Psalm 145

[0:00] Good morning. Turn with me to Psalm 145.! And as you turn, I'd like to tell you about Adoniram and Ann Judson, first American missionaries overseas.

[0:25] ! They were missionaries to Burma, who were missionaries to Burma, who were missionaries to Burma, who were missionaries to Burma. An unreached people group. And Adoniram, he met Ann about a year, a little bit over a year before he left to go to Burma, and fell in love with her immediately. And that posed a problem because he was obviously going to Burma.

[0:48] But he wrote a letter to her father asking for her hand in marriage. And it has turned into something somewhat legendary among missionaries.

[1:01] And I'd like to read that to you. It's not too long, but consider what you would, how you would feel if you got this letter. But it starts, I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring to see her no more in this world.

[1:23] Whether you can consent to her departure to a heathen land and her subjection to the hardships and suffering of a missionary life.

[1:34] Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India, to every kind of want and distress, to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death.

[2:00] Can you consent to all this for the sake of him who left his heavenly home and died for her and for you?

[2:11] For the sake of perishing immortal souls? For the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory with the crown of righteousness, brightened by the acclamations of praise, which shall resound to her Savior from heathens saved through her means, from eternal woe and despair?

[2:40] So their worldview really was shaped by their theology, right? By who God has revealed himself to be in Scripture.

[2:52] And there are countless people in the history of Christianity and in Scripture that have the same testimony. That willingly gave up their creature comforts and even their lives for the sake of the gospel.

[3:06] Personally, I would have never written that letter to Allison's dad. I think that would probably have freaked him out a little bit, you know.

[3:19] And honestly, I'm pretty confident that if I had, Allison probably would have declined my offer of marriage. But now, after I think we've been married eight years, there is a truth that I would want us to know and completely and totally live out, that our lives are not our own.

[3:45] They are to be spent however God pleases, not how we plan. And I pray that that is our testimony.

[3:56] My analysis in this church is that that is our testimony. This psalm, Psalm 145, should move us to live a life sold out for God's glory.

[4:11] So let's jump into that. And first of all, it was written by King David. It's one of 73 psalms attributed to him in the book of Psalms.

[4:25] The title is a song of praise, and it is most likely original to the author, to David. The text contains theological truths that move us to praise, God.

[4:43] And in this text, we see a glimpse of David's worldview, right? How deep theological understanding has moved him to live a life of praise.

[4:57] And in the text, David uses two literary devices to emphasize his main idea. He uses what is called an inclusio. And an inclusio is a repetition of the same language at the beginning and at the end of a section of literature forming bookends.

[5:16] All right. And so that looks like in this passage, in verse one and two, David starts with a vow to praise God forever and ever. And then in verse 21, at the end of the chapter, it ends with a vow to praise God forever and ever.

[5:36] Right? And these literary devices are not simply used to show David's intellectual prowess, which is obviously great. But it is used to emphasize in this passage that Yahweh, that the Lord is king and is therefore worthy of all praise and devotion.

[5:58] One commentator said, from beginning to end, the psalm celebrates Yahweh as the divine king, and the repeated references to all serve to amplify that claim.

[6:14] The word all is used 17 times in this passage. He is all and stands over all. So let's read the text right now, and then we'll jump in and we'll pray.

[6:27] So it starts in verse one. I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.

[6:38] 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.

[6:53] 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.

[7:06] They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness, and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

[7:19] 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.

[7:34] 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 men your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

[7:51] Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all His words and kind in all His works.

[8:05] 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.

[8:16] 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.

[8:29] 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.

[8:42] 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.

[8:58] Let's pray. God, we worship You. We praise Your holy and gracious and loving name. And I pray that You would just be, that You would be magnified and glorified, that this word, Psalm 145, would make us sing of Your goodness and Your greatness.

[9:21] I pray these things in Christ's name, amen. So the first observation that we can make from this text is that praise is a response to God's revelation.

[9:35] So praise is a response to God's revelation, His person and His work. It is a response, right? And David, he is showing us God's transcendence and His eminence here in this passage.

[9:51] God's transcendence is just that He is above all things. He is high and lifted up. It says, The earth is His footstool.

[10:03] He is great. And that's what it says in verse 3. Read that with me. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.

[10:15] He is greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unfathomable. It is infinite. We can never plumb the depths of God's greatness, right?

[10:29] We will never reach the heights of God's greatness. And it's like an overarching term. And he continues on in verse 5 to exposit that truth that God is great.

