Psalm 115, “Living for the Glory of God”
Notes
Transcript
Psalm 115
Don’t read the text this time.
Big Idea - Living for the glory of God aligns me with the blessings of God.
Being a Child of God means (in part) that we are children who receive blessings from Him.
As Baptists - Sometimes we push so hard against the abuse of the wealth and prosperity of the charismatics that we miss that God does greatly bless those who who follow Him.
As a Christ Follower you receive many free blessings from God. Blessing that billions of people will never experience.
Do you want the blessings of God in your life? Then align yourself with God by living for His glory.
Small example of a blessing
I regularly pray for my parents who are on the last lap of life.
“God will you give them a great peace in their life as they walk with you.”
I ask God to bless their soul with peace.
I want them to walk deeply with the Lord and have peace in their final days.
I fully believe God will answer my prayer.
I believe that God will bless them.
My parents can be part of the answer. How?
They align themselves with the blessing of God as they live for the glory of God.
Transition - How can you align yourself with God’s blessing?
Live for the glory of God.
That starts with, Exulting God who is immovable in power.
vs. 1-3, Exult God who is immovable in power
Read 1-3
The psalm starts out by nailing down the fact that there is no on like our God.
There is none more faithful in love.
There is no one more faithful, steady, reliable and trustworthy.
That God is in heaven, a place He made for himself.
He has no need.
No one tells him what to do. He does exactly what He wants.
Our response to this great amazing God to give Him glory.
To lift Him up, to exult Him.
Our hearts are to adore Him more than anything else.
Our voices are to praise Him.
Illustration - When Julius Caesar had a great parade over many victories he held a 4 day party in Rome. During one of the parades of Rome the soldiers marched, the treasures of war were shown off, the prisoners where paraded through the street and then cam Julius Caesar.
In a chariot drawn by 3 white horses.
Purple Toga
Eagle scepter
Face painted red to symbolize that the God of Jupiter gave them victory.
Over him a slave held the golden wreath.
The same slave also repeating in his ear, “Remember, you are human.”
Caesar knew he had to be reminded that he was not god. Jupiter was god.
Transition - You are I must remember that we are not God, but that we “Exult Jesus who is immovable in power”.
I must live for the glory of God.
How do I do that?
-Praise Him privately.
-In your daily time with God, Have a planned part of your prayer time where you tell him how great He is.
In your prayer journal part of your structured prayer time is praise and worship.
-Tell God how great he is. Praise Him privately.
-When something good happens in your life. Tell him how great He is.
-I was fishing at a neighbors pond this weekend.
-I’m a below average fisherman, but I caught a fish.
-”God thank you for this gift. You made this. You made me to enjoy it. Praise you.”
-Praise Him for the little things.
-Praise him privately
-Praise Him in corporate worship.
You get out of your worship time what you put into it.
Sunday morning is not like watching Netflix where you just watch.
In Sunday morning worship you are to participate and respond.
-Inwardly and outwardly you are to give glory to God.
-Your mind is to be engaged taking in and thinking about what is being said and sung.
-Your affections (your heart) are to be engaged. Praising, being convicted, experiencing spiritual tension.
-Sunday morning is not a class where you sit and learn. It’s bigger than that.
-Sunday morning is where we glorify God together.
-We praise God in corporate worship.
Transition -We also glorify God by...
-Praising Him in publicly to unbelievers.
-Telling others how He is working in our life and what He has done.
-It’s good to tell unbelievers, You know what God did in my life? And tell them. They will listen.
All our life is to celebrate the greatness of God.
When we glorify God we align ourselves with the blessing of God.
Why? Why do we glorify God.
Re-read verse 1
Vs. 1. steadfast love & Faithfulness
Same words used in Ex 34:6-7
6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
What does it mean that God’s love is steadfast?
- That there is nothing on this earth that has the power to deflate God’s commitment to love you.
-Your sin and spiritual mistakes do not catch God by surprise. God saw from eternity past that you would have times in your life that you would be a sinful sputtering mess.
-He still chose to love you.
-”He said, Do you see that broken, blundering, spiritually sloppy mess? I will love him and he will be mine.”
-He chose that His love would be steadfast toward you.
-He chose to draw you to Himself.
-God made His covenant with you.
-He signed that covenant by dipping his pen in the blood of His son.
-God’s love is steadfast and faithful.
-God is faithful and truthful to His promise.
Why is God to be glorified, lifted up, & exalted?
-He is steadfast in His love.
-He is faithful in His promise to save you.
There is another reason we glorify God. Look in verse 3.
He is all powerful. He is omnipotent.
vs. 3, “He does all that He pleases.”
Illustration - The gravity of the sun.
PICTURE
The sun has 28 times the gravitational force of the earth.
By comparison - Jupiter has 2.5 times the gravitational force as the earth.
If you weighed 100 pounds on Earth you would weigh 2,800 pounds on the Sun.
-As the earth orbits around the Sun, it’s gravity is like a giant tether ball string holding on tightly to it.
-Anything that gets near the Sun will be effected by it’s gravity.
Transition - As great as the gravity of the Sun is ...
-Nothing and no one can stand against the hand of God.
-What God chooses to do He does.
-God chose to create.
-All that the JAMES WEB telescope sees, God created by His spoken word.
-He chose to create the galaxies and he chose to intricately create you.
-The spirit He put within you and the DNA he made you with, that makes you unique. He planned in eternity past.
God is not only sovereign over the universe and over your personal DNA, but He is sovereign over the hearts of humankind.
-Your will cannot stand against the power of God.
Proverbs 21:1 -tells us that God turns the heart of the king wherever He wants.
