Who is God

Psalm 145 Structure

Intro

I was listening to an old country song last week by George Jones that was released in 1975. Yes I was listening to country, it happens sometimes. Here are some of the lyrics. Now I am not sure How I stumbled upon this song but it made me laugh.

God's gonna get 'cha for that God's gonna get 'cha for that There's no place to run and hide For He knows where you're at God's gonna get 'cha for that God's gonna get 'cha for that Every wrong thing that you do God's gonna get 'cha for that This doggone world we're living in It's giving me a fit It seems like everywhere I turn I see a hypocrite Well, if ya wanna go to heaven Well, you can't live like that So let me tell you, brother God's gonna get 'cha for that

When it comes to our understanding of God as seen in music especially over the years we have seen a shift. it used to be we would hear more songs like this. Songs about God going to get you for what you have done, though that song is a bad example. We try and boil down our understanding of God into music to praise Him and it used to be people would sing of the great vastness and power and glory of God. There where good old hymns (and plenty of not good old hymns as well) that would speak of the vastness of God, the power of God, the fear of the Lord.

Then there was a movement not to long ago that some people called the “Jesus is my boyfriend movement”. With lyrics that you where not sure whether they where talking of your boyfriend/girlfriend or your spouse. could be either one. Granted there where hymns like that, and plenty of new songs that resemble the old Hymns. People seemed to want a different way to focus on the character of God and went from one extreme to another.

we struggle sometimes as a church generation to generation when it comes to singing these praise songs to God. One group used to singing of the greatness of God and the other singing of God’s great love and our relationship with Him. 2 different aspects of the character of God, yet it causes rifts among God’s people sometimes unfortunately.

We can get to know God though, we Can get to know who God is and what He has done and what it means for our lives. It is essential that we believe in God, and that our belief in God line up with the word of God. When it comes to hills to die on, we must believe in God as we see it line up with the word of God. Our statement of faith shares a brief overview of who we believe God is:

We believe in God, the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. We believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of each person, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He Saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

two aspects of this we are going to focus on today. HBI - We need to come to understand that the Lord God is present and active within creation and the human race yet He is holy and infinite and goes far beyond our understanding. Our response should be to praise and glorify Him.

1-3 - God’s Transcendence

To get an understanding of what this looks like we are going to go through Psalm 145. This Psalm is the last of a group of Psalms ascribed to King David, It is a Psalm of great importance in Judaism and is used as a prayer that is to be recited daily. Interestingly enough, the Psalm is an acrostic with each verse in the original Hebrew beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Why David was inspired by God to write it this way, I do not know but i think it is kind of cool that God inspired this and other Psalms to be written in an acrostic in order.

The reason why I picked this Psalm is it speaks of the Immanence and Transcendence of Our God. Yes it is important to believe that God created the world in 6 days but we will get into that later. These are fancy words to help us explain to vast aspects of the Character of God.

The Immanence of God according to Millard Erickson in His theology text means that God is present and active within His creation and within the Human race, even those members of it that do not believe in or obey Him. His influence is everywhere. He is at work in and through natural processes. This aspect of the character of God includes the idea that God is at work in and amongst us. He is our Father and loved us enough to send His son to die for our sins.

The Transcendence of God is defined in the same text is that God is not merely a quality of nature or of humanity; he is not simply the highest human being, He is not limited to our ability to understand Him. His holiness and goodness go far beyond, infinitely beyond ours. And this is true of His knowledge and power as well. God is not merely just our father and friend, but God is far beyond our understanding. He is sovereign, and Holy and our response to Him is to bow down in worship and glorify Him. These two aspects do not contradict each other, they are both equal aspects of His character. The Psalm switches between the two different aspects of the Character of God which we are going to go through today.

Psalm 145:1–3 CSB

1 I exalt you, my God the King, and bless your name forever and ever. 2 I will bless you every day; I will praise your name forever and ever. 3 The Lord is great and is highly praised; his greatness is unsearchable.

The Lord our God is exalted above all else, and one common theme we are going to see is that our response is to bless and praise His name day to day. To bless His name means to verbally speak words of excellence about. To praise His name means we will enthusiastically express the greatness of our God. Two different aspects of the same thing. Day by day we will speak of the greatness of our God and speak of the excellence of His name.

sometimes easier said then done. This is not always easy to do though, especially when life is hard and we don't know anymore how to praise the excellence of God. When loved ones die, when we are depressed and downtrodden, when life is going worse then we would like this becomes very difficult. David as much as anyone else would understand. just look a few Psalms previous to this one where he is crying out to God in the midst of His distress to save Him from ll that is going on. and yet through it all he can say God is my king, I will praise Him.

God is the King of the universe. We wonder where He is when things are going wrong? He is on His throne, He understands what we are going through but we need to remember that He is in control, He still reigns over all and day by day we need to praise His name. According to this Psalm the reason for praise lies in the greatness of our God, He is deserving of our praise. He is so great that our minds cannot fathom the extent of it yet we can still praise Him no matter what is going on in our lives

4-9 - God’s Immanence

Our God is so great that the human mind cannot fathom the extent of it we are told (Transcendence) yet he works in our lives and is in and amongst us (immanence). Our response to the greatness of God is to declare it to the next generation, all that God has done for us.

