(upbeat guitar music) ♪ I love growing in your grace ♪ ♪ You have your hand on me ♪ ♪ And all that I do wrong ♪ ♪ Love will keep me strong ♪ ♪ And I love to be in your grace ♪ - Now let's open our Bibles tonight to Psalm 111. We are currently in this book of Psalms, which is part of the books of wisdom or the books of poetry. They run from the book of Job through the song of Solomon. And so they're all kind of tightly compacted there in the middle of your Bible in the Old Testament. They do not look at history, which is really before the book of Job, or seek to move the history forward, as maybe some of the prophets do and they're looking ahead. But they are all written with the desire from the Lord to bring you closer to Him in a present tense. So whether it's the book of Job, which deals with tremendously difficult questions of life and suffering and the rightness of God and why would God allow? Or whether it's the book of Psalms, which eavesdrops on the prayers of the saints in both good times and bad to learn how to pray and what God listens to and how we can respond because much of the Psalms have a historical setting that you can study. Or whether when we get to the book of Proverbs, which is even more difficult to teach than Psalms because every verse sometimes changes, but you'll do all right. Or whether it's ecclesiastes that go into the world and try everything you can and buy anything you want and see how that works for you until you come to know that the Lord is the Lord for you also. All of those wisdom books are designed to do just that help you in your daily walk with God. So we've been trying to take five chapters a week in the Psalms and ask you to read ahead tonight. Actually, they're pretty short. In a few weeks when we get to Psalm 119, it'll be fairly long and we probably won't be doing all that in a week, but tonight we'll take Psalm 111 through Psalm 115. Psalm 111 and Psalm 112 are certainly twin Psalms. And though we are not told who wrote them, they do stand together like two P's in a pod. They both have 10 verses. Eight of the verses have two lines. Two of the verses have three lines. It gives you a total of 22 lines and each one of the lines starts with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet. So these are acrostic Psalms. Obviously they don't show up that way in English. But the first line in Hebrew would be Aleph and then Beth and then Gemma and Dayleph and down the road for 22 letters and that would cover the whole Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 111 is credited in other places to David. Psalm 112 has absolutely no heading at all. And we really don't know anything about it, although because they seem so together, we just presume and that's all you can do that maybe they're written by the same individual. Psalm 111 has focused the Lord. Psalm 112 has focused of his people. So though they go together, they have a different focus. The blessings of the God-fearing man in Psalm 112 and the blessings of God's goodness in Psalm 111. So let's start with 111. And there are three things that, three little themes that stand out in the Psalm. The first one is worship. The second one is wonder and the third one is wisdom and you can kind of see the breaking line in verse one through three, four through six, seven through 10. So worship, beginning in verse one, praise the Lord, I will praise the Lord with my whole heart. And I will praise Lord in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. First part of verse one, the Psalmist resolves to worship God personally. I think I like that and I'm not sure that everyone always does that so well, but God wants you to decide to worship him. Does that make sense? That there's a lot that can be distracting to you when it comes to worship, whether that worship is service or singing or prayer or fellowship. You know, we need to intellectually engage in worship and passionately so and pull out all of the stops. A lot of personal worship tends to be very distracted. And half-hearted or maybe it's just a routine. I see it even sometimes in our worship here singing. The difference between someone who worships and someone who sings is all a matter of the heart, isn't it? And looking from the outward, you may not even be able to tell the difference, but God certainly can. And we should pay close attention because when we come to worship, the Lord it requires a choice. I remember years ago, reading Urban Stones, agony in the ecstasy. When he wrote about Michelangelo getting that massive block of marble that someone had badly handled at the quarry and then some other bad artist had hammered on for a while and he got it. And he stayed up literally days until he finally was able to knock out of this thing his famous sculpture of David. It just required that diligent commitment to the task. And I think it's the same way with worship, you know? If you're here early, you ought to be praying, "Lord, I want you to speak to me tonight." You know, "I want to have my heart ready to hear from you." Because though we mean it's six on Sundays and though we have a half an hour of worship and though you probably sit in the same place, next to the same people in your area. And I've seen people stop when someone else was in their seat and not know what to do. Looking for an usher, please, you see what's going on over here. I mean, a lot of what we do is very routine driven. So to then make up our minds to commit ourselves to worship, to be ready to honor the Lord, whether we know the song or we don't, to close our eyes or lift our hands or get on our knees or stand to worship is intentional. It doesn't just happen. And it requires a determinate action. Notice I will praise the Lord with my whole