Psalm 117

Bethlehem Bible Church iconBethlehem Bible Church

0 views

0 comments

00:00
This morning we come to a very interesting psalm in the
00:05
Old Testament that is psalm 117 as you've heard already. It's a psalm that has really become central in my thinking and in my life over this last year for various reasons and primarily for the great truths about God that it presents.
00:22
As you turn there, I would invite you to turn there to psalm 117. Just a few things about this psalm that are interesting and providential.
00:31
This psalm falls in the mathematical center of the Bible. So in case some of you are math nerds, there's 594 chapters right before the psalm and 594 chapters after it.
00:45
It's right there smack bang in the middle. But I think even more than all of that, it's providential that God placed it in the middle because it really, even though it's the shortest psalm in the
00:57
Bible, the shortest chapter in the Bible, it's also one of the most central in terms of its truth and its meaning and it capsulates much of what the whole gospel and the whole scripture say about God and Jesus Christ.
01:12
Martin Luther, therefore, he loved a lot of the psalms and in many ways he discovered the gospel in Romans but he was led to that through the psalms and he loved this psalm particularly.
01:23
He said there's so much gospel truth in it, so much so that he decided to write a whole separate 36 page commentary on just these two verses.
01:33
So that's about 18 pages per verse. So if we don't get done till about midnight tonight,
01:40
I'm still going short compared to Luther. But this psalm was part of the
01:45
Hillel psalms and this particular set here, the Hillel were songs of praise that they would sing as they went to the temple.
01:55
But this 113 through 118 where Psalm 117 is found is part of a special Hillel.
02:03
It was called even the Egyptian Hillel, six psalms, sung particularly celebrating the exodus.
02:10
But if you remember redemption history, that takes us all the way to then what
02:16
Jesus did on the cross. And they sang these six psalms including 117 every time they celebrated the
02:25
Passover. Now catch the significance of this even before we get into the psalm. Matthew 26 verse 30 tells us that Jesus as he celebrated the
02:33
Passover, he sang a song and this would be the traditional psalms that he would sing with his disciples.
02:40
So just in case you didn't know this, Jesus sang and he sang scripture and he even sang this psalm as he was going to the cross.
02:50
And we're going to talk about that even as we go through the psalm. But I think one of the reasons why is as Jesus was going to that cross that he was going to offer his life for you and me.
03:00
He was even centralized on glory and on the glory of God that was going to be promoted through his sacrifice that he was going to give for his people.
03:10
And that's because this psalm is saturated with praise to Yahweh. It starts off with Hallelujah, when we know that word from the
03:21
Hebrew Yahweh and then it ends with Hallelujah. And even the tense of these verbs that introduce, we haven't even read the psalm yet,
03:31
I'm just sort of introducing it, there's so much here, is a sense of commanding
03:36
God's people as they think about God's work in their lives and God's work in the world to be filled with praise from beginning to end.
03:46
It starts with praise and it ends with praise. Isn't that what our life is supposed to be? Isn't that what we're saved for ultimately?
03:54
Not for ourselves, not for our own merit, not for our own work, not for our own glory, not for our own ministry, but that we would fade away even, that we would die and that our life would just be in a little bit of what we did even this morning as we sang together.
04:11
This is what we get to look forward to in heaven forever and ever. It would be just ceaseless Hallelujah.
04:19
And so intentionally the psalm brackets us with that idea of worship from beginning to end to teach us that the driving force of the
04:27
Christian life is not our activities, it's not our work, it's not church programs, but it's worship which is a hidden work that only
04:38
God can see. Christianity is not some kind of an act that we play before one another, but it's the grand call of Christ even, isn't it?
04:47
In Luke 9 verse 24 that whoever wishes to save his life must lose it for my sake.
04:55
And so the psalm is calling us to reflect upon this truth that I have no value.
05:02
Wouldn't you say that that's the beginning point of being saved in the gospel? I'm a wretch,
05:08
I'm a sinner, I have nothing to offer God except for one thing, my sin. I have no value, but I am captivated in salvation by the grandeur of the value of who
05:20
God is, of who God is even in Jesus Christ. And life is about me losing myself in the grandeur of God.
05:27
That's the adventure of Christianity, isn't it? And this is really what makes life sweet, even as you go through trials to recognize that they will all lead you toward the grandeur of worship.
