Never Stop Singing His Praises

Title: Never Stop Singing His Praises

Text: Psalm 95.

Introduction: Psalm 1

This is our second week in the Psalms, and last week Joe led us in Psalm 1. Even though it only includes 6 verses, it offers great counsel and instruction for God’s people.

True blessing in this life is not found in seeking all this world has to offer, but instead blessing flows from delighting in the Lord and His Word.

The person that remains and abides in the Word of God is like a tree planted by stream of water: He/She is never lacking and produces great fruit in season.

Meaning, those who abide in the Lord and in His Word are satisfied in Him! And He works through them for the sake of His name and gospel.

In contrast, we live in a world completely opposed to our God that works tirelessly to pull our time and attention away from Him. We all are sinful in nature, but unrepentant sinners who stand before our God in judgement will justly perish and depart from God forever.

This Week: Psalm 95

Quick Question: What causes you to lose focus in your walk with the Lord?

Technology

Economy or Politics

Our Jobs

Our Families

Our Circumstances

Regardless the topic, countless things are constantly working for our attention, time, and focus in this world.

In this world, our Lord and Savior has given His bride, the church, a mission to make much of His name and His gospel by making disciples among all nations, and only then His second advent will occur. .

In summary, we have a lot of work to do.

Paul’s Toil and Aim in Ministry

Colossians 1:28–29 ESV

28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Progress towards a goal takes hard work, and successful work requires focus and the right perspective.

In response to this Psalm today, we need to ask ourselves:

What consistently distracts me from seeking the Lord and His kingdom above all other things?

What is consistently pulling my focus away from delighting in the Lord and His Word?

What is keeping me from continually singing His praises?

Psalm 95 ESV

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

OPENING and BACKGROUND

The author of Psalm 95 is unknown, though many have made certain speculations based on its context. From its references to the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, some believe it was authored by David specifically for the Feast of Booths. We some some evidence of this in Hebrews 4 where the author talks about entering the rest of the Lord.

Feast of Booths

This was one of Israel’s three great annual festivals that was celebrated at the time of the agricultural harvest. It’s primary focus was a celebration of gratitude for Yahweh’s present and historical provision.

Psalm 95 is known as one of the enthronement psalms, which calls for the people to acknowledge the Lord as the great King above all other gods. This psalm also finishes with a warning to those in danger of missing the promised rest of the Lord.

I pray that we will be reminded today of the endless reasons we have to continually sing His praises because our eternal rest and salvation is found in the Lord, the King of Kings, the Creator of all things, and our Great Shepherd.

For those today who are not experiencing this kind of rest, today is the day for you to come in repentance to the Lord instead of continuing with a hardened heart.

1. Praise the Lord Together (v.1-2)

Psalm 95:1–2 “1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”

(v.1-2)

The psalmist opens with a call for God’s people to “come” together. Both then and now, the people of God are charged with coming together and uniting together around their love for the Lord and His Word.

This call to “come” to the Lord is repeated may times throughout this psalm, but initially the call is come and “let us sing to the LORD.”

The psalmist continues saying “let us make a joyful noise”. The people of God have reason to be joyful in their worship!

The Epistle of Joy

If you were paying attention the last couple months, we just walked through Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, known as the Epistle of Joy. And it’s no secret what brought the apostle such joy and pleasure: The advancement of the gospel through faithful followers of Christ who live humbly and boldly for the sake of Christ’s name and not their own.

We have every reason to join together in song and praise the rock of our salvation! Some of us are far better in song than others, but that is far from the point. We should be a people that long to gather and praise the Lord together.

This is not just an extra curricular activity of church membership that we sometimes look for reasons to neglect. The weekly gathering of the body of Christ is the heartbeat of the church!

Hebrews 10:24–25 “24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Coming together often to sing the Word, pray the Word, and hear the teaching of the Word together is how our Lord has chosen to use His church to stir up one another to love and good works.

If we are often not prioritizing this time together, then I don’t think we quite understand how our God works in and through His people.

Praising the Lord Together

Psalm 66:1–4 ESV

1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth; 2 sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! 3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. 4 All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Selah

The Rock of Our Salvation

The joyfulness of our praise is solely in exaltation of our God who is the ROCK of our salvation.

Describing the Lord as our ROCK communicates the idea of strength and security. Your salvation and my salvation today and for all eternity is never in question if our hope and faith is in Christ alone.

This reminds me of the transformation we see in the life of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1-2. For years Hannah sought security and hope in bearing a child and fulfilling a certain societal role. The Lord brought transformation to Hannah’s heart and from such work came this prayer.

1 Samuel 2:1–2 ESV

1 And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

Hannah comes before the Lord with thanksgiving and praise for what only He could provide! In her despair, God met her greatest need while also meeting the desire of her heart.

