The Beginning of Wisdom
Psalms 111
July 4, 2021
Tonight we come to the first in a pair of Psalms.
Psalms 111 and 112 are a match set.
• Psalms 111 focuses on the great works of God.
• Psalms 112 focuses on the man who fears God.
• And they clearly work together.
Tonight’s Psalm shows us why God deserves to be feared,
And next week’s Psalm highlights the man
Who demonstrates his wisdom by fearing God.
It is in Psalms 111 that we are confronted with that oft quoted truth.
(10) “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;”
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT POINT
For those who seek to be wise in this world.
Wisdom begins with “fear of the LORD”
“fear of the LORD” is the foundation upon which wisdom rests.
If you gain knowledge but have no “fear of the LORD” then you have no wisdom.
If you gain experience but have no “fear of the LORD” then you have no wisdom.
If you gain old age but have no “fear of the LORD” then you have no wisdom.
You cannot have wisdom without “fear of the LORD”
That is where wisdom begins.
And David is certainly not the only person to understand that.
Job said:
Job 28:28 “And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.’”
Solomon said:
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Proverbs 15:33 “The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility.”
In addition we learn about the “fear of the LORD”
Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.”
Proverbs 10:27 “The fear of the LORD prolongs life, But the years of the wicked will be shortened.”
Proverbs 14:26-27 “In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.”
Proverbs 15:16 “Better is a little with the fear of the LORD Than great treasure and turmoil with it.”
Proverbs 19:23 “The fear of the LORD leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.”
Even in the New Testament we read:
Acts 10:34-35 “Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.”
BUT YOU GET THE POINT.
If you don’t have “fear of the LORD” you aren’t going to have anything
And as Psalms 111 points out, you certainly won’t have “wisdom”.
And so the point of Psalms 111
Is to teach you the “fear of the LORD”
It is to motivate you to the type of reverential awe that you need.
It is to motivate you to hallow the name of God.
And THE WAY DAVID MOTIVATES YOU to do that
Is by getting you to FOCUS ON THE WORKS of God.
• Stop for a moment and consider what God has done.
• Consider what He is doing.
• Consider what He will do.
And when you take in the magnitude of His omnipotence and faithfulness
It is enough to cause to you fear God.
SOMETHING ELSE THAT IS UNIQUE
To these next two Psalms is that they are WRITTEN IN AN ACROSTIC.
• They each hold 22 stanzas, each of which begins with the consecutive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
• That means David’s thoughts are NOT here arranged in some sort of outline form, but rather his thoughts are linear.
• In one sense each line stands alone, and yet they all also work together to make 1 overarching point.
• Poems like this were also written in acrostic form to make them easier to memorize.
• It made it an easy truth to teach your children.
And since “fear of the LORD” comes first,
It would have been a great Psalm to start them out on.
David begins the Psalm with the goal for all men.
He is setting the example of his expectation for all of Israel.
(1) “Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart, In the company of the upright and the in the assembly.”
• That is the goal.
• The objective is corporate praise.
• The objective is public thanksgiving.
David is seeking to transform the bashful silent servant
Into a zealous voice of praise.
And the only way this happens
Is if there is amazement at the greatness of God.
So David’s plan for leading the silent worshiper into boldness
Is to push him to recognize the greatness of the works of God.
So we begin to work our way through this acrostic Psalm of David.
(2) “Great are the works of the LORD; They are studied by all who delight in them.”
What God has done is and should be the chief focus of all creation.
Every intricate detail should captivate our attention.
This begins with studying HIS CREATIVE WORK
• We are captivated by the mysteriousness of the ocean,
• Or breathless by the grandeur of the mountains.
• I love the visit the national parks and glorious places of creation, though sinful men only speak of the mysteries of science of all that man has discovered the real majesty is always in the intricacy of all that God has done.
In this way even atheists and scientists
Have unwittingly devoted themselves to the glory of God.
Though they seek diligently to ascribe glory elsewhere
Their detailed study of the earth and all its workings
Ultimately accomplish nothing but to bring glory to God.
They can deny the Creator but they are captivated by His creation
And thus they cannot help but study all His works.
Do you understand that?
