Being God’s People
Psalms 95
January 24, 2021
Psalms 95 has long been one of my favorites.
It reveals what it means to be “The People of God”
Have you ever pondered that question?
• People today like to assume the title “man of God” or “woman of God”
• Some seek sort of the generic term “child of God”
• What does that mean?
Perhaps more importantly, what does that look like?
• Can you spot a “man of God”?
• Is a “woman of God” evident?
• What do “the people of God” look like?
It really is a basic question and one that
We all ought to have a very clear understanding of.
So, if you aren’t quite sure, let’s look together at Psalms 95.
NOW – WE HAVE A DISTINCT ADVANTAGE IN STUDYING THIS PSALM
The reason is because the last half of this Psalm
Is already exposited and preached for us in the New Testament.
Hebrews 3:7-4:13 is an exposition and application of Psalms 95:7b-11
WE WOULD BE FOOLISH NOT TO TAKE A LOOK.
So we are going to study this Psalm sort of in reverse order because we want to start off with what the writer of Hebrews has to say about the end of this Psalm.
TURN TO: HEBREWS 3:7
Now, just to make sure we all understand
(and I think we looked at this a little in regard to Sabbath rest a few Sunday nights ago, so hopefully you’re still familiar with some of it)
Let me give you the basic point of the sermon.
“HOLD FAST or NO REST”
That’s really the message.
• The writer of Hebrews is preaching to a group of Jews
• Who have professed faith in Jesus,
• But because of persecution are considering defecting from Him.
The writer of Hebrews wants to bring to their attention
A group of people who did that very same thing in the past
And how it did not work out well for them.
Now a very important verse is actually Hebrews 3:6
(3:6) “but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house – whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope until the end.”
He said that we are truly part of the house of God if we hold fast to Christ.
It is similar to the statement of Jesus in:
John 8:31 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;”
It is that same gauntlet that is being thrown down here.
And in order to reiterate his point,
The writer of Hebrews turns to Psalms 95:7b-11,
Which he quotes in verses 7-11 here.
(7-11) “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'”
So he’s made his point that you should hold fast,
And then he gave his supporting text.
In verses 12-14 he REITERATES HIS POINT once again.
(12-14) “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,”
Do you see the same point as in verse 6?
• Yes, there is a warning about falling away.
• Yes, there is a call to encourage others not to fall away.
• But ultimately it ends with the same point of verse 6.
• We read it in verse 14 – “we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end”
This is NOT a warning about losing salvation.
This is a litmus test.
That is to say, it’s not about no longer being a child of God.
We’re trying to determine whether you ever actually were a child of God.
If you fall away, then we’ll know you weren’t.
That’s the overarching point.
Then, in order to enforce his point he starts expositing Psalms 95
(3:15-19) is the FIRST POINT
Namely that your religious past is pointless if endurance doesn’t occur in your life.
You notice there how the writer brings up
All the religious activities of the people in the wilderness.
The writer talks about those who provoked God but he wants to know who they were?
And the answer is that it was those who followed Moses out of Egypt.
• Those who had seen the plagues
• Those who had participated in the Passover
• Those who had passed through the Red Sea
And if you are unclear as to what all that meant, listen to Paul:
1 Corinthians 10:1-5 “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.”
Paul equates the actions of the wilderness congregation to basic Christian actions today.
• The Passover would have been their profession of faith
• Going through the Red Sea would have been their baptism
• Eating the manna and drinking the water would have been their basic Christian
lifestyle as part of the congregation
They did all the religious stuff.
“Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.”
Despite all their religious ordinances they clearly were never pleasing to God.
Now, that is the same point the writer of Hebrews is making in 3:15-19.
• Despite all that God had done for them.
• Despite all they had done in a religious sense.
• God never let them enter His rest.
So their religious past was pointless.
You see that.
Then we come to the next point.
(4:1-3) is the SECOND POINT
If you want to enter rest you must believe.
And of course believing here is equated with endurance or not falling away.
The writer warns us to fear.
• We should fear that any of us might fall short of God’s rest.
• And he reminds us why the congregation in the wilderness fell short.
They had good news preached to them, “but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”
They didn’t believe.
They heard, they knew, they did not believe.
Are you starting to see the problem with the wilderness congregation?
THEY WERE PHONY.
They heard the truth, they went through all the motions,
But they didn’t believe.
That’s why they didn’t enter.
On to the next point.
(4:4-10) is the THIRD POINT
Rest is real. Rest is enjoyed by God and it is continually available to all who believe.
That is to say that true believers can also rest from their works
Just like God rested from His works.
Here the writer points out how the former congregation had rest offered
BUT they never received it because of their disobedience (lack of faith)
But the writer also points out how that
When we get to Psalms 95 we something amazing happening.
Rest is still being talked about!
Now, just for reference sake,
• The writer of Hebrews says that Psalms 95 was written by the Holy Spirit (3:7), but here he also attributes it to David (4:7).
• And just so you know, David showed up around 400 years after Joshua.