heart. It's a determined, positive kind of word. You can stand in the foyer and visit or you can come in here and worship. You can look around to see who made it to church and who wasn't here yet, or you can come in and worship. You can go through your purse looking for the dentine, or you can come in here and worship. You can do whatever it is, balance your checkbook, work with your iTunes, I don't know, or you can come in here and worship. And ultimately, the decision that is made has to be made by you. I will come and worship the Lord. And it is a resolve that the Lord is looking for. And here's the I will. And notice the second part of the verse, I will do so publicly in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation as it gathers, to worship together with others. I think if you sit sleepily through the singing with your thoughts afar off, that's not worship. That's sleepily with your thoughts afar off. That's daydreaming, they have a word for that. But worship demands attention, and it demands participation. And it requires your complete kind of a commitment. I always am frustrated when people come rolling in a half an hour late, and they think they haven't missed any of the study hasn't started yet. They've missed a lot. They've missed a half an hour of sitting before God's throne that worshiping can't. And then the folks that come late, you know, they have to interrupt you. Excuse me, pardon me. You've got my seat over there, and you're kind of in the way. Oh, go ahead. Thank you. We sing to the Lord. We worship, we make a decision to do that. We study the word, we seek to give sense to it. We pray that we might be in line with God's will. We publicly gather together, but it has to be a commitment from us. I will worship in the congregation and amongst the assembly. And from verse two, we have a reason to worship. The works of the Lord are great. And they are studied by all who have pleasure in them. Or God's works are on display. You know, if you ever felt like you didn't have a reason to worship, just look around. Use the Creator. Look up. Awesome God, we see. Look at the universe. Watch the earthquake, you know, or the volcano erupts. Study the atom. Worship is intelligent. It isn't just emotional. It isn't just, oh, that song gives me the goosebumps. I was really worshiping. No, you had goosebumps. Really, worshiping is an intelligent action from the heart. It may be supported by lots of emotion or very little from time to time, but it is the heart that God is interested in. He's an awesome God. He is a great God. And all you have to do is sit around and think about all God has done in your life, the works of God. And you'll wanna worship. Verse four tells us, or verse three, sorry, that his work is honorable and it is glorious. But the Hebrew word for glorious here is the word for majestic. Everything God does reveals the splendor of his work. His righteousness endures forever. No, you may see kings who surround themselves with red carpets and limousines and bodyguards. But just check out the Lord you see. He's got angels of fire hanging around, you know? And he's got this sea of glass before him. And I'm able to come in and worship him. Saw them in awesome, but boy, it requires some commitment. So be careful when you just roll in here and follow the routine. It can be done. We are prone to routine and just about everything we do, new employees usually work harder than someone who's been around a few years unless they're the vision. You know, newlyweds tend to love each other more than oldly weds unless there's a vision. That's true of just about everything. Anything new is exciting, anything old, it's old. But don't let the worship of God grow old. He's an awesome God. And he deserves our worship. But even the psalmist and some of these psalms makes that determinate resolve or effort to personally and publicly worship and find reason to worship as he makes a list of the great things that God has done. So from worship to wonder, he writes in verse four, he has made his wonderful works to be remembered, that he is gracious, that he is full of compassion, that he has given food to those who fear him, that he is ever mindful of his covenant, that he has declared to his people the power of his work and giving them the heritage of the nation. Worship should always, I think, lead to wonder, thoughtful consideration of God will fill your heart with awe. It always seems to me, you know, God has made his works to be remembered. In the Old Testament, they were memorialized in feast day. And every feast day would go for a week and the talk would be about what God did and that day that they are celebrating or that time of celebration. Oh, remember what he brought us out of it? You remember what we did then? Remember how we got fed, you know? It just had to bring awe to the peak. We have communion now that is intended to do the exact same thing, lest we forget, you know? God has done his work, so we would remember that. I have kept, and I think I've mentioned to you, a prayer journal for the last 27 years. I can show you what I prayed about 27 years ago and what God did as a result, or what he didn't do, which was very frustrating. But I have all of my prayers listed every day, every month, marked out the ones that God answers and how he answered and what he did, because I don't want to forget how good that has been to me. And I'm really easy to forget. And then I get something good. I think you're going to go on to the next thing. And I don't want to treat the Lord that way. So he is gracious, keep it in mind. He is full of compassion. We should appreciate verse five what he has done, both in providing for us and being faithful to do what he says. He's dependable, isn't