Often times Science and Christianity are portrayed are opposites.
But what else is science but the study of the works of God?
PICK A FIELD:
• Geology
• Astronomy
• Biology
All they can possibly study is that what God has done.
They may seek to deny the God who did all those works,
• But every discovery they make,
• Every detail the find,
• Is actually nothing more than that which makes God even that more impressive.
The call of David here is that we go the necessary next step
AND GIVE GOD THE GLORY FOR ALL THAT HE HAS DONE.
Are we not amazed at the great details of creation?
Did you know that the reason a rooster cocks his head back when he crows is because doing so covers his ear canals to work like ear plugs which keeps him from growing death due to his own loud crowing?
https://factanimal.com/animal-facts/
Did you know that the human brain has 86 billion nerve cells joined by 100 trillion connections? This is more than the stars in the Milky Way.
https://www.factretriever.com/body-facts
The tongue of a giraffe is 20” long to allow it to grab leaves and they contain melanin which keeps their tongues from getting sunburned.
https://www.liveabout.com/science-facts-you-didnt-know-3023200
Every time you dig into science all you inevitably do is
Give God’s creative power a tremendous pat on the back.
We study God’s great creation and what He has done.
We also study what He is doing or HIS PROVIDENTIAL WORK.
Though creation was finished in 6 days,
Providence has continued since the beginning.
• The sending of rain, the timing of wind,
• The workings of the heat and the cold,
• The frost and the dew.
• God feeding all His creation and sustaining life upon this earth.
He is ever at work doing that which only He can do.
Have you ever heard John Piper talk about the great work of God which is rain?
Job said, “God does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.” He gives rain on the earth.” In Job’s mind, rain really is one of the great, unsearchable wonders that God does. So when I read this a few weeks ago, I resolved not to treat it as meaningless pop musical lyrics. I decided to have a conversation with myself (= meditation).
Is rain a great and unsearchable wonder wrought by God? Picture yourself as a farmer in the Near East, far from any lake or stream. A few wells keep the family and animals supplied with water. But if the crops are to grow and the family is to be fed from month to month, water has to come on the fields from another source. From where?
Well, the sky. The sky? Water will come out of the clear blue sky? Well, not exactly. Water will have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea, over several hundred miles and then be poured out from the sky onto the fields. Carried? How much does it weigh? Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water, which is 206,300,160 gallons, which is 1,650,501,280 pounds of water.
That’s heavy. So how does it get up in the sky and stay up there if it’s so heavy? Well, it gets up there by evaporation. Really? That’s a nice word. What’s it mean? It means that the water sort of stops being water for a while so it can go up and not down. I see. Then how does it get down? Well, condensation happens. What’s that? The water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide. That’s small.
What about the salt? Salt? Yes, the Mediterranean Sea is salt water. That would kill the crops. What about the salt? Well, the salt has to be taken out. Oh. So the sky picks up a billion pounds of water from the sea and takes out the salt and then carries it for three hundred miles and then dumps it on the farm?
Well it doesn’t dump it. If it dumped a billion pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed. So the sky dribbles the billion pounds water down in little drops. And they have to be big enough to fall for one mile or so without evaporating, and small enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks.
How do all these microscopic specks of water that weigh a billion pounds get heavy enough to fall (if that’s the way to ask the question)? Well, it’s called coalescence. What’s that? It means the specks of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger. And when they are big enough, they fall. Just like that? Well, not exactly, because they would just bounce off each other instead of joining up, if there were no electric field present. What? Never mind. Take my word for it.
I think, instead, I will just take Job’s word for it. I still don’t see why drops ever get to the ground, because if they start falling as soon as they are heavier than air, they would be too small not to evaporate on the way down, but if they wait to come down, what holds them up till they are big enough not to evaporate? Yes, I am sure there is a name for that too. But I am satisfied now that, by any name, this is a great and unsearchable thing that God has done. I think I should be thankful – lots more thankful than I am.
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-great-work-of-god-rain
God’s sustaining work is remarkable.
We study what He has done – Creative Work
We study what He is doing – Providential Work
But we also study HIS SPIRITUAL WORK
Each and every moment He is doing what we studied last week.
