God is committed to you.
Notes
Transcript
Intro - “I need you on my team” - Often we forget that no matter what God is on your team, because you are on His. It’s not your team, it’s His team, and in the Psalm we see how he is committed to His people.
To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph. 1 Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob! 2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp. 3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. 4 For it is a statute for Israel, a rule of the God of Jacob. 5 He made it a decree in Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a language I had not known: 6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket. 7 In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah 8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me! 9 There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. 10 I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11 “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. 13 Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! 14 I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. 15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. 16 But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
When we look at this Psalm we see that the people of Israel were on God’s team and because of that God was committed to them. As we look at this text today in depth what we will see is that not only was God committed to them. God is committed to you.
1. God is committed to you in guidance. (vs. 1-5)
Sing to God (vs. 1-2)
When? (vs. 3)
Feast of Trumpets
1st day of 7th month
End of one year
Beginning of another
Feast of Booths
15th day of 7th month
Remembering that God delivered them
Remembering that God was with them in the wilderness
Why?
God commanded it. (vs. 4-5)
God is commanding His people to remember and continue to walk in His guidance and instruction.
This is important for us to notice today because God is showing Israel that He desires to continue to guide them by the instruction He has given them and he does that, not just through His law, but through specific moments such as feasts for specific purposes.
Obviously we don’t have feasts, because all the feasts were shadows of the person and work of Jesus. He is the fulfillment of these things and because He is the fulfillment we do not observe them, but that does not mean that the principle of what was happening has been done away with. It is now, in its perfect form. God has called us to be a people who weekly gather to submit ourselves to the instruction of God’s Word and remember what He has done for us through the person and work of Christ.
GOSPEL
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
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.
From the very beginning God’s people gathered for these purposes because the principle remains. God is committed to you in guidance. He desires you to be a person who lives according to His guidance and one main way he does that is through the gathering on the Lord’s day as you sit under the preaching of His Word.
2. God is committed to you in faithfulness. (vs. 6-10)
Here in the Psalm God calls the people to look to the past so they can see the present clearly.
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket. 7 In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
Took them out of Egypt
Spoke to them at Sinai
Proved He was among them in Meribah
Look back, Remember, Reflect, gain perspective, etc.
All through the OT we see this principle and especially in the Psalms.
Why? We are in the moment people and in moments like this God is teaching us to be all moments people.
Larry Bird and Michael Jordan vs. Lebron and the GOAT argument.
The only way to understand this is to pull back and look at it all. You cannot say LeBron is the GOAT when you have not looked at those who came before him.
Here we see God saying, in this moment I want you to look back and gain perspective on who I am. Remember what I have done over and over again. I not only have given you guidance and instruction I have been faithful to you in all circumstances.
Then in light of that, God says, see my faithfulness now.
9 There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. 10 I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
God says, don’t look to other things now, I have been faithful to you and I will be faithful to you. I desire to provide your needs now.
God is committed to you in guidance and faithfulness. We see His heart. Now the question must be asked, Did Israel listen? What we see to that question in the following verses is, no, they didn’t but even when they didn’t God was still committed to them in love, and we see that,
3. God is committed to you in love. (vs. 11-16)
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.
They did not follow His guidance and Instruction.
They did not trust in His faithfulness.
We must pay attention to this. If we are not obeying God’s Word and are trusting is self, the world, or other things, God takes notice.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.
He said, ok. I’m still sovereign, I’m still in control, and now you will learn.
This never says,
These people stopped being religious
These people stopped having emotional moments where God was exalted.
These people stopped claiming to be Jews.
It says, They stopped obeying, they stopped truly following.
Jesus says,
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
A proof of being committed to God is not just superficial identification but internal submission revealed in action.
God cares so much about this that in love he disciplines so He may bless.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! 14 I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. 15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. 16 But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
People do not like God’s discipline but as we see here God does it for such a great reason!
When we look at these three things today it should cause us to pause and reflect in three ways,
Am I seeking and submitting to His guidance?
Am I trusting in His faithfulness or making my own way?
Am I learning to love His discipline so I may follow Him better?
In this Psalm we see how God is committed to us because we are on His team, may He find us faithful and grateful of this truth.