Psalm 100: Know that the Lord is God

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Psalm 100:1–5 (ESV)

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

2 Serve the Lord with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!

3 Know that the Lord, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name!

5 For the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

Opening Prayer

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

There is an immediate call for all the earth to join in with the people of the Lord as we sing to the Lord with thankful hearts.

If you’re a stranger, come on in!

If you’re unfamiliar with the forgiveness of God, come and join us...

Observe & hear what we believe & know to be true.

Turn to the Lord and make a joyful noise all the earth...

And, all the peoples of the earth.

In this psalm, there is...

One Central Command

...Among seven commands.

Make a joyful noise v.1

Serve the Lord v.2

Come/Enter into His presence v.2

Know that the Lord, He is God v.3

Come/Enter His gates v.4

Give thanks v.4

Bless His name v.4

This central command to know that the Lord, He is God is supported with central truths.

The Lord, our Savior, He is not just our Savior...

He is our Creator.

v.3b is a more general statement of God being our Creator...

That leads to a more specific statement of God being our Lord, King, Protector in the third line of v.3.

It is He who made us, not we ourselves.

He is our Maker, we are not our own.

God Made us with Purpose

The chief end of man is to glorify God by fully enjoying Him forever.

God has designed us for this purpose.

He has fashioned us and molded us for this purpose.

The transgression of it is that we settle for mud puddles rather than the pure, life giving water that is God.

Isaiah 45:9 (ESV)

9 “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,

a pot among earthen pots!

Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’

or ‘Your work has no handles’?

We, in our arrogance, strive against God...

We live in a cultural setting that not only strives against their design and purpose from God...

But, they boast in their striving against His design...

And they boast in their denial of His right to design them and give them purpose.

But, for the people of the Lord...

How does this truth comfort us?

How does this steer our thoughts?

How does this truth invoke praise?

He is our Maker, we are not our own.

Biblically, it should allow us to rest in His design for us.

It should cause us to know & trust that our design and purpose is best for us...

And, by embracing it and using it to honor Him...

By doing so, we will find our greatest joy and satisfaction.

We will find our greatest peace in God’s design for us.

We will serve him most efficiently & effectively by embracing His design and purpose for us.

Listen to the NT wording of this same truth...

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

He created us, designed us, is conforming us to walk in works prepared, beforehand, for us to walk in.

That truth instills peace & comfort into our hearts.

Ultimately, God’s design for our life is to rest in Him...

Which is to believe Him.

Then, all the other things fall into place.

The truth that God is our Maker is narrowed down to a more specific truth in the third phrase of v.3...

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

We Are His & He Is For Us

The beautiful part of human relationships is that we feel a together-ness with whom we relate.

We feel like there is a “got your back” “take care of each other” in our relationships.

Now, the truth of the matter is that God has no needs...

He needs no backup.

He doesn’t need someone to have His back.

He has no need for someone to take care of Him.

But, we are different.

We need help.

We need sustaining.

We need some One to have our back.

We need a Caregiver.

We are dependent.

Good News...

If you are in Christ, you are God’s.

He is your Caregiver.

He watches over you.

He sustains you.

He is our ever-present help.

He is leading us in the paths designed for us...

Purposed for us...

He is for us.

We are His.

Listen to the NT wording of this truth...

Romans 8:34–35 (ESV)

34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Romans 8:37–39 (ESV)

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now, when we believe these truths...

When these truths are dear to our heart...

How can we not flow from these into the remaining commands of this psalm?!

I want us to work our way out from or down the structure and take the commands that are paired together.

A v.1 —> B v.2a —> C v.2b

—> D v.3 central

A v.4a —> B v.4b —> C v.4 b

So, the psalmist says...

2…Come into his presence with singing!

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Enter or Come

It’s the same word used in both phrases.

To enter into the presence of God with thanksgiving...

A change must occur in a person.

A change must occur with their relationship with God.

When Adam and Eve sinned against God...

God was merciful, but because of sin and unrighteousness...

God removed them from the Garden.

He placed an Angel with a flaming sword at the entrance of the garden.

There is an obstacle that stands in the way of one truly entering into the friendly presence of God...

That obstacle is transgressions against God’s Law...

And, the Justice of God’s Law.

The penalty of sin is death.

And, so in order to enter into the friendly presence of God...

One must have that penalty removed.

The entrance into the presence of God must be opened once again...

And, the good news of the gospel is that it has been opened once again...

For those who put their faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the God-Man...

The flaming sword has been quenched and the sword put back into it’s sheath.

The angel is no longer there guarding the gate to keep the Bride of Christ out...

We’ve been delivered from the domain of darkness and into the Kingdom of Christ.

We dwell in the friendly presence of God, in Christ.

We have 24/7 access to God in Christ.

And, so, in Christ we can enter His presence.

We can enter His gates & courts...

And, because of Christ...

Why would we not be singing?!

Why would we not be thankful?!

Why would we not approach Him with praise?!

We have redemption in Christ.

We have been adopted into the royal family, in Christ.

We have, forever, the loving presence of God, in Christ.

The next pair of commands are...

2 Serve the Lord with gladness!

4...Give thanks to him;

Serve & Give

Serve the Lord...

Our service to God is worship.

Our worship of God is grounded in our faith in Him.

Our faith in God fuels our gladness.

When we believe and trust the sovereign, omnipotent God...

It fuels our gladness.

We will never slip out of His grip on us.

Serving the Lord with gladness is an expression of giving thanks to Him.

And, that is the paired command...

Give thanks to Him...

Everything we do in service to our King should be fueled by thanksgiving.

We could never repay God.

We can only serve Him out of gratitude.

What we do for the Lord is like a toddler giving their parent a stick figure drawing.

We don’t put that drawing on the fridge because it’s the Mona Lisa.

We put that drawing on the fridge because it was given to us out of love.

We serve the Lord because we’re thankful to the Lord...

Not because our works are worthy to be accepted.

He accepts our stick figure service and he smiles at us...

Because we are accepted fully, and perfectly in Jesus Christ.

The final pair of commands are...

Make & Bless

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

We know that this is actually a group lifting their voice in unison in praise of the Lord.

A congregation singing loudly praises to our King.

An invitation for the Nations to know this God...

To acknowledge this God...

And, to praise this God.

bless His name!

To kneel before Him.

To acknowledge His greatness.

To admire the splendor of His all together otherness.

The thrust of these commands are found in...

What Kind of Lord and God, our God is.

Psalm 100:5 (ESV)

5 For the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

In Christ, the everlasting dwelling place that we reside is:

Within His goodness.

Within His steadfast love.

Within His Faithfulness.

This is such a beautiful truth.

I need to be reminded of this every day...

We cannot exhaust His goodness.

We cannot exhaust His mercy and love.

We cannot exhaust His faithfulness.

No matter how many times we fail...

In Christ, we just get up and run to Him...

He’s there waiting...

In love, mercy, goodness, & faithfulness...

All the time, forever.

So, let’s close this morning with making a joyful noise to the Lord.

Let’s lift up our voice in unison and loudly praise the Lord.

Closing Prayer