have people who are saved. The children of God. But here's the thing. A child of God can get a lot of wisdom. And they could have a good maybe a good upbringing and everything else but then just go the way of the world. And they can still have a good strong ethic or work ethic thing like that and become very successful in this world and be lifted up and be able to accomplish all these things and have a lot of human accomplishments and still be saved but just totally living for the world. And doing that and living their life that way. Now obviously God will chastise people but it never you know it's never a guarantee that someone who's a mass riches that if they just continue to give themselves over riches is going to lose their riches. Right. They could still be those positions of power. Now I don't think that they'll be happy. Right. We know that they won't be so if you know if you become covetous and going after money and you're greedy and you're attaining to these positions of power and you have that desire you're giving yourself over to that fleshly desire as a child of God. It will pierce you with sour sorrows like First Timothy Chapter 6 says and you know it's a drowned men in destruction and perdition. But it's totally possible for saved people to give themselves over to covetousness which is why First Corinthians Chapter 5 says that to put away that wicked person from among you if someone is covetous that's called a brother. Right. So of course you can get to that point and I think even to where people if you get really just full of just blindness and get to the point where you're you're like at this this ruler stage you're thinking you're like a god. I mean Eve wanted to be like a god. That's why she took to the fruit. Satan said hey you're gonna be like God's doing good and evil. That doesn't sound so bad. Genesis Chapter 6 look at verse number one. It came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them. And this is after the flood. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men. That they were fair. And they took them wives of all which they chose. And you know this is another passage where people want to say oh the Giants they're Nephilim right. And let me I'm just gonna I'm gonna park on this just for a few minutes and then we're done. Told you it doesn't matter how short the passages. If you hear people talk about the Nephilim. The Hebrew word for giants. There's nothing different about that word other than it's a different language. But it's a giant. First of all and people like using that because it makes it sound cool and makes it sound different. No no no I'm not just talking about Giants I'm talking about the Nephilim. In English it's Giants. Okay so not the New York Giants. Giants. And that's where it says verse three. And the Lord said unto and said my spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is flesh. Yet his days shall be 120 years. There were giants in the earth in those days and also after that when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men. And they bear children to them. And the same became mighty men which were of old men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continues. So there's a weird false doctrine out there that says that angels came down to this earth. When the Bible says the sons of God saw the daughters of men. That those are angels. And that they procreated with human women. And they produced giants. I don't see how you can read and comprehend English and walk away with that understanding of this passage. If someone didn't tell you that that's what happened here. If you do a Bible study on the sons of God you're going to find out that sons of God are believers. Okay. Number two. If the sons of God referenced here is talking about angels. Then why in verse three does the Lord say my spirit should not always strive with man. Not my spirit should not always strive with angels. Man. And then why would it when it references the sons of God taking wives. Which the Bible says that they're not as the angels in heaven. Who neither marry or are given in marriage. The angels don't marry. They're not given in marriage. Okay. But they took wives. And it says the sons of God took wives as daughters of men. God gets angry. My spirit should not always strive with man for that he is also flesh. Yet his day shall be under in 20 years. Verse four then says there were giants in the earth in those days. There were giants in the earth in those days and also after that. When the sons of God came into the daughters of men. So when did the sons of God come in under the daughters of men. After there were giants. He says there were giants in the earth in those days. And also. After that. When the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bear children to them. The same. The same what. The same children that were born of the sons of God and the daughters of men. Became mighty men. Not half breeds. Not hybrids. Men which were of old men of renown. What what you see going on here. And then of course we're five and God saw the weakness of man. Not the wickedness of angels not the wickedness of devils. Man was great in the earth. That the every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Okay. That's kind of dispels that false doctrine. But what will we actually see what the what we actually see happening here though. Is you've got some saved guys. Looking at unsaved women. Just the daughters of men. Right. Sons of God. Righteous people. But they're setting their eyes on the wrong women. Okay. And they're women the women. These the heathen women are turning their hearts away from serving the Lord. But they're still these Christian guys and they end up raising these children. To just be these really great mighty people in the earth. That are going to you know they're they're they're very productive they're very industrious they're very you know. They're they're because they're they're a really good citizen in society and doing a lot of great things. Right. And they're men of renown. Meaning they're they're becoming famous and known in the world. That's what's happening here. And I think that's the same thing that's that's being talked about with these people who are living for the world. That their children are the most high. But they've they've they've let themselves just just just come to live for the world. Yeah they could be renowned they could be famous and stuff. But it's like you're wasting your whole life. And then you have wickedness that goes along with that. And the wickedness of man was great. So they're doing a bunch of wicked things. It doesn't mean they were unsaved but they just when you give yourselves over to live like the world. A whole bunch of wickedness follows. And you may be lifted up with pride and getting these people who are able to accomplish a lot in this world. They've got focus. They've got drive. They're you know they're raising their children in a stable household or whatever. But they're just not work. They're not focused on serving the Lord at all. They're just serving their own belly. So you know kind of look at a bunch of different passages and I hope that makes sense. And these are probably the primary passages when the Bible is talking about the gods there and saying Ye are gods. That are not referring to the common usage of gods just being an idol or a false god like an Allah or Buddha or the Hindu god or whatever that people are worshipping that are false gods. Right. These are in reference to men. Let's bow our heads our word of prayer. Dear Lord. We thank you so much for this passage. We thank you for all the great truths that you give us. I pray that you would please help us remain humble no matter how much you bless us. And in that we would keep our thoughts and our minds on you and that we raise our children to live good godly lives and not to get wrapped up in the cares and the riches of this world. Dear Lord. We thank you so much for your mercy and we pray that you please keep us all safe as we go separate ways this evening. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right. We're seeing one more song before dismiss. It's actually Psalm 82. So this is the first time that we're singing this song here is first time it's ever been sung in a church. Right. I mean, I know it's been practiced here, but but sung in a church service and our own brother, Josh Hill, composed the music for the song. So this is this is really exciting and it sounds great. I had a chance to hear it previously. Everyone should have a paper if you don't just slip your hand up real quick. That's got Psalm 82 on it. And you could always just use the Bible, of course, but the music will show you how the tune is going to go. So, brother, Peter, come on up and you can lead us in this song. Well, that being said, we did a lot of tweets to this song and even up to the bitter end. So we didn't really get a chance to rehearse it. So I just want the piano player to be the one leading this thing with me. No new musicians on this. OK, next time, next time we're going to have you on there right now, just the piano. Psalm 82. They should be. Oh, oh, amen. Great singing. Thank you so much for coming, you guys. Thank you.