he? And he has declared his power. He has given them the heritage of the nation. You should not only appreciate what he has done, you should appropriate what he has done. I think the reference here is probably to God bringing Israel into Canaan. Because they became the one that God used to take the land. The Canaanites had forfeited the land through there. Wicked kind of corrupt and abominable ways. And the Jews being sent into the land was almost as if God was foreclosing on the Canaanites. The conquest of the land demonstrated God's power from Jericho to AI. Every place they turn when they walk with God, they won. The problem was they didn't appropriate what God had given them. So eventually, rather than changing the land, the Canaanites that were not dispossessed changed them. And they became compromised. And they became much of what God didn't want to have in their life or in the land. And judgment came and the people were taken away and the temple was destroyed. Well, we find ourselves in the same place tonight. The Lord has defeated our foes at Calvary. All we have to do now is walk in that victory that God has given us. But what happens is we can lose a sense of wonder about what God has done because we're so familiar with it. And then it becomes easy to compromise with the world. And say, "Man, I've been delivered from the world." Used to be out there like that. I ain't like that anymore. I'm out, I'm free. So the worship of God leads to the wonder of God's work, which brings wisdom. Notice the works of His hands are truth or verity, and they are justice. All of His precepts are sure, they stand fast, forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. All God has done declares that God is true. Nothing can keep us from God's will, except our unwillingness to walk with Him. His ways are gonna stand. Your best bet, verse seven, get on board. Follow the Lord. Verse nine says that He has sent redemption to His people. He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy, awesome is His name. God guarantees our future through His side. And then we read the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and a good understanding have all those who would do His command and so His praise and doers forever. This conclusion at the end of verse 10 here or in the verse 10, I should say, is the basic premise of the wisdom literature that you find in these books amongst the Hebrew. If you abandon this truth, you're set up for every wicked device of the enemy. And this is the truth that is repeated not once or twice, but over and over again in these books that we're currently studying. If we come to that place where we fear the Lord, that's where everything starts from a wisdom standpoint. If I acknowledge God is right and I am not, God is more powerful than I am, God will have His way and I won't. God is gonna have the last word. He's the one I can trust and He's the one I can look to. Now you're starting to get smart. That's gonna bring wisdom into your life. No matter what you do after that point, if I fear the Lord first, wisdom is my possession because that will lead to obedience that will bring good understanding. I fear the Lord, I do what He says. You know, bang the Lord, I find inside into His ways. I find the peace that I didn't think. I could find. Forgive those who hurt you. No way, I'm getting even, I'm keeping a record. Those guys that are gonna pay, and you churn and you're sick and your stomach hurts and you can't rest. And then you come to the Lord and you go, "Just forgive it, let me handle it." And you're free and you're whistling Dixie and no longer are you tied up in knots. And your experience is, "Oh man, that is right." I have found the rest that God can provide and I can then praise the Lord forever because His way has been a good success. So, praising the Lord, the worship, the wonder, and then the wisdom that comes from fearing the will. Psalm 112, the same setup, same amount of verses, same amount of lines, if you will. You know that the headings and the numbers are all man-made, right? So Psalm 112, that helps you find Psalm 112. But it's not listed Psalm 112, verse three in the original writings. It's just sprawled there as one of the Psalm. But it's another one of the acrostics that parallels the other one. And by the way, a lot of these Psalms were written in Jewish writing poetically that way for the purpose of remembering them. Not everybody could just buy 100 Bibles and put them on the shelves like we can. You know, you could just hear it from some people and that would be it. So if you could have a way to remember starts with A, starts with B, starts with C. Oh, I got it now, it's a little easier for me. That's in many ways why the devices were used so that the people might then learn of the Lord. And much of the Psalms had a meter to them or a structure to aid in the memory. You know, the beat was such that it was inspired. But man, you had to study and commit it to memory oftentimes. So we don't have that much of a difficulty now. You have it on your laptop and your telephone, and you know, on your Franklin Bob if anything can do it. You can just about get it anyway. You don't have to do much work anymore, you know? Used to be, you have to remember phone numbers. Now you just have to remember that it's in your phone somewhere. You don't have to remember all the numbers. So here we find that same beat, if you will. Verse one. And we read about, remember we said, this is the man who fears the Lord to focus on the man. And here's some things that we should know about man. Verse one, the secrets of the blessed man praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord and who delights greatly in his commandment. See how they flow together? The fear of the Lord, verse 10. