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“Where, Now, Is Their God?”
Psalms 115
August 15, 2021

Tonight we continue our study of this wonderful group of Psalms
Known as the “Hallel”

• They are the Psalms which were annually sung by the Jews as they partook of the Passover.
• They are the group of Psalms that were sang by our Lord and His disciples after they took the first Lord’s Supper.
• They are a group of Psalms that focus on the great deliverance of God for His people.
• They consist of Psalms 113-118

In Psalms 113 we talked about God’s Humility to Behold His People.
• We saw God do what no god does.
• He did what was beneath Him.
• He humbled himself to behold things in heaven and earth.
• He actually elevated the poor to the status of princes.

In Psalms 114 we talked about God’s Power to Save His People.
• We listened as the Psalmist spoke of the Exodus.
• He actually taunted the sea as it fled.
• He taunted the Jordan river as it stood still.
• And the point was that God’s salvation was not a barely salvation.
• He saved them with a mighty arm.

In both of those Psalms we also saw Christ,
• Who humbled Himself to take on human flesh and dwell among us
• And who saved us totally on the cross making a mockery of sin and death.

Well TONIGHT we move to the 3rd Psalm of this group.
And in Psalms 115 we see God’s Loyalty To Bless His People.

And indeed this is an obvious picture of Christ as well since we read:
Ephesians 1:2-3 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”

But from Israel’s perspective when this Psalm was written
• It was a focus of God’s unfailing care for them
• As they wandered through the wilderness
• And even as they took the Promised Land.

Time after time God showed His “Loyal Covenantal Love” for them.
We know it is that beloved word “CHECED”

Often times translated as “lovingkindness” but so much more than that.
IT IS GOD’S LOYALTY TO ISRAEL.

GOD IS PRAISED BECAUSE HE CARES FOR THEM.
That is what is on display here in this Psalm.

And the Psalmist makes it clear in the very first verse.

We read: (1) “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.”

The Psalm sets the parameters right out of the gate,
That the objective of life is not our glory, but God’s glory.

It reminds us of the famous statement of John the Baptist who was told that Jesus was baptizing as well and was starting to draw a bigger crowd than John.

John 3:27-30 “John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John was well aware that the purpose of his life
Was always the glory of Christ.
And the Psalmist is well aware of that too.

It would be the ultimate blasphemy if
• The children of Israel left Egypt,
• Crossed the wilderness,
• Conquered Canaan
• And then they received the credit for it.

It would be akin to us standing tonight and taking credit for our salvation.
• Or us taking credit even for the sanctification that occurs in our life.
• Or us taking credit for our spiritual gifts or accomplishments.

All of those things would be blasphemous and foolish.
We know where all the glory is to go because we know who caused it all.

God has done it all.
• He chose us who are weak.
• He chose us who are not wise.
• He chose us who are not noble.
• So that he who boasts would boast in the Lord.

We understand the cry “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory”

It is a cry for God and God alone to receive all the glory
For all that is accomplished in our lives.

I always loved the analogy that “The donkey who carried Jesus during the Triumphal Entry knew that the applause was not for him.”

So it is with us. So it is with this Psalm.

It begins by setting the focus that
GOD IS TO BE GLORIFIED THROUGH OUR LIVES.

And none of us disagree with that.
Romans 11:36 “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

But here the Psalmist even gets more specific.
• He already highlighted in Psalms 113 that God should receive glory for the HUMILITY HE SHOWED IN BEHOLDING US.
• He already highlighted in Psalms 114 that God should receive glory for the POWER HE SHOWED IN SAVING US.

Here God should receive glory for
THE LOYALTY (CHECED) HE SHOWS IN BLESSING US.

After saying that God alone should receive the glory he says,
“Because of Your lovingkindness (CHECED), because of Your truth.”

And there you have THE POINT OF THE PSALM.
God is loyal to us.
God is faithful to us.
God cares for us perfectly.

We certainly are not always loyal to Him.
• Hosea reminded that our loyalty is often “like a morning cloud which goes away
early”.

We certainly are not always true to Him.
• Psalms 78 reminded that often times our commitments to Him become lies that
we never fulfill.

And that is another reason why we should not receive the glory.

But God is loyal – His loyalties never fail.
Lamentations 3:22 “The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.”

God’s CHECED never ceases toward us.
And God never lies, nor can He lie, He is always true.

And THE THRUST OF THE PSALM is that
God now be glorified for that loyalty and that truth.

Certainly He deserves credit for that. Certainly He deserves credit for that.

BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM.
• The world was able to see that God clearly took an interest in Israel.
• The world was able to see that God cared for them.
• The world was able to see His mighty power to save.

After all they saw the plagues on Egypt.
They saw the parting of the Red Sea.
They saw the Jordan river stop up.
God’s humility and God’s power were clearly seen by the world
And so God was rightly credited and glorified for those things.

BUT WHEN THE MIRACULOUS WONDERS STOPPED
THE WORLD STOPPED RECOGNIZING GOD AT WORK.

Was God still at work for His people? Of course
Was God still functioning as their God? Absolutely

But the world didn’t recognize it.

And that is the real frustration of this Psalm.
(2) “Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is there God?”

Now we were at a point where the world didn’t recognize God’s presence with Israel.
• When the plagues weren’t occurring…
• When the sea wasn’t parting…
• When the river wasn’t stopping…

The world looked at Israel and said, “Ha! Their God has departed!”
“Where, now, is there God?”

Now, if you’ll remember
This was actually one of the main concerns of Moses.

When the children of Israel built the golden calf and God was angry and was willing to destroy them, Moses interceded.
Exodus 32:11-14 “Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? “Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.”

When the children of Israel refused to enter the Promised Land, God was once again angry at His people and Moses once again interceded.
Numbers 14:13-19 “But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, for You, O LORD, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. “Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, ‘Because the LORD could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ “But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’ “Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

There was a real concern from Moses
That God would not be glorified in the sight of the nations
For all that He had done and was doing in Israel.

Well, it seems as though that fear has now become reality.
• The pagan nations surrounding Israel see no evidence that God is with them at all.

And that is even their mocking taunt towards Israel.
“Where, now, is their God?”

And it clearly bothers the Psalmist that the nations would say this.

FOR ONE, God’s full presence was never with Israel.
• God allowed His glory to dwell with Israel,
• But you and I both know that there’s no way that the God of the universe could
have fit in that tent that Moses set up every time the children of Israel stopped.

And even when Solomon built Him a glorious temple, Solomon said:
1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”

The world certainly was operating on a faulty notion
And the Psalmist points that out.

(3) “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”

So even though the accusation is that God has abandoned His people,
The Psalmist clarifies that this is not the case.

God is as present as He ever was.
• He has always dwelled in heaven and yet He has always cared for His people
from heaven.

BUT HERE IS THE ISSUE.
The pagan nations had begun to reckon the God of heaven
As no different than one of their gods.

And that is what is bothering the Psalmist.

The nations are treating our God
Like He is no different than one of the other gods of the pagans.

That is to say, they are accusing the God of heaven
As though He is doing nothing for Israel

But NOTHING is what the pagan gods do for their people.
(4-8) “Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.”

It is the common taunt of the Old Testament
Regarding the foolishness of idols.

Perhaps Isaiah makes the best case for the ridiculousness of such idolatry.
TURN TO: Isaiah 44:9-20

Jeremiah 10 examines the same foolishness and says:
Jeremiah 10:5 “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good.”

• Those false gods never beheld them because they couldn’t see.
• Those false gods never encouraged them because they couldn’t talk.
• Those false gods never answered them because they couldn’t hear.
• Those false gods never provided for them or delivered them or anything because they were dead.

And consequently that is the way everyone who trusts in them ends up too.
Jeremiah 10:14-15 “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.”

But Jeremiah would continue and say:
Jeremiah 10:16 “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.”

BUT THAT IS THE PROBLEM HERE.
The nations are accounting Israel’s God to be no different than their gods.

To put it in modern day terms it would be like lumping Jesus in a group
With Allah, Buddha, or any of the 750 plus Hindu gods.

The nations looked at Israel.
And could see no difference between the care of Israel’s God and the care of their gods.

And that is a tragedy!

But listen, THAT WAS NOT GOD’S FAULT.

And this is where this Psalm takes a turn.

The problem that was occurring was with Israel.
• They lived their lives in such a way that you could not discern the difference between their God and the gods of the nations.

AND HERE IS WHY:
BECAUSE THEY DID NOT LIVE
AS A PEOPLE WHO TRUSTED GOD.

Let’s talk about it like this.

If all the children of God do is live just like the world
Then why would the world notice any difference
In the way their God cares for them?

For example:
• If you approach money exactly like the world approaches money how is the world ever going to see that your God is any different than theirs?

• If you approach marriage exactly like the world approaches marriage how is the world ever going to see that your God is any different than theirs?

• If you approach a virus or plague exactly like the world approaches it, how is the world ever going to see that your God is any different than theirs?

In other words if your life is dictated by the same
Behavior and motive and mentality as the world
Then how are they ever going to see how God cares for you?

You’ve likely heard the story before (it’s most likely fictional) but it’s been told often none the less.

About the town of Van Horn, TX.
It is said that in the town a liquor store was being built and as it was being built the local church prayed that God would stop it.
It wasn’t long before lightning struck the liquor store and it burned to the ground.
The story goes that the liquor store owner sued the church for causing the destruction of the store.
The church pleaded no fault
When the judge saw the case he commented, “I’m not sure I know how to rule in this instance because it seems here that we have a liquor store owner who believes in the power of prayer and a church that does not.”

The question here is does your life give any opportunity
For God to put His loyalty to you on display?

Now, before move forward in the Psalm,
Let me give you an example of what that looks like.

We remember the story of Abraham.
• Abraham was a pagan and God chose him.
• Abraham was unfaithful trying to go to Egypt, but God preserved him and Sarah.
• Abraham tried to fulfill the promise by the flesh, but God still granted Isaac by grace.

By the time Abraham is up in years
He is convinced of the loyalty of God on his behalf,
And you actually have a story where Abraham puts that on display.

In Genesis 24 Abraham tells his servant to go back to his country and find a wife for Isaac and bring her to Canaan.
• The request is filled with difficulty.

And the servant even asks:
Genesis 24:5-6 “The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?” Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there!”

So the servant sets out, but he knows it’s a difficult task so the servant prays.
Genesis 24:12 “He said, “O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham.”

• From there he prays that God would show him the girl by having her come up and water his camels, and that is exactly what happens.
• Rebekah comes up and drew water for all his camels and the servant was amazed.
• He asked here who she was and she was of the very people that the servant was looking for.

The point is that it is clear that God was working on behalf of Abraham.

And here is what the servant prayed after the event.
Genesis 24:26-27 “Then the man bowed low and worshiped the LORD. He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the LORD has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

Now when you read that story you see how
Abraham asked for what only God could provide.

And Abraham trusted God to provide.

It opened the door for God to demonstrate His loyalty to Abraham,
And He did to the point that it caused the servant to worship.

Now, to Abraham’s servant,
• Even though there were no miraculous demonstrations of power.
• Even though there were no signs in the heavens.