05:40
So let's read Psalm 117 and follow along with me as we read this shortest chapter and yet this most solid and saturated and theological chapter in the
05:52
Bible. Psalm 117, starting with verse 1, it says this, Praise Yahweh, all nations, laud
06:02
Him. That's an interesting word, we'll talk about it. Laud Him, all peoples, for His loving kindness is great toward us, and the truth of Yahweh is everlasting.
06:17
Praise Yahweh. Even as we read these verses, you can see the divine logic, it's very clear.
06:26
Scripture is doxological and so it leads us to worship, but it's also logical. It makes you think as you worship.
06:32
And the first part of this Psalm, verse 1, is the command or the what of worship.
06:38
We need to think about the content of what we worship God in and for. And then verse 2, and you can see the clause changing there, for giving us a cause or a why of worship and a sense of even being motivated.
06:55
If you're asking, how can I be worshiping ceaselessly? And you're saying, life doesn't seem like that to me all the time.
07:00
And He gives you some fuel, some gasoline, so that worship can go on in a ceaseless way based on who
07:07
God is. And so this Psalm is really like a life lesson, a life journey on how to make worship the driving force of all that we would be.
07:19
Everything that we do in ministry and in life is all encapsulated in worship.
07:25
Paul said that, right? Philippians 1 .21, for me to live is Christ and dying is more Christ. And so this is really what we're going to learn even as we look at this
07:34
Psalm. And I want to split it up in this way for us as we meditate on this Psalm. This Psalm gives us basically two exhortations to make your life
07:44
Christian. If you are a Christian this morning, to make your life, two exhortations to make your life resonate with worship.
07:52
We don't want to have worship start from our own imagination. We don't want to have worship start from our own creativity.
07:58
But we want to have worship start from God's revelation of himself.
08:03
And we want to resonate with that. So there's two exhortations to make your life resonate with worship. And so we're just going to be looking at the first one in verse one and the second one in verse two.
08:14
Look again at verse one as it says, Praise Yahweh all nations and laud
08:20
Him all peoples. What a grand call that is. And it's a call that takes us, you know, sometimes we can become so small minded.
08:27
We can just think about our lives. We can think about our trials. And He wants to lift you up to think about who you are as part of the kingdom of God.
08:37
You're part of something that is bigger than the universe. And this is the God that you know.
08:42
This is the God that you serve in Christ. He's over all the nations and He's over all the peoples.
08:49
And so the first exhortation is just simply this. It's this idea if you have too small of you of God, and that's why your worship is too small.
08:58
And so start, brothers and sisters, with a corrective. Saturate your mind with God's greatness.
09:05
Isn't that the battle of life? We begin to think that God is small and life is big.
09:12
And He's saying, no, no, no, no, no, no. Start your day. Start today even with thinking about how great
09:18
God is so that the things of this world maybe that you're even struggling with this morning, and I know you will have struggles if you're a
09:24
Christian, will become small. Saturate your mind with just how great
09:31
God is. Every single nation, every single people is under Him.
09:37
We get intimidated sometimes by the nations and the people, right? I've had a lot of episodes even this last year where I've had to be with authorities and police and ministers.
09:48
And it's scary sometimes because, you know, I'm just a small and significant man.
09:53
But we need to recognize, like Isaiah, that God is always on His throne and no matter who's coming and going, that there is only one consistent reality that the
10:03
Christian lives in and that is that God is in charge. He is sovereign. He is ruling. And nothing can change that.
10:11
And so the psalmist commands our hearts. And he says, don't be led by your emotions. Don't be led by what you saw on the news last night.
10:18
Don't be led by just the things that you see even, but through faith, be led by the doctrine of the greatness of God.
10:26
And then the feelings will come. And then you'll be led to worship. Now, he starts by saying, praise
10:36
Yahweh, or we know this as Hallelujah. I get so fed up sometimes when I hear people using it almost as a
10:43
Christian greeting, right? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We're just throwing it around. The thing that bothers me, even in all of that, is we don't even hardly know what we're saying.
10:53
It's just something that Christians say like, hello. And as I was studying this,
10:59
I was just, my mind was boggled with some of the richness of what this word even means.