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, the one who delights greatly in his commandment. You want to know what the secret is for being a blessed person in the Lord? You fear the Lord. You know, people look to a lot of things for happiness. If you watch television and seek commercials, there's a million things you need to be happy. About two minutes worth every 15 minutes. You know, you need a new car, you need a new car clothes, you need a new vacation, you need a new partner, you need new hairdo, you need new teeth, you got to have one of those brushes, you got to smell like this, you got a million things in it. But if you can get them all, well, then you're happiest as far as the commercials do. But let me just tell you, here's how you can really be happy. You can fear the Lord. And you might not think that that works. And you might say to yourself, well, that seems very restrictive. I've had friends and maybe you did too, and you got to say, well, I hate to walk with the Lord. There's so many things you can't do anymore. Well, I get to do everything I want. How about you? You just don't wanna do all that junk anymore. I think that's what happens. But at the same time, you know, the secret is found in the reverence that we can have for God. You know, Solomon, you might remember, and we'll get to the book of Ecclesiastes here in a few books down the road. Was a fellow that started off walking with God, go like his dad. He prayed for the right things. He wanted to do things godly. But it didn't take long for the girls to turn his head. And by the time he was in power and had more money than everyone had ever had, and he was given by God a wisdom that was supernatural above and beyond the wisdom of man, he found himself loving a bunch of women who didn't walk with God and slowly but surely his life was taken away from God's commitment to God. And he became miserable. Having all the money and power that he had, he decided to go on a journey to try to find some happiness. He saw it in wisdom. He wrote science books. He was smarter than anyone who had ever lived. He saw it in sex and in pleasure. He saw it in the possessions that he owned. He saw it in the business interest that he involved himself with and the scientific discoveries that he made in the animal husbandry that he studied. He wrote about it in Ecclesiastes chapter after chapter. I tried this, I bought that. I got involved with that. And he had the resources to try it all. Imagine someone gives you enough money to say, "Buy whatever you want, do whatever you want, go wherever you want, find your life." And by the time he was all done, he said there in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, I considered what I'd done and considered the wisdom and the madness and the folly that I had pursued. What can man do that hasn't already been done? But here's the thing, we should just fear God in people's commandments there. And in that is the entire law and the work of God. If you can get back to the simplicity of it, I just want to do it the Lord wants, you were made to please God. You will work best. You will function best. Your life will find its greatest pleasure in doing what God wants. The hard thing is convincing people that that's true. But somewhere along the line, Solomon left the gold standard of spiritual truths and he'd settle for Allah, you know? And it took him many years to kind of come full circle. Here's the secret. Underline it, circle it, memorize it. He who loves the Lord by reverence in him gives him first place in his life, follows him obediently and joyfully and knowingly will lead the kind of life that God desires. He wants you to live a life in his world because the secret of life is loving what God says and following after it. And you can ask yourself, do I love what God says? And I suspect that you do because it's hard enough to convince him to come to church on Sunday mornings, let alone at night, but here you are. And so I assume that's because you love his world. The secrets of the blessed man, his descendants, sons of the blessed man will be mighty upon the earth and it'll be a generation of the upright that will be blessed. And wealth and riches will be in his house and his righteousness will endure forever. You know, one of the good things about you walking with the Lord is your kids are liable to as well. You may not always see it right away, but there's an influence that comes from walking with God and there's no greater influence that as a parent you can have it on your kids. You can tell them to behave and sit up straight, but they're just gonna sit like you and they're gonna behave just like you. And you can watch even in our grandkids, you can just see the parents in the grandkids. Just by the way, they behaved and said, and I thought, you know, I did this all wrong, I wanna try it again. It's too late to go back. But to know that as you walk with God, the children who call you mom and dad and look up to you will find descendants that are also mighty and blessed and upright and filled with God's goodness. There ought to be a change in direction. My parents weren't seated when I grew up. They got saved before they died. And thankfully they, I think, are with the Lord today and have them enjoying his company, but we weren't raised in Christian home. We were raised in all kinds of weird stuff. But my kids got raised in a Christian home and their kids are doing raised in a Christian home. And I hope that pray that their kids will have left. You know, the direction changes, doesn't it? Because there are sons of the blessed men and our walks with God will affect the next generation. Be sure your kids will follow your spiritual example. If you bought, they'll bought. We read in verse four that onto the upright, there arises light in the darkness that God is gracious, full of compassion and righteous. Now, notice the sentence here. In darkness, he makes it light. Look, you walk with God, you're a blessed man because you have guidance. You don't stumble in the dark. I think that that's a great benefit. If you have light from God as to how to live, you're not gonna fall into the same traps the world does. You're not gonna be bought into those things. Jesus said, or is it John 812? 