Great is the Lord and Great is His Steadfast Love Towards Me Psalms 86:8-13

Welcome to FE, we are glad you are with us this morning, my name is Josh Aguilar, I am one of the elders at FE. We are in our summer series through the Psalms entitled Playlist, you may wonder why playlist. Many of us have smart phones and we have music apps like Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and in these apps we have playlists for working out, cleaning the house, relaxing at home, going to sleep, when we pray. The book of Psalms was the playlist of the the people of Israel, this was their song book. Many of the Psalms were put to music and sung by the people of God in worship. You will find, songs of joy, and songs of lament, and songs where they cry for help from God, and songs that magnify God and more. This week our playlist contains a portion of Psalms 86, we are going to focus on verses Psalms 86:8-13

Psalm 86:8–13 (ESV)

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,

nor are there any works like yours.

All the nations you have made shall come

and worship before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

For you are great and do wondrous things;

you alone are God.

Teach me your way, O Lord,

that I may walk in your truth;

unite my heart to fear your name.

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,

and I will glorify your name forever.

For great is your steadfast love toward me;

you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

No hay nadie como tú entre los dioses, oh Señor, ni hay obras como las tuyas. 9 Todas las naciones que tú has hecho vendrán y adorarán delante de ti, Señor, y glorificarán tu nombre. 10 Porque tú eres grande y haces maravillas; solo tú eres Dios.

11 Enséñame, oh Señor, tu camino; andaré en tu verdad; unifica mi corazón para que tema tu nombre. 12 Te daré gracias, Señor mi Dios, con todo mi corazón, y glorificaré tu nombre para siempre. 13 Porque grande es tu misericordia para conmigo, y has librado mi alma de las profundidades del Seol.

This is a Psalm written by David in time of distress, a time when

Psalm 86:14 (ESV)

O God, insolent men have risen up against me;

a band of ruthless men seeks my life,

and they do not set you before them.

Oh Dios, los arrogantes se han levantado contra mí, y una banda de violentos ha buscado mi vida, y no te han tenido en cuenta.

David is crying for help, he is crying out for mercy. He calling on God, who he knows is merciful, gracious and is abounding in steadfast love. David calls on God “turn to me and show me grace” (16) and “show me a sign of your favor” (17). How many of us in our times of distress have called on God for grace and mercy, cried out to God for a sign of favor. I am willing to say we have all done so at one point in or lives or another.

Before David calls out for help in his distress, listen to how he describes himself and his condition in verses 1-7;

i am poor and needy

save your servant

you are my God

to you I cry all the day

I lift up my soul to you Lord

listen to my plea for grace

I call to you for you answer me.

David’s view of himself, his situation and his requests are impacted by how he views God. David knows he needs the Lord, he needs him to intervene in his situation. David knows that only God can help him and only he is trustworthy. We discover this in our portion of scripture today. In the middle of David calling to God and asking God to save him from his enemies, he describes for us who God is and gives us an insight into David’s theological framework of God.

Let’s look at verses 8-10 again,

Psalm 86:8–10 (ESV)

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,

nor are there any works like yours.

All the nations you have made shall come

and worship before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

For

David is about to give us the reason, the reason why there is no one like God, the reason why all the nations will come and worship and glorify the Lord. When David uses the word “for” he is providing us his reasoning. I am going to lunch after church for I am hungry, that would be the reason you are going to lunch, because you are hungry. David says there is no one like God and all the nations will worship and glorify your name...

for you are great and do wondrous things;

you alone are God.

No hay nadie como tú entre los dioses, oh Señor, ni hay obras como las tuyas. 9 Todas las naciones que tú has hecho vendrán y adorarán delante de ti, Señor, y glorificarán tu nombre. 10 Porque tú eres grande y haces maravillas[b]; solo tú eres Dios.

What we learn from David is...

The Lord is Great and He Rules Over the Heavens

What do we mean that the Lord rules over the heavens? When David says “there is none like you among the gods”, David is saying there is no angel. no demon, no false god the other nations create, none of them are like God. God is separate, transcendent, holy, there is none like him, nor will there ever be, no one can compare to him, he has no rival, no equal, he far above any creation. He is the Lord and there is none like Him.