11:05
It's not just a Christian phrase, but it's something richer. As the psalmist says,
11:11
Hallel, he's using an idea that we may not think of often, but was very convicting almost to a
11:20
Hebrew mindset and to somebody that knew this language. Look, for instance, in one place at a verse that you might know well, but you may not have known that this word was used there.
11:31
Jeremiah chapter 9, verses 23 and 24. Jeremiah chapter 9. Maybe some of you have this verse on your walls.
11:38
Maybe some of you have cross -stitched this verse. But Jeremiah chapter 9, verses 23 and 24.
11:43
So we're going to be doing a little bit of moving around in the Old Testament. And it says this. Familiar words to you.
11:50
Let not the wise man, what? Boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might.
11:58
Let not the rich man boast in his riches. You know, all that muck that we tend to have our life saturated in this world.
12:08
But let him, and we love the resolution, let him who boasts. There is a kind of boasting that is sinful, but there is a boasting that we are exhorted to have.
12:16
Let him who boasts, boast in what? That he knows and understands me.
12:25
We love to brag about stupid things, Jeremiah is saying. The castles on this earth, our accomplishments, our education, our brilliance.
12:35
And he says all of that stuff is dung. And the only thing that we should brag in and we should boast in is what?
12:44
The fact that you are known by God. The fact that Christ has made you an enemy of God, his friend.
12:51
Now, catch this. The word boast, every time it's used in Jeremiah 9, 22 and 23, is the word halal.
13:00
And so when you turn back to Psalm 117, turn back there. This is what the psalmist is telling us.
13:05
He's saying that there's a sense in which your mind needs to be saturated with God's greatness.
13:12
And is that you need to use that sinful tendency that you have to brag about dumb things that you do.
13:21
And that you have in your life, your money and your achievements. And maybe the fact that you have six kids or whatever.
13:28
And that you think you've made it in life. And he says you need to silence your mouth. And you need to be using your mouth and your heart more to brag in Christ and in God and who he is.
13:41
You see how this word that we normally use, hallelujah, is actually a word of conviction.
13:47
It's a word of repentance. It's a word of abandoning our sinful bent to be self -arrogant.
13:56
And to say that we would like, Paul says, I will boast in Christ alone. I will boast in God alone.
14:03
The only substance that we have that is worthy of boasting is
14:08
God. And so he goes on to help us. He says in verse 1, if you look at Psalm 117 verse 1 again.
14:14
He says, brag in Yahweh. Why? First of all, because he is over all the nations.
14:22
So how do we saturate our minds with God's greatness? I think the psalmist is giving us sort of a two -step way to saturate our minds.
14:29
To marinate our minds. To just soak our minds so much with who God is that there's nothing else left there.
14:36
He says, first of all, boast in his rule. He is king of kings. And think about his rule.
14:45
This is the theme of all of scripture, isn't it? And in fact, it is promised to Christ in Psalm 2.
14:53
That the God who is the creator, the God who is the ruler of all the nations. Who made them anyway.
14:58
Why wouldn't they be under him? He promises to put all those nations under Christ. And you remember the first words of Jesus when he was raised from the dead to his disciples.
15:08
He said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
15:15
Go therefore. I hate it when people start with go. You got to start with all authority. And that's why we have a mission.
15:22
That's why we have a Christian ministry. That's why we have a Christian life even. And so the
15:30
Psalmist reminds us of just this grander of who God is. You know,
15:36
I get to travel around a lot. And I love the opportunity that I have sometimes to go into some big cities.
15:43
You know, Boston, Los Angeles. And for me, I'm a small guy.
15:48
And as I'm looking at some of these buildings. And they're hundreds of stories high. And they're just huge and massive edifices that represent the greatness of man in a certain sense.
16:00
You feel a little small. And then you get in a plane, right? And you take off.
16:06
And you get to 30 ,000 feet. And you're looking at some of those buildings that were scaring you. And they look like small little
16:11
Lego blocks. That's just a little bit of God's perspective all the time. He's never looking at what we do here on this earth.
16:22
And seeing that as significant. Because He's the Lord over all the nations, not just one nation.
16:29
And that's what He seeks to do even in the missionary endeavor that we have in Christ, isn't it?
16:35
To just claim that authority that's already His. Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 15, it says this.
16:44
This is God's perspective all the time. And we need to remember this. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket.
16:51
And are regarded, you know, as a speck of dust on the scales.