And the point of the writer is that if “rest” was just about the children of Israel taking the Promised Land under Joshua,
Then what in the world is David talking about in Psalms 95?
Clearly God’s rest is about way more than just entering the land.
His point is that rest is still available.
(9) “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.”
And that rest is defined as this.
(10) “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”
• You will remember that God rested because He was finished.
• There was nothing left to be done, tweaked, finished, or accomplished.
• He rested because all the work was completed.
Now, we rest the same way.
• Jesus said that it was finished.
• He finished it on the cross.
• We rest in Him and understand that there is no more work to do.
And so the writer of Hebrews is simply reminding his audience,
Based on Psalms 95, that rest was not a one-time offer.
Rest is a continual proposition
Made available to all who trust in the finished work of Christ.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
So rest is real and available.
And then
(4:11-13) is the FOURTH POINT
God knows your heart as to whether or not you really believe and therefore whether or not He will give you rest.
So the calling is to enter that rest.
Which is equal to believing in Christ
And showing that belief through obedience and endurance.
And to understand that God knows your heart,
Whether or not you are really His people,
And He only gives rest to those who are really His people.
And his text for that was Psalms 95:7b-11.
Let’s read it again and now you’ll see all those elements in play.
(7b-11) “Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”
Clearly there you see that David and the writer of Hebrews
Are using the same example to make the same point.
• What God once did for them, He is now doing for you.
• He is offering you rest, and He is offering it today.
• They hardened their hearts and refused to believe.
• This angered God and in His anger He refused to give them rest.
• Even though they claimed to be God’s people, their behavior proved otherwise.
That is the universal application of this text.
We are talking about the importance of genuinely being the people of God.
That is also what David is talking about.
There’s just two main points.
1) THE EXPECTATION
2) THE EXHORTATION
We’ve already looked at the exhortation, but let’s now look at the beginning.
#1 THE EXPECTATION
Psalms 95:1-7a
Now I will also tell you that we need to break this first point
Down into 2 sub-points.
There are really two expectations listed here.
1) JOYFUL SINGING (1-5)
When we begin the song we see very clearly what is expected.
• We see a reference to singing
• We see a reference to shouting
• We see a reference to thanksgiving
• And we see a 3-fold call for joy
(1-2) “O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.”
So just see this basic yet totally authoritative command.
THIS IS THE EXPECTATION OF GOD.
He expects joyful singing, joyful shouting, and joyful thanksgiving.
Psalms 81:1-5a “Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob. Raise a song, strike the timbrel, The sweet sounding lyre with the harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, At the full moon, on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob. He established it for a testimony in Joseph When he went throughout the land of Egypt.”
You might even recognize the reference to the fact that
God instituted this ordinance with that first congregation
When they came out of Egypt.
God delivered them and He very explicitly commanded them
To sing and shout with joy.
It was called “an ordinance of the God of Jacob”
God expected this – God commanded this. God ordained that this would be done.
As we have said many times before
• It had nothing to do with singing ability,
• It had nothing to do with if you could stay on key or on time.
• It disregarded personal preference.
• It overlooked feelings of embarrassment.
God had saved this entire congregation
So this entire congregation was expected to sing and shout joyfully.
(Instead they grumbled and tested God and you see how that worked out)
But David reminds us of God’s expectation
That His people will joyfully praise Him.
And then David goes one step further and tells us why.
(3) “For the LORD is a great God…”
What a statement!
• Do you believe that?
• Is He in fact a great God?
• Is He worthy of shouting and singing?
Remember when God rebuked the priests in Malachi for calling His work too tiring?
Malachi 1:11 “For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts.”
Those who think worship is too tiresome
God simply reminds how much He deserves it.
I am a great God! He says.
(3) “For the LORD is a great God and a great King above all gods,”
Jeremiah 10:6-7, 12-16 “There is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name in might. Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Your due! For among all the wise men of the nations And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You…It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses. Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish. The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of hosts is His name.”
There is not another god in this world
That actually deserves worship, but this God does.
He is a great God.
And David continues with his evidence.
(4-5) “In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land.”
David appeals to the glory and grandeur of creation.
You of course remember that creation alone is enough testimony to condemn humanity. It is that telling.
Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
Do you not see God’s greatness in creation?
Psalms 19:1-6 “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.”
I love that passage.
• There have been several moments over the past year where I took advantage
of this.
• We know our world has been in chaos.
• We know we are fed massive amounts of dis-information.
• Many we listen to would simply seek to invoke fear and confusion.
And on the days when the noise gets too extreme,
I like to just walk outside and look up at the sky and then look around.
I remind myself that the sun still rose in the east and it will set in the west
And remind myself that God is sovereign over it all.
Creating teaches us about the greatness of God!
• He owns the depths of the earth
• He owns the mountains
• He owns the sea
• He owns the dry land
IT’S ALL HIS!
Psalms 33:6-8 “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.”
Isaiah 40:12 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales?”
Job 38:8-11 “Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band, And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors, And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop’?”
The passages are endless.
And make sure you understand David’s point here.
