Song of the Sabbath
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
We are going to work through this entire chapter, but I want to call your attention to only one verse, it is the main verse this morning so to speak,
4 For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work:
I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
Here is a Psalm that was used as a song in connection with Israel's worship on the Sabbath Day. You can see that in the superscription. I want to preach for a while this morning on this “Song of the Sabbath”...
Just a couple weeks ago, I taught a Sunday School lesson about the Sabbath day…As New Testament believers, we don’t observe the Sabbath, we are not Jews, it’s not a day given to us to keep, we observe the Lord’s Day which is today, Sunday, the first day of the week…We keep it because it’s the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
Ever since the resurrection of Christ, the first day of the week, The Lord’s Day, became a day of fellowship, breaking of bread, and preaching of the Word of God.
Warren Wiersbe wrote “The sabbath relates to the old creation and was given expressly to Israel; the Lord’s Day relates to the new creation and belongs especially to the church. The sabbath speaks of law as six days of labor which are followed by rest, but the Lord’s day speaks of grace, for we begin the week with rest that is followed by works”
In this wonderful Psalm, we find the greatness of God's works, and especially His righteous government of the world as manifested in the overthrow of the wicked, and the prosperity and final triumph of the righteous.
1-The Praise (1-3)
1-The Praise (1-3)
1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,
And to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning,
And thy faithfulness every night,
3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery;
Upon the harp with a solemn sound.
These three verses set the tone for all that follows…This is the heart which is filled with gratitude that sings the songs of praise.
In these verses we see:
The Subjects of Praise, "The Lord" and "O most High;"
"It is a good thing to give thinks unto the LORD,...” This is the highest of all occupations!
It is good because thanks to our Creator is appropriate.
It is good because thanks to our Covenant Redeemer is fitting.
It is good because thanks to the One who blesses and delivers us is right.
It is good because thanks to the One who is all-good is always good.
It is good because thanks to God does us benefit.
It is good because thanks to God sets an example for others to do the same.
It is good because a mere attitude of thankfulness is not enough.
We see the Subjects of Praise; we also see:
The Seasons of Praise, "In the morning" and "every night;"
He demands our time! There are two times of the day when it is especially appropriate to be taken up with God.
“To shew forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning”—that’s a sensible thing to do. Put the day into His gracious, loving hands. We certainly don’t know what a day may bring forth; I could give you story after story after story…None of us know what’s around the corner, but I can tell you it’s wise to put the day into the Lord’s care and rest the day in Him…If you do that, then whatever lies ahead, you’ll face it with Him.
“And Thy faithfulness every night.” There is something appropriate about linking the morning with a consideration of God’s lovingkindness and the evening with a consideration of His faithfulness. At night, you can look back throughout the day and see how the Lord was faithful. The day might not always go as we planned, but we can look back and thank Him for not always giving us what we want, but giving us what was best for us!
Those are the Seasons of Praise, and then we see:
The Songs of Praise, "Upon the ten stringed instruments."
He desires the testimony of your life! I know this is talking about musical instruments, but I thought about something very interesting here…At least it was for me. The Bible says, “Upon an instrument of ten strings...”
I want you to think about something here, we all have an instrument of 10 strings…It’s these bodies the Lord has given us!
We all have:
2 eyes - To Watch for the Lord
2 ears - To Welcome the Lord
2 hands - To Work for the Lord
2 feet - To Walk for the Lord
1 mouth - To Witness for the Lord
1 heart - To Worship the Lord
If you do the math on that, that equals 10...
We see The Praise in all that, but looking on, we see:
2-The Work (4-6)
2-The Work (4-6)
4 For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work:
I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
This is the basis for the praise!
The Psalmist says the Lord has made him glad through His work!
5 O Lord, how great are thy works!
And thy thoughts are very deep.
6 A brutish man knoweth not;
Neither doth a fool understand this.
Just think about creation for a moment…
The earth rotates at about one thousand miles per hour. If it turned at one hundred miles per hour our days and nights would be ten times as long. The sun would burn up all vegetation in the daytime, and frost would kill anything remaining at night.
If the sun were twice as hot as it is, or half as hot as it is, the earth would be a red hot cinder or else a sphere of eternal ice.
Suppose the earth were much closer to the sun than it is, or much farther away; again, life would be impossible because of the forbidding temperature.
The proportion of sea to land is about three-quarter sea to one-quarter land. If the proportion had been reversed there would be neither sufficient evaporation or rainfall, and the world would become a desert.