812, is that right? I am the light of the world. I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Now you get to the blessed man and you read onto the upright, there's light in the darkness. So good, you know, you watch the world figuring it out or trying to, and yet we know where we're going, we know where we stand, we know what to do, we know the right way to go. We're blessed. We have guidance. We find God's graciousness. Notice, we read here, he is gracious. He is kind, he is compassionate, he is forgiving. The blessed man walks with the Lord and he is good, filled with compassion and righteous. He does what is right and he is merciful. Jesus said to the disciples one time that he looked at the people and saw them as sheep without a shepherd and it just broke his heart. It moved him to be compassionate. Peter later in his sermon said, you remember Jesus, he was the one who went around doing good. Your life will actually matter. You'll walk with God and please God and reflect his love and affect the generation and find peace should be a blessed man or woman when you fear the Lord. And that guided by his life. Verse five, a good man will then deal graciously with others, lending. He will guide his affairs with discretion. He will never be shaken. I love that word. Christians ought to not be freaking in. I remember that little thing in the Bible of my first teacher that said, a Bible that is worn out is usually owned by someone who's not. Now that's the way I want to do it, you know? I don't be worn out. I don't want the Lord. Okay, Spurden used to say as he worried about the church, he'd stand at the window and say, good night Lord, I'm going to sleep at your problem. And then he just go to sleep and dump it all on the Lord. I think he likes that. I like the end of verse, is it eight? Six, seven, eight, go here nine. It's the beginning of verse six. Surely he will never be shaken. Awesome. Notice that he will lend to others. He'll be sympathetic as Jesus says, yet he'll be discriminate, not foolish. Being a believer, I should be willing to help others yet. I should also be discriminated. You know, we get folks constantly coming in the church asking for money, constantly. I don't mean once a week. I mean over and over and over again. And the stories oftentimes don't change. There's professional folks who go from church to church. They have rap sheets. And then there are others who tell the same story. I don't have a wall at my job who's next to you. They're getting a check tomorrow. There's always something. So you have to be discriminated. However, you don't want to ever turn away someone truly in need who's trying to get back on their feet. You want to help those who, a little, have it help without getting burned. It's a tightrope act, isn't it? So we have some, you know, checks and balances in place where we just don't hand out money. We'll go buy food and we'll go to the electric company where we're handing out money. We never know where it's going. But we can deal with the individuals and we can help that you work if you want. And very few folks, great. Why don't you go out and work? Oh, I forgot to tell you about my back. Back on Sunday. Great. Why don't you sit over here and focus on, oh, I've got the beside and something on. I'll try to catch it. Pretty soon, you know, you're just so sick or you're surprised you're still staying. But you want to be kind and gracious. You never want to become cynical which is so easy, isn't it? In a world that's like that, it always ready to rip you off. You're always so cynical. Look what the Lord does. A good man will be, he'll be gracious and lend though he will die to his affairs with discretion and he'll never be shaken. Love that loose, secure. He will not be afraid of the evil tidings. You remember the Y2K thing? Whoa, we're all gonna die. You will not be afraid of evil tidings. You don't need to take a $60 seminar, you'll be fine. His heart is steadfast. He trusts in the Lord. His heart is established. He won't be afraid until he sees his desire upon his enemies. God can handle his life. And though he has dispersed abroad and given to the poor, his righteousness will endure and his horn will be exalted with honor and the wicked will see it. They'll be grieved and gnashed their teeth and melt away while the desire of the wicked shall perish. In the end, the blessed man finds daily security. Bad news doesn't shake him. Good news doesn't escape him. He can worship for he knows God's still on the throne. He knows the outcome will be good. Nothing can move a believer. I've always thought that that was so great, you know? You get bad news about the economy and the housing market and God isn't going, oh man, I don't know what I'm gonna do if the, well, you know, stock market on the straight net. You don't find the Lord like freaking out, do you? So why should you let God handle it? Go to sleep or ship the wall. Daily security, blessed life, ultimate victory. What more could you ask for it all starts with? Blessed is the man who seriously learned the last great announcement. Psalm 113 and all the way really through Psalm 118 are known in the scriptures as