He is NOT here telling us to praise God for creating the world.
No doubt we should, but that is not the point here.
He is telling us to praise God
Because only a great God could create the world.
• What kind of God has the power to create all of this?
• What kind of God has the power to sustain all of this?
• It is like the disciples on the boat: “Who is this Man that even the wind and the waves obey Him?”
THE EXPECTATION IS THAT
We will praise God with joyful shouting and grateful singing
Because He is the great God of creation and He deserves it.
Any failure to participate is a slap in the face to Him.
That’s the first expectation.
Joyful Singing
But there’s a second expectation.
2) HUMBLE SUBMISSION (6-7a)
Again, the expectation is clearly outlined.
“Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.”
Now we have moved from outward praise to inward awe.
The understanding of who God is
Leads us to erupt with shouting and singing at His greatness.
But as His greatness begins to sink in,
It becomes awe-struck wonder where we now “bow down” and “kneel”.
• It is submission.
• It is the humble offering of our lives to Him.
• It is the full surrender of our wills to Him.
• It is the total devotion of all that are and have to His desire.
“worship” is such a great word.
It is so much more than just singing songs before the sermon.
Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
It is the giving of all that we are and have to His glory.
The very first time the word “worship” appears in the Bible is a very telling explanation.
Genesis 22:5 “Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”
Of course Abraham was talking about
How he would go and sacrifice his son to God.
• It wasn’t a pep rally…
• It wasn’t a rock show…
• It wasn’t a mosh pit…
• It was Abraham surrendering to God the thing he loved most in this world.
• It was his greatest offering
• It was his most prized treasure
That was worship.
And that is what is being commanded here.
First it was a call for JOYFUL SINGING
But now it is a call for HUMBLE SUBMISSION.
And again we are given EXPLANATION as to why we should give it.
(7) “For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.”
• We praise Him with singing and shouting because He is “a great God”
• But we submit our lives to Him because He is “our God”
David has moved inward.
It is no longer simply the expectation for creation.
Now we are talking about the expectation for redemption.
We are those who have been purchased.
We are those who have been redeemed.
Do you remember God’s expectation for His people at Sinai?
Exodus 19:4-5 “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;”
What did God want?
• A people to call His own.
• He wanted His own people; His own possession.
It is very similar to like when a man takes a wife.
In one sense he can be friends with all the women in the world, but only one will be his.
This is what God said to Israel.
I want you as My own.
Isaiah 43:1 “But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!”
God chose them and saved them and purchased them
TO BE HIS OWN PEOPLE.
He would be their God and they would be His people.
And the expectation is that they
Would worship and submit to Him as their own God.
Now do you understand why God was so angry with them in the wilderness?
These people, whom He had purchased and delivered.
• All of a sudden they didn’t want to worship and bow down.
• All of a sudden they didn’t want to trust and believe.
• All of a sudden they didn’t want to obey and endure.
He bought them and they refused Him.
He was so angry that He decided to never let them share in His rest.
So now let’s again move into that final point.
We saw the Expectation
#2 THE EXHORTATION
Psalms 95:7b-11
You see it now more clearly don’t you?
David is now speaking to his contemporaries
And reminding them of how great God is and that He is our God.
And the expectation has always been
That they would worship and bow down to Him.
But whatever you do,
Don’t make the same mistake our ancestors made and ignore Him.
• Don’t harden your heart to His call.
• Don’t put Him to the test.
• Don’t try Him.
The first generation that did that suffered for it greatly.
God loathed them and they never entered His rest.
That was David’s exhortation.
When we get to the New Testament the writer of Hebrews read that
And determined to apply it to his contemporaries as well.
• Those who had professed faith in Jesus.
• Those who had claimed to be His people but now were tempted to leave Him.
• They were about to try Him and test Him and the writer of Hebrews again
warns his followers not to.
Remember that old congregation and how God loathed them
And never let them enter his rest.
Well tonight we get to follow in their steps.
We read Psalms 95 and we apply it to our lives.
1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”
WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
• If we say we are the people of God then we must be a people of praise.
• If we say we are the people of God then we must be a people of submission.
• If we say we are the people of God then we must be a people of worship.
• But if we harden our hearts…
• Or if we test and try Him…
• Or if we fall away from Him…
• Or if we fail to praise Him joyfully…
• Or if we fail to kneel in submission to Him…
Can we really say that we are the people of God?
• So what if you got delivered out of Egypt…
• So what if you got baptized in the Red Sea…
• So what if you at the manna and attended the feasts…
They all did that.
But God loathed them.
We are talking about being God’s people in this world.
• Being people of praise
• Being people of worship
• Being people of submission
• Being people of obedience
• Being people of endurance
Ultimately being people of faith.
We are talking about being God’s people.
So the simple question is “Whose people are you?”
• That’s what David was asking.
• That’s what the writer of Hebrews was asking.
Whose people are you?
• Are you God’s people or not?
• Are you Christ’s people or not?
Then praise Him, worship Him, submit to Him, obey Him,
And by all means stick with Him.
Do that today.
And He will give you rest.