16:58
That lint maybe that you cleared off your jacket this morning. That's how the nations look to Christ and to our
17:04
God. That's who He is. Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
17:12
Right? And in this day and age where our anxiety lies in governments.
17:18
And them coming and going and politics. And the things of this world. We just need to remember who the
17:24
God is that we serve day by day. He's the God who owns all the nations. Why do you fret?
17:30
Why do you worry? Why do you allow your mind to be filled with a sense of bragging in the things that don't matter?
17:36
Right? Even some of us, maybe we have this addiction probably. Man, just looking at politics on the news.
17:42
And I know it's interesting and it's getting kind of strange nowadays. But do we have so many conversations just talking about that in our homes.
17:49
That our kids are even getting anxious and scared. Because they think that that's the only thing that matters.
17:55
And they forget that God is on His throne. You got to be careful even how you talk about politics today.
18:02
Don't brag in the things that are happening on this earth. Brag in the things that are happening in heaven.
18:11
Boast in God. Boast in Christ. Because one day this is the reality. And this is what we get to long for.
18:18
Even as we sit here in church. Is that one day He's going to gather us. Revelation 19, 6.
18:24
And what kind of gathering is it going to be? I can't wait for that day. A multitude of heaven from every tribe.
18:32
And every tongue. And every nation. Revelation 19, verse 6. Saying, Hallelujah for the
18:37
Lord, our God, the Almighty reigns. Every nation that thought they were great has fallen.
18:47
Egypt. Rome. You know, whatever nation you look at today.
18:52
America, India, China. We're not going to stand. But the only kingdom that will stand forever and ever is the kingdom of Christ.
19:00
Why? Because He's the God of the nations. And so, the psalmist first draws our attention to this idea.
19:09
If you're beginning to be small minded. He says, saturate your mind with the greatness of God.
19:15
First of all, as the ruler. The king of kings. Who no one can thwart. Who no one can challenge.
19:20
And he demonstrated that pre -eminently in the cross. Didn't he? As the nations raged against Him.
19:28
Who triumphed? The Lord Jesus. And that's why we're here today. No one can thwart the kingdom of Christ.
19:34
Amen? And now the psalmist moves as he's still trying to just blow our minds.
19:40
To make our minds recognize that we can't contain worship in our minds. That's the adventure, isn't it?
19:47
That's why heaven isn't boring. If you ever thought about it. We're going to be there for millennia and millennia.
19:52
What are we going to do after day 2000? We're going to learn new things. About the greatness of God.
19:57
And so he goes on to show us how we can continue to be saturated. By saying, not just boast in His rule.
20:05
But he says, celebrate His redemption. That's the second way in which we can be saturated with His greatness.
20:11
Celebrate His redemption. Look at verse 1 again. He says, laud Him. The second part of verse 1. Laud Him.
20:18
All peoples. Now he's moving from the great. The nations. To the minutia.
20:24
This word for peoples. Is talking about the small tribes. Or the small families of the earth.
20:31
And it's showing us even the missionary heart of God. Where He's going to gather together from all the nations.
20:37
He's going to gather together a people. From every family of this earth. To sing
20:42
His praises. And even as I look around this room. Isn't that true? Even in this church in some way.
20:48
I mean as you think about it. There's all kinds of divisiveness out there in the world. But it doesn't happen here.
20:53
Why? We shouldn't actually be sitting next to each other in this room. But we're only sitting here.
20:58
Because of Christ's redemptive power. And so He says that's a cause for celebration.
21:05
This word for laud. You know it's this old English word. I don't know if some of your Bible translations say celebrate.
21:11
That's a better rendering of it really. That we can understand. Psalm 63 verse 3 says this.
21:17
Because your loving kindness is better than life. My lips will laud you.
21:22
Or my lips will sing praises to you. Isn't that true? That really all the songs that we sing.
21:29
And if we sing songs about ourselves. They're dumb songs. But all the songs that we sing.
21:35
Really enthrall our hearts. When there's songs about Christ. And His redemptive power.
21:40
Right? Those are the songs that really fill your heart with joy. Don't they? And so He says.
21:47
This is something to celebrate over and over again. The power of Jesus Christ.
21:53
Like Colossians 3 .11 talks about. A renewal in which there is no Greek. Or no Jew. No circumcised.