The servant was convinced that God was with Abraham
Because he witnessed God’s loyalty.

You see that.

Well that’s the problem now in Israel.
They don’t live in such a way as to ever even give God the opportunity to demonstrate His loyalty.

• They live like the pagans…
• They don’t ask any more of God than the pagans ask of their gods…

And so to the pagans it doesn’t appear that God is with them at all.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
(9-11) “O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield. You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.”

Now pay attention to exactly what is said here.
You obviously see a 3-fold reference.

• “O Israel” – that would be the CHOSEN.
• “house of Aaron” – that would be the CONSECRATED
• “You who fear” – that would be the CONVINCED

So anyone out there who has a relationship with God
The command to them is clear: “trust in the LORD”

Quit walking like the world and start walking by faith.
• Live your life in such a way that gives God the opportunity to demonstrate His glory in the way He cares for you.

But notice also THE WAY the Psalmist writes this.
“O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is THEIR help and THEIR shield.”

Does that seem a little strange in the wording to you?
Shouldn’t it say, “O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is YOUR help and YOUR shield”?

And you notice it is the same wording all 3 times.

WHY does the Psalmist say “their help and their shield” instead of the other way around?

Because the Psalmist here is quoting
What the statement of the world ought to be.

Right now the world looks at Israel and says, “Where, now, is their God?”
The world ought to be looking at Israel and saying, “He is their help and their shield.”

And the way to make that happen is for Israel to start walking by faith.
It is time for Israel to start trusting the LORD.

• Step out in faith and obey Him.
• Get out of the comfort of worldly logic and do what God says.

And when you step out in faith it opens the door
For God to demonstrate His glory and loyalty and truth
In the way He deals with you.

I saw this first hand with my parents.
• In the early 80’s my dad was laid off from his machinist job.
• I remember him taking us to Dairy Queen and telling us he was going to start trading horses.
• I never felt the strain, but I know my parents did.

• And yet, I saw him weekly titheing from what God had provided.
• I saw them continually giving money to a friend in need.
• And every morning we would join as a family and pray that God would provide.

THE POINT?
• I watched my parents position their life as a life of faith
• And it was easy for me or anyone else who watched
• To see how loyal God was to them.

HE NEVER FAILED THEM.
They trusted God and God glorified His name
In the way He cared for them.
He is still doing that.

AND THAT IS THE CALL OF THE PSALMIST.
• Start trusting God.
• Start walking by faith so that God is glorified when He is able to put His loyalty and truth on display.

And incidentally: YOU CAN TRUST GOD.
(12-15) “The LORD has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the LORD, The small together with the great. May the LORD give you increase, You and your children. May you be blessed of the LORD, Maker of heaven and earth.”

Do you hear the point of this Psalm?
• God has been loyal and true to care for you continually.
• But your refusal to trust Him and walk by faith has resulted in the world not
being able to recognize it.

In fact, they don’t see any difference between your God and their god
And that is a shame.

Start trusting God and let Him glorify His name as He cares for you.

Do you want a prayer to this effect?
Psalms 67 “God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

That’s the same message isn’t it?

Your life is meant to be a conduit through which God can glorify Himself in the world.

And that does not always mean that you do something amazing or miraculous and then give God the credit.

At times it’s that you simply trust God and He does what is amazing and glorifies Himself.

He does what only a living God can do.
He speaks, He hears, He smells, He feels, He walks, He cares for His people.

And when you trust God and live different from the world,
He will make that evident to the world and glorify His name.

And the PSALM CLOSES reminding you that this is the point.
(16-18) “The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, But the earth He has given to the sons of men. The dead do not praise the LORD, Nor do any who go down into silence; But as for us, we will bless the LORD From this time forth and forever. Praise the LORD!”

Do you catch his point?

“The dead do not praise the LORD”
That doesn’t mean that people aren’t praising God in heaven, that’s not the point.

The point is that there is a purpose for why God gives life.
Their life is for the purpose of bringing glory to God.

When you’re dead the world can no longer benefit from your life of faith.
When you’re dead the world can no longer benefit from your song of praise.
But while you’re living, that’s the goal.

So go out and live your life in a way
That puts on display the great loyalty and truth of God.

Walk in faith and let God glorify Himself
In the way that He cares for His children.

And this was a song sung at the Passover.
• Psalms 113 was sung to remind them that God glorified Himself by beholding them.
• Psalms 114 was sung to remind them that God gloried Himself by saving them.
• Psalms 115 is to remind them that God glorifies Himself by blessing their faith and obedience.

And as we have said, these Psalms aren’t just about the Passover,
THEY ARE ABOUT THE SALVATION OF CHRIST.

• Jesus told us not to look back at the Passover anymore.
• He told us to look back at the cross.
• “Do this in remembrance of Me”

We might say in regard to the Hallel, “Sing this in remembrance of Me”

AND IT IS TRUE.

It is a tragedy when the world can look at our life
And not see the benefit of Jesus all over us.

It is terrible for you or I to live so much like the world
That they can’t see that Jesus does anything more for us
Than Allah does for Muslims or Buddha does for Buddhists, etc.

Instead the world ought to be blown away with the way Jesus treats us.

They ought to see you walk by faith
And Jesus come through time after time after time
Until they are forced to say, “He is their help and their shield.”

This has been the way God’s people have been intended to walk.

Remember when those 3 Hebrew boys faced the flame?
• Remember them giving God opportunity to show His loyalty?
• Remember Nebuchadnezzar after God delivered?

Daniel 3:28 “Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.”

Remember when Daniel faced the den of lions?
• Remember how he stepped out in faith and let God deliver?
• Remember Darius after God delivered?

Daniel 6:20-22 “When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever! “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.”

Remember when the early church was threatened to stop preaching the resurrection?
Acts 4:23-31 “When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, ‘WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? ‘THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.’ “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”

Remember when Paul was on a ship in the middle of the storm?
Acts 27:21-26 “When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss. “Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. “For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ “Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. “But we must run aground on a certain island.”

And we could go on.
But you get the point.

GOD IS LOYAL TO HIS PEOPLE – HE CARES FOR THEM!
But if the world is going to see it
Then you are going to have to trust Him
And give Him the opportunity.

And He deserves that opportunity!
“Not to us, O LORD, not us, But to Your name give glory”

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Unashamed
2 Timothy 1:8-14
August 15, 2021

This morning we come to what has quickly become
One of my favorite services here at First Baptist Church.
It is our annual School Commissioning Service.

• I like it, certainly, because I think it is important to pray for our teachers and students as they return.

• But I also like it because, if nothing else, it gives us a Sunday where we can reevaluate and refocus on the mission of the church.

It is a mission that is true for every single believer.
• And it doesn’t matter if you are a common worker
• It doesn’t matter if you are a stay at home mom
• It doesn’t matter if you are a student in school

If you are a believer in Christ, you have 1 primary purpose.
And that purpose is the growth of the kingdom of God
Through the proclamation of the gospel.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT we were studying with the youth and we’ve been going through the gospel of John for about 3 years now.

But we came to:
John 20:21 “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

That’s a pretty remarkable statement.
We are now called by Christ to be His presence in the world.

And, as I told them Wednesday night, that FALLS TO EVERY BELIEVER.
• If you have confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord.
• If you are His follower.
• You are called to be a witness for Him.

And it’s not like anyone is too old or too young to do this.
If He has SAVED YOU, and He has seen fit to LEAVE YOU HERE,
Then you are EXPECTED to be a witness for Him.

That holds true for the teenager in the classroom
And that holds true for the retired man or woman at the coffee shop.

This service is an annual reminder of that truth.

Well this morning we are going to look at 2 Timothy 1:8-14.

We actually looked at this passage 3 years ago at this very service.
Only then our primary focus was on verse 7 of 2 Timothy 1.

2 Timothy 1:6-7 “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”

And our focus then was that if you have the Spirit of God within you
Then there is no need for you to walk in fear.

Rather, you have “a spirit of…power and love and discipline.”
That is your equipping.

THIS MORNING I want to look at some other parts of this passage.

And the focus of our study this morning
Is really going to center around the first half of verse 9.

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord”

Paul calls Timothy (and by extension each of us) to be UNASHAMED.

And it is a familiar thought in Scripture.
Mark 8:38 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Certainly we remember:
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

And here Paul is calling Timothy to also be unashamed of the gospel.

Perhaps of primary importance here are THE COMMANDS of the chapter.
The imperatives are not hard to see.

You’d do good to underline them:
• (8) “Therefore do not be ashamed”
• (8) “join with me in suffering”
• (13) “Retain the standard of sound words”
• (14) “Guard…the treasure”

Those are the four commands.
Everything else in this text sort of yields itself to enforcing those commands.

It is clear that Paul wants Timothy to stand up, be unashamed,
Join the suffering, hold on to the gospel, and defend it.

You are likely aware by now that
Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus to put things in order.
• Timothy had found this job to be quite difficult.
• In addition Nero is emperor and persecution is intense.
• In fact, 2 Timothy will be Paul’s last letter before he is beheaded.
• And it is often noted that perhaps Timothy was ready to quit.
• At the very least he is distressed.

2 Timothy 1:3-4 “I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.”

It was hard.

But the fact that serving Christ faithfully was hard,
Was not an excuse not to do it.

And in this final letter of Paul, he writes to Timothy to ask him to
PUT SHAME ASIDE AND TO JOIN IN THE FIGHT.

We are going to examine this plea this morning.

Now, we are going to look at this text a little different this morning
Because I want to make sure that the main point is evident.

You have here is Paul calling Timothy to not be ashamed of the gospel,
But in typical Paul fashion, he also reminds
What the gospel is, and what it is Timothy is fighting for.

I want to look at that first quickly and then we’ll get to the commands.

It is in verses 9-10 where Paul outlines this gospel
That he wants Timothy to stand up for.

“who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Jesus Christ from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,”

Now, I know that is a mouthful,
But let’s make sure we understand at least the high points.

GOD SAVED US
“who has saved us”

• We didn’t save ourselves, He saved us.
• We didn’t even help in salvation.
• Paul makes it clear that salvation was “not according to our works”

We didn’t add anything to it.
But rather, according to God’s sovereign prerogative
God chose before the foundation of the world that He would save us.

God saved us “according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

Not only did God save us, but His salvation WASN’T REACTIONARY.
God determined from eternity past that He was going to save us.

Paul said it in Ephesians 1:4
Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”

That means that before time began God had a plan
To save sinners who could not save themselves.

Paul reminds Timothy that they were those sinners whom God saved.
• Can you forget the fact that God purposed to save you from eternity past?
• Can you forget the fact that while we were enemies of God and children of wrath He saw fit to save us?
• Can you forget that?

And it’s not like God’s plan of salvation was nothing but an empty dream.
What God purposed to do God actually did.

This salvation “has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

God sent His Son!
• Jesus took on flesh and entered this world.
• He was born under the Law, and He fulfilled it.
• He resisted every temptation and He earned a righteous standing.
• He then faced death on our behalf and conquered it.

And He provides “life and immortality” to those who believe in Him.

What a promise!

THIS IS THE GOSPEL.
It is the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• He took on flesh and lived among us
• That He might save us from our sin and grant us eternal life.

