Our God is faithfull

[0:00] How Phil changed the artistic style there on verse 7 and 8.! Very apparent from this morning's talk.! That was the didactic style.

[0:13] That's a lovely hymn, isn't it? We should sing that again. Yeah, yeah, we could sing that again, couldn't we?

[0:30] Yeah. Well, that encapsulates the psalm brilliantly. Chris for Idol did a great job there. We've sung the psalm, so...

[0:41] Yeah, let's pray. Lord, we pray that you would help us meditate on this psalm and help us to digest it and help us to praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.

[0:52] So please have the psalm in front of you. I'm not going to speak for too long, but it's good to meditate on his words. And afterwards, we'll sing a song, then go into communion. Well, the didactic style is surely God's faithfulness, the Lord's faithfulness.

[1:09] Did you notice how faithfulness pops up throughout these first 18 verses? In verse 1, faithfulness known.

[1:21] Faithfulness in heaven itself, verse 2. Faithfulness, verse 3. Where else is it? Faithfulness, verse 8.

[1:32] And 5 as well. Yes. And in 14, your faithfulness go before you.

[1:44] So this is the didactic style. The psalmist wants to convey God's faithfulness to his people and sing. This is a song. It's probably a community lament.

[2:00] They say that this psalm probably would have been sung in exile. And they were yearning for the king. They were yearning for a true, just, faithful, righteous king.

[2:16] And they knew that. And in the first four verses, we see that they're looking for that covenantal king.

[2:30] I will sing of the Lord's great love forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.

[2:45] You said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one. I have sworn to David my servant. I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.

[2:55] The psalmist looks to that passage we saw at the beginning of the service in 2 Samuel 7 of when the Lord spoke to Nathan the prophet and told David.

[3:08] And they're wonderful promises, aren't they? Weighty promises to him. Let's have a look at them. If you want to, you can flick back to chapter 7 of 2 Samuel.

[3:20] He picks David. Remember, David was that shepherd boy in the fields. He was the least likely out of the sons of Jesse to get the kingship.

[3:31] But his heart was in the right place. And he picked him, that man from Judah. And what does he say? The Lord says, the Lord Almighty says, I will make your name great, David.

[3:48] Verse 9. Like the name, greatest men of the earth. I will provide a place for my people. Wow. A country. I will plant them in there. They will no longer be disturbed.

[4:02] Remember how they were disturbed through the time of the judges? His wicked people shall not oppress them anymore. I will give you rest in verse 11.

[4:14] I will establish a house for you. A dynasty. Verse 11. I will raise up your offspring. Verse 12. And then we'll establish his kingdom.

[4:27] And that was through Solomon, wasn't it? And it's going to be forever, this kingdom. Forever. Verse 13.

[4:39] But if he does wrong, I will inflict him. My love will never be taken away from the chosen one. Verse 15. Amazing promises to David.

[4:56] And we see this in this psalm that the psalmist clings on and the people must have thought, yes, we want this king.

[5:08] This great king. The chosen one. King David. And the Lord's faithfulness.

[5:22] So God's covenant faithfulness is there for us. And it goes on from one king to the next. And supremely, it's fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it?

[5:33] That's why we're here tonight. We are meditating and we're thanking him for his faithfulness because God is faithful. He sent his son, the Messiah, through the line of David.

[5:45] And he came, he was born, and he taught us, and he died for us, and he's reigning supreme now for us. And his promises are always sure.

[5:59] They always are true. He is a faithful God to us and we're blessed. So let's move on. Looking at verses five to eight.

[6:11] And the psalmist compares the Lord, Yahweh, the covenant gods, to angels. In verse six.

[6:25] Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings? Who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Our God is incomparable. He's wonderful.

[6:37] His faithfulness is far greater than the angels, the angelic beings. He is awesome. And he is rightly to be feared.

[6:50] Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? Then the psalmist looks at the created order, verse nine.

[7:01] You rule over the surging sea. When its waves mount up, you still them. He's even in control of the stormy, chaotic sea.

[7:13] For an Israelite, the sea was, it was chaos. And a stormy sea is even more chaos. And the Lord's even in charge of the storm.

[7:23] And all that, and everything in the storm. Here, he says, you crushed, verse 10, Rahab, like one of the slain. Now, Rahab can refer to Egypt, that great power that had power over Israel.

[7:40] Or, it could mean a mythological beast of the sea. Scholars think it probably is this beast, this metaphor of a chaotic beast that the Lord has power over.

[8:01] And then it talks about, you created the north and the south. Table and Herman sing for joy at your name. So these were two mountains, Herman in the north and Table in the south, in the valley of Jezreel, I think.

[8:18] And here, even here, the two pinnacle points, the two landmarks in Israel, as it were, they are singing for joy. They are praising the Lord for his great faithfulness.

[8:38] Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne, verse 14. Love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are those who have learned to claim you to all right in the light of your presence, Lord.

[8:51] So this, in a sense, Christ sings the Psalms, doesn't he? And we're coming tonight to a faithful God, a God who's kept his promise in the line of David, and we are recipients of that blessing tonight as we think of the Messiah, the chosen one, much better than any earthly king.

[9:16] the people would have cried to the king, would have wanted that just king, but sadly, he failed, didn't he? Again and again as we read the kings, and there was only one king that would truly fulfill this, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, and he did that through dying for us on the cross, and now he is risen.

[9:38] So we're going to sing Great is Thy Faithfulness, a famous song. What number is it, Thank you.