The Power of Faith

Each year since I have been here we have taken the four weeks preceding Christmas and observed the Advent. We’ve taken time to look at different aspects of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. But this year I’ve come to believe that something is missing in our advent celebration. I observed last week that really what the Advent season reveals in each of its facets is the underlying current of God’s faithfulness to us as His children. But what about our faith in Him? Does Advent not also point to the faith - that admittedly is a gift of God given to believers - that each of us express in God. That this story is true. That it has impacted our lives and that we have been profoundly changed by it.

This morning we will continue our view of Advent through the lens of the Psalms with a look at one of David’s thanksgiving Psalms.

Psalm 138 CSB

Of David. I will give you thanks with all my heart; I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings. I will bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your constant love and truth. You have exalted your name and your promise above everything else. On the day I called, you answered me; you increased strength within me. All the kings on earth will give you thanks, Lord, when they hear what you have promised. They will sing of the Lord’s ways, for the Lord’s glory is great. Though the Lord is exalted, he takes note of the humble; but he knows the haughty from a distance. If I walk into the thick of danger, you will preserve my life from the anger of my enemies. You will extend your hand; your right hand will save me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Lord, your faithful love endures forever; do not abandon the work of your hands.

Faith is not normally included as one of the Advent readings but it should be. We would not know hope unless we first had faith in a God who keeps His word. We would not know peace unless we first had faith that God has provided a way for forgiveness to take place and that we are kept secure in His hand until the day we stand before Him. We would not know joy unless we first had faith that the condemnation we once lived under has been fully removed from us.

Puritan John Flavel expressed this thought this way

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans (All Depends on Faith)

All other graces, like birds in the nest, depend upon what faith brings in to them; take away faith, and all the graces languish and die: joy, peace, hope, patience, and all the rest, depend upon faith.JOHN FLAVEL

Without faith even the miraculous story of the Christ child born of a virgin in a little backwater suburb of Jerusalem would seem so far fetched that we would rightly be wary of following any system built on such a tale. What we will find as we examine this Psalm though is that our faith is not some vacuous emotion that is built on whispy tales of maybe and might have. Instead our faith is built of the sure foundation of a God who has acted in the past and continues to act on behalf of His people. What we will find is not only a Psalm of thanksgiving for the many bounties of God but also a testimony to three critical aspects of faith in our lives - faith rewarded, faith reported and, the one yet to come, is faith ultimately revealed.

Faith Rewarded

David opens this Psalm with exuberant thankfulness to God. God has redeemed David from some challenging situation - which one of the many that he faced during his life and reign as king is unknown. David holds nothing back. He confesses that He is thankful and worships God with abandon that includes his whole person. He thanks God with all his heart. From the very seat of his emotions David exalts the Lord. Every fiber of his being is turned towards God in praise and this compels him allow this worship to spill over.

He lifts his voice in song of praise before the heavenly beings. Other translations render this phrase as ‘gods’ - this could be a reference to the spiritual realm or to the kings of surrounding nations. In Psalm 82:6 the Psalmist refers to the children of Israel as gods

Psalm 82:6 CSB

I said, “You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.

The challenge and the solution are both in the close ancient identification of nations with the deities they worshipped. In this case the word elohim could refer to the gods of the surrounding nations of to the kings of those nations - but the point is that David unabashedly raises his voice in praise of God presuming His supremacy over all usurpers whether human or spiritual. David’s confession of God’s faithfulness by necessity rejects the claims that the faithfulness of those other deities is valid as well. As we asserted last week - there can be only one and that is the Lord.

Not only is he emotionally invested in worship, not only is his voice lifted in worship but his body is subjected in worship as he bows towards the holy temple. Now if this is a Psalm of David and the temple were not built until the time of Solomon how is that David claims to be bent towards the Temple? What makes the most sense is that he is referring to the tabernacle as God’s temple and dwelling place amongst His people.

David bows to give thanks to God and praise Him for an exhibition of His constant love and truth. The word for love here is hesed - a testimony to the patient, consistent love of God for His chosen people. David is testifying to and thanking God for His consistent love for His people and His faithful work on their behalf. He also thanks God for His truth - this is probably better translated as faithfulness and speaks to God’s constancy, His steadfastness or faithfulness towards His people.