GOD DID THIS.
• We didn’t do this.
GOD PURPOSED THIS.
• We didn’t purpose this.
GOD FULFILLED THIS.
• We didn’t fulfill this.

IT IS ALL GOD’S DOING.
He “has saved us”

But that’s not all Paul reminded Timothy of; He also told Timothy that:
GOD CALLED US.
He “has saved us and called us with a holy calling”

We aren’t just on the list of the REDEEMED,
We are on the list of the COMMISSIONED.

In fact, look at verse 11, “for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.”

Paul reminds Timothy that
He was “appointed”; that he was “called”

Paul says, “I am here for the gospel”

Can I ask you: WHY ARE YOU HERE?
What do you think is your purpose in life?

Have we not been studying Ecclesiastes and seen all the futility of the various worldly pursuits?

• Do you really think the primary reason God sends you to school is so you can
get knowledge?
• Do you really think the primary reason God employed you in the school is to
teach algebra or science or history?

Again, I’m NOT SAYING that knowledge is a bad thing. We know “knowledge exceeds folly as light exceeds darkness”. Ecclesiastes taught us that.

BUT THAT IS NOT OUR PURPOSE.
• That is NOT why we are here.
• That is NOT why you are in that school.
• That is NOT why you go to work.

There was a man who used to sit up across the road from us at the First Monday Trade Days in Canton.

HE SOLD SOCKS.
• One day he asked me, “Do you know the purpose of a sock factory?”
• I said, “To make socks.”
• He said, “No. The purpose of a sock factory is to make money.”

Do you know why God saved you while you were still in school?
Do you know why God saved you and caused you to be employed at that school?

FOR THE GOSPEL.
Be a good student… Be a good teacher…
But neither of those are your primary purpose.

We are “saved” and we are “called”
God has enlisted those He saved into His service to publish the gospel.

NOW LISTEN TO ME HERE.
That makes a refusal to join in the work of the gospel
• As the ultimate DISOBEDIENCE
• And the ultimate INGRATITUDE.

That’s just the fact.
As God’s children we have received a salvation we did not earn
And a calling we cannot ignore.

I HOPE YOU SEE THAT.

That truth is the basis for what Paul is going to tell Timothy.
• Paul is speaking to a man who has been saved and who has been called.
• And if you are a child of God those criteria fit you as well.

Well now, let’s look at those commands.
#1 JOIN THE FIGHT
2 Timothy 1:8-12

Even though we read 5 verses there, the main point does jump out at us.
“do not be ashamed”

• And Paul even returns to it in verse 12 saying, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed…”

• Specifically Paul tells Timothy not to be “ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner,”

There is a massive temptation to sort of omit the gospel.
There is a massive temptation to omit any association with Paul.

It is a time when it would be much easier
To keep your mouth closed and your head down.

Survival would seem to be the name of the game.
And yet Paul says, “do not be ashamed”

And in case there is any confusion regarding exactly what he means,

Paul says, “but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.”

There is no confusion here as to what Paul wants.
• He wants Timothy to stand up and be counted.
• He wants Timothy to join the fight.

Will that mean suffering for Timothy? Yes, most certainly.
But Paul calls Timothy to do it anyway.

• It was a time when Christians were being arrested.
• It was a time when Christians were having their property seized.
• It was a time when Christians were being killed in the coliseum.

And so it was a time when Christians were tempted
To put their light under a bushel.

Paul called for just the opposite.
Stand up, “do not be ashamed…join with me in suffering”

Now, I just want us to PAUSE for a moment and LET THAT SINK IN.

I think sometimes in modern day Christianity
We have convinced ourselves that THREAT of suffering
Is an ACCEPTABLE REASON not to do something.

Perhaps the prosperity gospel has made too many inroads into our thinking and caused us to believe that God never intends for His people to suffer.

But it seems apparent that FEAR OF REPERCUSSION
Has been a more than SUCCESSFUL DETERRENT
To keep Christians from sharing the gospel.

And I just want to make sure you see clearly this morning that
• Suffering was intense in Timothy’s world
• And he got a letter from a condemned man, who was about to be executed,
• Telling him to step up and join the suffering.

DO YOU SEE THAT?

IN FACT,
The way Paul writes to Timothy insinuates that
• If Timothy fails to “join…in suffering”
• Then Timothy is “ashamed of the testimony of our Lord”

DOES EVERYONE SEE THAT?

You either step up and join the suffering or be ashamed of the gospel.

This is a heavy call from Paul to Timothy.
I would imagine that the initial reading of this letter
Put a knot in Timothy’s stomach.

Now, just for a moment we are going to BRING THIS PART HOME.
• We’re about to send teachers into the school this week.
• We’re about to send students into the school this week.

And I simply want you to understand that
Fear of suffering is not an acceptable reason to neglect the gospel.

We are called to be those who confess Christ before men.
We are called to be those who are unashamed.

Perhaps that puts a knot in your stomach like it must have Timothy’s.
Paul knows that.

SO HE HAS SOME IMPORTANT INSTRUCTION FOR TIMOTHY.

Notice Paul says in verse 8, “join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,”

What does that mean?
“according to the power of God”

Well, it is a reference to what Paul said previously.
2 Timothy 1:6-7 “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”

Paul reminded Timothy that he
Had been supernaturally gifted by God for this task.

When Timothy faced the world, he did not face the world alone.
Timothy, as a believer in Jesus, had the Holy Spirit.

AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT AFRAID.
• Paul said, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity (cowardice), but of power and love and discipline.”

And this is what Paul means when he tells Timothy here to suffer “according to the power of God.”

• Later Paul will say, (14) “Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

In other words, Timothy, as you face suffering, rely on God’s Spirit.
• Don’t face this challenge in the flesh.
• Don’t face this battle in your own strength.
• You must rely on the Spirit of God.

And if we had time we’d go into all the details of what it means
To be “filled with the Spirit” or to “walk by the Spirit”.

But for time’s sake, I’ll just tell you.
GET IN THE WORD!

Paul is not telling Timothy to face this battle on his own,
But rather to face this calling and the threat of suffering
With the strength that God has already provided.

THERE IS POWER FOR THIS.
And there is FOR YOU as well if you are a child of God.

God has more than enough power for you to go into the school
And be a witness for Christ, face that calling with His power.

Now that is sort of the INITIAL MANDATE from Paul to Timothy.
• Don’t be ashamed.
• Join the suffering and stand in God’s power when you do it.

And then Paul expounds on the gospel (which we looked at.)

• Timothy, God saved us.
• Timothy, God called us.
• Timothy, God chose us before the foundation of the world.
• Timothy, God sent His Son into this world to fulfill His purpose.
• Timothy, Jesus abolished death and granted immortality.

You cannot let suffering cause you to be silent about that.
Timothy, you cannot be ashamed of what Jesus did.

And that is an important reminder for each one of us.
• We are the redeemed.
• We are the saved.
• We are the called.
• We are the chosen.
• We are the commissioned.

Jesus came to this earth, fulfilled our righteousness,
Bore our punishment, and granted us eternal life.

And He has called us to stand up and proclaim that message to the world.
• We cannot be ashamed.
• We cannot be deterred by suffering.
• We have been saved and we have been called.

And incidentally, notice Paul’s example.
(12) “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

It’s not like Paul was asking Timothy to do something that he was unwilling to do.
• At the present Paul was in the infamous Mamertine Prison.
• He would soon be beheaded.
• At the end of this letter he reveals that he has been abandoned by everyone.

2 Timothy 4:9-11 “Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.”

Here is God’s apostle, all but alone.
2 Timothy 4:16 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.”

• Paul had faced arrest and imprisonment.
• Paul had faced the abandonment of all his companions.
• Paul now faced death.

But despite all that he said, “but I am not ashamed”

WHY?
“for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

Paul was not ashamed,
NOT BECAUSE he knew the gospel,
BUT BECAUSE he believed the gospel.

• He believed in Jesus Christ.
• He believed that Jesus Christ could save Him.
• He believed that Jesus Christ would save Him.

And thus, Paul had no problem confessing His Savior before men.

Let me tell it to you like this.
AT THE HEART OF EVANGELISM IS FAITH.

You will never suffer for a gospel you do not believe.

Paul IS NOT just calling Timothy to proclaim the gospel,
Paul IS calling Timothy to believe it and to trust it.

• Timothy, do you believe God saved you?
• Timothy, do you believe God called you?
• Timothy, do you believe that Jesus Christ brought immortality to light?

THEN “do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.”

Timothy, join the fight.

That is my call to you church.
Whether you are headed into the school or simply into the work place.
• Join the fight.
• Do not be ashamed of the gospel.
• Take it and proclaim it even if it comes with a cost.

That is Paul’s first admonition to Timothy.

One more point we’ll make.
#2 DEFEND THE GOSPEL
2 Timothy 1:13-14

Here you see two imperatives.
“Retain” & “Guard”

“Retain” is the Greek word ECHO
It means “to have and to hold”

Paul tells Timothy first “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”

In other words, Timothy own the gospel and hold the gospel.
• Hold on to “the standard of sound words”
• Hold on to the gospel you heard me preach.

And then he says,
“Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

That treasure is the truth.
That treasure is the gospel.

1 Timothy 3:14-15 “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

The church has been entrusted with the truth.
And it must be guarded because men will pervert it.

Listen to the last warning Paul gave Timothy in his first letter to him.
1 Timothy 6:20-21 “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”

There are men who are embracing worldly knowledge
And thus have “gone astray from the faith.”

LET ME TRANSLATE THAT FOR YOU.

There is a message that you can go into the world an preach
Which will not bring about suffering.

• You can embrace “worldly and empty chatter”
• You can embrace “what is falsely called ‘knowledge’”

That is to say that
You can just talk about all the junk the world wants to talk about.

I googled what are the “BIGGEST SOCIAL ISSUES OF 2021”.
I’m sure the list varies from site to site, but this is what I found.

1) The Vaccine
2) Same Sex Marriage
3) Gender Identity
4) Woman Empowerment
5) Hunger and Poverty
6) Overpopulation
7) LGBT adoption rights
8) Climate Change
9) Racism / Religious Discrimination (Islam)
10) Health Care Availability

Now, you can go into the world tomorrow
And you can adopt any one of those 10 subjects
And feel like you are really in the flow of life.

(And that doesn’t even include getting lost in politics.)

And if you listen to social pressure and pick the popular side of those arguments you’ll even “be considered knowledgeable and woke.”

In fact, the world WILL LOVE YOU.
They will embrace you.
And there is no threat of suffering.

BUT IF YOU
• “retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from [Paul]”
• And if you “Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

THEN YOU CAN GET READY FOR A FIGHT.

The gospel IS NOT going to endorse same sex marriage or gender identity or LGBT adoption rights.
• The gospel is going to confront those in sexual sin with the Law of God which condemns such behavior.
• And then the gospel is going to offer those in that sin forgiveness and cleansing through Jesus Christ.

The gospel IS NOT going to become preoccupied with things like overpopulation.
• The gospel is going to acknowledge that human life is not a mistake, but rather a divine creation of God, and that God will save any human who will repent and call on His name.