the Hallel Psalms. From the word Hallelujah, for is the Lord. In fact, Hallelujah is one of those words that is the same in every language in the earth, no matter where you go. People go, hey, do you know any of that Greek? Yeah, I know Hallelujah. You nailed it, you know? Or you got the Hebrew, yeah, I got the Hallelujah. There you go. You can tell him you speak every language in the word. Or you'll just have one word that you know. These particular Psalms 113 through 118 were saying by the nation of Israel in their entirety at the annual feast days of the Pentecost, the Passover, the Pentecost and the Tabernacles. So three times a year for that week, these were sung. They teach us God would have His people be worshipful in singing. No matter the circumstances of life. One of the things I think you'll discover as you study some of the Old Testament feast days is they were designed for the people to be happy that God's people could sing with great joy. When there wasn't a big harvest, they could still worship. When there wasn't a particularly good year as far as rain, they could still come and worship. And the requirements of the people from the Lord was such that they would sing these. And as they sang them, they would almost be brought to the place where you would be obligated to worship no matter the situation. Psalm 113 was sung before the Passover meal. It was, by the way, this group of songs that Jesus would have sang with the disciples there in the upper room at the Last Supper. And you will read in a couple of the Gospel accounts and they sang a psalm and they sang a hymn. And as they were going out, they sang the hymn and it would be these psalms here. They were known, everyone knew the tune, everyone sang along. They were intended to bring the people to a place of great worship, we follow the Lord. So hallelujah. (chuckles) God should be continually praised. Verse one, praise the Lord. Notice it starts with that same line. Hallelujah, praise the Lord. Praise, oh, servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Praise the Lord. God's servants should praise the Lord. He deserves our best, doesn't he? And I think when he asks you to do something that doesn't seem to be rewarded as well, he deserves your servants with smiles and Lord, I'll do whatever you want and serve the Lord with great joy. Whatever you do, do it heartily, do it joyfully. Here's the call as the people gather for the honoring of God's work, come and worship the Lord. The saint should worship Lord, the brethren should sing hallelujah. Verse two, blessed be the name of the Lord. From this time forth, forevermore, from the rising of the sun 'til the time that it goes down, it's the Lord's name that should be framed. And notice the capital, L-O-R-D, it always translates in Hebrew the word Jehovah. So whenever there's all capitals, Jehovah, when it's just the big Al and the small O-R-D, I don't know, it's a place of, he's the master, you're the servant, it's a place of authority. But this word Lord, Jehovah, is the royal name that God took in the Old Testament. It will eventually become for the believer in the New Testament Father. But it is the name that God chose to signify that he would do what he said and keep his word. And notice that the singing on the feast days from the rising of the sun until the time that it goes down, day in, day out, night in day, the Lord should be worshiped and honored his name exalted because God is faithful and dependable. And that's just the way it is, three hours ago on the East Coast they had worshiped tonight. We meet at six or seven. In Hawaii in a couple of hours, the churches and the gathering doors are from. The time the sun goes down, the time it goes up. He ought to hold that special place in the life of the people. He says in verse four that he is high above the nations. His glory stands over the nations above the heavens. Who is like our God, who dwells on high? Nobody is like him. Who humbles himself to behold, the things are in the heavens and in the earth. His grace causes the Lord to bend down and pay attention to us. The word is literally stoop down. God stoop down to look at you, to look at me. And while he does, he raises the pour out of the dust. He lifts the needy out of the ash heat so that he may seat him with princes. But the princes of his people, granting a barren woman a home, like a joyful mother of children. Hallelujah, O praise the Lord. God in his grace reaches down to the lease, to the pool, to the needy. You know, outside the walls of the city and the Old Testament, and even into the days of Jesus, were the lepers and those that were unclean and the outcasts and the poor and the ailing or the sick. And they would oftentimes gather down in the Hinnom Valley where the trash was put on to look for food or where the trash was burned to be warm for the night. The Lord went looking where no one else would look to bring out people for himself and not just to save them, but to seat them with princes, to seat them in the place of honor and glory. That happened to us, we're going to heaven. We're going to eat with Moses and with David and with Abraham, with Daniel. And with Jesus. I love verse nine, he grants the barren woman a home. You know, the Old Testament, the saints often took their lack of ability to have children as judgment, because God indeed sometimes bore judgment in that manner, but that isn't consistent with God's nature or his work. Hannah was certainly a godly woman who was barren. She prayed year after year. She loved the Lord with all of her heart, but God was just wanting to fix her outlook so that he could use it. Had nothing to do with sin, had everything to do with timing. And in God's timing, she had Samuel. Others