What I Know About Worship – Part 2
Psalms 135 (5-21)
August 7, 2022
Last Sunday night we began our study of this great Psalm.
And the issue of course is that of praise to God.
I would remind you again that this Psalm is often referred to as a mosaic.
• It is a conglomeration of other passages of Scripture.
I called this Psalm “What I Know About Worship”
Based largely off of verse 5 where the Psalmist says,
“For I know that the LORD is great and that our LORD is above all gods.”
But as I thought about it more this week,
Perhaps I should have entitled this Psalm
“What the Bible Says About Worship” for that is really what the Psalm is.
The Psalmist has merely compiled a group of texts
Which illustrate why our God must be praised.
We looked at the first point last week.
#1 GOD EXPECTS IT
Psalms 135:1-4
Drawing from both Psalms 113 and Psalms 119
The Psalmist reminds the congregation that
We have a great duty to fulfill and it is the duty of praise.
“Praise the LORD!”
We get specific by praising “the name of the LORD” which is a reference to His nature.
Certainly it is required of the “servants of the LORD…who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God!”
Surely those who attend worship must understand that praise is required.
Why else have we come?
And we even remember the manner in which God is to be worshiped.
“Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely”
OUR GOD EXPECTS SINGING.
Our God expects us to ponder the majesty of who He is
And boast in Him accordingly.
• Everyone likes to bragged on when they do well.
• And most of the time we aren’t deserving of the amount of praise that may get heaped upon us.
But God is worthy and He expects us to sing His praise.
Which was the Psalmist’s point in verse 4
“For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession.”
• God chose Jacob who did not deserve it.
• God chose Israel who was totally unworthy.
Just as God chose us before the foundation of the world
When we had done nothing to deserve it.
And just as God maintained that choice even after we have lived
And proven ourselves unworthy of salvation.
YET GOD STILL CHOSE US.
GOD STILL REDEEMED US.
AND WE ASK WHY?
• “for Himself”
• “for His own possession”
WE WERE SAVED FOR GOD.
And I’ll read it again for Peter made it clear.
1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”
• We were chosen by God that we might praise God.
• We were chosen by God that we might boast in God.
We didn’t read it last week, but consider this passage
That links sovereign election with the expectation of praise.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “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. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
You were saved according to the sovereign prerogative of God
And you were saved that you might boast in Him.
GOD EXPECTS WORSHIP.
Well, that is where we ended last week.
Tonight let’s move forward.
Here is what the Psalmist knows about worship:
God expects it
#2 GOD DESERVES IT
Psalms 135:5-14
Right off the bat the Psalmists hits us with TWO overpowering reasons
As to why God deserves worship.
(5) “For I know that the LORD is great And that our LORD is above all gods.”
That speaks of HIS PREEMINENT RANK
• He is the highest.
• He is the biggest.
• He is the best.
• He is the greatest.
If you follow sports at all you know that a popular word to throw out these days regarding an athlete is “G.O.A.T.” (greatest of all time)
But none is even in the same category as God.
He is above them all.
He outranks them all.
Names like Allah and Buddha don’t even belong in the same sentence.
Yahweh alone is great.
AND HE IS ABOVE THEM ALL.
As the highest ranking and most supreme certainly He deserves worship.
• Does such a great King not deserve more than a broken lamb or a half-hearted song?
• Does such a great King not deserve more than a disgruntled man who begrudgingly enters a service and sighs when called upon to sing?
• Does such a great King not deserve something more than a sermon thrown together at the last minute?
God deserves great worship!
• Worship for Abraham was to give his only son!
• David refused to give God that which cost him nothing.
• The sinful woman wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
Would we really come and make a mockery of worship
By sighing and refusing to participate?
A great God deserves worship, and He is a great God!
We see something else about Him.
(6) “Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all the deeps.”
This speaks of His OMNIPOTENT POWER
There are many things that you or I might do if we could.
There are indeed many things Satan would do if he could.
And yet we are restrained from all that we wish.
BUT NOT GOD.
“Whatever the LORD pleases, He does”
No one and nothing can tell Him “No”
No obstacle can keep Him from His plans.
• He never lacks for funding…
• He never lacks for permission…
• He never lacks for resources…
• He never lacks for ability…
• He never lacks for knowledge…
• He never lacks for location…
He has total power over every circumstance.
