Praise & Rest in the Sovereign God

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Psalm 115:1–18 (ESV)

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,

for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

2 Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

3 Our God is in the heavens;

he does all that he pleases.

4 Their idols are silver and gold,

the work of human hands.

5 They have mouths, but do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

6 They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

7 They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

8 Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them.

9 O Israel, trust in the Lord!

He is their help and their shield.

10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!

He is their help and their shield.

11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!

He is their help and their shield.

12 The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;

he will bless the house of Israel;

he will bless the house of Aaron;

13 he will bless those who fear the Lord,

both the small and the great.

14 May the Lord give you increase,

you and your children!

15 May you be blessed by the Lord,

who made heaven and earth!

16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens,

but the earth he has given to the children of man.

17 The dead do not praise the Lord,

nor do any who go down into silence.

18 But we will bless the Lord

from this time forth and forevermore.

Praise the Lord!

Opening Prayer

A Cry for Help with the Proper Motivation

Psalm 115:1 (ESV)

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,

for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

This is the proper motivation for living.

This is the proper motivation for anything you do.

And this should be at the forefront of our thoughts:

When we request direction from God.

When we request things from God.

When we plan for our future.

When we live out our day, each day.

As we live our daily life, are we looking for ways to praise the Lord...

And point to the glory of His name?

Is that the goal for which we do all that we do?

Well, here in Psalm 115, the Israelites were in exile.

The once glorious nation of Israel...

With its glorious military victories...

Its glorious temple...

Its glorious government & system of justice.

The shekinah glory in their midst.

The Kingdom of Israel had been defeated and taken captive.

It has now been reduced to a small province of the Persian Empire.

Their entire way of life had been reduced to minimal enjoyment.

Now, what they should do while in exile...

And, what God has commanded them to do is another sermon.

But, naturally they are wanting to get back to their homeland...

To have their Nation, their government, and their freedom of religion restored to the fullest...

With a proper temple, and God’s presence manifested...

And, it would be easy to have a myriad of motives arising for this...

It would be easy to be self-centered in their motivation...

But, the psalmist hits the mark...

He hits the bullseye when he says...

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,

for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

Restore Israel to its former glory and deliver your covenant people...

Not for the comfort of your people.

Not for the freedom of your people.

Not for the prosperity of your people.

Those things may or may not come, individually...

But, the most important thing...

The desire that is at the center of the mind & heart...

Is for God’s name to be hallowed...

For God to be known in the light of truth.

That He be known for the glorious, omnipotent God that He is.

What has been the experience of the people of God...

with regards to God’s name?

Well, we know that...

Scoffers Get Loud When Believers Suffer

Israelites had suffered.

To the unbelieving eye, all they saw was the defeat of the people of God...

They had no idea of the purposes of God in allowing defeat...

Allowing the people of God to be exiled.

And, so naturally, when wars occurred the winning army would celebrate their god over the defeated army’s god.

What the victor’s over Israel didn’t know was that God was using them for purposes they were unaware of...

To prepare the way of the Messiah...

To bring fulfillment of God’s promises for the Nations.

I think we’d all agree, it’s hard to listen to scoffers boasting about their seeming victory...

And to hear them use their supposed victory to dishonor God.

That’s what is going on here...

Psalm 115:2–3 (ESV)

2 Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

3 Our God is in the heavens;

he does all that he pleases.

They’re claiming victory over Israel’s God.

They’re asking the question, if your God reigns...

Why have you been defeated?

Where is your God?

We can point to our gods.

Where is your God?

Just because you don’t see God...

Doesn’t mean He’s not there.

Just because you don’t acknowledge God...

Doesn’t remove Him from your existence.

One theologian stated correctly...

Atheism is not the knowledge that God does not exist, but only the wish that He did not, in order that one could sin without reproach or exalt one’s ego without challenge. The pillars upon which atheism mounts are sensuality and pride.

Here in the context of Psalm 115, the enemies are not proclaimed atheists...

But they are trusting in something just as foolish, because...

Sin is Foolishness & Blinds the Mind to the Obvious

The psalmist lays out for us their foolishness...

First, their foolishness is noted in what they claimed:

You cannot see your God...

—>He does not exist.

You lost the battle...

—>If He does exist, He is powerless.

You are our captives...

—>He must be incapable of rescue.

Just because you cannot see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Love is the one of the strongest emotions...

You cannot see love, but it exists.

Ask any parent if they love their children.

