He Is The Lord Our God – Part 2
Psalms 105 (16-45)
May 9, 2021
Last Sunday night we began looking at this great 105th Psalm of David.
It is the final Psalm in a trilogy of pure praise
In which David commands his soul to “Bless the LORD”
Each of these Psalms shares some common distinctions.
1) They are nothing but praise
• No complaints
• No requests
• No contextual indicators
• Just praise
2) They focus on something God has done as deserving of praise
• 103 – personal redemption (David looked inwardly)
• 104 – majesty of creation (David looked outwardly)
• 105 – God’s work on behalf of Israel (David looks historically)
3) They share a common method to motivate the soul to worship
• REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE
Psalms 103:2 “Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;”
Psalms 105:5-6 “Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!”
We have actually even talked about that forgetfulness is a sin.
We are called to never forget what God has done for us.
• If that means a rock pile, then pile up rocks
• If that means a journal, then start writing
• If that means a string on your finger, then put it there
But remember.
Count your many blessings.
And the simple reality is that
As you begin to recount God’s goodness in your life,
It is a natural motivation for the soul to begin to bless God.
When you remember that
• He has not treated you as you deserve,
• That He has forgiven all your sin, and healed all your spiritual diseases,
• That He has redeemed your life from the pit –
Then your soul should be motivated to bless God.
When you remember that
• He has created you, and the world around you,
• That He has provided for and sustained creation and your life forever
Then your soul should be motivated to bless God.
And here in Psalms 105, when you remember
• All that God has done throughout history for His elect,
Then again your soul should be motivated to bless God.
And that is actually where David began Psalms 105.
He doesn’t say to bless God specifically in this Psalm,
But he does spell out for us the things a soul does
When it seeks to bless God.
We saw it last time, we called it God’s Expectation
#1 GOD’S EXPECTATION
Psalms 105:1-7
We won’t spend time commenting on them again,
But you hopefully remember that David gave 8 expectations
That God has for His elect.
• Gratitude – (1) “Oh give thanks to the LORD”
• Trust – (1) “call upon His name”
• Evangelism – (1) “Make known His deeds among the peoples”
• Praise – (2) “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him”
• Meditation (2) “Speak of all His wonders”
• Boasting – (3) “Glory in His holy name”
• Satisfaction – (3) “be glad”
• Dependence – (4) “Seek…His strength”
These are a detailed picture of what a soul seeking to bless God does.
And David outlined them specifically for God’s elect.
• For (6) the “seed of Abraham” the “sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!”
Those who have experienced
The unfathomable grace of God to be chosen for salvation
Should most certainly be motivated to bless and be a blessing to God.
THAT IS GOD’S EXPECTATION
And after that sort of prologue, as he did in 103 and 104,
David began to recount and list the great benefits of God
That should motivate such a response from us.
There’s actually 4 benefits of God that David focuses on here in Psalm 105
We saw the first one last week.
It was our second point to the Psalm.
#2 GOD’S LOYALTY
Psalms 105:8-15
You of course remember that loyalty is different than faithfulness.
• Faithfulness speaks of one who keeps his promises.
• Loyalty speaks of the preference to continue to making those promises.
And God’s loyalty had been obvious to Israel.
• In His selection of Abraham
• In His selection of Isaac
• In His selection of Jacob
None of those men deserved the promises God chose to make to them,
But God made them anyway.
We even saw how God supernaturally protected Abraham and Isaac from the attacks of foreign kings.
And we looked at that marvelous story when Abraham’s servant was sent to find a wife for Isaac. How that man asked God to continue to show loyalty to Abraham and how God did, and how that servant praised Him for it.
The simple fact is that when you look back through history,
It is obvious that God has shown a special loyalty to His elect;
To those whom He has chosen.
And today we in the church enjoy that loyalty.
Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
It is a great reminder and a great reason for your soul to bless God.
• God is for you
• God is loyal to you
• God will not forsake you
• God will not send you away
• You are His, and He is yours.
It is a tremendous reason for your soul to bless God.
Well that’s where we ended last week, so let’s pick up now and see the other reasons David lists.
#3 GOD’S PROVIDENCE
Psalms 105:16-24
The flow of Genesis continues in these Psalms
• Psalms 104 gave us creation
• Psalms 105 first gave us election and loyalty
And now it follows the Genesis account and speaks of God’s providence.