Listen to what Moses says about God, Moses makes this statement after God pours out the plagues on Egypt which decimated Pharoah the gods of Egypt

Exodus 15:11 (ESV)

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

¿Quién como tú entre los dioses, oh Señor? ¿Quién como tú, majestuoso en santidad, temible en las alabanzas, haciendo maravillas?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness? There is no one. He is Holy Holy Holy and there is no other. One of the things I found interesting in the is passage is David uses the covenantal name for God, Yahweh, 4 times. But he uses Adonai, which means Master or Lord. The reason why I think David does so, is because when he refers to God as Adonai, he referring him to as Lord, Master, and Ruler over all. God is the Sovereign ruler of the world, therefore God rules over all, and if he rules over all, it means if he so wills he can grant David’s request, he can grant your request. Which is why I also believe David uses the covenantal name, Yahweh, is because the sovereign ruler of the universe has chosen to enter a relationship with David and the people of Israel promising salvation in a future messiah who is to come. When that future messiah arrived, Jesus lived the perfect life, was crucified on a cross for you and me, rose again from the dead and said this;

Matthew 28:18–19 (ESV)

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

18 Y acercándose Jesús, les habló, diciendo: Toda autoridad me ha sido dada en el cielo y en la tierra. 19 Id, pues, y haced discípulos de todas las naciones, bautizándolos en el nombre del Padre y del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo,

The Lord is still the sovereign ruler of the world, which is why Jesus says “all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” He is also the Lord who makes a covenant with people which is why he tells his followers to “go and make disciples”. Which leads us to our next point

The Lord is Great and He Rules Over the Nations

People from all nations will recognize the greatness of the Lord and will come to worship him. They will make the confession of Ruth to Naomi her mother in law, your people will be my people, your God will be my God”. David says people from every nation will come and worship and glorify the Lord.

Psalm 22:27–28 (ESV)

All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

shall worship before you.

For kingship belongs to the Lord,

and he rules over the nations.

Todos los términos de la tierra se acordarán y se volverán al Señor, y todas las familias de las naciones adorarán delante de ti. Porque del Señor es el reino, y Él gobierna las naciones.

Families from all the nations will worship before you. Here we see David give a reason why families of the nations will come and worship the Lord, “For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations” Again we see the Lord is Great, and he rules over the nations and if God wanted to he could let all the peoples live, die and face the judgement of God and perish for for ever in hell. But God.... but God is gracious and kind and great is his steadfast love that he calls families and invites them to part of the family of God, invites him to worship our great God and saviour. John writes about his vision in heaven and says,

Revelation 5:9–10 (ESV)

And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

Y cantaban* un cántico nuevo, diciendo:

Digno eres de tomar el libro y de abrir sus sellos, porque tú fuiste inmolado, y con tu sangre compraste para Dios a gente de toda tribu, lengua, pueblo y nación. 10 Y los has hecho un reino y sacerdotes para nuestro Dios; y reinarán[c]sobre la tierra.

Jesus ransomed people for God, from every tribe, language, people and nation. He calling those people to himself through the Gospel so that one day, in heaven people from all nations will worship our great Lord because

The Lord is Great and Saves His People

David tells us the Lord is great and does wondrous things. When the phrase wondrous things is used, it is used to describe all the times The Lord Saves HIs People, let me give you some examples,

Psalm 31:21 (ESV)

Blessed be the Lord,

for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me

when I was in a besieged city.

Bendito sea el Señor, porque ha hecho maravillosa su misericordia para mí en ciudad asediada

Here we see the Lord has done wondrous things by saving David when he was in a besieged city.

Exodus 3:20 (ESV)

So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.

Pero yo extenderé mi mano y heriré a Egipto con todos los prodigios que haré en medio de él, y después de esto, os dejará ir.

God promises Moses that he will perform wonders in Egypt and then the Pharoah will let them go.

Right before Joshua and the people of God cross the Jordan, Joshua tells the people.

Joshua 3:5 (ESV)

Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

Entonces Josué dijo al pueblo: Consagraos, porque mañana el Señor hará maravillas entre vosotros.

What did the Lord do? He open the Jordan just like the Lord opened the Red Sea. Wondrous things!

Exodus 34:10 (ESV)

And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.