[10:43] And in verse 5 he says, On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works I will meditate. And God's majesty is His beauty.

[10:56] You know, when we see a sunrise or a sunset, we proclaim its beauty. But imagine the beauty and splendor of the one who spoke it into existence. And that's God's transcendence, right?

[11:08] That He speaks and worlds are created. That which was not becomes. And that is God's transcendence, right? That He is high and lifted up.

[11:19] And then starting in verses 11 through 13, saying, They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power to make known to the children of men your mighty deeds.

[11:33] Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

[11:44] So God is the sovereign, all-powerful King who rules over all things for all time.

[11:54] He is universally sovereign over the nations, humankind, the angels, the dominion of darkness and its inhabitants, and even the cosmos, individual believers, and the church.

[12:09] He is the King. Praise God, right? He is transcendent. He is above and high. He is lifted up. But consider a God who is only great, right?

[12:23] He is just high and lifted up. He is distant. That's what deism believes, that God is not present in this world, that He is only high, and He's only mighty. He's only powerful.

[12:34] He's only strong. So consider that. But Scripture teaches us that He is also near, right? That He is imminent, that He is active in His creation.

[12:46] Deism believes that God just set time into motion and then sits back and watches. But that's not the testimony of Scripture, right? God is active, and He is working in creation and in our lives.

[13:04] So in verse 7, God's eminence is shown by David. He says, They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

[13:17] Right? So God is great. He is infinitely great. But He is also abundantly good to us, right? He is good.

[13:29] He treats us well. He loves us. He gives us mercy. He gives us grace. And then in verse 9, 8 and 9, it says, The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

[13:45] The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He is made. So here again, we see God's grace, His mercy, His patience, and His steadfast love.

[13:57] And this is actually almost taken verbatim from Exodus chapter 34, which was a very important time in the life of Israel.

[14:08] And I want to read that passage in Exodus chapter 34, verse 6. And Moses wants to see God's glory, right? And it says in verse 6, The Lord passed before Him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.

[14:52] So He's declaring His name and explaining who God is. He is gracious. He is merciful. He is patient. He is abounding in steadfast love. And the whole book of Exodus, right, tells us that.

[15:05] God is acting in the lives of Israel. He's freeing them from captivity. And He does that in such a mighty and great way. And it seems so obvious that God is great and God is good in the book of Exodus.

[15:24] But there is still doubt, right? And there's still rebellion. But God was gracious and merciful and patient and kind to forgive that, right?

[15:35] And that gives us a great glimpse of God's eminence, that God is good. He is abundantly good to us. And then in verse 14, it says, The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.

[15:56] And this might be the greatest passage in the Bible or close to it. The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand.

[16:06] 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.

[16:20] 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.

[16:30] My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh bless His holy name forever and ever. So here in verses 14 through 20, we see another glimpse of God's grace.

[16:45] And 14 through 16, it's God's common grace to all people. God's grace is not simply for us who are in covenant with God, but it is for all people.

[16:56] 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.

[17:08] You open your hand. You satisfy the desire of every living thing. All right, that is God's common grace that He shows to everyone.

[17:21] He is the sovereign King who is good and gracious to all. But in verses 17 through 20, we see a more special grace that is given to His covenant people.

[17:35] And it says, 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.

[17:47] He fulfills the desires 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.

[18:01] So here God is sovereignly over all things, but He is sovereignly over and King, and He is gracious. He is active. He's giving us everything that we could ever desire or need.

[18:16] He gives us our food in due season. He's open. He freely gives. And then finally, we see a picture of God's justice and righteousness.

[18:31] In verse 20, He says that, The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. And we see a worldview, right? Starting to form David's worldview.

[18:44] In Isaiah 54, we get a glimpse of God's transcendence and His eminence. In verse 5, it says, For your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth.

[19:03] So the maker, the God of the whole earth, is our husband and our Redeemer. And then in John chapter 1, in verses 1 through 3, it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[19:26] He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. God's transcendence. He speaks, He speaks worlds into existence, right?

[19:39] And then in verse 14, God's eminence, And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[19:55] So God is great, and God is good, and He has revealed Himself to us, and we have seen Him, right? That is a wonderful truth. That is a great truth.

[20:08] David Mathis, as a theologian, he said, Our church gatherings and our personal devotions can suffer from failure to treasure both God's transcendence and His eminence.

[20:19] If God isn't great, He won't compel our reverence, fear, and obedience. But if we don't think of Him as near, He won't evoke our gratitude, joy, and amazement, right?