in the scriptures never were able to have their own children, but yet God allowed them to be joyful mothers anyway of children and influence. And so, whatever the greatest prize of our heart is God finds a way to meet that, doesn't he? By his grace as he stooped down. So the nations think, can you imagine a sin in the song every year, three times a year, you're walking with your family, you're heading up to Jerusalem, you're sitting around the Passover table, you're singing about God's grace. Now he pulled you out of the ashes and took you from the ash sheet and you were needy and now you sit with the people of God. Let's just read Psalm 114 because it's another one of those songs of God's power. And it speaks about his deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt. And it was saying at the Passover again as a song of Exodus. And so we read, when Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language Judah became his sanctuary, Israel, his dominion. The sea sawed and they fled, the Jordan turned back. You might go back and read how when the children of Israel after that 40 years came into the Promised Land with the Jordan River flooding at flood season, overflowing its bank, rolled uphill 30 miles. And everyone heard about it as you might imagine. In fact, Rahab years later would mention about the water going 30 miles up the stream. We all know about your God. This is what they said, the Jordan turned back. The mountains, they skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs. What ails you, oh, see, speaking of the Red Sea that you fled, oh, Jordan, that you turned back. Oh, mountains that you skipped like rams or little hills like lambs tremble over at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob who turned the rock into a tool of water and they flint into a fountain of water. Just the praising of the Lord, never forgetting what he has done constantly in life. And finally Psalm 115 and we will look at the other three that are part of those fellow Psalms next time in our grouping. In fact, we'll probably just look at Psalm 116 and 118 next week so that we can wait on Psalm 119 and do it in a couple of steps. But Psalm 115 is another one of those Psalms sung by the nation. And this one was all about idolatry, about how we should appreciate God and how we should appraise false gods for what they really were, false gods. And then the appeal comes at the end of the Psalm to the priest, to the people, to any believer in, to honor the Lord and apply themselves to walk with him and him alone. So good reminder, as they were heading up to Jerusalem, the worship God, that he was the only God that existed, none of the gods were really gods at all. Verse one, not unto us, oh Lord, all capitals, not unto us, but to your name give glory because of your mercy and because of your truth. When Moses was sent by the Lord to the Pharaoh in Egypt and Moses said, who should I tell him sent me? The Lord used the term I am, which really became the root of this name, Jehovah. I am the one that we need that becomes all that you need. When he spoke to Pharaoh the first time, the Pharaoh in Exodus chapter five said, well, who is that? Who is the Lord that I shall obey his verse? I don't know the Lord and I'm not letting this go. By the time you get to Exodus chapter 12, verse 31, Pharaoh says, go serve the Lord, Jehovah, as you have said. So it took a little while for it to sink into this rebellious man's heart. And even then he didn't stay with the programs that he could have, but Israel redemption is always associated with the name of the Lord. By the way, soldiers, no other name given among men than Jesus. So not to us, Lord, but to your name, it's your name that has brought us glory and mercy and truth. Why should the Gentiles say, so, where is your God? You know, there are always plenty of people ready to mock spiritual things. I'm glad that God is on this thing. You might remember reading about Ingersoll, Robert Ingersoll, who stood up to speak in a church one time, in fact, Joseph Parker's church. And Ingersoll wasn't a believer. He was a real kind of cantankerous guy, but he liked to show up at Parker's services and interrupt things. That was before ushers apparently, because that's what they were for. But Ingersoll stood up one time and he said to Parker, could I say a few words? And he said, we'll go ahead. He said, look, if there is really a God, I'll stand here for five minutes. May he strike me dead and everyone waited and watched. And nothing happened. The pastor, Joseph Parker, got up in this pulpit again and he said, if you really think you can wear out the patience of God in just five minutes, it's obvious you don't know. I want a wonderful answer, you know? So I'm not sure we like that banter in church, but the similar words come from the psalmist to the scoffers. Why should the Gentiles say, where is their God? Far above the opinions of man, verse three, our God is in heaven and he does whatever he pleases. Learn that. God doesn't do whatever you please. He does whatever he pleases. What he wants, when he wants, how he wants, you better just bow. Way to go, I don't get it, but I like it. Which is my favorite one. I don't get it, but I like it. In comparison, verse four, their idols, those of the Gentiles are silver and gold. They are the work of men's hands created with mouths that don't speak, and eyes that don't see, and ears that can't hear, and noses that can't smell, and hands that can't handle, and feet that can't walk, they cannot mutter through their throat, but those who make them or like them, and so is everyone who trust in them, no better place in all of the Bible for a description of false prophets and their effect, or idols I should