We would lay down our life because of love...

Yet you cannot see the entity of love...

Only expressions of it that prove it exists.

You cannot see the wind, but it exists...

There is no denying it exists...

We even fear the wind when it gets to a certain level...

We run to shelters for hours at a time...

We flee cities and states and seek refuge elsewhere because of the force of the wind.

You cannot see the entity of wind...

Only what the wind moves and picks up that prove it exists.

Only a fool denies something that proves itself repeatedly...

Just because they cannot see it.

Second, they placed their ultimate trust in things they can see:

Psalm 115:4–8 (ESV)

4 Their idols are silver and gold,

the work of human hands.

5 They have mouths, but do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

6 They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

7 They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

8 Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them.

It’s easy to see that claiming to be wise they have become fools.

Look at the unbeliever’s hope.

(expound on the verses on idols)

Notice v.8, may it serve as a caution for us...

Because we too are tempted to place our ultimate hope in things that can be seen...

But cannot deliver what we ultimately want & need.

Understanding the foolishness of:

their system of trust

their idols of worship

their empty hope

their preferred self-deception

The psalmist makes a plea to Israel...

Psalm 115:9–11 (ESV)

9 O Israel, trust in the Lord!

He is their help and their shield.

10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!

He is their help and their shield.

11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!

He is their help and their shield.

God proves Himself all the time...

But, when things don’t go our way...

When we start thinking that God is our stage hand...

Rather than our sovereign, infinitely wise, omnipotent Deliverer...

And, the Director of our life...

This is when we start doubting His goodness...

Which can ultimately lead us to doubt His existence...

Which is when we start substituting other things in place of God.

(sports analogy of subbing)

Question...What is being substituted in God’s place?

What do you think you need right now that you hope will give you...

Rest, Comfort, Value, Peace, Pleasure, Power?

Listen, what you want & need in those categories can only come from Jesus.

His person & work is the only source for what you crave & need.

And, when we displace God for something less...

We start becoming like what took God’s place...

Foolish, Powerless, Empty, Desperate, Frail, Dissatisfied.

We need to remember that we trust God because...

God is the only Master of Circumstances, Not a Prisoner of Them.

God’s ways are above our ways.

We cannot fathom the magnificent providence of God...

That confounds the wise...

Uses the weak...

Parts seas...

Moves mountains...

Commands weather...

And rest assured, God’s will will be done.

What seems foolish to fallen, mankind’s wisdom...

Spells victory for the Kingdom of God.

The greatest earthly event that seemed like a defeat of God’s purposes...

But, in reality was the greatest victory took place at Mt. Calvary.

Jew & Gentile alike thought they’d defeated the enemy.

The Devil thought he’d held off the judgment coming to him...

By having the Messiah nailed to the Cross.

But, he was used by God to persuade to be done what was necessary for the victory God intended.

What an amazing God.

God is never the prisoner of circumstances...

He is always the Master of them.

Remember this magnificent truth when sorrows come...

When you start growing impatient with your circumstances...

Because the circumstances may be out of your control...

But, they are not out of God’s.

Blessings Come From God, Trust in Him

Psalm 115:12–15 (ESV)

12 The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;

he will bless the house of Israel;

he will bless the house of Aaron;

13 he will bless those who fear the Lord,

both the small and the great.

14 May the Lord give you increase,

you and your children!

15 May you be blessed by the Lord,

who made heaven and earth!

Blessings flow from God to His people...

The marker of the people of God is Faith.

We put our faith in God.

We put our hope in God.

That what we need to be right with Him...

We have in Jesus...

And, all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ.

The only hope and surety we have in this life...

Is found exclusively in Jesus Christ.

All that we need is found in Him.

And, all the abundant blessings of life & eternity...

Flow from our union with Christ...

And, we are untied to Christ, by faith.

This is the good announcement of God in JC.

Use Your Life to the Praise & Glory of God

Psalm 115:16–18 (ESV)

16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens,

but the earth he has given to the children of man.

17 The dead do not praise the Lord,

nor do any who go down into silence.

18 But we will bless the Lord

from this time forth and forevermore.

Praise the Lord!

Our life on earth should be filled with the praise of the Lord.

Those in this life cannot hear the praise of the dead.

And, you’ve been given this life to praise the Lord.

To glorify God and fully enjoy Him forever.

Let’s make it our aim to fill our today, tomorrow, week, month, year, life...

With praise for & to the Lord!

Closing Prayer