[20:32] So we need to remember this, that there is none like God. He can and truly does save. He is over all, through all, and in all. May our thoughts and worship of God increasingly reflect who He really is for our endless joy and His endless praise.

[20:51] And then second, we can observe that praise is an inward response. So praise is an inward response and an outward response, but here we're, it's a response to who God is, and it's an inward response.

[21:10] It says, in verse 2, listen to what David says. Actually, let's start with verse 1. I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.

[21:21] Every day, I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. So, David's worldview, right, is starting to take shape, and when we recognize who God is, His goodness, and His greatness, we can praise Him through every heartache, and know there is purpose, and value through suffering and pain, because God is good, and God is great to save us from that, but God does these things for our good and His glory, right?

[22:02] Verse 2, let's look at that again. Every day, I will bless you. Every circumstance, right? There's not a circumstance that David's worldview allows him to not praise God, because He is good, and He is great.

[22:20] And then, in verse 5, in verse 5, it says, On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

[22:31] And that word works could actually probably better be better translated as words. So, so here David is meditating on God's words or His works either way, but I was thinking back to Psalm chapter 1 that David just recently preached, and let's turn there, actually.

[22:57] Psalm chapter 1 in verses 2 and 3. And there it says, But His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law He meditates day and night.

[23:09] He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. So, the person who meditates on God's word will yield fruit.

[23:24] And I think we probably, most of us, know a person who is like that, that yields fruit, that when you talk to them, their conversation reflects God's glory, and reflects their lifestyle of praise.

[23:41] I pray that I am like that person, and I hope we can all say that, that that is our desire. So, those who meditate on God's word day and night have it pour out of them. It naturally overflows from their heart.

[24:01] And then, in verse 4, one generation shall commend your works to another. So, we will comfort one another with God's works. We shall declare your mighty acts on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works I will meditate.

[24:18] They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds. and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

[24:29] You can see how that builds, right? It starts to overflow out of the one who meditates on God's word. But then also, from Psalm 1, he that meditates on the law will also prosper.

[24:44] We may not prosper in this life, but in the life to come, we certainly will, right? We have nothing to fear in life or death because God is great and good to us who call on him.

[24:58] Praise is also an outward response. As an introvert, this is particularly hard for me and I think for maybe some of us, right?

[25:10] That praise is actually something that we do outwardly. We speak God's praise. We talk of it. It's not something that we do at home by ourselves. That's not praise. It can be, I guess, but there's two sides to it, right?

[25:24] It's inward and it's outward. So we praise God corporately and it starts in verse 4. One generation shall commend your works and declare your mighty acts.

[25:36] So this is something obviously outward. We're declaring God's goodness, God's greatness, but one generation to another. So corporately we are doing this. We praise God, we praise corporately because it is a command.

[25:54] In Colossians 3, 16, right? Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

[26:08] That is a command to sing with one another, to corporately worship, to corporately praise. And then also in Ephesians chapter 5, we see, and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual psalms and singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence.

[26:42] this is also a command. This is a command for us to work to worship and praise corporately. And this is how we were made, right? We were made in God's image.

[26:54] We are made for community. We are created in God's image and made to be in communion with God and in community with other people. I have probably said way too many times that I could live as a hermit way too many times, but the truth is that's not healthy.

[27:12] That's not good. That's not how we were made and if you ever see someone who is a hermit, they're strange. They're not normal. No offense to any hermits out there that are listening but it's not healthy, right?

[27:28] That's how we were made. We were made to worship God in community. We were made to live in community. So, we praise God corporately also because it builds up the church.

[27:43] It builds us up. We find sanctification in corporate worship and in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 or chapter 14, I'm sorry, in verse 12, it says, so with yourselves since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

[28:10] And then in verse 26, yeah, I think 26, yeah, 26, what then, brothers, when you come together, each one as a hymn has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.

[28:26] Let all things be done for building up. So, we come and worship corporately. This is not an option. This is something that we're commanded and called to do. And this is how we grow.

[28:37] We grow with one another. And, you know, our small groups at this church are very important. And last year, Allison and I were going through a harder time.

[28:49] And if it wasn't for our small group, we would have really struggled. But that's what community is about, right? in community, you find, at least with the church, and what really everybody is looking for is grace and love, right?

[29:08] Growing up, I never lived anywhere longer than three years. My dad was a pastor and we bounced around a lot. And I noticed just recently that once I get to a three-year mark wherever I'm at, I am ready to take off, ready to leave.