21:59
No uncircumcised. No barbarian. No Scythian. No slave or free man. But Christ is all. And is in all.
22:05
And He creates one family. You know. I don't want to get into trouble here today. But there's all this talk about race and racism.
22:12
And I just got to tell you. The Bible doesn't believe in races. I know I'm a different color of skin from maybe some of you.
22:19
But we're all part of the same family. You know. We believe in that. Right? Theologically. And so we got to look beyond some of these conversations that are going on today.
22:28
That don't recognize that we came from God's creative hand. And He made us one family.
22:34
And in redemption. That's what happens again. And you don't need to go to a political rally to have that happen.
22:41
You need to submit to the gospel to have that happen. And so He says.
22:46
Let's celebrate this fact. And passionately pursue this fact in worship.
22:51
That as we worship. One of the themes of worship is God's great unifying power in the gospel.
22:59
You know. As of today. There's 7 ,040 unreached peoples in the world.
23:06
41 .5 % of the world today hasn't heard the gospel. There's about 1 ,600 languages or 114 million people without a
23:17
Bible in their hands. And that's. You know. Whether you want to get involved in that or not.
23:23
That's how much worship I guarantee you. Because of what God says is going to be brought to Christ.
23:31
And He will do it. Whether He does it through you. Or whether He does it through somebody else.
23:37
Christ is doing this in the world right now. I have a friend who studied at our
23:42
Bible college. And he's just such an example to me. And he's been working for the last five years. In a tribal region in the
23:50
Himalayas. In a tribe that. It's called the Brockpa tribe. And they don't even have a written script.
23:57
And he went there at first. And he said. Pray for me because I'm going to be snowed in for six months out of the year.
24:03
And I said. What's wrong with you man? Why didn't you find a decent place to go and do church work? And he says.
24:08
No. I'm burdened for this. I got to do this. By God's grace. God gave him a wife who's a nurse. That can take care of him.
24:14
While he's there in this God forsaken country. But he told me. I can think of doing nothing better with my life.
24:22
And I said. Tell me. Tell me why that is. And he said. It's because I know. I know.
24:28
Based on Revelation 5 .9. That there's going to be a people from every tribe and tongue and nation.
24:34
Singing Christ praises. That he has some people in this tribe. That will belong to him.
24:40
I'm going to be here. And I'm going to be translating the Bible. Into this people's language. Until his family hears his voice.
24:48
And that's, that's worship. Isn't it? That's, that's the enthusiasm that we can have.
24:54
That goes beyond just our mundane careers. Of just trying to buy homes. And having jobs. And things like that.
25:00
Those things don't matter ultimately. They're just a means to, to Christ. And ultimately. Of what human history is, is moving towards.
25:08
And that is that. He will cause a song to be sung to him from all the families of the earth.
25:13
Amen. I hope that's encouraging to your heart this morning. Maybe after seeing what's happening in your own life.
25:21
And in your own trials. Maybe just watching the news. Your heart has stopped boasting in God. And the
25:27
Lord is reminding you today to live by faith. And not by sight. Because what you see by faith is more real.
25:35
Are you consumed this year by. Your own agenda. Or by the glory and majesty of Christ over men's souls.
25:44
What do you celebrate? The latest iPhone. You know when it comes out. I don't know if it's coming out in a few months.
25:49
And everybody's going crazy. And staying out. And waiting in line for a night. Maybe just to see a stupid piece of metal.
25:57
And technology. Do you celebrate the things that really matter? Amen. The kingdom of Christ.
26:05
You see when, when our hearts are filled with, with mud and trifles. Worship isn't going to flow out of it.
26:12
But when our heart is filled with Christ. We won't have time for all that junk. And God will do his, his work in, in maturing us with, with ceaseless worship.
26:24
That, that never ends. Well, praise God that the psalmist doesn't end there.
26:30
Because it's, it's, it's great to think about the greatness of God. But he, he continues to then even give us some motivations.
26:36
And he says, as he turns into, into verse 2. He says, for his loving kindness is great towards us.
26:45
And the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Here's, here's a question for you. To think about even as we think about worship.
26:53
Why do we worship? Why do you worship? And the wrong answer is.
27:00
Because God needs me. You know, if I wasn't there on Sunday. You know, I've got this great tenor. And you know, it just wouldn't sound that good in church.