And unlike the false gods of the world, HE IS NOT REGIONAL.
“He does, In heaven and in earth, in the sea and in all the deeps.”
He is the supreme God of all the universe.
Certainly He deserves worship.
And then the Psalmist begins to ponder the work of God.
FIRST IS HIS CURRENT WORK (providence)
(7) “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; Who makes lightnings for the rain, Who brings forth the wind from His treasuries.”
The Psalmist speaks of EVAPORATION which is a great work of God.
“He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth”
• God takes the water on earth,
• Removes the salt,
• Changes it’s form so that it will rise into the clouds,
• Condensate,
• And then fall back upon the earth again.
Man might be able to explain what is happening, but no man can do it.
You might stick water in a bucket and wait for it to evaporate,
But you can’t cause it to evaporate.
God does that. It is one of His providential laws.
He makes the lightning…
He commands the wind…
You can GOOGLE LIGHTNING and you can GOOGLE WIND
And science can tell you what it is.
Science can tell you that lightning is the result of positive and negative charges in the cloud which eventually overpower the insulator of the air and discharge an electrical current to the ground.
https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/lightning/#:~:text=In%20the%20early%20stages%20of,that%20we%20know%20as%20lightning.
Science can tell you that wind is the result of dropping air pressure and air molecules on the move from higher pressure locations to lower pressure locations.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=what+causes+wind&view=detail&mid=D38CE6D747AA3CBB10C1D38CE6D747AA3CBB10C1&FORM=VIRE
But that is just explaining how it works.
Where does it come from?
Who made those electrical charges?
Who created the molecules in the air?
Who made the shift in pressure?
God did all of that.
All weather and thus providence is in His hands.
It is His continual and current work on a daily basis.
• It is He who sends rain on the just and the unjust.
• It is He who causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good.
• It is He who gives the horse his strength.
• It is He who cares for the mountain goats.
• It is He who waters the plants of the forest.
It all comes from Him and He deserves worship for this work.
SECOND IS HIS PAST WORK (redemption)
Certainly God still redeems today, but the Psalmist speaks specifically of ISRAEL’S REDEMPTION FROM EGYPT.
Do you remember what He did?
(8-9) “He smote the firstborn of Egypt, Both of man and beast. He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, Upon Pharaoh and all his servants.”
Do you remember all the plagues?
Do you remember that each of those plagues was meant to humiliate the false Egyptian gods?
• Egypt had Hapi or Apis who was the god of the Nile – God turned it to blood.
• Egypt had Heqet who was goddess of birth and had a frogs head – God sent a plague of frogs throughout Egypt.
• Egypt had Set, the god of the desert – God sent gnats up from the desert.
• Egypt had Uatchit who was represented by the fly – God sent a plague of flies.
• Egypt had Hathor, a goddess with a cow’s head – God killed their livestock.
• Egypt had Sekhmet, goddess with power over disease and Isis the goddess of healing – God sent boils.
• Egypt had Nut the sky goddess and Set the god of storms – God sent hail.
• Egypt had Osiris the god of crops – God sent locusts
• Egypt had Re the sun god – God sent darkness
• Egypt had Min the god of reproduction and Isis the goddess who protected children, even Pharaoh’s son who was supposedly a god – God killed the firstborn of Egypt.
(Walvoord, John F.; Zuck, Roy B. [The Bible Knowledge Commentary; Old Testament; Chariot Victor Publishing; Colorado Springs, CO; 1998] pg. 120)
Those plagues obliterated every so-called god of Egypt.
“He smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast. He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, Upon Pharaoh and all his servants.”
• God delivered Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
• He totally annihilated their false gods.
• He drowned Pharaoh and his army in the sea.
The Psalmist asked should God be worshiped for such a deliverance?
Of course He should.
We enjoy the benefit of the cross
• Where God delivered His people from their sin.
• He crushed sin and obliterated death.
• He set us free from our sin, from the Law, and from condemnation.
Should we not worship Him for this?
Isaac Watts said, “Were all the realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
And that is not all of God’s deliverance
(10-12) “He smote many nations And slew mighty kings, Sihon, king of the Amorites, And Og, king of Bashan, And all the kingdoms of Canaan; And He gave their land as a heritage, A heritage to Israel His people.”
Remember Numbers 21 and how these pagan kings refused to allow God’s people to pass through their land.