Hannah spends the rest of this prayer or psalm singing the Lord’s praises for His provision, His character, and His care for His people.

APPLICATION

Come! Let Us Praise the Lord Together.

Is this how we think? Do we seek out reasons in our lives to exalt His name as Hannah did, or are we often focusing on our misfortunes?

The call here from the psalmist is simple and clear: Come together as the people of God to sing the praises of God because as the Rock of our salvation, he is infinitely worthy of our joyful noise and songs exalting His goodness and grace.

2. Praise the King of Kings (v.3)

Psalm 95:3 “3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.”

Why is God worthy of the praise attributed to Him in v.1-2?

The God of the Bible is the one true eternally existent God! The name used for God all throughout the psalm is JEHOVAH, meaning the existing one, which is the proper name of the one true God.

The text here describes Him as a “great God” and “a great King above all gods”. This description here exalts the God of Israel above the gods of all other nations. The psalmist is not giving credence to the pagan gods of the surrounding nations. Such gods are just fictions of the imaginations of mankind (EBC).

Consider the Song of Moses in Exodus 15. Moses and the people of Israel sing a song together to the Lord, exalting His name and His great work of deliverance from Egypt and His judgement of the wicked.

Exodus 15:11 ESV

11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

Such praise to the God of Israel is represented all throughout the Book of Psalms. The people of God were regularly called to remember the Lord for who He truly is as the ruler and sustainer of all things, doing mighty works than can only be attributed to His name and for His glory.

Psalm 86:8 “8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.”

Psalm 93:4 “4 Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty!”

Psalm 96:4 “4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.”

Psalm 97:9 “9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.”

APPLICATION

The King has spoken by the prophets, through His Son, and through His Word (the scriptures) to us His creation.

He has full dominion and authority over this world and everything in it, including me and you.

By His authority in heaven and on earth, the King will one day return in power and might to justly judge mankind.

On that day, only one thing will matter when we stand before the King of Kings……Are you in Christ?

Has your heart been transformed from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh? Have you forsaken your sin, yourself, and your shame for the forgiveness and eternal life found only in Jesus?

Many will stand before the King hopeful that their work, their “goodness”, or even their earthly trinkets are good enough to purchase their salvation, but they will depart from the Lord hopeless and finally understanding that true hope is built on nothing less that faith in King Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

Come! Praise the King of Kings!

3. Praise the Creator (v.4-6)

This is a very basic idea and a primary concept in the Christian faith - “The world did not emerge by means of a cosmic accident” but instead “it came about by the direct, supernatural work of a Creator”. (Everyone a Theologian)

This is a main focus in our Toddler Catechism each week in our Family Worship material. God created me, you, and all things for His glory.

Certainly this is a basic belief in the Christian faith, but lets not so easily pass by the reality that our great God created everything from nothing!

Something From Nothing

Though it is not universally accepted, for the most part even those who want nothing to do with the church confess that our universe had a beginning in time.

The ideas that the universe is self existent and eternal, or even self-created are absurd and contradictory notions. This universe was also not made by CHANCE, which seems to be a popular belief. To observe the order of our universe, the earth and the life within it, and the complexity of humanity and attribute all of that to “odds” is illogical at best and utterly ridiculous.

Our great God created all things from nothing.

Genesis 1:1–5 ESV

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

I wrestled with the idea of reading the entire creation story because it perfectly shows the majesty and magnitude of His power and His awesome deeds!

The greatest, most daunting things in this world (the heights of the mountains and the depths of the seas) are His and they perfectly declare His glory day after day.

Psalm 19:1 ESV

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

The proclamation of God as Creator of all things in Genesis 1 establishes God as Ruler and King of all things. He has all authority in heaven and on earth. There was never been a single atom outside of His sovereignty or control in this universe, which He brought about effortlessly with mere words from His lips.

If this was not enough to convince us of His praiseworthiness in creation, consider the Lord’s words to Job in Job 38.

Job 38:1–18 ESV

1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9 when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’? 12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, 13 that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? 14 It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. 15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. 16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.

From nothing, He made all things. The Creator and sustainer of the entire universe is worthy of our praise today and forever.

V.6 summarizes an appropriate response for God’s people to this reality. The psalmist again calls for the corporate gathering of God’s people, united around the worship and continual praise of their God.

Psalm 95:6 “6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”

4. Praise the Great Shepherd (v.7a)

Based on the words used in v.7 to describe our God and His people, the argument of King David as the author of this psalm begins to grow. David himself was a shepherd, a keeper and protector of His father’s sheep who could not protect themselves.