27:09
And sometimes we think that, don't we? That, that somehow I contribute something to God in worship.
27:15
And, and he, he's blessed by me. Acts 17 verses 24 and 25 need to be emblazoned in our hearts.
27:24
That the God who made this world and all things in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth.
27:29
Does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor does he get service from human hands.
27:35
As though he needed anything. And why is that true? Because he gives to all men.
27:42
Life and breath and all things. And so what the psalmist is, is, is telling us.
27:48
Even as we go into verse 2 is. You know, here's the great mystery and encouragement. Of Christian worship is that.
27:56
Number one, God doesn't need our worship. But we need worship. It strengthens us.
28:02
It renews us. It makes us stronger in our life before God.
28:08
As we spend time in his presence. And he loves to, to give us that blessing. You know, it's a blessing to even be in God's presence.
28:17
It's only possible because of what Jesus has done. That we can be in God's presence. And as we worship him.
28:23
He changes us. And so that's kind of the idea that we find in verse 2.
28:30
He says for his loving kindness is what? Great towards us. And the truth of the
28:35
Lord is everlasting. The idea that it, it sustains you forever. And so the second exhortation is this.
28:42
It's, it's actually an encouragement. First, that we would saturate our minds with God's greatness. But secondly, worship is this.
28:49
He says, strengthen your heart. Strengthen your heart day by day.
28:54
With God's goodness. This is the portion of the Christian. That you, you should, you should long for worship.
29:00
Because you should say without worship, I can't live. I can't have faith. And that worship would even be that place of, of encouragement and strength for you.
29:10
Now, how does he teach us to strengthen our hearts? He uses these two attributes. He says for his loving kindness is great.
29:18
And the truth of the Lord is everlasting. And if you're a Christian that has read scripture for a while.
29:24
You should say these two attributes. They're the song of the whole Bible. They're the song of, of the attributes of who
29:33
God is to sinners. Throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. Just to give you a brief overview.
29:40
You remember when Moses, he was weak. And he was struggling with just ministry, right?
29:47
Ministry can do that to you sometimes. And he said, Lord, show me your glory. You remember what the
29:52
Lord did? Exodus 34. He said, well, you can't see my full glory and live.
29:58
But I'll show you the back parts of my glory. Exodus 34, verse 6. Yahweh passed before him and proclaimed.
30:04
Yahweh, Yahweh Elohim, compassionate and gracious.
30:09
Slow to anger and catch this. Full of loving kindness and truth.
30:15
The same two attributes that the psalmist used in Psalm 117, verse 2. Think about Jesus Christ.
30:22
In John chapter 1, verse 14. And this is really key. As he comes to us as sinners.
30:29
How does he reveal himself to us? And if you will, he could have revealed himself to us as judge.
30:35
And rightly so. And crushed us for our sinfulness. He could have revealed himself to us as king.
30:41
And just sort of made us cower before him. But he doesn't do those things. Because he comes to us,
30:46
John chapter 1, verse 14. He comes to save. The word became flesh. John chapter 1, verse 14.
30:52
And dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. Which is what? Strengthening to us.
30:58
Why? Because it's full of grace. Or you can even say loving kindness.
31:04
And truth. And so this is the drumbeat of Christ, if you will.
31:10
As he comes to sinners. He doesn't come to crush us. But he comes to lift us up from the ash heap.
31:15
And say, I want to make you live. And I will make you live through what? Through loving kindness. And truth.
31:22
If you look back at Psalm 117. Verse 2. Did you think that we could get so much from these two verses?
31:29
It's not because I'm smart. It's because this is scripture. Okay? And it's inspired by God. And it is just rich.
31:37
And this morning is going to be enough for us to just grasp even everything that's in here.
31:42
But just a little bit of what he's saying. As he says, strengthen your heart with these two attributes. He says, first of all, strengthen your heart with this first attribute.
31:49
His love. His loving kindness. Or his love. He says, it conquers us.
31:56
Now, what does that mean? When he says his loving kindness is great. Literally, the
32:01
Hebrew uses a word that's a military term. The idea of. If you look at Exodus 17, verse 11.
32:09
It says this. You remember this story? It's a great story. When Moses was praying and the
32:15
Israelites were fighting against the Amalekites. And God was showing them where their strength came from. And whenever Moses raised his hands and prayed.