Genesis cleanly breaks into these divisions.
• Genesis 1-11 take us through creation and the separation of the peoples
• Genesis 12-36 takes us through the election of Israel
• Genesis 37-50 shows us the providence of God toward Israel
Genesis 37 is where the Joseph story begins.
Hopefully you remember from our study of Genesis
What is the purpose of those final 14 chapters.
The temptation of most is to see Joseph
As sort of the 4th patriarch in the story, but that is not true.
Joseph is not the 4th patriarch, Judah is.
• Even at the end of Genesis it is Judah who is given the Messianic promise.
• It is from Judah that Jesus Christ will come who is to be God’s King.
Joseph becomes a focal point in Genesis
Because God uses Joseph to save Judah, and by saving Judah,
The lineage of Christ is preserved.
So the Joseph story is all about providence.
You remember the great culminating explanation.
Genesis 45:4-15 “Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. “You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”‘ “Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you. “Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and bring my father down here.” Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.”
There we receive one of those rare “Ah-Ha!” moments in history.
The purpose of Joseph’s suffering was actually revealed to him.
• God sent him to Egypt to preserve the line of Judah.
• God also sent him to Egypt because Egypt would be the sort of incubator that would allow Israel to grow into a people as numerous as the sand of the sea shore.
This is providence.
And that is what David brings to light here.
(16-22) “And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the LORD tested him. The king sent and released him, The ruler of peoples, and set him free. He made him lord of his house And ruler over all his possessions, To imprison his princes at will, That he might teach his elders wisdom.”
It is certainly an interesting note that
God is the One who “called for a famine upon the land;”
• The God we saw as the sustainer and provider of all things in Psalms 104
• Here becomes the God who also deprives the land of His supply
• In order to accomplish His purposes.
We understand that about God.
• He is undoubtedly the sovereign provider of all creation and He is good at it.
• If He withholds that provision it is not because He is somehow failing,
• But it is because to do so fits His eternal redemptive purpose.
Beyond that, even in His famine He did not break His loyalty to Israel.
It’s not like Jacob’s family was the only family living in Canaan during the famine, but Jacob’s family was the family God cared for.
We also recognize that while Joseph ended up on the throne, he began in “fetters”.
David said, “They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the LORD tested him.”
That is a unique perspective on Joseph’s affliction.
• God had promised him that his brothers would come and bow down to him.
• But before that happened Joseph became the lowest of all, even a slave.
And the phrase David used was that
“The word of the LORD tested him.”
It DOESN’T SAY Joseph tested God’s word,
It says God’s word tested Joseph.
God gave a promise and then delayed in its fulfillment
In order to prove the heart of Joseph.
Let that sink in as you walk with God.
God’s promises never fail, genuine faith believes that
Even when it looks like there is no way they can possibly ever come true.
But what you see here is that
• This God who had pronounced so many promises to Israel
• And who had shown such loyalty to Abraham
• All of a sudden placed them in a massive bind.
It sort of reminds of Jesus purposely putting His disciples on that boat,
Calling for a storm, and then going to sleep.
Throughout the trial the loyalty of God never waivered.
He was always for them.
And eventually God’s purpose came to light.
God was using the famine and Joseph to save Israel.
(23-24) “Israel also came into Egypt; Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And made them stronger than their adversaries.”
There we see why God sent them to Egypt.
In Canaan they were merely “The Hebrews”
• Remember that was sort of a derogatory term they had hung around the neck
of Abraham. It meant “One who crosses over”
• He was a river jumper
• He was a “wet back”
• He was an illegal alien
In Canaan the family of Jacob was unfruitful and unprotected.
God providentially designed to send them into Egypt
Where they would be protected and be given a chance
To grow into a mighty nation; which they did.
It was the providence of God to fulfill His plan for Israel.
And the beauty is, He did it in spite of them.
None of that plan hinged really on Jacob or Joseph or Judah at all.
It’s not like God told Jacob, “Now listen, you’d better figure out a way to start reproducing and multiplying your offspring.”
No, God did it all for them.
He worked it out.
And through that, God provided a Savior
Who would not only save Israel, but who would also save us all.