David describes the people of God as “the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand”. We are His! And as His sheep, we are cared and provided for more than we could ever imagine.

Psalm 23 best describes this kind of relationship between the Great Shepherd and His sheep.

Psalm 23 ESV

A Psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

(v.1)

With the Lord, the King of Kings and Creator of all, as our shepherd, what else do we need? What guidance or protection can this world or its inhabitants provide us that is greater than what we lready have with our Shepherd?

Our Keeper, Sustainer, and Provider is lacking in nothing and neither are His sheep when we seek Him.

Psalm 34:8–10 “8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”

(v.2)

The work of the Lord is clearly on display here as he provides ultimately what His sheep need. The ideas of lying down in green pastures and being bed beside still waters are metaphors for the for the fulfillment and rest found only in the salvation of God.

Consider the Lord Jesus’ words in John 10 when instructing the Pharisees of the only way to eternal life.

John 10:1–11 (ESV)

1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He is the Good Shepherd leading the sheep by His grace through the door and into His pasture where true living waters of rest (v.2b) can only be found.

(v.3)

By His Word and through the grace of His gospel alone, our souls are restored from death to new life in Christ, the good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.

(v.4)

Even though we walk through valleys of deep darkness and in the midst of trouble, we have nothing to fear! The Great Shepherd is with His sheep.

Isaiah 43:2 “2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

His rod and staff are the protection and correction of the truth found in the scriptures, which bring much comfort to us.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

APPLICATION

Join me church family in Praising the King of Kings, the Creator of all things, and the Great Shepherd of His people.

We do this together on Sunday Mornings, in our Community Groups, during Family Worship in our homes, in our Discipling Relationships, through our Reach HG Ministry, in service and care for one another and those in our community, and to the nations.

The church of God praises the name of God and the works of God together.

5. Praise That Does Not Cease (v.7b-11)

Psalm 95:7–8 “7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,”

There is a noticeable shift in the psalm at the end of v.7 where the call to worship mindset we see in v.1-7 transitions to a warning for God’s people.

These verse are also quoted almost word for word in Hebrews 3 and are again referred to in Hebrews 4. We will come back to this in a moment.

What is the warning?

The psalmist points the people of Israel back to Exodus 17 when their fathers were wandering in the wilderness after being delivered from slavery in Egypt.

Do Not Harden Your Hearts Against God

The psalmist draws their mind to a specific situation. Consider the people of Israel and their deliverance from Egypt. The Lord hears their cries and works miraculous things through the prophet Moses to result in their deliverance.

The 9 plagues and then Passover.

A pillar of clouds lead them by day and a pillar of fire by night.

The crossing of the Red Sea

Bread from heaven

The Lord tested by Israel

Exodus 17:1–7 ESV

1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

“Meribah and Massah” describe the location of the people of Israel’s rebellion. Even after all that has occured, their shortage of water quickly turns their hearts to anger with Moses and doubt of the Lord’s provision

The psalmist warns: Do not make the grave error that your fathers before you did! I provided for them. They witnessed the miraculous that could only be attributed to God, the Creator and sustainer of all things.

The praises of His goodness, grace, mercy, and provision ceased and they began to question His will. They quickly forgot everything that merited their continual praise of God and instead allowed their circumstances to lead them to unbelief.

The Author of Hebrews

The author of Hebrews uses this same example with his readers. He suggested that their inclination to doubt the Lord and return to Judaism was parallel with their fathers’ inclination to doubt the Lord and go back to Egypt.

The Lord kept these grumbling people from entering the rest prepared for them in the land promised to Abraham and his descendants.

APPLICATION

“Today, if you hear his voice…”

God’s grace and patience with us is interwoven within this warning. If you are hearing the Word of God and His truth spoken into your life, you are blessed! The Lord has sustained you and preserved you into a new day that He has made.

The Israelites’ grave error was ceasing to continue praising the Lord. And further they put the Lord to the test saying Moses had brought them our of Egypt just to die. They had seen God work miraculously in His creation, and still they gave way to doubt.

The same can easily happen to you and I.

Ecclesiastes 7:14 (ESV)

14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other,…”

The shifting of our circumstances does not call into questions His authority or His goodness.

Instead, let us be a people that encounters the best and worst things of this life, and we continue to cry “Come, let us worship our Lord together!” He continues to work through all things to bring about good for those who love Him and by His perfect will He will redeem His people fully.

GOSPEL

Do not miss the door today that leads to eternal rest in Christ.

Heb 3-4.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Never Stop Singing His Praises

I have no better exhortation for you today or tomorrow that this one. He is the one and only true God, King of Kings, Creator of all, Shepherd of His Sheep.

He is worth our lives devoted to praising Him together.