• He is bringing Christ’s enemies into subjection under His feet;
• God is saving those whom He has chosen to save.
He is regenerating, convicting, drawing, saving, sanctifying, sealing, and glorifying His elect. It is ongoing every moment.
And this is also studied by all who delight in them.
We marvel at the glories of salvation
And the theology behind His sovereign work.
• We focus on the righteous works of Christ and the righteousness He earned.
• We read testimonies of the vilest sinners in Scripture who were plucked from their sin by the redeeming hand of God
• We share testimony of God’s spiritual work in our own lives.
Indeed we study what God has done and what God is doing.
And though we study it only through prophesy and anticipation
We have a keen eye and desire for God will yet do.
We study HIS PROMISED WORK
It furnishes our hope and provides us with confidence and optimism
That God has promised that all His work will be for our good.
• He has promised us good plans,
• He has promised us a future,
• He has promised us a hope,
• He has promised us a land where righteousness dwells and we study that too.
Like the prophets of old, we make careful inquiries and searches
Through the Scriptures to learn and grasp all that we may know
About what God has prepared for those who love Him.
God’s works are great and they are studied by all who delight in them.
(3) “Splendid and majestic is His work, And His righteousness endures forever.”
“Splendid” translates HODE
And it means “glorious” or an “imposing form or appearance.”
“majestic” translates HAWDAWR
And it speaks of “ornaments” and “beauty and majesty.”
God’s work is
A jaw-dropping demonstration of breathtaking beauty.
It is perfect and flawless, created in righteousness
And it endures forever.
There is an order and a structure and a command of perfection that sits over creation.
Though we see plenty of evidence of the curse,
Sin could not totally obscure the glory and perfection
Of what God has done.
• God ordered the sunrise and sunset and they never fail.
• God ordered the seasons and they never fail.
• God ordered the wind and the rain and it never fails.
• God ordered even the lifespan of man and animals and they never fail.
Even the preacher in Ecclesiastes could clearly see that
There is a definite cycle of life that goes round and round and round.
God has ordained all His works in perfect order
And it endures forever so long as He wishes for it to endure.
(4) “He has made His wonders to be remembered;”
How true this has been.
Throughout the Old Testament the children of Israel
Were commanded to remember God’s great providential works.
“The LORD is gracious and compassionate.” And Israel was to remember.
• Take the Passover yearly and remember how God delivered you from Egypt.
• Live in booths during the feast of booths and remember how God cared for the children of Israel in the wilderness.
• Put a jar of manna and Aaron’s staff that budded and the Ten Commandments in the Ark of the Covenant and have them as a perpetual reminder of God’s deliverance in Egypt.
• Pile up 12 stones from the bottom of the Jordan and leave them here as a reminder that we crossed this river on dry ground.
• Even we take the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Christ’s work on our behalf.
God has been gracious and God has been compassionate and even though sinful man rebels against Him His works are never forgotten.
Included here is the Bible
(what other ancient text has such a focus?)
It is preserved for us to remember the accounts of God’s goodness and compassion.
• We read of His mighty creation
• We read of His wrath at the fall
• We read of His sovereign election of Abraham
• We read of His redemption through Moses
• We read of His conquest through Joshua
• We read how He toppled the giant before David
• Or how He closed the lion’s mouths for Daniel
• And we even have preserved for us the story of how God sent His Son into the world, born of a virgin, and the miraculous power He had over creation, sickness, sin, and death.
• We read of His death on a cross and His glorious victory over the grave.
All of this has been preserved for us because
God “has made His wonders to be remembered.”
It was never intended that any of the things He has done be forgotten
And God has preserved them for us.
(5) “He has given food to those who fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever.”
And David focuses first on the mighty PROVIDENCE OF GOD.
• Even in a desert God sent bread from heaven and water from a rock.
• Jesus promised that God is well-aware of our need of food and care and that He is faithful to provide all that we need.
• We even learn that God’s providence spills over in common grace as He sends rain on the just and the unjust, even offering a taste of His goodness to His enemies.
But ultimately the joy of David is that
God’s providence rests upon those “who fear Him.”