The gospel IS NOT going to get lost in talks of climate change and carbon emissions and saving the planet.
• The gospel is going to remind that this world will last until God destroys it and that one day the earth and even the elements will be destroyed with fire.
• And yet the gospel will offer to any man salvation from this judgment through Christ.

The gospel IS NOT going to turn itself into a social mandate regarding critical race theory or woman empowerment or any other current cause.
• The gospel is going to remind that all people regardless of race or gender are lost and in need of a Savior and that in Christ Jesus there is “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.”

The gospel IS NOT going to belittle itself to the cause of vaccination or health care availability.
• The gospel is going to remind the world that no one is getting out alive regardless of medication and that the only true hope for humanity is salvation through Jesus Christ.

THE GOSPEL IS FOCUSED ON THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY ONE
THAT SAVES MEN FROM ETERNAL JUDGMENT.

And this is Paul’s call to Timothy.
• Timothy you can spend your life talking about everything but the main thing.
• You can avoid suffering and even be popular by addressing everything except what you have been called to proclaim.
• BUT YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED AND CALLED FOR MORE!

• Retain the gospel.
• Guard the gospel.
• Do not be ashamed of the gospel.
• Suffer for the gospel.
• Proclaim the gospel.

DO NOT GET DISTRACTED.
“Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God”

This is what is asked of the church.
And this week as you go into the school,
Remember why you are there.

Download Here:

A Great Salvation
Psalms 114
August 8, 2021

As we saw last week, we have entered the segment of Psalms
Known as “The Hallel” – It means “The Praise”

• It was the special group of Psalms that looked back on the Exodus from Egypt,
• Which was the pinnacle event in Jewish history,
• And it was the group of Psalms that was sung during the Passover each year.

Again:
Mark 14:26 “After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

The songs were meant TO GIVE PERSPECTIVE
To the great salvation which God performed
On behalf of His people by delivering them from Egypt.

Last week was a perfect introduction to this segment as we looked at Psalms 113 and were asked to ponder the question, “Who is like the LORD?”

• We learned that it is actually beneath God to even behold things in heaven,
much less things in earth.

That blew David’s mind.
• Who is this God that would so humble Himself so as to even notice these
slaves?
• And why would this God take the time to turn these poor slaves into princes or
these barren women into joyful women?
• What kind of a God does that?

It is indeed praiseworthy!

We of course read that Psalm through a gospel lens
And we are blown away that not only did God behold things on earth, but He actually took on flesh and dwelled among us.
• He subjected Himself to the Law…
• He faced our temptation…
• He subjected Himself to suffering…
• He clothed Himself in our sin…
• He submitted even to death…

What kind of a God does that?
ONLY OUR GOD.

And so we wholeheartedly agreed with David’s assessment last week that God is worthy of continual and unhindered praise.

Psalms 113:1-4 “Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the LORD is to be praised. The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.”

But Psalms 113 was just the opening act.

TONIGHT we move forward in the progression
And actually examine the act by which God actually saved them.

WE LOOK AT THE EXODUS.

We love Psalms 114 because it DOES NOT LOOK at the Exodus in the typical familiar way.
• It is not a narrative.
• If anything, it is a taunt or a boast.

It is the objective of David to get the reader
To consider the awesome saving power of God.

What God did for them was anything but routine.
What God did for them was utterly amazing.
God put on a powerful display when He delivered them from Egypt.

Often we read as Moses remembers the Exodus and Moses always describes it the same way.

God brought us out of Egypt with “a mighty hand”

Deuteronomy 26:6-8 “And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. ‘Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders;”

DAVID’S OBJECTIVE is to make sure that you understand
Just what a mighty salvation it was that God performed for his people.

• So after Psalms 113 focused on Humility of God to consider His people.
• Psalms 114 focuses on the Power of God to completely save them.

Let’s break this Psalm down into 3 points tonight.
#1 GOD’S SOVEREIGN ELECTION
Psalms 114:1-2

Well this is a topic we never get tired of.
We absolutely love the concept of GOD’S SOVEREIGN ELECTION.

Concerning Israel we think back to Genesis.
• We see after Noah that the world is starting to repopulate but all the people spoke the same language.
• At Babel God divided and separated the people into distinct nations and people groups.
• He did this so that He might choose among them.
• That event of separating the peoples occurred in the Genesis 11.

In Genesis 12 God makes His choice.
• There is a pagan, idol worshiping, money seeker named Abram, and God
chose him to be His own.
• And God promised also that He would make Abram’s descendants great and
that they would be God’s people.

Neither Abram nor Israel
Was chosen because of their greatness or majesty.

In fact, they were specifically chosen because they weren’t great or mighty.
Deuteronomy 7:7-8 “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

It is the same point Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 1
• When he points out that in the church there is “not many wise, not many
mighty, not many noble”

But God chose Israel and thus God chose to save them.

And that is where David picks up in the story.
• He picks up with the great salvation of God;
• The day God delivered them from Egypt with a mighty hand.

(1-2) “When Israel went forth from Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion.”

• We remember when Israel entered Egypt.
• There was only 70 of them, and they were the family of Jacob.

EGYPT HOWEVER SERVED AS THE INCUBATOR
Where God would take this small family
And turn them into a nation that numbered like the sand of the seashore.

And now that Israel has grown, God is leading that family back out.

But it is the sovereign favor of God toward Israel
That here has David captivated.

For again, God did an amazing thing for them.
“Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion.”

That nation became the RECIPIENTS OF THE PRESENCE of God,
That nation became the REPRESENTATIVES OF THE KINGDOM of God.

Of all the nations in the world, God chose to dwell among them.
Of all the nations of the world, God chose to rule them.

They would be His people and He would be their God.

It was God’s sovereign election again put on display.
• He chose this people.
• He dwelled among this people.
• He made this people His kingdom.

We remember the covenant struck at Sinai.
Exodus 19:3-6 “Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘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; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

God was doing for them what He had not done for anyone.

I know the world tries to twist this around and say, “Well what a mean God that He did not choose everyone.”

On the contrary,
• Every man alive had the testimony of creation.
• Every man alive was a recipient of God’s common grace.
• God would have rejected none who called on Him.

BUT NONE CALLED ON HIM.
And Israel wouldn’t have called on Him either, if He had not chosen them.

This is an act of tremendous grace.
God chose to save an insignificant people.

• They are the poor people in the dust David spoke of in Psalms 113.
• They are that barren woman God blessed.

But God did far more than just dwell among them and rule them.
GOD SAVED THEM!

He saved them according to His own sovereign prerogative.
He saved them because He chose to save them.

God’s Sovereign Election.
#2 GOD’S SAVING POWER
Psalms 114:3-6

It is the familiar story but told with magnificent drama!

“The sea looked and fled; The Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, The hills, like lambs.”

The picture is given that when God showed up
Even creation fled from Him.

Indeed the book of the Revelation says that in the end it will all flee from Him again.

• Instead of saying “God parted the sea”, David says, “The sea looked and fled”
• Instead of saying “God parted the Jordan”, David says, “The Jordan turned back”
• Instead of saying “God shook the mountains”, David says, “The mountains skipped like rams”

It is the same story, but told from a unique perspective.

It is told in this manner so you will behold the awesome power of God
• Next to God the sea is powerless.
• Next to God the Jordan is nothing.
• Next to God the mountains have no resilience.

It was actually a little embarrassing
How pathetic the sea, rivers, and mountains looked before God.

It even inspired a taunt from David.
(5-6) “What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?”

It almost sounds like Elijah mocking those 450 prophets of Baal.
• What’s the matter?
• What happened that you just tucked tail and ran like that?

If creation could speak, no doubt it would say,
“Did you not see Him? We could not stand before Him!”

It is meant here by David to make the point that
God’s salvation of Israel was not “a barely salvation”

It was not a “by the skin of their teeth” salvation.
• God thoroughly saved.
• God overwhelmingly saved.
• God saved in grand and mighty fashion.

• It wasn’t even close.
• It was without a doubt.

He blew back the sea, He halted the river, He shook the mountains.

NOTHING that threatened Israel was able to stand in God’s way.
• He humbled Egypt and then He humbled the sea.
• He humbled Pharaoh and He humbled the Jordan.
• He humbled the mountains and He humbled the hills.

God overwhelmingly saved Israel.
It wasn’t an acceptable salvation, it was a mighty salvation!

And as Israel sang this song every Passover
• You can almost hear their boasts
• And see their chests swell
• As they sang of the overwhelming and totally complete salvation that God worked on their behalf.

It was a song of boasting.
It was a song of boasting in the Lord.

God’s Sovereign Election
God’s Saving Power
#3 GOD’S SOBERING PROMISE
Psalms 114:7-8

And now as Israel has contemplated the overwhelming defeat of their enemies
AND the extreme power of their God to save.

The song leads the redeemed
To sing a song of warning to their enemies.

• They sing this verse loud so that all the world can hear.
• They sing this song boldly so that anyone who would attempt to enslave Israel again might know exactly who they are dealing with.

They sang, “Tremble, O earth, before the Lord, Before the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of water.”

It was a song in which by all intents and purposes the children of Israel
Would sing to the neighboring nations like the Philistines or the Moabites
And say, “Do you want some?”

Anybody else here want to tangle with the God of Israel?

If I were you, I’D LEAVE US ALONE, because we’ve got
“A sea scaring, river halting, mountain shaking God.”

And, oh by the way, NOTHING CAN STOP HIM from accomplishing His purposes.
• He can turn “the rock into a pool of water” if He needs to.
• He can turn “the flint into a fountain of water.”

In short, nothing could stop God from saving His people
And nothing can stop God from finishing what He started.

It is a boisterous song of confidence
In the great and perfect salvation of the God of Israel.

And it was sung each year as the commemorated the Passover.

But as we said, we don’t sing it remembering the Passover.

The last time Jesus took the Passover,
He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me”

It’s not about the Exodus anymore.
It’s about Jesus now.

And just as Psalms 113 gave us a picture of THE INCARNATION,
Psalms 114 gives us a picture of the overwhelming, powerful and perfect salvation of Jesus.

And tonight I want to make sure that you see it.

Tonight I want you to understand
Just how great the salvation is which Christ brought for you,
And I want you to be able to sing with confidence in the God who saves.

So let’s look at this Psalm again, but this time look at Jesus.

Again we started with: GOD’S SOVEREIGN ELECTION.

• Namely we noted that God had chosen Israel and chosen to save them.
• And that God did for them what He did for no one.

(2) “Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion.”

In short, they were His temple and they were His kingdom.

And is that not who the church is today?

1 Corinthians 3:16 “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

Ephesians 2:19-22 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

We are the temple.
God dwells in us.

And are we not also His kingdom?
Colossians 1:13 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,”

That passage we read about Israel at Sinai where God offered them the chance to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…

Peter applies that truth to the church.
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.”

In short, we are the people God has chosen.
We have been elected by God.

And again, that is not some sort of slant by which we accuse God.
None of us would have chosen God on our own.
And we know He has never rejected a single person
Who ever called on the name of the Lord.

No one ever called upon Him and God said, “I’m sorry, you’re not chosen.”