• So God destroyed them.
• God also destroyed the Canaanites living in Canaan.
• And God gave all their land to Israel.
It was a future they could not have hoped for.
It was an inheritance they could not have earned.
It was all given to them by the God who delivered them from Egypt.
Should they not worship Him for such care?
And you,
• Who provides you with every good thing to enjoy?
• Who has given you a future and a hope?
• Who intercedes on your behalf?
• Who rescues you from the temptations of the enemy?
Should we not worship Him for such redemption?
And then Psalmist references HIS FUTURE WORK (judgment)
(13-14) “Your name, O LORD, is everlasting, Your remembrance, O LORD, throughout all generations. For the LORD will judge His people And will have compassion on His servants.”
The Psalmist knows that God will always be.
• His name “is everlasting”
• He will always be known and remembered.
No one will ever be able to eradicate or remove our great God.
He has always been and He always will be.
I read you many of those Egyptian gods a moment ago
And most of them you’ve likely never heard of.
THEIR TIME IS OVER.
But our God stands forever and throughout all eternity.
And here the Psalmist remembers that “the LORD will judge His people and will have compassion on His servants”
“Judge” there speaks more of vindication than it does punishment.
• We have a God who will one day cause our enemies to bow at our feet.
• We have a God who has said we will reign upon the earth.
• We have a God who will reward every trial and compensate every loss.
• We have a God who has promised that when Christ appears we will appear with Him.
Colossians 3:1-4 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
God will reveal us to the world.
Should He not be worshiped for such as this?
And when you consider all of this together a remarkable reality emerges.
WE HAVE HERE A GOD WHO DOES WHATEVER HE PLEASES.
He can do whatever He wants and yet it is apparent
That what He wants to do is save His people.
This is the very epitome of the love of God.
• No one coerced Him.
• No one forced Him.
• He loved because it pleased Him to love.
• He saved because it pleased Him to save.
He cares for us because it pleases Him to care for us.
And perhaps that reinforces for you
What the Psalmist taught us at the very beginning of this Psalm;
Namely that “the LORD is good”.
If He were not good we would be in very great danger for He can do whatever He pleases.
• If He were a tyrant we would only suffer.
• If He were lazy we would be on our own.
• If He were indifferent we would be sunk.
BUT HE IS GOOD.
And goodness mixed with sovereign authority
Is a beautiful combination for us.
And thus we understand again why we are called to worship.
God can do whatever He wants and He chose to save.
In a sense we do what we want, may we choose to worship.
What manner of cold-hearted or spiritually dead individual
Can contemplate the providence of God
Or the redemption of God or the judgment of God
And feel no need to respond to God in worship?
What man can ponder God’s greatness and still be too proud to sing?
What man can consider God’s power and have the audacity to not give Him what He expects or what He deserves?
Worship is not optional.
Singing is not optional.
God expects it and God deserves it.
There’s a third thing the Psalmist knows about worship.
#3 IT IS A PRIVILEGE
Psalms 135:15-18
Here we get a contrast.
God is contrasted from the pathetic and useless false gods of the nations.
We have a good God, they do not.
We have a powerful God, they do not.
BUT ALSO:
WE HAVE A LIVING GOD, THEY DO NOT.
(15-17) “The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; They have eyes, but they do not see; They have ears, but they do not hear, Nor is there any breath at all in their mouths.”
FIRST
I would have you contemplate
• What it would be like to pray to a god who cannot hear you.
• What it would be like to suffer when your god can’t see it.
• What it would be like to try and get counsel from a god who cannot speak.
• What it would be like to hope for life from a god who doesn’t even breathe.
How futile to be as the prophets of Baal who leap upon the altar
And cut themselves and cry out over and over “O Baal answer us!”
• What a sad scene to watch millions of Muslims bow daily to a god who doesn’t even see their faithfulness.
• What a broken picture to watch a Hindu woman cram rice into the mouth of some Hindu statue who can’t even taste it or eat it or benefit from it.
• What a horrible moment to see a parent cry out to a god who cannot hear that their child might be delivered.
These are people who day after day worship gods who do not deserve it.
• They worship gods who are not powerful.
• They worship gods who are not good.
• They worship gods who cannot help.
Isaiah gave a very fitting description of such a worship.