32:23
The Israelites, it said, conquered the Amalekites. But whenever his hands came down.
32:30
And so he had to have two helpers because he couldn't do that. His hands came down. Aaron and Hur came around him and held his arms up.
32:36
But when his hands came down, the Amalekites conquered the Israelites. That same word for army conquering another army.
32:45
Is used in Psalm 117. When it says, his love conquers us. It prevails over us.
32:52
And at first, I'm going and you're probably thinking the same thing. You don't normally speak about love in that way, do you?
33:00
And that's because we often have made love into this. Romantic, sappy,
33:07
Hollywood kind of passive thing. But the Bible doesn't present the love of Christ in that way at all.
33:13
It talks about a love that is irresistible. It talks about a love that sinners cannot prevail against.
33:22
And so, what kind of love is this? Well, this word loving kindness is kesed in Hebrew.
33:29
I love that word because it helps you to really get those throat juices out. But kesed is the idea of God's attribute of doing good.
33:37
Even to those who are his enemies. Don't we have that in Romans chapter 5 verse 8? It's not the kind of love that is kind of playing tango with somebody.
33:48
But it's the kind of love that is even winning over somebody that's fighting against him. That's even rebelling against him.
33:56
And so, God takes people that are spiteful, that hate him, that have no regard for him.
34:02
Like me. Like you. Wouldn't you all say, if you think about your testimony, that it was the love of Christ that conquered me.
34:10
That's why I'm here today. Psalm 103 verses 8 and 9. The Lord is merciful and gracious.
34:18
Praise God that he's slow to anger because I deserve his anger. And abounding in mercy, he will not always strive with us and keep his anger forever.
34:26
He has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities.
34:33
And this is the love of God that causes every sinner to get saved.
34:38
I know faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. But I would say, even more specifically, hearing the word of God that shows us the love of Christ.
34:48
Towards our wretchedness. That's what conquers each sinner. One sinner at a time. I know
34:53
I was conquered by Romans 6. I don't know what you were conquered by. And this is the love of Christ that he shows towards sinners that is revealed throughout the
35:05
Gospels, isn't it? I love thinking about Christ's love for us. It's so limited to think about Christ's love as just six hours on the cross.
35:13
Even though that is tremendous. But he loved us from eternity past. He loved us in the virgin birth.
35:19
Isn't that amazing? That he would identify with all our weaknesses. So that there is no weakness that you can say that he doesn't know.
35:26
He even became a helpless baby. He loved us for 33 and a half years. He didn't just come in a space capsule to Calvary and say, here
35:35
I am. But he lived a whole life for you and me. And the Gospel of John even tells us that that's our righteousness, isn't it?
35:42
That's the love of Christ for sinners. It's the love of resurrection.
35:49
Not only did he suffer and die. But he also was raised from the dead for you and me.
35:56
Does he stop loving? It's the love of intercession. Right now, Hebrew 725.
36:02
You know, you may be struggling here this morning. But your faith will not fail because you have a Savior who's praying for you.
36:08
Just like he prayed for Peter. He's praying for you. Has anyone loved you like Christ?
36:14
The answer is no. I praise God for my wife. I praise God for the love that I can expect. But nobody has loved me like Jesus Christ.
36:21
And this has to become the strengthening fountain of worship for you as a
36:26
Christian. That is why Paul prays before he can even give a single exhortation to the church.
36:32
He says, I got to pray this prayer. That you would know what? The love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge.
36:39
That you maybe then be able to be filled up with all the fullness of God. Are you trying to run with your own love, with your own energy?
36:46
The psalmist is reminding us. He's saying, be filled with the love of Christ. This is not romantic love.
36:53
This is conquering love. And isn't this the kind of love then that even enables us in our own marriages?
36:58
As we stop becoming beggars and go to your husband or your wife and say, I'm not going to love you because of the nasty thing you said to me this morning or whatever.
37:07
And you say, no, I'm going to love you anyway. You know why? Because I've been conquered by Christ's love. And I've got a greater source of worship than you.
37:17
It's Jesus that causes me to worship even in my marriage. Isn't it liberating to live through this kind of worship?
37:26
It gives us a sufficiency that we don't have. Well, not only does his love conquer us.