But the truth is that
No one ever called on God unless they were chosen.
It is He who regenerated their hearts and caused them to seek Him.

We, the church, now enjoy the reality that God chose to save us.

Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

JUST LIKE ISRAEL,
The only reason we are saved is because God chose to save us.

And just like Israel, we have a mighty salvation.
We read verses 3-6 and we saw: GOD’S SAVING POWER.

David spoke of God overwhelmingly conquering every foe and every obstacle.
• The sea fled
• The river turned around
• The mountains skipped

It was a powerful salvation and I want you to know church
THAT IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF SALVATION CHRIST WON FOR US.

• He didn’t barely save…
• He didn’t temporarily save…
• He didn’t potentially save…
• He overwhelmingly and totally and permanently saved…

And it wasn’t even close.
And I want you to understand that.

• When the writer of Hebrews talked about salvation, he called it “so great a salvation” (Hebrews 2:3)

• Peter said it was such a magnificent spectacle that it even caught the gaze of angels who “longed to look” at these things. (1 Peter 1:10-12)

It was more powerful and more impressive
Even than the parting of the Red Sea.

Hopefully you remember Romans 7
Where we get a picture of Paul going into all-out battle with sin and losing.

“The thing I want to do I don’t do, instead I do the very thing I hate”

Ultimately Paul said:
Romans 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

You might as well hear the children of Israel right there
Standing before the Red Sea
Realizing that on their own they have no hope of survival.

They had no ability to turn back the sea and they surely couldn’t cross it.
They were trapped too.

But just as the children of Israel saw God’s great salvation, so did Paul.
Romans 7:25-8:4 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Paul said that Jesus stepped in and saved Him!

And notice what he said:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

What did Paul ask? “who will set me free from the body of this death?”

His answer: JESUS!

HOW?
“For what the Law could not do, weak at it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh”

• He killed our enemy!
• The Law couldn’t do it, but Christ did it!

We just got back from Sequoia National Park and Yosemite.
They have BEARS UP THERE.
And they constantly tell you the main rule about dealing with bears.

“Don’t leave food in your tent or in your car, it will attract bears.”

NOW, SUPPOSE
• You decide to go camping in Yosemite and for food you smoke a brisket and you leave it in the tent with you while you sleep.

That’s what we call sin.

• And in the middle of the night a bear rips into your tent and jumps on top of you because he is hungry.

Now, at that moment in order to save your life,
• Your wife jumps up, runs to the car, grabs the paperwork they gave you at the entry gate
• And runs back into the tent and reads you these words,
• “Don’t leave food in your tent or in your car, it will attract bears.”

Good advice but utterly impotent at that moment to save you.

Now, that’s the Law, and that’s human effort.

It only helps if you obey it before hand, but once you’ve fallen into sin it won’t save you, it will only point out that you were a disobedient fool.

What do you need at that moment?
• You need someone stronger than the bear.
• You need that stronger person to enter your battle against the bear.
• You need that stronger person to set you free from the bear and kill the bear.

LET ME READ IT AGAIN.
• “For what the Law (the rule about food) could not do,
• weak as it was through the flesh, (because you didn’t listen)
• God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (God dressed Jesus up as a human)
• and as an offering for sin, (Jesus took your place as bear food)
• He condemned sin in the flesh, (Jesus killed the bear)
• so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.” (Jesus set you free)

And what Jesus did, He did totally and perfectly.

In fact, listen to the promise of Jesus.
John 8:31-36 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

Jesus doesn’t set people free and leave them as slaves at the same time.
• When Jesus saves you, you are saved.
• When Jesus frees you, you are free.
• When Jesus delivers you, you are delivered.
• When Jesus kills your enemy, he is dead.

IT IS A TOTAL AND PERFECT SALVATION.

Only Jesus didn’t save us from Egypt.
Jesus saved us from SIN and from DEATH.

1 Corinthians 15:20-25 “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.”

Christ is conquering it all.

IN FACT, Jesus’ VICTORY over sin and death IS SO COMPLETE
Paul closes 1 Corinthians 15 just like David.

• We heard David taunting the sea.
• We heard David taunting the river.
• We heard David taunting the mountains.

Where’d you go?

Now listen to Paul in light of Jesus’ salvation.
1 Corinthians 15:54-57 “But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It is a total victory!
It is a complete victory!

We’ve talked about it many times before.

On the cross Jesus didn’t POTENTIALLY atone for sin,
He ACTUALLY atoned for sin.

• We saw the sky go black, which was a picture of “The Day of the LORD” wrath.
• God’s judgment arrived at the cross.

• But God’s judgment wasn’t poured out on the Jews who condemned Him.
• And God’s judgment wasn’t poured out on the Romans who crucified Him.

• On that day God’s judgment was poured out on Christ.
• Christ was the One crying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

• He was actually bearing the wrath of God on sin.
• He was actually paying the debt we created.

• And on that cross He paid it all.
• He paid it perfectly, He paid it totally, He paid it permanently.

And when He finished paying it, He said, “It is finished!”
DONE!

And what happened?
• The temple veil tore from top to bottom – ACCESS GRANTED (sin is defeated)
• Tombs were opened and the dead were raised – DEATH DEFEATED

On the cross Jesus totally conquered sin and death.
• Sin fled from Him.
• Death fled from Him.
• He made a mockery of them both.

And we now join with David and Paul
And we stick our chests out with Elijah and we boast,
Not of what we did, but of the mighty work which Christ did.

We throw off sin as that which no longer is our master.
We laugh in the face of death as that which cannot hold us.

We see what Jesus did on the cross.
It was SAVING POWER!

We see His Sovereign Election
We see His Saving Power
We also see HIS SOBERING PROMISE

We heard David actually warn the nations around
Not to try and undo what God had done.

David would sing, “Tremble, O earth, before the Lord, Before the God of Jacob, Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of water.”

David warned the other nations
That nothing could stop God from finishing what He started.

And listen to Paul reassure you of the same.

He told the Philippians
Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

But for Paul’s greatest testimony of this we look again at Romans 8.
Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

What started in election ends in glory…every time.
There is no semblance of God starting something that He does not finish.

• He doesn’t predestine most of those He foreknew, He predestines all of them.
• And He doesn’t call most of those He predestines, He calls them all.
• He doesn’t justify most of those He calls, He justifies them all.
• He doesn’t glorify most of those He justifies, He glorifies them all.

Nothing and no one can stop the saving plan of God.
It is Jesus who would say:
John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

He chose to save them and they will be saved.

BUT WHAT IF we face tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

Because those things happen.
What then?

Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

• Even if we face those things…
• Even if the nations of the world come against us…
• Even if we face drought and famine…

Well in those situations
Our God will just bring water from a rock
And deliver us safely home.

His salvation is no joke.
His salvation is no empty promise.
Those whom Christ saves He saves totally and permanently.

And we sing Psalms 114 to celebrate that.

Christian, let me remind you of the greatness of your salvation!
Christ saves perfectly.
He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

• You are no longer a slave to sin.
• You no longer need to fear death.
• There is no danger that Christ will fail you.

You have been saved with a great salvation!

• Israel sang this song in memory of the Exodus…
• Christ sang this song on His way to the garden and ultimately the cross…
• We sing this song boasting in what He did for us there…

Sin and death fled!
Christ saved us with a mighty salvation!

Download Here:

The Good Life – Part 2
Ecclesiastes 6:10-12
August 8, 2021

This morning we come to what might be called “The Intermission”

I told you last week that the preacher
Was concluding his first major point of the book.

9 times in the first 6 chapters he uses the phrase “striving after wind”

One might sum up the first 6 chapters of this book
By calling it: THE FUTILE PURSUIT

There were actually 4 myths or pursuits that the preacher exposed.

THE FUTILITY OF KNOWLEDGE
• Knowledge can’t straighten what is crooked
• Knowledge can’t supply what is lacking
• All knowledge can do is expose your problem and thus increase your grief.

Knowledge is valuable because it drives us to Christ,
But knowledge as the source of fulfillment and satisfaction in life is a lie.

THE FUTILITY OF PLEASURE
• Certainly God created us with the capacity to experience pleasure and so pleasure in and of itself is also not wrong.
• However, pleasure as the source of fulfillment and satisfaction is also a lie.

If a man pursues pleasure and doesn’t get it, he ends up frustrated,
And if a man pursues pleasure and finds it, he ends up bored.

THE FUTILITY OF ACCOMPLISHMENT
• Men think if they can just work hard and accomplish great things then they will be satisfied, but the reality is that there is a prison there.

For one, once you enter that arena, there is no rest or someone else will overtake you.
And for another thing, the world has a tendency to quickly forget all your accomplishments as it is only interested in what you have done for me lately.

THE FUTILITY OF TREASURE
• Men think if they can just get all the stuff they want then they will be happy, but the preacher blew up that notion as well.

You can gather all your treasure, but:
• The corrupt will steal it
• Your friends will claim it
• Advertising will show it’s never enough
• Inflation will devalue it
• Worry will accompany it
• Death will cause you to leave it

Like the first 3 promises of the world,
treasure can’t bring lasting satisfaction or fulfilment either.

All of those things are “striving after wind”

Starting in chapter 7 we get the preacher’s second point.
We might call it: THE NOBLE PURSUIT

He is about to change his language considerably.
• We’re about to get commands and imperatives and even comparisons
where the preacher is about to start telling you where to walk and what to do.

BUT LODGED IN BETWEEN THOSE TWO THOUGHTS ARE 3 VERSES.

Ephesians 6:10-12 serves sort of a dual purpose.
• It CONCLUDES the warnings of listening to the world.
• It INTRODUCES the wisdom of listening to God.

And I don’t think you can overstate the significance of these 3 verses
As they relate to the book of Ecclesiastes.

They introduce for us the heart of the preachers’ message.

In fact, if someone wanted one small passage to sort of give them
The gist of what Ecclesiastes is all about, I would give them these 3 verses.

TO START us on our journey of studying them this morning, I’d simply ask you the same question that the preacher mentions here in the text.

“For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life?”

That’s a good question isn’t it.
Who knows what is good?

When we travel, my wife will routinely step out of her comfort zone in a way that never ceases to amaze me.
She’s obviously a very reserved person.
She’s not a big talker or a loud person.
She doesn’t like confrontation at all.
She doesn’t like to put people out; she’s very polite.

But when we travel and are in uncharted territory it is not uncommon for my wife to walk up to a complete stranger, so long as they are a local to the area, to ask them where is the best place to eat in town.

It amazes me every time she does it.
She’ll tell you it’s because she doesn’t want to pay for bad food. And I’m certainly ok with that!

But the point is when Carrie travels and she wants to eat good food, she asks herself the question: “Who knows what is good?”
And she has decided that the answer to that question is “One of the locals”.

Well that works for a restaurant, but what about life?

Who knows what is good?
• Who knows about the good life?
• Who knows what you should do with your life?
• Who knows what you should pursue?

If you are the young man that the preacher is obviously addressing
And you are about to go out on your own,
Who knows what you should pursue?

• Are you going to ask your high school counselor?
• Are you going to ask your parents?
• Are you going to ask your preacher?
• Are you going to ask social media?