Psalm 145:4–5 CSB

4 One generation will declare your works to the next and will proclaim your mighty acts. 5 I will speak of your splendor and glorious majesty and your wondrous works.

The unceasing praise of the Lord needs to start with one generation sharing with the next all the God has done. We must not forget to train the next generation and teach them How God has been at work in our midst.

Warren Wiersbe said that “Every local church is one generation short of extinction. We must commit what we have seen and learned to the next generation.” Are you explaining to your kids, to those around you the greatness of God even in the midst of adversity. In all we do we must speak of all God has done for us and the world around us. People need to see it in us. especially in the church, what are we doing to train the next generation in all God has done so it can change their lives as well?

Psalm 145:6–7 CSB

6 They will proclaim the power of your awe-inspiring acts, and I will declare your greatness. 7 They will give a testimony of your great goodness and will joyfully sing of your righteousness.

Then what we will get is a generation that will in turn take what they have learned and proclaim it to their generation. Though God is over and above us He is also at work in our midst and we must tell people about what He has done. The goodness of the Lord we must give testimony to those around us. This is our personal witness. Personally we must tell of the goodness of our Lord.

When the world looks evil, the Lord is still good and will do as He has promised. We must give testimony to what He has done. We all have a testimony of what God has done in our lives. He has worked in our lives whether we have noticed it or not and that is what we need to learn to proclaim to the world around us.

Psalm 145:8–9 CSB

8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love. 9 The Lord is good to everyone; his compassion rests on all he has made.

God is good and compassionate. These words touch my heart as I think of all I have done and how undeserving I am of the Lord’s compassion and His goodness. I deserved death yet the Lord God loved us enough to send His son Jesus to die for sin so that all who call on His name may be set free.

This is the ultimate way the Lord works in and among us. His gracious and compassionate faithful love came to it’s fulfillment in Jesus coming to earth to die for us. Here we see the word Hesed again. Faithful covenant Love. The Lord God will always do what He said He will do.

Though God is great and powerful He also is gracious and compassionate and faithful. But this will not stay that way forever. His slow anger will one day come to an end. This message tells us salvation is for you as well. If you call on the name of Jesus as your savior and Lord.

10-13a - God’s Transcendence

Praise the Lord for His great Kingship, declare it to the nations. We switch back and forth between the greatness of God, the the faithful love of God and how He works in our midst back to the greatness of God.

Psalm 145:10–13 CSB

10 All you have made will thank you, Lord; the faithful will bless you. 11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom and will declare your might, 12 informing all people of your mighty acts and of the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; your rule is for all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and gracious in all his actions.

He is King and as His creation we need to remember that. Though to often we forget that We are His creation. We are beautifully and wonderfully made though we are marred by sin. the glory of the K of G that we have been made a part of we need to declare to the nations. Salvation is not supposed to end here, but we are to take what we kniow and what we learn and declare it through our lives and our speech to the world around us.

What other king would do this, has done this. The King of the universe, who we get to call father has shown faithful love to us in sending a messiah to save us. His kingdom is everlasting, this world is but temporary so it is with a sense of urgency that we share this. Remembering it is the king of kings we serve.

145:13b-21 - God’s Immanence

I want to end with verses 18-20.

Psalm 145:18–20 CSB

18 The Lord is near all who call out to him, all who call out to him with integrity. 19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry for help and saves them. 20 The Lord guards all those who love him, but he destroys all the wicked.

The Lord God is near all who call on His name and turn to Him in repentance. He fulfills the desires of all who fear Him.

This is a tricky one. This is not saying that as children of God we will get the ferrari we want so much. But rather those that truly fear the Lord will ask only for what the Lord wills for them. What the Lord wills He will give to those when they ask in faith.

when the hard times do come, the Lord will guard us, because we are a part of His eternal Kingdom. though this world is temporary, He is eternal. If the Lord is good to His creation, How much more to His children, to those that have called upon His name.

So What?

What do we do with all of this mass of Information. In previous generations we focused on the greatness and Holiness of God. In the recent generations we focused on God working in our midst, our loving Father and friend. But the truth we need to stand on is that He is both. We must grow to understand who God is and what He has done for Us. It is vital that we stand on the truths of God, at least the ones we can grasp from the scriptures.

God is holy and sovereign.

though the world is chaotic at times and we do not know what exactly is going on, God is in control, on His throne and we can trust in Him. We need to come to Him in fear and trembling on our knees.

God loves us and answers our prayers

Though God is Holy and sovereign He also works directly in our lives. When we do not know what is going on or it seems like life is spiraling out of Control remember this. God has allowed us to be a part of His kingdom through the death of His son Jesus. When we come to the point of falling on our knees before the Lord God and line ourselves up with His will we will know what to ask Him. Let our mouths declare praises to all people about what the Lord God has done for us. let every breath that has breath praise the Lord.