God has made a covenant with them, and “He will remember His covenant forever.”
• God is never one to break a promise.
• God never goes back on His word.
• God never makes a vow to us and then breaks it.
God has promised to care for His own and He never fails to do it.
It is His generous and providential faithfulness on display.
(6) “He has made known to His people the power of His works, In giving them the heritage of the nations.”
It is the miracle of the conquest.
God would take a rabble of people who knew nothing but slavery.
No soldiers, no nobles, no might men of war.
Just brick layers
God marched these people around in the desert for 40 years as nomads
And then took this untrained rabble
And led them into a land of giants with fortified walls.
And one by one God would overthrow their enemies before them.
The mismatch should have been obvious.
• Every time Israel went to battle, but worldly standards they were the underdogs.
• Every battle was David vs Goliath.
All Israel ever had on their side was God,
And He was more than enough.
He showed Israel over and over His mighty power.
• First in the 10 plagues over Egypt where He raised up Pharaoh that His power might be displayed
• And then in the parting of the Red Sea where with one mighty blow He annihilated the entire Egyptian army.
• And finally in the conquest when nation after nation fell before Him.
God put His power on display.
“He has made known to His people the power of His works”
He has made it clear to us that He is able to do whatever He wants.
He is able to accomplish whatever He promises.
I love the incident that led to Sarai’s faith in God.
Genesis 18:9-14 “Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ “Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
• That’s a good question: “Is anything too difficult for the LORD?”
• She had to answer “no” and indeed God gave life to her dead womb.
We saw it with Jesus.
• The lame walking,
• The lepers cleansed,
• The sea calmed,
• The dead raised,
• And the vilest of sinners turned into saints.
God shows His people His mighty power.
And though the world has made a hobby out of suppressing it in unbelief
WE HAVE SEEN IT.
• We see it in creation as Paul taught us.
• We see it in providence
• We see it in redemption as God has subdued our hearts.
His power is known.
(7) “The works of His hands are truth and justice; All His precepts are sure.”
It is a statement with a consequence.
David says that “All His precepts are sure.”
Which is to remind us that
• Everything God commands is the right command.
• Everything God says is true.
• Everything command God gives is the best way to do it.
We know this because “The works of His hands are truth and justice;”
Which reminds us that
• God knows nothing of deception
• God knows nothing of error
• God knows nothing of corruption
And because God does none of those things,
His commands can always be trusted.
• He will never lead you astray
• He will never command you to do what is wrong
• He never says “oops” I messed up.
He cannot do evil, He cannot fail, He cannot be wrong.
And so we trust all that He says to do.
We trust all His commands.
(8) “They are upheld forever and ever; They are performed in truth and uprightness.”
“They” there speaks still of the WORKS OF GOD.
God’s works are “upheld forever and ever”
• How is it that the oceans never go dry?
• How is it that the rivers continue to flow?
• How is it that the stars continue to shine, or that the sun has yet to burn out?
• How is it that oxygen is still in the air?
• How is it that life continues?
It is because God upholds His works.
He is both Creator and Sustainer of all things.
He upholds all things by the word of His power.
But not only that,
But also because His works “are performed in truth and uprightness.”
HE DID THEM RIGHT.
• There is never a shortcut found in what God has done.
• There is never corruption or rot found that requires it to be redone.
• Never has man had to “rebuild” the earth because God miscalculated on something.
Scientists speak of resources ending by such and such year.
One group even has a doomsday clock
Which is set currently at 100 seconds until midnight.
I actually love some of their explanation:
“What midnight represents is the end of the world. So when the clock ends up losing 100 seconds, metaphorically speaking, the world is moving closer to total annihilation. This is the closest the clock has ever been to midnight.
“It is 100 seconds to midnight. We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds — not hours, or even minutes,” the Bulletin’s President Rachel Bronson said in a statement. “We now face a true emergency — an absolutely unacceptable state of world affairs that has eliminated any margin for error or further delay.”
https://popculture.com/trending/news/doomsday-clock-100-seconds-midnight-what-it-means/
And of course they have absolutely no clue about that.
It’s all metaphorically speaking.