THE WORLD is certainly ready to give you advice on the subject.

But as the preacher already showed us, much of THEIR ADVICE IS A LIE.

If they tell you to go out and pursue KNOWLEDGE,
• Then they aren’t telling you about the good life.
If they tell you to go out and pursue PLEASURE,
• Then they aren’t telling you about the good life.
If they tell you to go out and pursue ACCOMPLISHMENT,
• Then they aren’t telling you about the good life.
If they tell you to go out and pursue TREASURE,
• Then they aren’t telling you about the good life.

THE POINT is that the world has a plan (several of them to be exact)
For how to achieve the good life and they are all wrong.

But if you really want the good life then you must go to
The One who created life, He also has a plan.

AND IN THESE 3 VERSES
The preacher is going to lay out his compelling evidence
As to why you should seek God’s plan for your life
Over the world’s plan for your life.

The preacher will give you 3 compelling reasons
Why instead of seeking the world, you should seek the plan of God.

There are 3 points to be made here about God’s plan for life.
God’s plan is:
#1 A SOVEREIGN PLAN
Ecclesiastes 6:10a

The preacher begins with what may be
The most important reality regarding whose plan you should seek.

And that is that regardless of what the world advises,
Only one plan is actually sovereign.

“Whatever exists has already been named,”

Now this isn’t new information from the preacher.
We remember chapter 3.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven”

The preacher told us the same thing then.
Namely that there is a Sovereign who is in control over the course of life.

“Whatever exists has already been named”

That is to say that God has already foreordained life.

We remember reading
• Psalms 139 about how “all our days were ordained for us before any of them came into being”.
• Acts 17 about how God “appointed the length of our days and the boundary of our habitation”.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER LIFE.

Our world typically falls in one of two camps regarding God’s sovereignty
And it’s not uncommon for them to vacillate between the two.

Sometimes they like to acknowledge the sovereign prerogative of God but at the same time give glary critiques of what a terrible job He is doing.

• They see the evil in the world, they see the pain, they see the suffering,
• And then use those tragedies to sort of pass judgment on the job that God is
doing with humanity.
• They either accuse Him of not being good, or of not being powerful.

But the acknowledge His sovereignty just enough
For them to able to assign Him the blame.

Or the world wants to deny God’s sovereignty altogether and to buy into this notion of chance and chaos and human autonomy.

And this is really where they are more often prone to land.
(Sadly even many who claim Christianity land here)

• They paint God as this almighty creator who made everything and sort of spun
the globe
• And is now just sitting back waiting and watching to see how it all turns out.

They actually think man is sovereign and that man is in control.
It’s all up to you.
You are the master of your destiny.

And you can believe all that nonsense if you want,
But I’m just going to tell you that
The Bible whole-heartedly disagrees with it.

You see it everywhere in Scripture, and here we see it in Ecclesiastes.
“Whatever exists has already been named,”

That is yet another verse that speaks of
A sovereign God with a sovereign plan over mankind.

God is at work.
His plan is being fulfilled.

That means that the course of history
Is going to travel down the track that God has laid.

So LET ME ASK YOU as you consult advice on the good life.

Do you think it wise to consult one who is not in control of the future, or to consult One who is in control of the future?

You’d be much wiser to seek the One who ordains where life is headed.

Let’s use a sports analogy here.
Let’s take a football player, say a wide receiver.

And the wide receiver’s dad is in the stands and he keeps yelling at his son,
• “Go deep!”
• “Son, you’ve got to go deep!”
• “Don’t mess around with blocking that cornerback, get past him and go deep!”

FIRST OFF: Is that the kind of advice the boy should listen to?
• Well, going deep is how you catch a bomb.
• Going deep is how you score a touchdown.
• Going deep sure seems like a good a plan for glory.

So there is a scenario where that is great advice.

But there’s a problem with that advice.
The dad isn’t calling the plays.
The coach is.

SO IT IS IN LIFE. There’s all kinds of advice you can get
And it is possible to see how it might work out perfectly,
But only One is calling the plays; only One is sovereign.

It is foolish to listen to anyone else’s plan.

AND THAT’S NOT ALL.
Look at what else the preacher says about God’s plan.

Not only is God sovereign over the direction of the plan,
But look at what else God’s plan takes into account:

“and it is known what man is”

God is under no illusion about the heart or nature or will of man.

Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Even after the flood, and only Noah and his family survived, God still said:
Genesis 8:21 “The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.”

Even when Jesus came to this earth and men were hypocritically pretending to believe in Him, we read:
John 2:24-25 “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”

God knows man.
God created man.

Go read Romans 3
It’s the famous, “There is none good, not even one…There is no fear of God before their eyes” passage.

God knows that man has a propensity for wickedness.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.
God also knows that man is incredibly weak.

That is to say that just because man wants something to happen,
That doesn’t mean man can make it happen.
(Just because the wide receiver went deep doesn’t mean he can catch the ball)

Jeremiah 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil.

I KNOW OUR WORLD CONTINUALLY PEDDLES THE NOTION THAT
If you apply yourself and work hard that you can accomplish anything.

And I suppose that’s true within reason.

• I mean, no amount of hard work is going to let you run a sub 2 minute mile.
• No amount of hard work is going to let you throw a 250mph fastball.

And certainly no amount of hard work is going to
Let you obtain the righteousness required to get into heaven.

These are the two major mistakes that man always factors into their plans

When the world gives you advice for how you should live your life
THEIR PLANS FAIL BECAUSE
• They are not in control of the future (God is)
• They way overestimate what man is capable of.

Man tends to think that man is good – Man tends to think that man is able.

And that simply isn’t true.

MAN IS NOT GOOD, he is corrupt
That means that he will never choose the best path on his own.

Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

Man just chooses badly.
That’s why temptation works so well.

AND even if man were to come to the realization that his choices are wrong and he needs a different path,

HE DOESN’T HAVE THE ABILITY ON HIS OWN TO CHANGE THAT PATH.
• The Ethiopian can’t change his skin
• The leopard can’t change his spots.

Romans 7:19 “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.”

• Man isn’t in control of the future.
• Even if man was he wouldn’t choose the right thing.
• Even if he would choose the right thing, he couldn’t do the right thing.

That is the problem with every plan of man.
Man isn’t sovereign and man isn’t able.

Because humanity thinks more highly of man than they ought,
They tend to put too much burden on the back of man
For obtaining the good life.

But if we learned anything from the Old Covenant VS the New Covenant
It is that plans that depend upon the effort of man for success
Are doomed to failure.

Those plans never succeed.
Man isn’t sovereign and man isn’t able.

GOD HOWEVER HAS A PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE.
And God is sovereign
And God is well aware of what you are and aren’t capable of.

Not only that, but God’s plan is also:
#2 A SOLIDIFIED PLAN
Ecclesiastes 6:10b-11

“for he cannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is. For there are many words which increase futility. What this is the advantage to a man?”

If the first argument didn’t cause you to seek God’s plan over the world’s
Then this one should definitely push you in the right direction.

IT IS SIMPLY THIS.
Since God’s plan is sovereign,
We’re using His plan whether you want to or not.

Go back to that wide receiver.
You can stiffen your neck and rebel and ignore the coach and listen to your dad and “go deep” every play if you want to.

But why won’t that work?
Because the quarterback is handing the ball to the running back
And they are never going to throw it.

While it may feel like
You are blazing your own trail and following your own dreams,
It’s only going to end in failure
Because you aren’t calling the shots, God is.

AND THAT IS THE POINT BEING MADE HERE.

Now, there are several layers at play here.

ONE is the reality that MAN NEVER TRULY GRASPS the full plan of God.

• Have you ever heard the statement, “The Lord works in mysterious ways”?
• We don’t always understand why He does what He does.
• In fact we rarely understand.

• Why did God spare this person and not spare that person?
• Why did God allow this tragedy?
• Why didn’t God stop this from happening?

WE DON’T UNDERSTAND DO WE?
(that’s why our flesh doesn’t want to follow God’s plan)
It always requires faith.

And true wisdom, by the way,
• Is not that you understand why God does what He does.
• True wisdom is that you obey God even though you don’t understand.

The wise wide receiver may not understand why the coach doesn’t send him deep, but will continue to do the job the coach tells him to do because he trusts that the coach has the plan.

The foolish wide receiver is either going to break rank and go deep or he’s going to go to the sidelines and complain and argue with the coach.

And man tries to do that with God all the time.
• They argue with God.
• They complain to God.
• Or they even give God advice regarding what He should have done.

But the preacher already warned us about that too, didn’t he?

We saw that back in chapter 5 where the preacher told us:
Ecclesiastes 5:2 “Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.”

• You aren’t God.
• You don’t know what God knows.
• So keep your mouth shut.

There is this continual desire in man to understand
And then have input into the sovereign working of God.

But the preacher says, you “cannot dispute with him who is stronger”.
• All your words (arguments) will only end in futility.
• You aren’t going to change God’s eternal plan.

Romans 9:20 “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?”
• Who ever heard of such a thing?
• Who ever heard of a pot arguing with the potter?

Or remember when Job took issue with God:
Job 38:1-2 “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge?”

It is the epitome of foolishness
To ignore or argue with the sovereign God of the universe.

(11) “For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to man?”

That is another way of saying that “Arguing with God won’t do any good.”

• You can bring your plan to God every day if you want.
• That wide receiver can draw plays and show them to his coach over and over.
• But it’s never going to change the fact that God is God and you are not.

AND I REALIZE THIS HITS PEOPLE SIDEWAYS TODAY,
But I can’t think of a more important point
To drive into a person’s brain in this backward world in which we live.

The sooner you figure out that God is God and you are not, the better off you’re going to be.

The sooner you figure out that God created you and you didn’t create God, the better off you’re going to be.

The sooner you figure out that one day you will answer to God but God will never answer to you, the better off you’re going to be.

God’s plan is not only sovereign, but it is solidified.
His plan is the plan that the world is going with.
END OF STORY.

So again, why would you choose any other plan?
Why would you seek any other advice?

God’s plan is a sovereign plan God’s plan is a solidified plan
God’s plan is a:
#3 A SUPERIOR PLAN
Ecclesiastes 6:12

And this is the good news.
GOD’S PLAN IS FOR YOUR GOOD.

Now, from a choice standpoint, this is actually insignificant.

• It wouldn’t matter if God’s plan was for your harm…
• It wouldn’t matter if God’s plan was for your demise…
• It wouldn’t matter if God’s plan was the worst plan ever…
(now none of those things are true, but if they were, it wouldn’t matter)

Why?
Because He is still God.
His plan is still sovereign
His plan is still solidified

So even if it was a bad plan, you still better follow it because He is God.
You have to get that through your head.

But the question of the sermon was this:
“For who know what is good for a man..?”

• We DIDN’T start by asking who is in charge.
• We DIDN’T start by asking who will win.

We asked who had the best plan for your life?
Who had the good plan for your life?
Was it the world, or was it God?

And the answer we find here is that it is only God and not the world.

First because His is is sovereign – Second because His is solidified
But also because His plan is superior, and let me show you why.
“For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?”