THE CHURCH,
• Like Israel, may have started small and seemingly insignificant,
• But as God’s chosen people, He has also providentially grown His church.
Matthew 13:31-32 “He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.”
That sounds just like what God did for Israel.
They entered Egypt 70 in number and came out like the stars of heaven.
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.”
Don’t you love that God is at work to save His people and grow His church?
• We are certainly thankful to join Him in this work through preaching the gospel,
• But we rest in knowing that it is God who is providentially growing His church.
And of course in the end we see the full effects of God’s providential work
To save the people He has chosen.
Revelation 5:8-10 “When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
Revelation 7:9-10 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
I absolutely love that.
The end is set.
God told Abraham
• That his descendants would be like the sand on the seashore.
• To Abraham who was old with a barren wife, that must have seemed impossible.
• But God through His loyalty and providence did just that.
And now God has told us that in heaven
There will be a multitude which cannot be counted
From every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.
At times it might seem impossible,
But our loyal God through His providence
Most certainly will accomplish His purposes.
Certainly our soul is motivated to bless Him for that.
God’s Expectation, God’s Loyalty, God’s Providence
#4 GOD’S DELIVERANCE
Psalms 105:25-36
Here we move beyond the Genesis account
And have now entered the book of Exodus.
Exodus is where God took the people He had chosen and redeemed them.
• He saved them from the pit
• He rescued them from slavery
• He atoned for them and baptized them
• He led them to the land of promise
And again it begins in a way that perhaps we would find surprising.
The story of Israel redemption begins with
A story of how God caused them to be hated.
(25) “He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal craftily with His servants.”
Does that surprise you that the motivation behind Egypt’s hatred of Israel was God?
• Why would God do that?
• Why would God cause His people to be hated?
Well even in our day we understand how God uses things like persecution
To purify His people, to bring revival, and even to grow His church.
But in Exodus the reason is actually given to us.
God caused His people to be hated
So that God might put on display His mighty saving arm.
Paul made this clear to us.
Romans 9:17 “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.”
God made Pharaoh stubborn and obstinate and angry at Israel
So that God might show His great might and power.
Paul also tells us that God does these things
To demonstrate again His great loyalty to those whom He has chosen.
Romans 9:22-24 “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
Paul says God also does that so that He can save
And show His great mercy on those He has called.
Well God clearly did that in Exodus.
He turned the Egyptians against Israel.
But God also raised up a deliverer.
(26-36) “He sent Moses His servant, And Aaron, whom He had chosen. They performed His wondrous acts among them, And miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made it dark; And they did not rebel against His words. He turned their waters into blood And caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed with frogs Even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, and there came a swarm of flies And gnats in all their territory. He gave them hail for rain, And flaming fire in their land. He struck down their vines also and their fig trees, And shattered the trees of their territory. He spoke, and locusts came, And young locusts, even without number, And ate up all vegetation in their land, And ate up the fruit of their ground. He also struck down all the firstborn in their land, The first fruits of all their vigor.”
You remember the plagues right?
• It was God’s way of demonstrating His mighty power both to Egypt and to Israel.
• In those plagues God targeted specifically the Egyptian gods and made fools out of them.
• Their gods that were supposed to protect the crops or who were supposed to protect the Nile or the famous Ra the sun god, or even Pharaoh who was considered god incarnate.
• God humiliated them all with His plagues.
• He gave a definitive statement to the word that He alone can save.
God showed Himself alone to be the deliverer.
And for years following that event Israel would gather every spring
To perform the same ceremony of remembrance.
They called it the Passover.
• They would eat again that unleavened bread
• They would eat again that roasted lamb
• They would eat again those bitter herbs
And they would remember how God delivered them
From the iron furnace of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Well, of course, you know we enjoy that too.
• Only on the night before He died,
• Jesus gathered His disciples to take the Passover
• He said from now on when you do this, don’t do it thinking about Egypt; “do this in remembrance of Me.”
We now are people who have experienced His deliverance.
• He has saved us.
• He has redeemed us.
Not from Egypt, but from our real enemy; sin and death.
He has saved us from that which truly bound us and would kill us.
We all have eaten of that Passover when we trusted in Christ.
And so we, with David and with Israel,
Most certainly are motivated fulfill God’s expectation
And bless Him as He deserves.