[29:23] And we were, we've been here for I think five years. And Allison can attest to this. When we hit that three-year mark, I was like, ready. I love it here.

[29:35] Personally, I enjoy it, but I was ready to go. And I realized it was because people were starting to get to know me a little bit too well. As an introvert, that was difficult for me.

[29:46] But I know who I am. You know, I know what kind of person I am and selfishness, you know. And I found it hard that people could actually forgive me or could show me grace.

[30:00] And so once people started to get to know me, I'm out the door. It's been crazy to realize that, right? But community is very important.

[30:11] And that has been something that has been really moving in my heart lately that I need to be involved in community. And so if you're not a part of a community group, I would suggest that.

[30:24] And one of the things when we were, one of the days that we were having such a hard time was probably two or three o'clock and I called up Matt Lindick and I asked him, will you come over?

[30:34] And there was no question, of course, we can come over and we just needed godly wisdom. And that's what community is, right? Where we find grace, where we find mercy and love.

[30:46] A place where we can live life together. Right? It's something that everybody really needs. And we're called to do that. So praise is not something that stays within us.

[31:05] It's something that comes out of us. We declare, speak, it overflows within us, and we sing aloud of God's greatness and goodness, of His wonderful works and His awesome deeds.

[31:21] But we also praise God missionally. So look at verse 12. Actually, let's read from verse 11.

[31:34] Actually, no, let's read from verse 10. Why not? 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.

[31:54] So here, we praise God inwardly, outwardly. We praise God corporately and missionally.

[32:05] It's not something that stays within us. It is outward to the corporate worship and also to the world. Speaking of inclusios, the bracket that I mentioned, the literary device, think of the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.

[32:26] One of Jesus' first commands to the disciples were to go and make disciples essentially. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And then to emphasize that we see at the end, the last command is what?

[32:40] To go and make disciples of all nations. So we speak of God's glory, power, and wonderful deeds in order to make God known to the children of men.

[32:54] So that is the purpose, right? The purpose is to make God known. We were made to glorify God. We were made to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

[33:07] Our purpose is to make Him known and magnify His greatness and goodness. And I remember when I was a kid, my grandmother was almost completely blind and she had a huge Bible with huge letters and then beside it she had her magnifying glass, right?

[33:22] And when I was a child, I remember playing with that and the words became the size of my hand. And that is what we do for God. That's what we want to do to God. Magnify Him among all nations.

[33:36] So when we come to an intimate knowledge of God through His person and works, it produces in us a passion for His glory and a compassion for the lost.

[33:50] In one of my classes, one of the things that we had to do was come up with a 15-second testimony. And I've been using that in my quiet time to magnify God in my time of worship at home.

[34:02] And it goes like this. There was a time in my life before Christ that I had no hope and I had no purpose.

[34:12] and I felt like I had no purpose. But God, who is rich in mercy, gave me hope and gave me purpose.

[34:24] And I'm sure that you have that same testimony, right? That before Christ and then after. And that should motivate us, right, to take that message to the nations.

[34:38] There are 3.2 billion billion, billion, with the B, people who have little to no access to the gospel. They are without hope and have yet to realize their purpose.

[34:54] And I pray and I hope you do too that God would use us to magnify Him to all nations. and I pray that we would remember that our lives are not our own.

[35:12] They are to be spent however God pleases, not how we plan. And I pray that that would be our testimony, right? So here in this passage, we see that praise is a response to who God is.

[35:30] Praise is a response to God's revelation. The goal of theology is doxology. So the goal of theology is for us to praise God. And we, David showed us God's transcendence and His eminence that He is both high and lifted up but He is also an ever-present help.

[35:53] And praise is an inward response. Praise is an outward response. It is corporate and it is missional. So let's pray that God would raise up missionaries in Shoreline and let's reevaluate the Great Commission because God did command us to go to all nations, right?

[36:18] And that might look like going overseas but it might not. but let's support those who are, right?

[36:29] Because there are people who do not know Christ. 3.2 billion of them. So let's pray. God, we worship You.

[36:41] So let that be the cry of our heart, God, that You would be magnified and glorified in everything that we say and everything that we do.

[37:01] Let us commend Your works, comfort one another through Your person and Your work. I pray that You would just shape us according to Your Word.

[37:15] Give us a passion for Your Word. give us a passion for Your glory. And I pray, God, that You would just give us a compassion for the lost.

[37:30] I pray that You would just move within us, Lord, a desire to take Your gospel to all nations. Starting right here with our family, within our church, within our community, and within this nation, God.

[37:54] I pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.