Psalm 115:3 says this about God,
“He does all that He pleases.”
-This is why you can be confident that when you pray for your children. God holds sway over the human heart.
How should I react to this great and mighty God?
Exult God who is immovable in power.
You see … When you glorify God you align ourselves with the blessing of God.
Transition - What about the gods of the unbelievers?
This is where we see the...
vs. 4-8, Run from the Impotence of idols
Read 4-8
-Teaching- The gods of the unbelievers where idols hand crafted by a human.
PICTURE 1
They were reliant on a human to make them.
Then these hand made idols where literally dressed in clothes, like a doll.
During special occasions flowers where placed around their neck.
They were taken to other towns and cities to travel to visit.
PICTURE 2
On holidays food was placed before them for them to eat.
-but that food would just sit and not be eaten.
-Just like a child dresses up, carries around, and feeds a doll. These false little god’s were taken care of.
-The worshiper of the idol had to do everything they could to make their little god happy or they would not receive a blessing.
-They might be cursed.
-In Bible times, These little gods were only able to reign over a country or an area. They were regional gods.
-Look how the passage describes the little gods weakness
Verse 5, they do not speak, they do not see
verse 6, they no not hear, they do not smell
verse 7, they cannot feel, they can’t make a sound.
Here is a painful verse,
Verses 8
Those who worship them are like them.
Those who worship empty gods have empty souls.
Those who worship a spiritually dead god have spiritually dead souls.
This is why we have a heart for people who worship idols.
Their souls are spiritually dead. They need Jesus.
What about the person who says. I’m not religious.
I don’t have a god?
We know this - “Everyone worships something.”
We all were created to be worshipers.
-You worship self, pleasure, romance, experiences, music, sports, success ...
Everyone worship something.
If you worship anything other than Jesus, your worship is empty.
Your soul is empty.
-You know what it is like to have a thirsty soul that has never been satisfied.
Jesus came to give living water. He came to satisfy the thirst of your soul.
He came to save from sin and to bless.
Application - Let me ask you a personal question.
If there was a video taken of every second your life.
Who would we see you worshiping?
-Would the video show you worshiping Jesus or something else?
-Do you worship the living god or do you worship impotent idols?
When you glorify God you align ourselves with the blessing of God.
So far we have been challenged to:
Exult God who is immovable in power
Run from the impotence of idols.
vs. 9-13, Have Confidence in the Lord.
I thought you said there was a blessing.
Here comes the blessing.
When you trust in -have confidence in - the Lord you align yourself with Him.
How is that?
-You have confidence that His teachings are true.
-You trust that His plan is perfect.
-So, you obey what He says & live for His glory.
When you have confidence in your leader, you line up behind Him.
Look at the blessings for lining up behind God.
Read, vs. 9, O Israel, (People of Faith) God is your help and protection.
Read, vs. 11, You who fear God, He is your help and protection.
-Protection Psalm 91:4
4 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
God desires to protect you from the attacks of the evil one.
He desires to provide for your every need.
He desires to fill your heart with His goodness and love.
Illustration of the Pelican - Picture
In Medieval times it was believed that if a pelican’s young were starving that the bird would cut open it’s breast with its beak and feed her young her own flesh.
It serves us as a picture of the gospel.
How God meets our ultimate spiritual need by spiritually feeding his starving children.
Christ sacrificed himself for you, so that you would have the blessing of eternal life in Him.
Will you today, right now, say yes to Jesus?
The greatest way to glorify God is to receive IN FAITH the blessing of salvation.
Living for the glory of God aligns me with the blessings of God.Read. vs. 12-13,
So far we have been challenged to:
Exult God who is immovable in power
Run from the impotence of idols.
Have Confidence in the Lord.
We quickly close with this … Question
Will I choose to bless God?
Read vs. 14-15, 18
This entire Psalm is about how God is great and a blessing to us.
In the last verse we see that we can in return bless God.
How?
By living for God and His glory.
Christ Follower, you and I must make a decision every day.
Will I live for HIS glory?
Will you line up behind God and follow Him as your leader?
Will you, Live for the glory of God and align yourself with the blessing of God?
vs. 9-13, Have Confidence in the Lord.vs. 14-15, (Prayer of) Blessing of the God
Would you pray this prayer over you children.
-Pray a prayer of blessing.
vs. 16-18, Determination (resolve) to worship
‘Seek His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”
Hook - What has God set for the purpose of your life?
-Is your life purpose to see how far you can go in your career?
To be successful.
-Is your life purpose to love and enjoy your family as much as you can?
-Life is about family.
-Is your life purpose to take in as much fun and pleasure as you can?
-Life is about experience.
Transition -So far we have been challenged to:
Exult God who is immovable in power
Run from the impotence of idols.
vs. 9-13, Have Confidence in the Lord.
Our passage starts out by telling us exactly what our life purpose is.
And the first line moves us out of the way.
Verse
Verses 1-3 (or 2)
-NO NO, NOT US, It’s not about me.
-It’s about you God. You be glorified.
What does glorify mean?
-Draw attention to His greatness.
-Lift Him up to his place as greater than anything else.
-This is not only the purpose of a church worship service.
-How you live you life says, Jesus is the most important thing.
-This is the purpose of the life of the Christ Follower.
-Why?
Your love is steadfast.
You are faithful
The unbelievers have asked “Where is your God?”
What is he doing?
Is he real?
Does He have any power?
Verses 9-13
A. 9-11, Trust in the Lord Now
B. 12-13
Verse 14-15, Benediction (Prayer of Blessing)
Maybe make this a minor point, “C” under the last main point
verse 16-18 Conclusion - Commitment to Doxology