AM Psalm 145 & Titus 2:11-14 God is Great

Yes, yeah, from Psalm 145 in the Old Testament, the first part of the Bible.

Psalm of praise of David, meaning David is the author of this psalm.

So, although I'm not going to be preaching from the whole psalm, we'll maybe just read the whole psalm. I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.

For every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, these generations he means, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your domain endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.

The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.

You open your hand, you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him. He also hears their cry and saves them.

The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Amen. Let's unite our hearts once again in prayer. So if you can turn with me again to Psalm 145 in the Book of Psalms.

The Book of Psalms is a book whereby it identifies with all the feelings and all the experiences and all the questions that we might ask as human beings and in particular as believers.

And I don't know what I would do if the Book of Psalms were not in the Bible. Because I feel the way I would see the Psalms is raw reality, sheer honesty.

You know, things like, How long, Lord, are you going to take to hear and answer my prayer? Things like, Lord, have you forgotten forever?

So these Psalms, they capture our pilgrimage with God. They capture the mountaintop, the valleys, and absolutely everything in between.

Now, when you come to the Book of Psalms, I want you to remember four Ps, the letter P. I want you to remember poetry, praise, prayer, and pilgrim's manual.

Because that's what you're engaging in when you come to the Book of Psalms. They're poetry and they're written in a poetic form in the original language.

And you still see that poetic form even in our English translation. They're praise. It'll be interesting for you to know that this is the last Psalm of David.

David only wrote just slightly less than half the Book of Psalms, 73 to be precise. And the rest of the Psalms are written by other people.

But one of the key notes in the Psalms, of course, is praise. There are Psalms of praise, Psalms of complaint, Psalms of lament, Psalms of confidence, depending on where the person is at that point in their life.

And, of course, there's a prayer manual as well. There is amazing prayers in the Book of Psalms.

And, as I've said, it's a pilgrim's manual. It navigates every twist and turn and every experience and every aspect of what it is to be a human being in this world and moving through as a pilgrim and believer.

The interesting thing is that the last six Psalms, including this one, it's 150 Psalms, isn't it?

And the last six, including this one, begin and end with praise. It's almost as if, after everything that's been mentioned in the entire Book of Psalms, whoever wrote the last part of those Psalms and put it in the final order that we have it today, must have felt, I want the Book of Psalms to end in a peal of praise to God.

There's been so much said in the book, I want it to end in a peal of praise. Because, you know something, and I'll put it this way, it's star subject is God.

It's star subject is God. It sits among this Psalm here, the fifth Book of Psalms, because the actual book, you could call it Books of Psalms, the Book of Psalms is divided into five sections, and this is number five, the final section.

And the final section of those Psalms are held by those that study these things all the time, to be there for at the time when Israel had what were returning from their exile.

In other words, around 550 BC. David himself lived about 1000 BC. So that Psalm of David has been placed there within this Book 5 for the returning exiles as a Psalm of inspiration and encouragement to those returning exiles who returned in the face of no temple and no human king.

It's fascinating that the Psalm actually begins, I will extol you, my God and king. They have no human king on the throne when they returned.

But this Psalm begins, I will extol you, my God and king. There is a king of kings. There is a king that will always be on the throne.

And that is God himself. And David also, at the beginning of this Psalm, he shows his resolve, almost his defiance to praise God.

And if it's correct what these people say about the Psalm, that it's placed in this Book 5 as an encouragement and inspiration to the returning exiles, then that makes sense as well.

David begins this Psalm by saying, I will extol you, my God and king. At all times bless the Lord, at all times praise the Lord.

I will extol you, my God and king. And bless your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable.

So, I want you to notice that David is determined to praise God, almost defiantly. But I want you to notice the phrase that David uses in that very first opening line, I will extol you, my God.

My God. My God. It's not enough to know about God. It's not enough to go and sit religious exams in a university or a college and get an A plus for your ability and knowledge of being able to speak about the glory of God.

The key to this praise that David is talking about is this.

He's my God. He's the God that I have come to for my refuge. He's the God that I have come to for my forgiveness. He's the God that I have come to so that I will have the ultimate meaning and purpose in my life.

It's out of his personal relationship that this praise arises. This peel of praise. What about our relationship with God?

Is God not only a great being that you realize he's so great and he's so infinite and he's so transcendent and he's so other and yet he's also near us as we were saying earlier on through the incarnation and the coming of Jesus.

But all of that is knowledge. But do we have a relationship with him? Do we speak to him? Does he speak to us?

Do we spend time with him? There are three things that I just want to lift out of this psalm.

And it's reasons for praising God. And the first reason is God's greatness. And you see David saying that great is the Lord in verse 3 of Psalm 145 and greatly to be praised.

And then he adds and his greatness is unsearchable. Do we realize the greatness of God?

Do we appreciate the greatness of God? Do we realize that God is uncreated? Do we realize that God even if this universe is 13.5 billion years old that that is nothing to the God who is from everlasting to everlasting?

Do we realize that this God dwelt as a being that is incomprehensible past finding out as David says here his greatness is unsearchable.

When we start to say we're talking about one God but he's father he's son he's spirit and that these descriptors of God of his being are beyond us because the father is holy God the son is holy God and the spirit is holy God we might be able to say that we might be able to put that down in an exam paper do we actually comprehend it?