say they do. These are profound observations of an item. Man has a tendency to make God for himself. Every culture, watch national geographic. Every culture makes God for themselves, whether it's a tree, or a snake, or a rock, or whatever inanimate or innate kind of object it might be, there is in man a sense and a need to worship. God has bound that in our hearts. We've been created for worship. Yet because of sin, we now need to let the Lord lead us to himself, because sin causes man to begin to try to create around him gods, which are a project of himself. Only weaker, which is very interesting. Man wants to control the gods that he says he serves, so he makes anthropomorphic gods. They have eyes and ears and mouths, but they can't do that with them what you do. They can't see, speak, hear, walk, talk, swallow, utter, so they're weaker than you. They look like you, but they're not really you. For the Christian, our God is much greater than us. Now here's the kicker, and it's down there in verse eight. Those who make them are like them, and so is everyone who trusts in them. If you worship an idol, you become dumber as you go. You lose the ability to reason, to see clearly spiritually. Have any kind of an understanding or compassion. Idolaters by nature find themselves heading downhill. Christians head the other way, or become like their God. They have peace, joy, hope, and rest, and optimism, and great love, and they have a peace that only really God can give them. But notice you become more kind and more victorious. God rises up in you, but if you're an idolater, you become less than what you started with. You become more like that rock that you worship. Insensate, turned off, not movable. And unfortunately, you can look at whole entire cultures that devote themselves to the worship of animals, or the worship of inanimate objects, and you find the whole culture being debased in and of themselves. There's only one God. He's in heaven, he does whatever he pleases. But the idols of man are made by man to look like man, though man wants to keep his bonds under his own control. So Israel, here's the appeal, verse nine. Trust in the Lord then, Jehovah, to be your help and your shield, house of Aaron. That's the priesthood. Trust in the Lord, he'll be your help and your shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord, he'll be your help, your shield, the nation, the priesthood, the people. The Lord has been mindful of us. He'll bless us, he'll bless the house of Israel. He'll bless the house of Aaron. He'll bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great. Why? Because there's only one God. He's in heaven, he does whatever he pleases. So come and worship him, that's the appeal. Verse one, not unto us, Lord, but to your name, be born. And may the Lord, verse 14, increase you more and more, you and your children to be blessed by the Lord who has made the heaven in the earth. And the heaven, even the heavens are the lords, and the earth he has given to the children of men. The dead do not praise the Lord nor any who go down into silence, but we will bless the Lord from this time forth forevermore, hallelujah. So the grave, the globe and the godly, all of a sudden are here to worship. One, you can just imagine the effect on a nation that has to sing this over and over again, and think about it and think through those things. Next week, we will continue, I think only three Psalms. So you can start reading Psalm 119, but I think we'll go through 118 next week. Shall we pray together? Father, thank you tonight for your ongoing blessing of teaching us weekend and week out your word. And for this place that you have given us to gather, for the joy that Lord, you have placed in our hearts, for the blessed worship that we have here that will enable us to just enter in. May we personally decide, resolve to worship the Lord. May we do so publicly with the saints. May we have a reason to be singing as you set your majesty on display. And may it bring great wonder into our hearts as we remember your words, the compassion, what you've done for us. May we put it into practice. And may we end up with a fear of the Lord that brings us great wisdom. May we fear the Lord, Father. May we delight in your word. May we affect our children and our children's children. May you guide us and be gracious to us. And may we be godly men and women who have everlasting hopes and everlasting dreams. While the world is moved, may we have daily security in you. As we think about that one verse there in Psalm 112, that we aren't gonna be moved, that he can't be easily shaken. In fact, we'll never be shaken. May you give us toward your peace and a world that doesn't know anything about it. And may we come to you tonight with the praises of what you have given the nation to come together. And may we rightfully and joyfully and willingly appreciate God the things that we've done and not turn to the idolatry of the world, but turn to the goodness of God. And may we Lord, be your people this week. And may we be thankful and grateful and worshiped for them. And may we believe with all of our hearts that if we delight ourselves in you, we're gonna be blessed people. And so are those who look to you. Burn that in our hearts to that Father we pray. (upbeat music) - Well, thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and rating our podcast. You can visit us on the web at morningstarcc.org and on our YouTube channel at MorningstarCC. Again, that's at MorningstarCC. If you'd like to support this podcast, please look us up at patreon.com/morningstarcc. Again, that's patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com/morningstarcc. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
