To Your Name Be The Glory

To Your Name Be the Glory

Psalm 115:1-11

After Jesus rose from the dead He was walking with two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus.

The two disciples didn’t recognize Jesus, and they were downtrodden and confused because their hopes and dreams were crushed when their Messiah had been hung on a cross.

Luke 24 tells the account of how Jesus began to describe to them, how it was foretold in the Old Testament, all the things that would happen to the Messiah.

Luke 24:44 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."

Please open your Bibles to Psalm 115 as we continue with the survey through the Psalms.

As we get to Psalm 115, we realize that the psalmist is praising none other than the Lord Jesus Christ who deserves all glory.

Psalm 115 is in a section of the Psalms known as part of the Egyptian Hallel sequence and has famously been used for various liturgies, inscriptions on buildings, and famous musicals.

Psalm 115 was sung by the Jews for certain holidays, but especially during the last 6 days of Passover the Jews recited vs. 1-11.

Because this Psalm was sung by the Jews during the Passover holiday, we can be assured that on the night He was betrayed, Jesus and His Disciples, sung this Psalm as well.

I. Give glory to the name of God.

Read Psalm 115:1

Chris Tomlin has a song from 2002 titled, “Not to us” some of the lyrics say…

“Not to us but to your name be the glory. Our hearts unfold before your throne, the only place for those who know. It's not for us it's all for you.”

The Hebrew word for glory means honor, weighty, abundance, riches, and splendor.

The psalmist says that when we want to honor or thank someone or something for any good thing that has happened, all the glory should be given to the LORD.

The LORD is the Creator of the heavens, the moon, the stars, and man as well so, He alone is worthy to be praised.

This past Monday, the Elders had several urgent things to pray about and by Tuesday morning, two of the urgent needs were met in a miraculous way.

Sometimes we hear of an answered prayer request, and we begin to reason away, how the problem was solved.

Sometimes we give modern medicine, other people, or even coincidence the credit when our prayers are answered.

I believe it is a terrible form of blasphemy to hear of an answered prayer and begin to give credit to anyone or anything before simply praising the LORD for His grace and mercy.

James 1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. NKJV

Even if the LORD used someone or something to fulfill the request, it was still the LORD who answered the prayer.

Paul asked in 1 Corinthians 4:7 what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? NKJV

I heard a story about a Christian lady who lived next door to an atheist. Every day, when the lady prayed, the atheist could hear her praying.

One day, the lady ran out of groceries, and she was short on money, so she prayed to the Lord and thanked Him for what He was going to do, before the need was ever met.

The atheist heard her praying so he bought some groceries, put them on her porch, rang the doorbell and then he hid in the bushes to see what would happen.

When the lady opened the door and saw the groceries, she began to praise the LORD and thank Him for the answered prayer.

The atheist jumped out of the bushes and told her, "You crazy lady, God didn't buy you those groceries. I bought those groceries!"

Then the lady thanked the LORD again and said, "I knew the Lord would provide me with groceries, but I didn't know he was going to use an atheist to pay for them!"

Again notice, “Not unto us, but to Your name give glory.”

Jesus sang these very words on the night before His crucifixion.

Imagine how these words impacted Him on that night.

Not even the psalmist, who originally wrote this could have imagined the significance of what the words of this Psalm, would mean to Jesus on the night He was betrayed.