What is striking is that David doesn’t recount the exact event that he is praising God for but rather the qualities of God that remain the same regardless of circumstances. This comes from the very nature of God. A nature that is bound up in both His name and His promise. A literal rendering of the end of verse 2 says “You have magnified Your Word above all Your name.” This has caused all manner of angst among commentators and efforts to try and modify the text. How could anything be elevated above the name of God is the question that is posed - and it is a justified concern. Except that this is not what David is doing here. There is no separation between the name of God and the execution or the truth of His Word or promise. The writer of Hebrews makes this clear

Hebrews 6:13–15 CSB

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself: I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you. And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise.

The validity of God’s promise was wrapped up in His name. The truth of His words was validated by His name. The words of God cannot be separated from or elevated above the holiness of His name.

David having called upon the Lord received an answer. He called on the Lord out of faith and is rewarded by an answer. What a great promise this is - even when we have to wait for it.

The reformer John Calvin said this

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Reformation (God’s Promises Require Faith)

There is no place for faith if we expect God to fulfill immediately what he promises. It is hence the trial of faith to acquiesce in God’s word, when its accomplishment does in no way appear.JOHN CALVIN

We can have faith, based on the constant love and faithfulness of God, that when we call on Him we will have an answer. Often the challenge is that we do not ask - either because we think God wont answer, that He hasn’t answered or that we are afraid of what His answer will be.

But the prayer offered in faith says “not my will but thine be done”. It is the prayer offered in faith grounded in the constant love of God and His faithful character, the sure knowledge of His desire for His glory and our good that enables a response of thankfulness.

300 Quotations for Preachers (Faith Is to Prayer as Feather Is to Arrow)

Faith is to prayer what the feather is to the arrow: without it prayer will not hit the mark.J. C. RYLE

The boy’s bow and the fletchings being messed up - the arrow doesn’t fly straight and true.

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Reformation (Prayer the Chief Exercise of Faith and Hope)

To call upon God is the chief exercise of faith and hope; and it is in this way that we obtain from God every blessing.JOHN CALVIN

But I must offer a caution here - David writes this song of thanksgiving to God in response to a positive resolution to the prayers he has been offering. We are often in the same mindset - God answers a petition and we are effusive in our thanksgiving for all that He has done. The challenge for us is can we be just as thankful when the answer is not what we were expecting?

Sovereign Grace music has a song that poses these questions

Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings, Yet not welcome any pain? Shall I thank You for days of sunshine yet grumble in days of rain (or snow)? Shall I love You in times of plenty Then leave You in days of drought? Shall I trust when I reap a harvest but when winter winds blow then doubt?

The challenge for us as Christians in these days that we live in - these days that seem so bereft of Godliness and righteousness in our world - is to remember that our faith is rewarded by every answer to prayer that God gives us - whether it is an answer that meets our satisfaction or not. We are to, as David does, express thankfulness not for His answer but for His constant love and faithfulness and the sure knowledge that even when the answer doesn’t fit our particular definition of good that He is working through His constant love and faithfulness to us for His glory and for our good. It is to this truth that our faith is to testify or report.

Faith Reported

David demonstrates for us here the value of personal testimony. Having lifted his heart in thanksgiving, having extolled the Lord by singing His praises and bowing his very body in submission and worship of God, David’s testimony is evident to the nations and it has an effect. He writes that all the kings on earth will give you thanks Lord when they hear what you have promised.

One supposition regarding this Psalm is that it was written in response to the promise of the Lord to David in 2 Samuel 7:9

2 Samuel 7:9 CSB

I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a great name for you like that of the greatest on the earth.

If that is the case it is a bit difficult for me to understand how the kings of the nations around David would be thanking God for making David a perpetual king and one whose name is among the greatest on earth. But this is the testimony that David gives us - that when they hear the promises that the Lord has made that they will give thanks as well. They have been witness to David’s praise and thankfulness exhibited in the early verses of this Psalm and now lift their own verses in response to what God has done.

We encourage biblical evangelism here as we recognize that it is the Word of God that does the work of God in people’s lives through the Holy Spirit. But I think we sometimes may err too far on the side of removing ourselves from the equation. What I mean is this - Don’t underestimate the value of your story. I’m sure a couple of you are tuning me out right now or that I’m ruffling some feathers by saying this. Let me clarify what I’m not saying - I’m not saying that your story is more valuable than the Word of God in the conversion of sinners. What I am saying is that just as David testifies to the constant love of God and His faithfulness to David through His promises - through the very life of David, through David’s story and the proofs that are offered in his life to the faithfulness of God - we should be willing to share and testify to how God has worked and exhibited His faithful love to us and in us.