Y Dios contestó: He aquí, voy a hacer un pacto. Delante de todo tu pueblo haré maravillas que no se han hecho en toda la tierra ni en ninguna de las naciones; y todo el pueblo en medio del cual habitas verá la obra del Señor, porque es cosa temible la que haré por medio de ti.

The Lord is Great because of the wondrous things he does to save his people. The Lord is Great because he sent his Son, born of a woman, to live the perfect life, to die in our place to be the sacrifice for our sin, he rose again and ascended to the heavens where he sits at the right hand of the Father interceding, for you and me. The Lord is Great and greatly to be saved because there is no other name under heaven by which a person be saved and that name Jesus which is the name above all names and at this name every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. The only question is will you do now in this life? Or will you do it then in the next life, when it will be too late?

FE What has the Lord saved you from? How has the Lord saved you? What are the wondrous things you can tell about how the Lord has saved you?

The Lord is great and rules over the heavens, the Lord is great and rules over the nations, the Lord is great and saves his people, which leads us to

The Proper Response to the Greatness of Our God

The Greatness and Awe of the Lord is central to all of life, when we have a proper perspective of the greatness of the Lord it will impact every area of our life.

If we saw the greatness of the Lord, we would see our sin struggles differently

If we saw the greatness of the Lord, our marriages would be greatly impacted

If we saw the greatness of the Lord, our parenting would be greatly impacted

If we saw the greatness of the Lord, we would not be consumed by selfishness

If we saw the greatness of the Lord, we would share the Gospel urgently and frequently

If we saw the greatness of the Lord, it would impact every area of our life

David tells us what the proper response to the greatness of our God, the response involves our mind, our actions and our attitudes. Our head, hand and heart. Let’s see what David says,

Head - Teach me your way, O LORD - In order to see the greatness of the Lord, to see the holiness and beauty of our God, we need to know the Lord, we must get in the word to discover the greatness of the Lord, we must study the word so we can see his beauty in God’s word. When cannot be in awe of the greatness of the Lord if we do not know him and know what he has done.

Hand - that I may walk in your truth - David says I want know you, know your way, so I may walk in the truth. When our lives are impacted by the greatness of the Lord, we have a desire to honor and please him, a desire to live for his fame, to live for his glory. We do not ask the Lord to teach us his way, for the sake of knowledge, which is important, the knowledge has to impact our living, our lifestyle, it has to impact how we live at home, at work, with those in the church, those who do not know Jesus yet. The truth impacts how we live.

Heart - unite my heart to fear your name - David prays to unite his heart to fear your name. David doesn’t want the superficial life of knowledge and actions, he wants the the greatness of the Lord to impact his whole being. He wants the Lord to impact his mind, his actions and his heart. What does it mean to fear God, why does David ask God unite his heart to fear God’s name. To fear God has two aspects one is awe and wonder, where one is mesmerized and astounded by who God is and what he has done that it leads us to worship and praise God, like David has done in this Psalm. The other aspect of fear, is a healthy fear of God, in the sense that we understand their are consequences to our disobedience, their is discipline by God the father when we disobey and that healthy fear keeps us from sin. It is like when David and Miya walk by the stove in our house and they say hot hot, because they know if they touch it they will get burned, so they do not touch it. That is healthy fear, we know that when we sin, God disciplines, so we pray for God to unite our heart to fear your name.

Joy and Worship -

Psalm 86:12–13 (ESV)

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,

and I will glorify your name forever.

For great is your steadfast love toward me;

you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

Te daré gracias, Señor mi Dios, con todo mi corazón, y glorificaré tu nombre para siempre. 13 Porque grande es tu misericordia para conmigo, y has librado mi alma de las profundidades del Seol

notice David responds in joy and worship to God. He is thankful, with his whole being, he wants to live for his glory forever. Why? “For great is your steadfast love toward me.” God’s covenantal love towards us who believe is great, so great he sent his son, to die for our sin so we can exchange our sinfulness for the righteousness of Christ, when we repent and believe in him. God’s love toward not only saves us from our sin, but God’s love keeps us saved and will one day our salvation will find its culmination when we are all before the throne of God in worship and praise because we have been ransomed by the blood of the Lamb and God has “delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol” Praise be to God