The Psalmist continues and says, he will triumph in the works of the Lord’s hands…You think about this:
Those lovely hands of His that fashioned Adam’s clay, that were placed upon the heads of little children, that broke the bread beside the sea, that touched the leper, now bear the scars of Calvary. That was the ultimate work of those hands—to create a way for us to be delivered out of sin and into the glorious presence of God!
We can praise Him then, for the things His hands have performed.
The Lord's plans are as marvelous as His acts ; His designs are as profound as His works are vast . The Creator of the world is the Ruler of the world. His works are great, and His thoughts are deep.
Verse 4 tells us that the believer is made glad by the works of God, while Verse 6 reveals that the carnal man is bewildered. God made man a little lower than the angels, and man has been trying to get lower ever since .
Men who turn their back upon God become more like animals every day. That’s
The Unrepentant soon becomes Unreceptive, and finally Unresponsive to spiritual things. We are daily becoming more like that which we worship.
This song of the sabbath has something to say about the praise, the work, and thirdly,
3-The Wicked (7-9)
3-The Wicked (7-9)
Verse 6 reveals the attitude of the wicked, while these verses record his end. God will always have the last say in the affairs of men.
7 When the wicked spring as the grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity do flourish;
It is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
8 But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.
9 For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord,
For, lo, thine enemies shall perish;
All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
Prosperity in the life of the wicked is frequently the forerunner of destruction, for it causes them to provoke Divine wrath by:
Hardness of heart, as Pharaoh.
Pride, as Nebuchadnezzar.
A haughty hatred of the saints, as Haman.
Worldly security, as the rich fool.
Self-exaltation, as Herod.
Notice the description of the wicked's ruin: "Scattered," "perish," and "destroyed," are the words which tell of their end;
Spurgeon wrote, “Destruction ‘for ever’ is a portion far too terrible for the mind to realise. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, the full terror of the wrath to come!”
and, I want to point out that the wicked are the cause of their own fate. They disintegrate from within before they are destroyed from without.
This Psalm tells us about the Praise, the Works of God, the Wicked, and lastly, we see:
4-The Righteous (10-15)
4-The Righteous (10-15)
10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn:
I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies,
And mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.
Notice that little, three-letter word there at the beginning of verse 10. "But," reverses the previous picture. The wicked are scattered and perish, but His friends are honored and blest .
The horn was a symbol of strength and might. The wicked are destroyed, but the righteous have their strength exalted.
The unicorn here speaks of a wild ox…This was noted as a strong and untameable beast.
As the wild ox tossed its horn in triumph, so the psalmist expected to triumph. It was a theme for praise! How could he possibly lose? No matter how many or how strong his foes, no matter how dark and ominous his circumstances—he was on the winning side praise God!
12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree:
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those that be planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
They shall be fat and flourishing;
The ungodly spring up like the grass (v . 7), and perish just as quickly; but the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar. The righteous grow slowly, but their growth is sure.
The palm tree flourishes where other trees would wither and die.
This is the picture of the godly soul . The influences that try him and threaten to crush him, by the grace of God will actually promote his growth.
He grows rich by loss, strong by trial, patient by tribulation, and joyous by suffering.
The cedar is also used as an emblem of the progress of the soul, again, it grows slowly, but steadily.
15 To shew that the Lord is upright:
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
This is why the people of God live in a blessed way that gives honor and attention to God (bear fruit). It isn’t to draw attention to themselves as wonderful people, but to shout out that the LORD is upright.
Spurgeon wrote, “That the Lord is upright.’ Well, how does the fruit-bearing of an aged Christian show that? Why, it shows that God has kept his promise. He has promised that he will never leave them nor forsake them. There you see it. He has promised that when they are weak they shall be strong. There you see it. He has promised that if they seek him they shall not lack any good thing. There you see it.”
The Psalmist concludes this Song of the Sabbath with “…He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”
God is a Friend without Fault and a Father without Failure.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Let me say in closing that only the redeemed can offer thanks and give praises unto the Lord. The one who has been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ has been made a worshipper, and he alone has the right and liberty to enter into the holiest and there extend his gratitude unto the Lord.
If you’re not saved this morning, you’re in the category of the wicked who will one day be destroyed, but let me tell you that doesn’t have to be your fate this morning…You can be saved.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
You can be saved today and move on to a life of worship!
Christian, your response this morning should be worship! We are all created to bring glory and honor to God…We are born for worship…How is your worship today?