There is not truth to the old canard “Preach the Gospel always, if necessary use words” - #NotStFrancisAssisi. The Word of God tells us a completely different story. We must speak the truth, we must share the Gospel using words and a part of that sharing is demonstrating what God has done in your life. Giving a faithful report to the work that has been accomplished in you.

We just witnessed a testimony to the constant love of God and His faithfulness in the lives of these individuals who were baptized this morning.

Now again - let me reiterate - Jesus saves. It is His truth that effects change in the lives of people. Romans 10 explicitly demonstrates this for us

Romans 10:9 CSB

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:14 CSB

How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:17 CSB

So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Yet one of the avenues that God has chosen to work through is our stories - not to glorify us but to point to what He has done in our lives and to glorify Himself in and through us.

The adoration of the kings in this Psalm is well placed. Their response is a result of hearing the story of David, hearing the truth of God and responding appropriately to His Lordship. It should be our deepest desire that those we are brought into contact with who are not saved, if we share our story with them and if they hear God’s truth from us, would have a similar reaction. Because lets face it - one way or another they will confess that Jesus is Lord.

Philippians 2:9–11 CSB

For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

If the last 24 months have taught us anything it is the truths of these words from Charles Spurgeon

2,200 Quotations from the Writings of Charles H. Spurgeon: Arranged Topically or Textually and Indexed by Subject, Scripture, and People (Evangelism)

410You cannot stop their dying, but, oh, that God might help you to stop their being damned! You cannot stop the breath from going out of their bodies, but, oh, if the gospel could but stop their souls from going down to destruction!

One way to do this is to give a faithful report of what God has done in your life - for His glory and as a testimony to His constant love and faithfulness - and allow Him to work as He will until we come to the day when our faith is ultimately revealed and completed.

Faith Ultimately Revealed

David writes that if he were to walk into the thick of danger that the Lord would preserve his life from the anger of his enemies and that the Lord will extend His hand and His right hand will save him. Our days are numbered and controlled by God’s design for our lives. Nothing can take our lives from us until such time as He has determined for us to be called from this life of toil and strife to a life of peace if you are a believer in Christ.

But we must recognize that our lives here are surrounded by danger and those who are our enemies. Just this week a Christian photographer was stripped of his livelihood because he lost a court case regarding some wedding photos he refused to take. We have heard many stories like this in recent years and I fear they will only multiply. But we can rest in this - that the Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. Paul will later echo this sentiment as he writes to the church in Philippi

Philippians 1:6 CSB

I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Just as God has always remained true to His constant love and faithfulness, as David began this Psalm extolling and praising God for these attributes, so he will remain faithful until the end. He will fulfill His purpose for each of us, He will remain faithful in His love for us and He will not abandon the work of His hands.

Ultimately God’s purpose for each of us is fulfilled in Christ and through Christ

Ephesians 2:8–9 CSB

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast.

In the babe born in the manger God has most clearly demonstrated His constant love and faithfulness to us. In the man on the cross God has fulfilled His purpose for each of us - the purchase of salvation that brings us to Him. It is through the cross that faith is made available to us.

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans (Faith Is an Effect of the Death of Christ)

Christ did not die for any upon condition, if they do believe; but he died for all God’s elect, that they should believe, and believing have eternal life. Faith itself is among the principal effects and fruits of the death of Christ.JOHN OWEN

It is through our submission to the babe in the manger, through our submission to the man on the cross that faith is made operable in our lives. It is this faith that brings us to God, that compels us to praise Him for His mighty works, that results in the reward of answered prayer whether that answer is yea or nay. It is this faith that compels us to report to those around us what God has done for us and to be used by Him to lead others to Him, to point to His glory and to praise His constant love and faithfulness. It is this faith that will ultimately be revealed when our faith is made sight and we behold the one who appears as a lamb that has been slain on our behalf.

It is this faith that is the foundation of all that we experience in Christ and through Christ this Christmas season. It is the foundation of all of our hope, peace, joy and love. It is found in the gift of faith that is given to us and in the demonstration of constant love and faithfulness that God gives in the birth of a child.

Related Media

Related Sermons