God's Promises... (9)

But joyful are those who have God as their helper...

This is already our third week of Advent. This represents joy or the Shepherd’s Candle.

Luke 2:8–12 NIV

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Is Jesus an important person in history? He is the most recognized name in all of history, and He alone has the power to save people from their sins.

What does AD mean? We live in 2022 AD

Anno Domini - the year of our Lord

As much as people want to rewrite history, we can’t change the fact that Jesus Christ has changed history. We can call it BCE and CE, but for any that don’t believe that Jesus was a person in history, I find it interesting that He is the one on whom our year is set.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, there were 120 people that met in an upper room. God used that group of people to turn the world upside down.

Let’s look at our Scripture from Psalm 146. We’ll read the chapter, but focus most of our time on verses 5-10.

Psalm 146:1–10 NLT

Praise the Lord! Let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations. Praise the Lord!

Placing our trust in people

There have been powerful people in history to whom people placed their trust, some out of fear, and others out of adoration, but regardless, after they have died, so have their dreams and much of their influence.

Men like Alexander the Great or Napoleon were powerful generals. They led armies that conquered many nations, and yet they met their demise.

Alexander the Great was 32 when he died. His empire was split up and later defeated by other nations.

Napoleon met his Waterloo in a battle with Duke Wellington in modern Belgium. After this he went into exile, and later died at the age of 51.

We live in a democracy. This means that we have the right to vote for the party that governs in our country. We don’t vote directly for the Prime Minister, but we do have the right to vote. In Canada, we have had 23 Prime Ministers, and if the Lord prolongs his coming, there will be more.

Psalm 146:3–4 NLT

Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.

There is only one who has not beginning or end and that is God.

But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper...

The NIV puts it this way,

Psalm 146:5 NIV

Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.

To know that God is for you in time of trouble, to know that He is there for you no matter what, brings great comfort.

Romans 8:31–39 NIV

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We can place our hope in the Lord our God because He is with us. There is no place that we can go where God is not. We can have friends that can help us, but there will come a time when they won’t be able to be reached, but Jesus is as close as mentioning His name, “Jesus!”

Why can we put our hope in God?

1. He’s our creator

Psalm 146:6 NLT

He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever.

I’m not sure that we fully grasp this.

Genesis 1:16 NIV

God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.

We have telescopes that can see amazing distances. We find it hard to imagine how big the universe is, but when Moses wrote this, He says, “He also made the stars.” Our sun is really small in comparison to stars like Canis Majoris. It’s radius is 981.89 million Kilometers. We are 150 million Kms from the sun. It’s 4892 light years away from earth. Light travels 300,000 kms per second. multiply that by 60 X 24 X365.25 X 4892. Now that is a big number.

How Great is our God?

He is our creator. The earth is huge, but it is small in comparison to the universe, and yet God cares for us.

Psalm 8:4–8 NLT

what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.

He not only made the heavens and the earth, but God made the oceans and seas, and everything that is in them. A blue whale can be one hundred tonnes. That’s huge! It’s bad enough to run into a deer that weighs 3-400# let alone a blue whale.

Then the Psalmist makes this statement,

2. He keeps every promise forever

We can depend on God. We’ve been looking at some of God’s promises.

2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT

For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.

What are some of these promises?

Psalm 146:7–9 NLT

He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

This sounds a lot like the Scripture from Isaiah 61 that Jesus stood up and read in the Synagogue in Nazareth.

Luke 4:16–21 NIV

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The promise is that God keeps every promise forever. These promises have been fulfilled in Christ.

Hebrews 9:22 (NIV)

...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

1 Peter 2:23–24 NIV

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

This refers to every part of our lives: physically, spiritually, emotionally, etc. He is our healer.

What do you need from the Lord? He keeps His promises forever.

He heals broken hearts. He takes care of orphans and widows. He gives sight to the blind. He set captives free. What do you need from the Lord? His promises are from everlasting to everlasting to those who love Him.

3. He will reign forever

Queen Elizabeth reigned over the British Empire for 75 years. She was the longest serving monarch in the history of the British Empire. She was loved by many and yet her reign came to an end.

Kingdoms reign and kingdoms fall, but we serve the King of kings, and the Lord of Lords, and His reign will have no end.

Psalm 146:10 NLT

The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations. Praise the Lord!

This morning, I want to conclude with the first two verses.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 146:1–2 NLT

Praise the Lord! Let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.

God has blessed us in abundance, and we have much reason to praise the Lord!

The Psalmist says, “Let all that I am praise the Lord.”

God has made you special. There is no one that is quite the same as you. Yes the are some that are very alike, but there are no two that are exactly alike. You are created in God’s image and He has created us to have relationship with Him.

He longs for us to praise Him to our dying breath.

This week as I was thinking about how we can praise the Lord, something that I found interesting was that God uses us to bless others and to bring joy to them.

How can I bring joy to others?

How can I be a blessing?

Let’s ask the Lord to make us a blessing to others this week. He can use us to feed the hungry. He can use us to encourage people who are down. God may want us to help someone get free from the changed that have them imprisoned.

Matthew 28:19–20 NIV

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Let’s pray!

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NIV

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.