Now here is where we come to the main point.
Here is the crowning thought.

“For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life?”

Care to answer that?
When you start contemplating the course of your life, who knows what is good?

And make sure you see again that your life is short.
• The preacher again mentions “the few years of his futile life”
• In fact, he expounds on that by saying, “He will spend them like a shadow”,
which is to say his life is short.

So with this very short life that you get here on earth,
“who knows what is good for a man..?”

YOUNG MAN, when you begin to approach your future and advice comes from every angle, who knows what the good life is?
• The media?
• The college recruiter?
• The military recruiter?
• Your parents?
• Your friends?
• Social media?

Who knows where to find the good life?
Who knows the path you should walk?

And I hope you understand the implication of the preacher: ONLY GOD.
BUT WHY?

Because God’s plan is about eternity not just this life.
“For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?”

Can anyone answer that for you?
• Can the media tell you what tomorrow holds?
• Can your parents?
• Can your friends?
• Can you teachers?

And that doesn’t mean they don’t have good intentions, but are they privy to your future?
• Do your parents know what tomorrow holds?
• Does your counselor know the state of America in 4 years?
• Does social media know if you are going to endure a life crisis later?

NO, only God.

There is only One who has a plan for your life
Who at the same time can see the entirety of your life.

That means that there is only One
Who could possibly lead you to the good life.

Others can try, but their insight is so limited.

And you can follow the advice of the world and make all sorts of plans,
BUT KNOW THIS.
• Those plans aren’t sovereign.
• Those plans aren’t solidified.
• Those plans can’t see the future.

The good life you seek cannot exist apart from
The plan of the sovereign God who created you
And who has mapped out the course of your life.

Listen again to that wonderful sermon Paul preached in Athens.
Acts 17:24-31 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

• There is a God who created you.
• He appointed your times and the boundaries of your habitation.
• And He ordained the purpose of your life which was for you to seek Him.

That is the culminating point of the preacher after the first 6 chapters.

Why would you follow the advice of the world?
That is all “striving after wind”

You’d be better off to seek the will of the sovereign God
Whose plan cannot be changed
And who alone truly knows what is good for you.

NOW LET ME RETURN TO THE QUESTION.

“For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life?”

There is the ultimate and good plan of God for your life,
Namely that you believe in Jesus Christ.

John 6:28-29 “Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

The ultimate plan is for you to forsake the world and believe in Christ.

But here is what I want you to understand.
You cannot walk both plans at the same time.

• You cannot follow the plan of this world and the plan of God at the same time.
• You either seek Christ or you seek this world.
• And only one of those plans is actually for your good.

And I want to show you that again:
Matthew 19:16-22 “And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Then he said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER; YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY; YOU SHALL NOT STEAL; YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS; HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER; and YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.”

Did you hear him?
• He is looking for good.
• He wants the plan that will ultimately land him with eternal life.

Afterall we can hardly call any plan that ends in hell a good plan.

So this man comes to Jesus for the plan.

And what did Jesus tell him?
Forsake all the plans the world has given you and follow Me.

• Were you pursuing knowledge, let it go and pursue Me.
• Were you pursuing pleasure, let it go and pursue Me.
• Were you pursuing accomplishment, let it go and pursue Me.
• Were you pursuing treasure, let it go and pursue Me.

Isn’t that exactly what the preacher has been saying in Ecclesiastes?
It’s the same sermon!

We have just concluded half of the book of Ecclesiastes.
It has been one main point.

• This world cannot satisfy you; God won’t let it – QUIT SEEKING IT
• Instead seek God who has a sovereign plan for your good and for eternity.
• To be consumed with this world and to forsake Christ is the ultimate foolishness.

It is the tragedy of that Rich Young Ruler
Who chose the promises of the world over the promises of Christ.

How fitting that the Scripture says that “he went away grieving”.

Shouldn’t he have been happy that he got to keep all his stuff?
I thought treasure equaled happiness.

THERE IS NO SATISFACTION THERE.

Friend…
Young man…
THIS WORLD IS LYING TO YOU!

• It bombards you with “The American Dream”
• It bombards you with advertising meant to cause your flesh to crave.
• It bombards you with false hopes and promises.

Forsake this world!
Run to Christ!
In Him is life!

Only God’s plan for you is A Sovereign Plan.
Only God’s plan for you is A Solidified Plan.
Only God’s plan for you is A Saving Plan.

All other plans end up in hell.

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

That is Ecclesiastes too!
• Quit walking that wide road just because everyone else does!
• Seek Christ.

Every other way ends up as “striving after wind”

1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

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Who Is Like The LORD?
Psalms 113
August 1, 2021

Tonight we return to our study of the Psalms.
And we do so at the beginning of a very special segment of Psalms.

Psalms 113–118 represent a group of Psalms known as “The Hallel”
It means “praise” (as in hallelujah)

They were a group of Psalms sung by Israel during the Passover.

Shortly after Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper in the upper room on the night before He was crucified, we read:
Mark 14:26 “After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

It is highly likely that this was the song they sang,
Followed by the remainder of the Psalms in this group.

They were songs that rejoiced in the God
Who would deliver His helpless people from the iron furnace.

BUT AS WE STUDY THEM,
It is impossible for us not to look at the more perfect Passover
And see the deliverance which transpired at the cross.

They are Psalms that force us to get our thinking right about such events.

I don’t know of any contemporary trend that bothers me more
Than the current trend in Christianity which is
TO SEEM TO MAKE THE FOCUS OF REDEMPTION ALL ABOUT US.

It hit me hardest in the face several years ago when a group from Lubbock wanted to host a youth revival here in Spur.

• I remember when we had the meeting and the theme was announced.
• Basically the theme all revolved around a new contemporary Christian song that was gaining extreme popularity.
• The song was recorded by a band named “Mikeschair”
• And the song was called “Someone Worth Dying For”

The Chorus says:
“Am I more than flesh and bone?
Am I really something beautiful?
Yeah, I want to believe,
I want to believe that
I’m not just some wandering soul
That you don’t see and you don’t know
Yeah, I want to believe,
Jesus help me believe
That I am someone worth dying for”

Now, I certainly understand the gist of the song.
• They wanted to portray to the downcast that God loves even them.
• They wanted to show the truth we love which is that God saves sinners.

But the song goes about it all wrong.
And the theology is terrible.

But they aren’t alone.
MercyMe has an album called “Welcome To The New” (and I listen to it)

The title song which is meant to celebrate the new life you have in Christ
Even descends to this distorted point.

They sing:
“Look at you Shiny and new
Look at you You got the proof of purchase
You were purchased ‘Cause you’re worth it
Look at you Finding your groove
Don’t you dare think That you’re not worth it.
‘Cause you’re worth it Yeah you’re worth it”

And that’s really just the tip of the iceberg here, but we’ve got more important things to do than quote bad contemporary Christian lyrics.

What I want you to understand is that
Even though these statements sound good,
They are terribly wrong and even idolatrous.

The whole point of the gospel message is strikingly opposite.
Romans 5:6-8 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The whole point is that we were NOT worth dying for.
The whole point is that we didn’t deserve it.

But the glory of the gospel is that God saves the unworthy.
The glory of the gospel is that Christ died for sinners.

It may seem like splitting hairs
But the difference is monumentally important.

We should never sing a song,
Especially one that claims to be Christian,
And come away thinking how worthy I am.
That is blasphemous!

The true songs come away reminding us that
While I am just as wicked as one can imagine,
Christ is so glorious that He would save even me.

Listen to Paul:
1 Timothy 1:12-15 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”

You see the difference don’t you.

When we ponder the glories of salvation
We should never walk away with our heads held high
That we were worth so much.

When we ponder salvation
We should walk away asking “Who is like the LORD our God?”

Well that is what Psalms 113 will do for us tonight.
• It will set our barometer back straight.
• It puts the majesty and the glory and the worth and the praise back where it belongs…on God.

Well, let’s look at this great Psalm of praise tonight.
We easily divide it into 2 points.

#1 A CALL TO PRAISE
Psalms 113:1-4

He opens the Psalm with the statement, “Praise the LORD!”
• Give God the glory!
• Give God the accolade!
• Put the focus on Him, not on you!

Since we spend so much of our time focusing on ourselves in this life,
Let us take an hour tonight stop the nonsense.

Let us take an hour and break from our egocentric inward focus
And look to the God who is to be praised.

And what we love here is that David is very thorough
In describing to us the scope of the praise that is to occur.

He answers for us 5 questions in these first 4 verses about praising God.

WHO SHOULD PRAISE GOD?
(1b) “Praise, O servants of the LORD”

There are certainly times when
THE WHOLE WORLD is called to fall on their face in praise of God.

• We certainly look to the end when “every knee will bow and ever tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”
• We even read of the trees and the rocks crying out in praise to God.

The book of Psalms actually ends in:
Psalms 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!”

There is certainly a time for that.

But the command here is more specific.
Here the command is directed at the “servants of the LORD”

• This is for those who belong to the LORD.
• This is for those who have surrendered to Him.
• This is for those who claim allegiance to Him.

It is their duty.

While we were driving on vacation we listened to a couple of books on tape.
One was called “The Advocate” which sort of blends fiction and non-fiction.

The fictional character was Theophilus and the non-fiction was the historical events of Rome in the time of Christ and the early church.

But the book walked through the reign of Nero over Rome.
Nero was an incredibly egotistical man who actually loved to participate in the theatre and in concerts.

And Nero actually hired men whose sole job was to explode in grandiose applause and praise at the conclusion of every one of his songs or performances.

Those men had no choice.
It was their job.
It was their duty.

Now certainly Christ is worthy of praise, whereas Nero was not,
BUT THE POINT IS THE SAME.

We are those who are commanded and expected to be a voice of praise.
We expect the world to be self-centered,
How shameful it is when servants of Christ fall into that sin.

We are called to Praise the Lord.

WHAT SHOULD WE PRAISE?
(1c) “Praise the name of the LORD.”

Certainly you understand now that when we speak of “the name of the LORD” we are talking about the culmination of all His attributes.

We see this most easily in those covenantal names of God.
They are not just His titles, they are who He is.

Jehovah Jireh – “The Lord Provides”
Jehovah Rohi – “The Lord is my shepherd”
Jehovah Mekadesh – “The Lord who sanctifies you”
Jehovah Tsidkenu – “The Lord is our righteousness”
Jehovah Shalom – “The Lord is our peace”
Jehovah Shamah – “The Lord is there”
Jehovah Rophe – “The Lord heals”
Jehovah Nissi – “The Lord is our banner”

When you praise His name it’s a praise of who He is.
And the reminder here is that when we praise God
We praise Him IN HIS ENTIRETY.

We praise Him for all that He is.
Loving, Gracious, and Merciful but also Holy and just and powerful

We praise Him for all that He does.
Salvation, redemption, deliverance but also judgment and discipline and wrath

Very simply we are called as the servants of God
To praise and exalt God for all that He is and all that He does.

• We cannot be selective.
• We cannot be lopsided.
• We praise “the name of the LORD”

WHEN SHOULD WE PRAISE?
(2) “Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and forever.”