Isaiah 46:5-7 “To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike? “Those who lavish gold from the purse And weigh silver on the scale Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; They bow down, indeed they worship it. “They lift it upon the shoulder and carry it; They set it in its place and it stands there. It does not move from its place. Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer; It cannot deliver him from his distress.
The key idea there is that of burden.
False gods are nothing but a burden to their worshipers.
It is the worshiper who must do all the heavy lifting.
They must “lift it upon the shoulder and carry it”
It is their god who needs them not the other way around.
We however are called to worship a good and powerful God.
One who has chosen to demonstrate His goodness by saving us.
And our God is NOT a burden.
In fact Jesus said:
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Our God doesn’t cast His burden on us, we cast ours on Him.
1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
Peter actually told us to cast our cares on Him.
Worship of Him is not a burden, it is a privilege.
Before you see worship of God as a burden
You need to take inventory of people all over this world
Who don’t have the privilege of worshiping the true and living God.
And aside from the immediate heartache of receiving absolutely no help,
There is a GREATER CURSE for those who worship these false gods.
(18) “Those who make them will be like them, Yes, everyone who trusts in them.”
What does he mean?
• Well they can’t speak…
• They can’t see…
• They can’t hear…
• They can’t breathe…
And God will make their worshipers like them.
Isaiah 44 speaks of a man who chops down a tree.
Isaiah 44:16-20 “Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.” They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. No one recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!” He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
Did you catch how God made them like their false god?
• “He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend…”
• God made fools of them.
• He made them where they couldn’t even see the insanity of their worship…
• “Professing to be wise they became fools”, Paul said.
It is no privilege to worship Allah
It is no privilege to worship Buddha
It is no privilege to worship one of the thousands of Hindu gods
THEY CAUSE YOU TO END UP DECEIVED AND LOST
But we are called to worship the God who hears.
• How many times have the Psalmists cried out “Hear my prayer!”
We are called to worship the God who sees.
• When God spared Hagar and her son Ishmael she called Him the “God who sees” for He saw her affliction.
We are called to worship the God who speaks.
• The God who gave the Law and the prophets and the incarnate word of Jesus Christ. (Psalms 19)
We are called to worship the God who gives life.
• Over and over Jesus promised life to those who believe.
We worship a living, seeing, hearing, speaking God.
And that is a privilege!
FOR HE GIVES LIFE TO THOSE WHO SEEK HIM
How could it be that God’s people would fail to worship Him?
• He hears when you sing and when you don’t.
• He sees when you worship and when you don’t.
• He knows when you honor Him and when you don’t.
And He rewards His faithful.
We have the tremendous privilege of worship.
One more thing the Psalmist knows about worship.
#4 THE PURPOSE IS TO PLEASE GOD
Psalms 135:19-21
See the phrase that is applied over and over to every group and every man?
“bless the LORD”
“bless” means “to make happy”
Are you Israel?
Are you Aaron?
Are you a Levite?
Do you fear God?
Then “bless the LORD”
And bless Him from this place.
“Blessed the LORD from Zion, whoever dwells in Jerusalem, Praise the LORD!”
• Let God look down upon Spur because He hears a holy roar coming from His people!
• Let God look down upon this church because He sees a people who have gathered to worship!
And the whole objective is to make Him happy!
We have discussed it so many times, but human nature will require us to discuss it forever.
We don’t enter this place to be entertained or even for our enjoyment (though we do enjoy the worship of God)
• The songs we sing…
• The instruments we use…
• The sermons we preach…
• The times of prayer…
Everything we do is that God might be pleased.
As the Psalmist said:
Psalms 115:1 “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.”
May God be pleased!
• He alone redeems…
• He alone provides…
• He alone rewards…
• He alone delivers…
• He alone hears…
• He alone sees…
• He alone speaks…
• He alone gives life…
• He alone is good…
And He expects and deserves worship.
It is our privilege and joy to give it to Him!
IT IS A SINFUL MAN
• Who attends a worship service and expects to be praised.
• Who attends a worship service and finds God unworthy of it.
• Who attends a worship service with the intent that he should be made happy.
• Who attends a worship service and thinks it is too tiresome.
I don’t know all there is to know about worship, but I do know that.
We were redeemed that we might praise the LORD.
God certainly expects it and He certainly deserves it.
When you enter this place with the redeemed;
Enter with a focus on worshiping God with all your heart.
And may God be blessed with what ascends from this place.