-Bible is a wealth of writing. Different types of literature: history, genealogy, parable, biography, gospel, prophecy, poetry: the Psalms.
-The Psalms give us more than just words for neat choruses. They give us the right words to use when we address God! They show us how to express our joy, our frustration, our fear, our trust in God. I want for us to learn to love God through the Psalms.
-note the command verbs in vv 1-3: sing joyfully; praise Him; make music; sing to Him; play skillfully; shout for joy (Our congregational singing needs freshness, skill, heartiness) The Psalms give us what we need to make early services sound just as alive as second services! They remind us of reasons to sing out in praise! Why? The awesomeness of God makes us respect and fear Him.
I. Praise Him because of the Wonder of Creation (vv 6-9)
-We owe something to God. Parents recognize that their children owe them obedience and respect simply because they came from their parents, if not for any other reason. God deserves our praise simply because He created us.
A. Creation ex nihilo
-the fact of creation is enough to make us step back in amazement. God did it all with just a word!? "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth....For He spoke and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm." But something about the creation even more wonderful:
Ill - (have 2 people come forward. Give each a margarine tub, one w/ nothing, one w/ playdough. Ask both to open the tubs and make a snowman with what they find inside.) Point: creation ex nihilo is amazing!
-big bang theory presupposes one thing: the existence of something! Granted! God existed!
-that means all things fall into one of 2 categories: Creator and created. Nothing else exists or ever existed apart from Him. The fact that all other things exist because of God and are sustained by God means that all other things are rightfully His and rightfully under His control. We are creatures and we owe God our service simply because He created us. It's His right.
B. The Vastness/Wonder of Creation
-the Bible stresses how creation itself shows that God is worthy of our worship:
"Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker" (Ps 95:6) "Worship Him Who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of water." (Rev 14:7) "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things..."(Rev 4:11) worship is the only response appropriate for the creation to the Creator.
-Not just the fact that He created it from nothing, but because of the size of it...
-Consider the size of creation: The sun is about 1 mil times bigger than the planet earth. There are stars in space that are 500 mil times the size of our sun. It is one of about 100 bil stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. There are somewhere around 100 bil galaxies w/in the observable universe.
Sun is 93 mil miles from here. The nearest star is Alpha Centaury. If a model were to be built to represent the earth and stars, and the earth were a 1" ball, Alpha Centaury would be 51,000 miles away! Our galaxy is about 100,000 light years wide. (a light year is about 5.9 trillion miles). The average distance between neighboring galaxies is about 10 mil light years!
He spoke, and it came to be.
*Ps 8:3-4
(praise Him because of the wonder of creation)
II. Fear Him because of His involvement with man (vv 10-17)
-the idea of fearing God just doesn't seem to be in vogue anymore. Why fear Him? After all, what is there to be afraid of?
-the very natural response of the creature to his Creator is reverence and respect - that's the kind of fear we are speaking of here, not terror. And it is such an important attitude that John Murray calls it "the characteristic mark of God's people."
A. He watches and knows man
-*vv 13-15 -How does that make you feel?
-Ill - We worry about what people are going to know about us:
-I read somewhere that men are more than twice as likely to wash their hands after using a public restroom if someone else is with them.
-If you fall down or trip, what's one of the 1st things you do? Look around to see if anyone saw it happen!
-If you're going to run for public office, beware the person who can find out about you. Everything you ever did can and will be used against you!
-Think about it, and fear: God knows you. He knows exactly what you're doing, no matter where you are or how much you cover it up. -Some of us must think of God as a rather impotent being: "Don't lie, you're in the church building." Why do we get the idea that God doesn't hear what is said in the locker room, on the job sight, or behind the front door of our houses?
B. He is in control
-v10. You are not some part of a cosmic fishbowl that the Lord just sits back and watches.
-The storm is raging. The boat is getting swamped w/water. The disciples are afraid for their lives. Jesus is asleep on a pillow in the stern. They wake Him. Don't you care that we are going to die? Jesus commands the wind and waves. They're amazed.
-should it amaze us to think that He is in control of common events every day?
*Jm 4:13-15
-No wonder the Bible speaks of fearing God as such an important thing:
"the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Pro 9:10), it is the key to life (Pro 10:27). Ecc. 8:12 says "it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly."
-all of this expresses man's uncertainty. There is Someone greater than man - Someone Who easily controls him and Someone at Whose mercy man exists from day to day. He created and is involved with us, and there is nothing that we can do to uncreate ourselves or escape the control of God. But the Psalm goes on to speak of the hope that we can have in such a God: We're not just left with the uncertainty of man's hope, we must also consider the certainty of God's help. The awesomeness of God makes us respect and fear Him, yet His love helps us to hope in Him.
III. Hope in Him because of His faithfulness to those who love Him
*vv18-19
A. He is Able
-God is able; able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine!
-And if God is able to do the kinds of things we have considered today, we have sound reason to believe that He is able to deliver us from sin.
-He is able to deliver thee; Though by sin oppressed, go to Him for rest: Our God is able to deliver thee.
-vv 16-17 - Yes, money is a sorry deliverer. The Government; alcohol or drugs; etc. But God is able!
-Yes He is able. The blood of His Son is enough. God is able to forgive you and cleanse you and make you new through faith in His Son.
-"I know Whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day." (II Tim 1:12)
Put your hope in Him because He is able. He can do it!
B. He is trustworthy
-vv20-22
-Maybe you're convinced that He is able to help you, but there's still one problem: Can you trust Him to do it? After all, the person with his finger on the button of a nuclear missile has the power to be an agent of peace in the world. He is able to do that, but....
-Can you trust God? Or are the words of this Psalm just the blind hope of some sincerely deluded ancient writer? What if it's all just some kind of cosmic joke and God really isn't wanting to bless us with abundant life now and forever? What if we get to the judgment throne and God says, "Aha! Got you!"
-You smile, because you realize better; you know that no God Who gives His Son to come and live among us and die for us is carrying out some elaborate joke.
-"He Who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Ro 8:32)
-God is faithful to those who love Him.
Conclusion:
-"Faithful is He Who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass." (I Thes 5:24)
Praise Him because of the wonder of creation. Respect Him, fear Him, because He is God Almighty and He is involved with our world. Put your hope in Him - He takes care of those who love Him.