All of God’s works are “upheld forever and ever; They are performed in truth and uprightness.”
And if that is true of His physical work
It is certainly true of His spiritual work.
Not only does He save, but He saves forever.
John 10:28 “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
Isaiah 43:13 “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”
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.”
(9) “He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name.”
David speaks of the ultimate objective of all of God’s work:
REDEMPTION
As Spurgeon pointed out,
He didn’t just send a Redeemer, He sent redemption.
Christ didn’t come and say, “Well, I tried, but they didn’t want Me.”
He said, “It is finished!”
HE REDEEMED.
We love to talk about what is called the ACTUAL ATONEMENT
Or as some call it “Limited Atonement”
• It is the reminder that what Christ did on the cross was not potential.
• He didn’t just make salvation available for all who were smart enough and
strong enough to activate it.
CHRIST DID IT ALL.
• He actually and totally and perfectly and sufficiently paid for all the sin of all the
elect for all time.
He didn’t just make redemption available for me,
He redeemed me on the cross.
He bought me there.
He paid for me there.
He purchased me from my sin.
He brought redemption.
And the covenant agreement He made with me is for forever.
AND THAT IS A GOOD THING.
I sometimes wonder about those who hold that salvation can be lost.
I want to ask them does salvation ever become secure?
• Is there ever a moment when they can breathe easy and say, “Whew! There
now it’s finally secure.”
I would imagine that most all of them would say that
“When you are in heaven then salvation is finally secure.”
• But the devil was in heaven and he fell from there.
• And so did 1/3 of the angels with him when he left.
• They were in heaven but they weren’t secure.
God’s redemption is forever
Because He has ordained His covenant forever.
He will never stop being faithful to the promises He has made to me.
He will never stop being faithful to His plan of redemption.
What He has done for me is permanent and eternal.
It is no wonder David says, “Holy and awesome is His name.”
How better could you describe it?
God has done amazing things.
• He has great works in creation.
• He has great works of providence.
• He has great works of redemption and grace.
None of them are flawed, none of them are lacking,
None of them are temporary, none of them are corrupt,
None of them are deceptive.
Everything God does He does perfectly.
Everything God does He does permanently.
His works are great and it is only right that His people study them
And remember them worship Him because of it.
And that leads to the final point of the Psalm.
(10) “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;”
After you focus on God’s great works.
• His work of creation
• His work of providence
• His work of grace
Then you should certainly come to a place of reverential awe.
You should certainly be amazed at who God is.
Anyone who can see all that God has done and not be amazed
Is described by Paul as a suppressor of truth
And a fool with a depraved mind.
Romans 1:18-23 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”
Considering the works of God should most certainly lead you to “fear”.
• And that is the beginning.
• That is where it starts.
But then David moves from WISDOM OBTAINED to WISDOM APPLIED.
• True wisdom is not just being in awe of God.
• True wisdom is not just knowing facts about God.
• True wisdom is being so in awe of God that you trust Him and do what He
says.
I’ve told you before, but “Wisdom is not what you know,
Rather it is what you do with what you know.”
It is that parable of the two men building houses.
• Jesus said the wise man heard My words AND acted on them;
• Whereas the foolish man heard My words and did not act on them.
So wisdom begins with a fear of the LORD,
But wisdom then must evidence itself through obedience.
David says, “A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;”
It is the constant contrast of Scripture.
You have wise men and you have fools.
• Wise men do what God says (even if they don’t understand);
• Fools don’t do what God says, and this is what makes them a fool.
If you want to show yourself a fool
Then just try to live life opposite of the way God says to live it.
“A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;”
And then David closes with:
“His praise endures forever.”
That is to say that this scenario will never change.
You had better get used to fearing God and obeying Him now
Because the roles will never be reversed.
• God will always be God and you will always be part of creation.
• You will always be the worshiper and God will always be the recipient of worship.
• God will always be Lord and you will always be servant.
The wise man grasps that now instead of later.
That is the beginning of wisdom.
SO FEAR GOD
And don’t you love it when you study two different books of the Bible and find out that different authors years apart all said the same thing?
It’s sort of like God wrote this book isn’t it!
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
Same point…