No. No. because his greatness is unsearchable and not only is it unsearchable he did not need anyone to add to any feeling of deficiency in his being he did not need anything of that and yet here he is coming to us so near us through being enfleshed in the person of Jesus Christ the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father so what David is grappling with here in this psalm he is saying I am praising God because of his greatness and I am praising God because he is unsearchable I cannot even begin to fathom he is unfathomable at the core and essence of his being now that is not all

I want you to notice that David uses this phrase in verse one and bless your name forever and then in verse two and praise your name forever I want you to note that word name because when the Bible uses the word name it is meaning the character that has been revealed of God what God has revealed to us and although it is true that his greatness is unsearchable and although it is true that he is unfathomable it is also true that he has revealed a wonderful amount about himself to you and I and this is why David is praising him as well he is praising him because he has revealed who he is and we will come more to that later because if you think about it how can we know anything about God there is only one way really it is if he discloses himself and reveals himself and that is what he has done and that is what is recorded in the

Bible and that is what he has done supremely in Jesus Christ and if you like you can even put it this way as you see Jesus hanging on the cross because Christ died for our sins as you see everything that Jesus did his compassion if you look at his love and care for people what that is saying is Jesus once said he that has seen me has seen the father in other words everything about Jesus everything that he said everything that he did and supremely going to the cross what that is saying is this is the God who is being revealed and we can thank God for that because the God that therefore has disclosed enough of himself to us is a God that is for us I have not come to condemn the world said Jesus I have come to save it the greatness of God and the second thing that the psalmist brings out in this great psalm is the great works of God in verses 4 to 7 and look at how he puts it one generation shall commend your works to another now that's important for us to take on board because we're included in that you and

I everyone here that's a believer we're included in that it's all very well reading books about past generations that commended God's works to the people around them are we doing it one generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts how are we getting on about declaring God's mighty acts of salvation and redemption in Christ one generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works I will meditate I want you to note that as well why do I want you to note that because the people that are ready to tell others about the wondrous works of God are the same people that meditate on them how often do you meditate on the cross

Jesus keep me near the cross there a precious fountain beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand how often do you think of the wonders of God and his love and his salvation for you and I how often do you think about how he forgives us every single day and it's not failure as somebody said recently that I heard saying that is ultimate it's God's forgiveness that's ultimate one generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works I will meditate and if the psalmist was confessing that he will meditate on these mighty works shall we not who live on the other side of the coming of

Christ they shall speak says the psalmist in verse six of the might of your awesome deeds is there a more awesome deed than Jesus Christ hanging on the cross is there a more awesome deed than God being enfleshed in the person of Jesus Christ is there a more awesome deed it tells us in John's gospel in chapter one speaking of Christ as the word it said the word became flesh and it's true that he changeth not it's true and yet

John uses a word that presupposes change from one state of affairs to another we cannot understand those things who is he on yonder hill who is he at yonder hill at whose feet we humbly!

fall is the lord the king of glory but here notice they shall pour forth the fame of your abundant!

goodness and shall sing of your righteousness and he says that sorry the verse 6b if you like the second line in verse 6 and I will declare your greatness I will declare your greatness so here we see that there is in David's mind praise includes proclamation it includes meditation it includes passing on the great mighty acts of saving grace of God the psalmist includes himself and pledges to proclaim the greatness of God so not only is the psalmist praising

God because of God's inherent being and all that that being is but he's praising God for all of his mighty acts and everything that he has done and you know as he does that he actually in verse 8 introduces a creedal statement and that creedal statement is there the Lord is gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love now he's lifting that from Exodus 34 34 and in Exodus 34 Moses is getting the tablets of the law and for the second time actually but don't worry about that just now of the ten commandments if you like and

God says to Moses I am gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and that piece of revelation of disclosure of self disclosure of God is littered throughout the entire Old Testament and it crops up here in this psalm 145 and this is God personally stating what he is notice the Lord is this is not just something that he woke up one day and says I think I'll maybe be gracious today or I think I'll maybe be gracious for a week or for a year it's part of his

DNA it's part of who and what he is and all our hope as believers and Christians is on who God is and who he's revealed himself to be!

first first of all they were gods of human imagination secondly they were very human like because they warred among themselves and they went after people in a blood thirsty way as well but this is electrifying probably at the time that it was mentioned to Moses this is who I am Yahweh which is what that Lord means is gracious and merciful and these are the kind of attributes that are inseparable guess what from love and John tells us in the New Testament God is love he also tells us of course that God is light he also tells us that

God is holy and the reason I'm saying that Yahweh the word Lord in bold letters usually denotes the proper name of God and it's a name that the pious Jews back then they would not even dare to utter and the original language if you look at the characters in the original language where we've got the word Lord it's the characters are the verb to be the verb to be and it's exactly what he said to Moses earlier when Moses he was going to send Moses to the people to Pharaoh into the people to get them liberated and Moses says what's your name who will you say that who will I tell them you are he says tell them

I am that I am that is that is that word Lord there Yahweh and it means the eternal one the eternal existing one and it's saying the eternal existing one is gracious and merciful and what did it say about this God that is gracious and merciful as he came in the incarnation full of grace and truth the law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ it's the grace of God that is all our hope as people who are rebels from God in our natural state and people who the idol that every human being has is right in here and here is a

God that wants to be gracious to those that shake their fist at him here is a God that wants to be merciful to those that shout crucify him and here is a God that wants to be gracious as a hymn writer put it was my sins that put him there and put the nails in them this is a peal of praise to God because of his greatness to God because of his great works and to God because of his great grace remember as I finish Paul sought the Lord didn't he for relief from some thorn in the flesh that he had and he said three times I sought the Lord and the Lord said my grace is sufficient for you my concern for you my commitment to you my faithfulness to you my love for you oh love that will not let me go

I rest my weary head on you it's enough my grace is sufficient for whatever experience that we may be going through are we part of that band of folks who want to praise the Lord for his greatness for his great redemption and salvation and for his great grace be peace amen