37:33
But he goes on to say, and the truth of the Lord is everlasting. And I would say we're strengthened not just by his love, but we're strengthened also by his promises.
37:42
His promises control us. The truth of the Lord guides you forever and ever.
37:50
Isn't that the battle that we face all the time of fighting lies, right? That this world throws our way about who we are and what we are.
38:00
I was even talking to a dear Christian brother a few days ago that's struggling with alcoholism. And he said, you know, just long story short, that it was because as he evaluated his life, he was trying to impress people too much and living through that pressure.
38:15
Even as a Christian, he wasn't living in Romans 8. And so he used alcohol as a way to soothe himself.
38:21
And the Bible says, stop doing that. Live not through the lies that this world might throw your way, even what people might say to you, but live through the truth of Christ.
38:33
May that control you forever and ever. Now, why do I say promises this word for truth in the
38:40
Hebrew is Emmet? I love that word because it's from a root in Hebrew.
38:46
And I'm not trying to pretend to be smart. I'm not even that smart. But it's a word that, you know, a menu and a menu is something that we say every time we we end in prayer.
38:57
Right. And for right reason, the Greek borrows from the Hebrew idea of even not just truth, but something that is established, something that never changes.
39:08
You know what you're doing when you say amen at the end of a prayer? You're not just saying, well, that was a cute prayer. I liked it.
39:14
You know, good, good language. No, you're just saying I agree with the truth that was in that prayer.
39:20
There were scriptural biblical doctrine in that prayer. And therefore, I will say amen because it stands not on human ideas, but it stands on what
39:29
God says. That's what we should be. You shouldn't be saying amen all the time, even. We should be agreeing with who
39:36
God is and what he has said. And so the idea here is the idea of the fact that all of life is made certain because of the promises that God has revealed to us in Christ.
39:51
Second Corinthians one, twenty, for as many be the promises of God in him, they are what they are.
39:57
Yes. Wherefore, also by him is our amen to the glory of God through us. Spurgeon, I think in in his ministry, in his life, he even began to gather together.
40:10
And I don't think it was an exhaustive list of all the promises of God that he could find in the scriptures, you know, because he said,
40:16
I need to live by that kind of faith. And so he called it the Christians checkbook.
40:23
So that we can withdraw in time of need the things that we need to be meditating on and thinking upon.
40:29
Verses like Psalm thirty seven, verse twenty five, I've been young and now I'm an old yet. I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his descendants begging for bread.
40:38
Isn't that true? Because the Lord is faithful. Verses like John one nine, if we confess our sins, he is what he is faithful.
40:48
Not because I am meritorious even as a Christian. He is faithful. And because of that,
40:54
I can be stable. Do you feel sometimes like, oh, the Lord can't forgive me for that? That was just over the top.
41:01
Well, you're right if it if it depended on you. But it depends on Christ. He is faithful and he will forgive.
41:08
And so we live through his faithfulness.
41:13
What a song this is, isn't it? What a weighty ballast for our souls as we walk through life and that we would be rooted not in the things of this world, but we would be rooted in our great
41:25
God. Think about Jesus as he was singing the song with his disciples before he went to the cross.
41:32
Doesn't it make a lot of sense now? I go to the cross because I'm worthy of all worship.
41:39
And because all the nations and all the peoples are going to be sitting under my feet. That's what the father has promised.
41:46
And I will sing this song even over the cross. I go to the cross, not because of your love.
41:52
In fact, your love is wavering. But I go to the cross because of my love. I go to the cross, not because of your faithfulness.
42:00
Many of you are running away and you're scared and you're afraid because you fear man more than God.
42:07
But I go to the cross because I am faithful. Everlastingly faithful. That is the rock that is
42:15
Christ. And this is what the Psalmist is telling us needs to be our rock.
42:21
So that we can start and end with Hallelujah. Let's pray.
42:26
Father, we thank you so much for this Psalm. And just reminding us in such a succinct but profound way of how we need to live as worshipers.
42:38
Lord, I pray for us as a church that you would help us to just recognize afresh.
42:44
How we tend to wander and bragging about just the things that we have and the things of this world.
42:50
Lord, help us to kill that by bragging only in you. And in your kingdom.
42:56
And in your work in our lives. May we decrease so that Christ may increase. Until he comes again, we pray.