The answer is:
Start now and never stop.

Revelation 4:8 “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”

• We don’t just praise God at church, we praise Him all week.
• We don’t just praise God when things are good, we praise Him when things are hard.
• We don’t just praise Him when it is convenient but at all times His praise is a priority.

We should learn from the model prayer of the Lord
Which reminded us that every prayer begins with
“Hallowed be Your name”

WHERE SHOULD WE PRAISE HIM?
(3) “From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the LORD is to be praised.”

There again is our favorite analogy of the east and the west.
The east and the west have no end. (unlike north and south)

So the simple answer is EVERYWHERE.

Can it really be true that there are places where it is inappropriate to praise the LORD?
• Are there locations or places where our Christianity and service to Christ don’t belong?

IT HAS BEEN A SUBTLE LIE
That Christians are swallowing hook-line-and sinker.

It started with things like “Separation of Church and State”
(which incidentally is stupid since all authority originates from God,
And all the state’s laws are based upon God’s moral judgments)

But the thinking creeps into things like.
• The school is no place to worship God or share the gospel.
• The workplace is no place to worship God or share the gospel.

Let me ask you: WHY?

Because some carnal pagan doesn’t want you to?

Ask yourself some simple questions:
• Does God deserve praise?
• Does God demand praise?
• Does man have the right to negate any of those first two answers?

And by the way, I’m not putting the burden on the administration or your boss to make it legal or not.

I’m asking the servants of God whether there is anything that can cause them to stop praising the Lord?

We are called to praise God everywhere regardless.

WHY SHOULD WE PRAISE?
(4) “The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.”

The simple answer is the transcendence of God.
We praise Him because He deserves praise.

Jeremiah 10:7 “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 Your due!” Jeremiah said.
He is “high above all nations”

Which begs the question,
Which governor or king has the right to forbid your worship?

• We praise kids when they behave properly.
• We praise athletes when they excel at their sport.
• We praise someone who does a good job at their occupation.
• We praise leaders who lead well.
• We praise servants who serve well.
• We praise cooks who cook well.

We praise all the time, as we should.

BUT IN THAT
We should never omit the One who deserves praise more than any other.

• There is One who is higher than all.
• There is One who is more exalted and more lofty and more perfect and more deserving than any of them.

If no one received praise for anything, God still should.
He deserves it.

And so that is David’s call to praise.
• But we admit, it is sort of a generic one.
• And that is actually fine.
• If Psalms 113 ended right there we would have no argument.

But David does us a great service in that
He carries the “why” out a little further.

Psalms 113:5-9 has a specific reason as to why we should praise God,
And that is what we want to see next.

#2 A CALL TO PONDER
Psalms 113:5-9

That is really the point of the Psalm.
Ponder this:
“Who is like the LORD our God?”

It’s actually the Hebrew word MICHAEL which means “Who is like God?”
We also see MICAH which means “Who is like the LORD?”

Here they are intertwined.

And it is a question meant to cause us to stop and ponder.

What do you mean David?
David is asking, have you ever heard of anyone or any god who ever did anything like what our God did?

(5-6) “Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high, Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth?”

Listen to what David is focusing on.

Here we have our God “who is enthroned on high”

We just saw that in verse 4.
“The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.”

We have this God who is higher and more glorious
Than anything or anyone in all the earth and in all the heavens.

And yet He “humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth”

I want you to consider this a minute.

Here David says that God “humbles Himself”
That is to say that God makes Himself low.

We might say that God does what is beneath Him.
God does what He ought not have to do.

Like what?
Well first He “humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven”

This is something that you likely haven’t contemplated before.
• Even heaven is created by God.
• And even that is not worthy of Him.

Heaven may be the most glorious location you can imagine
What with its streets of gold and crystal sea and absence of any sin at all,
And yet even heaven does not deserve the glory of God.

In order for God to even behold the things in heaven
He must do what is beneath Him.

And of course you know that this is just a setup for what is coming next.
“and in the earth”

If it is a humiliating thing for God to darken the doors of heaven
Then we can’t even comprehend how humiliating it is
For Him to approach earth.

He ought not have to behold anything here.
He ought not have to look at anything here.

It reminds of the tower of Babel incident.
Genesis 11:4-5 “They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.”

Notice that “LORD came down” part.

THAT WAS AN INSULT TO HIM
To even have to behold the workings of men on this place.

It was humiliating to Him
To have to interject Himself into the lowly affairs of humans.

David certainly understood this.
We remember:
Psalms 8:3-4 “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?”

David just couldn’t fathom why the God of the universe
Would humble Himself to such an extent
As to care for something as insignificant as humans.

Of course you are already seeing the gospel here.
Paul spells it out for us.

Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Christ didn’t just behold the sons of men.
He took on flesh and dwelled with them.

There were some who saw the absurdity of this.

Remember this guy?
Matthew 8:5-8 “And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

The centurion knew that Jesus had lowered Himself enough just by being here,
But He certainly had no business in his house.

Remember Peter as Jesus washed their feet.
“You shall never wash my feet…”

• It’s wrong Lord!
• It’s beneath you!

Well listen any and all interaction that God has with humanity
IS ALL BENEATH HIM.

Just to dwell with you in heaven He has to humble Himself.
• How much more to behold you on earth?
• And how much more to dwell with you on earth?

So do you see David’s point?

“Who is like the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?”

Who does that?
What kind of a God is He?

And David isn’t finished.
(7-8) “He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make the sit with princes, With the princes of His people.”

So now it’s not just that God associates with people on earth,
But He even associates with THE LOWEST PEOPLE on earth.

This was perhaps the most mind-blowing reality of all regarding Christ.

When God did take on human flesh and come to dwell among men
He basically bypassed all the important people
And went straight to the lowly.

He selected fishermen, a tax collector, a traitor.
He associated with harlots and drunkards and the demon-possessed.

If you travel to another city and someone tells you, “Don’t go down to that part of town, that’s the hood, that’s the dangerous part.”

We typically would avoid such areas, but that’s exactly where Jesus went.

He went to the least and promised to make them the greatest.

Remember the beatitudes?
Luke 6:20-22 “And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.”

Jesus took the lowly, the base, the weak, the unimpressive
And by His grace He caused them to become heirs of God.

Think of all those promises in Ephesians about being “in Him”
• Not only do we have redemption and forgiveness
• But Paul also says we have an inheritance
• And that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
• In fact Paul says that in Christ we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

He takes the lowest and makes them the highest.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.”

AND THAT’S STILL NOT ALL.

David continues still more.
(9) “He makes the barren woman abide in the house As a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!”

There was scorn and dishonor
Associated with a woman not being able to bear children.

But think through your Old Testament history to the promises of God.
Think of those patriarchs.
• Sarah – barren (Isaac)
• Rebekah – barren (Jacob)
• Rachel – barren (Joseph)
• Hannah – barren (Samuel)
• Elizabeth – barren (John the Baptist)

God did this all the time.
And ultimately we are taught that it was always A SPIRITUAL PICTURE.

Paul filled in the blanks in his letter to the Galatians.
Galatians 4:26-28 “But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written, “REJOICE, BARREN WOMAN WHO DOES NOT BEAR; BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR; FOR MORE NUMEROUS ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE THAN OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND.” And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.”

THE POINT WAS THAT
As children of God we are not children of the flesh (works)
But rather we are children of the promise (grace).

John taught us this:
John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

And so what you have taking place routinely with God is that
God is selecting the least worthy and the most unlikely
And making them His children.

He elevates them to the status of prince
And bestows on them the joy and honor of a mother.

And the reality is really mind blowing when you think about it.
• It was humiliating to God to even concern Himself with the affairs of heaven much less the affairs of earth.
• It is unfathomable that God Himself would descend to earth to dwell there.
• And even more unthinkable that when He came He would associate with the lowly.
• And then that He would elevate the lowly to His status.

And look, the BIBLE IS FILLED WITH STORIES
That point to this mind-blowing reality.

Ever read Ezekiel 16?
• It’s about a discarded baby that no one wanted that it thrown into the field to die.
• And God comes along and not only rescues that discarded child, but raises and ultimately marries and beautifies her.

It is just another picture of God lowering Himself
To a standard that would have been humiliating to Him
In order to save those who did not deserve it.

Go read Luke 15 again.
• Watch the father humiliate himself by running to that prodigal son and then clothing him and throwing a banquet for him.
• What father would subject himself to the shame of the entire community to love a son who did not deserve it?

Go read 2 Samuel 9.
• It’s about the last remaining person in the line of Saul.
• His name is Mephibosheth and he’s the crippled son of Jonathon.
• By all accounts, cultural procedure says that he’d be killed so as not to be a threat to the house of David.
• But David brings this cripple in and honors him and lets him dine at his table daily.

It is just picture after picture after picture of this same reality
That our God saves those who don’t deserve to be saved.

HE EVEN HUMILIATES HIMSELF TO DO SO.

Certainly there is no greater picture of this than the cross
Where Christ humiliated Himself in order that He might save us.

And somehow we want to assume
That salvation was all about how worthy we are?
NO!

God did not save you because you deserved it.
God did not save you because you were worth it.

In fact, and even though this may be painful, I think it’s vitally important that you have your doctrine on man accurate.

(It is my estimation that most people’s doctrine is filled with error
Because they have an incorrect doctrine of man.)

Are you aware of what the Bible says about man?

You should first remember his origin.
Genesis 2:7 “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

And yet God loves us anyway.
Psalms 103:14 “For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”

You should remember man’s ambition.
Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

And of course in response God flooded the earth,
But even after the flood it’s not like men were better.

Genesis 8:21 “The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.”

And yet God still chose to have compassion on us.

Man is deceptive.
Psalms 78:34-37 “When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God; And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.”

But still God is merciful.

Man is dead in sin and craves iniquity
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

And yet God is gracious.
Ephesians 2:4-9 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Man is disloyal and phony and hypocritical.
We could read again that long passage of Paul
Where he reminds us that “there is none good, not even one”.

AND GOD KNOWS ALL THIS.
John 2:24-25 “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”

But He saves us anyway.
It is not because we are worthy, it is because He is gracious.

And we come back to that statement which David would have us ponder:
“Who is like the LORD?”

If you take the time to examine salvation
And you come away with the thought that you must have been so worthy
For God to have paid such a high price for you
Then you are narcissistic to an unbelievable level.

• We were not saved because we were worthy.
• We were not saved because we deserved it.
• We were not saved because of our value.

God ascribed value to us when He saved us.
God ascribed worth to us when He saved us.

It is not worth because of who we are,
It is worth because of whose we are.

Salvation is all about this God
Who humbled Himself to come down and save
Filthy, trouble-making, deceptive, disloyal humans.

All the glory goes to Him!

And with that we could RETURN TO THE TOP of the Psalm and read:
“Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the LORD is to be praised. The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.”

Don’t praise yourself, praise the LORD!
• And praise His name.
• Praise Him at all times.
• Praise Him in all places.

And just when you think that praising God
Is someone how too humiliating or too embarrassing or too dangerous

Then stop and think of the humiliation
That God put Himself through to save you.

He is an extraordinary God and He deserves extraordinary praise!