#5 GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
Psalms 105:37-44
And after the great deliverance from Egypt
We see the mighty faithfulness of God
As He led them through the wilderness.
(37) “Then He brought them out with silver and gold, and among His tribes there was not one who stumbled.”
This is another one of those areas where Hollywood does us no favors.
• You’ve all seen “The Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston and all those people leaving Egypt.
• Some were really old
• Some were on canes and stuff like that.
NOT SO.
• They left Egypt rich and they left Egypt fleet of foot.
• “there was not one who stumbled”
God didn’t start them out on their journey as cripples.
And God delivered with a mighty hand.
(38-41) “Egypt was glad when they departed, For the dread of them had fallen upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to illumine by night. They asked, and He brought quail, And satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river.”
David reminds of the remarkable and supernatural provision of God
For those people in the wilderness.
• The sun in the desert is brutal, so God provided a cloud.
• The night in the desert is freezing and dark, so God provided fire in the heavens.
• Food is scarce, so God sent quail and rained bread from heaven
• Water is even scarcer, so God “opened the rock”
It is the supernatural provision of God to care for His people.
But the real point of David here is not just that God cared for them,
But WHY GOD CARED FOR THEM.
(42-44) “For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant; And He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout. He gave them also the lands of the nations, That they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor,”
God was being faithful to His word.
• This isn’t loyalty, this is faithfulness.
• God took care of these people because He promised He would.
Remember that promise?
Genesis 15:12-16 “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
God promised and God keeps His promises.
HE IS FAITHFUL.
And in order to keep His word “He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with joyful shout. He gave them also the lands of the nations, that they might take possession of the fruit of people’s labor”
• Not only did those people receive God’s provision in the wilderness,
• But when they finally did enter the land,
• They ate crops they didn’t plant and used vineyards they hadn’t worked.
God was faithful.
Now you understand that as well.
We also understand those wilderness wanderings.
• We have eaten the bread from heaven too, that is Christ.
• We also have drank living water from the rock, who is also Christ.
• We also have received an inheritance which we have not earned, and which we have not worked for.
God is faithful to us as well.
And these are the benefits that David wants Israel to contemplate.
• Can you see how loyal God has been to you?
• Can you see God’s providence in your life?
• Can you see God’s deliverance and salvation?
• Can you see God’s faithfulness to keep His promises?
All of these things are the things David lists
As the things that should cause your soul to bless God.
So let me give you the final point David makes.
#6 GOD’S EXPECTATION
Psalms 105:45
Yes, point 1 and point 5 are the same.
They are both “God’s Expectation”
That is where this Psalm begins and where it ends.
In the beginning we saw the expectations of:
• Gratitude
• Trust
• Evangelism
• Praise
• Meditation
• Boasting
• Enjoyment
• Dependence
And clearly all of those things are deserved.
But as David closes the Psalm he adds one more expectation to the list.
“So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws, Praise the LORD!”
David adds a 9th expectation.
OBEDIENCE
A soul that wishes to bless God
Is most certainly an obedient soul.
There is no scenario in which a believer can claim a heart of blessing
If that heart is walking in rebellion.
Jesus said it far too clearly.
John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”
John 14:31 “but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.”
The apostle John certainly picked upon the gist of the sermon, for in his first epistle, he wrote:
1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”
• We DON’T obey God because we’re trying to appease Him.
• We DON’T obey God because we’re trying to earn His favor.
• We obey God because we desire to bless Him.
• We obey God because we love Him.
And certainly God deserves this.
• Based on His mercy and grace to save us personally…
• Based on His majestic power to create and sustain this world…
• Based on His loyalty, providence, deliverance, and faithfulness to us as the church…
Then most certainly God deserves
To be blessed from our innermost being.
• He deserves gratitude
• He deserves trust
• He deserves evangelism
• He deserves praise
• He deserves meditation
• He deserves boasting
• He deserves enjoyment
• He deserves dependence
(1-4) “Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.”
And He also deserves our obedience.
(45) “So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws, Praise the LORD!”
And we’ll just close tonight
Allowing you to do a little inventory on your own heart.
• Are you walking in obedience to God?
• Is your soul blessing Him?
IF NOT, YOU KNOW THE EXERCISE,
Spend time remembering what He has done
And then respond appropriately.
