Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / Psalm 117 - The Shortest Psalm

Transcript

Psalm 117 - The Shortest Psalm · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

• 0:00
  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
• 0:03
  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
• 0:07
  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
• 0:10
  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
• 0:14
  others. Let's dive right in.
• 0:15
  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. And we are in the shortest Psalm
• 0:20
  today. It's Psalm 117, and Psalm 117
• 0:24
  only contains 2 verses, and so if I do my job correctly, this
• 0:31
  will be a briefer episode, taking a hint from the Psalm
• 0:37
  writer that there are times for a Psalm 119 where there are, Let
• 0:43
  me check and see how many verses.
• 0:44
  I think it's about 176. There's 176 verses in Psalm 119.
• 0:53
  And so there are times to go on and on and on about the Lord,
• 0:57
  and there are times where it is less appropriate to do that.
• 1:01
  And so Psalm 117 is a brief Psalm.
• 1:04
  And so I'll try to be brief as well.
• 1:06
  It says this, praise Yahweh, all nations, glorify him, all
• 1:12
  peoples, for his faithful love to us is great.
• 1:17
  Yahweh's faithfulness endures forever.
• 1:20
  Hallelujah. I'm going to read through that
• 1:22
  one more time and then we'll look at a couple of things that
• 1:25
  we can learn for today. Praise Yahweh, all nations,
• 1:29
  glorify Him, all peoples, for His faithful love to us is
• 1:34
  great. Yahweh's faithfulness endures
• 1:38
  forever. Hallelujah.
• 1:41
  Here is another one of the Psalms that encourages us and
• 1:44
  and challenges us to praise the Lord, that we would lift him up,
• 1:48
  whether in song would be a very regular way to do that.
• 1:52
  That's what this collection of poems is.
• 1:55
  It's the Psalms. These were things that would be
• 1:57
  sung by the people of Israel. So we ought to praise God with
• 2:01
  singing. We also ought to praise Him in
• 2:04
  talking about Him to others, talking about Him with others,
• 2:10
  and I see here the people that the psalmist in this verse wants
• 2:16
  us to talk to about God or the people that are instructed to
• 2:21
  praise the Lord is all nations here.
• 2:25
  Though this Psalm would have been written in Hebrew for the
• 2:29
  Israelite nation, God was never just the God of Israel.
• 2:34
  He was the God of Israel, if you will.
• 2:38
  First and foremost. He was the one that called
• 2:42
  Abraham out from Mesopotamia. He was the one that chose Isaac
• 2:47
  and He chose Jacob and He chose Judah.
• 2:51
  That as that line would go down eventually Jesus Christ himself
• 2:55
  would be born from this family. And so in a unique, a special
• 2:59
  way, our God is the God of Israel, but He is the God of all
• 3:05
  nations. He didn't just make Abraham, He
• 3:08
  made Adam and Eve at the beginning and all mankind
• 3:11
  stemming from them. God is the God of every people
• 3:16
  and God's ultimate goal was not just that he would be the God of
• 3:21
  1 nation, but that he would be the God over every nation.
• 3:27
  And it's continued. It's expounded on in the second
• 3:32
  part of verse one. Glorify him all people.
• 3:35
  So the nations are to praise God.
• 3:38
  So whether that's America, whether that's England, whether
• 3:41
  that's some place in Africa, whether it's China or Japan or
• 3:46
  North Korea or Russia or Germany or Italy, every nation is to
• 3:53
  praise the Lord. There is no nation that is
• 3:55
  exempt from a demand from the creator God to worship Him with
• 4:02
  everything that they have. We are all called to worship
• 4:05
  Him. But it's not just the nations
• 4:08
  that are to praise God. It's not just the nations or the
• 4:11
  rulers, or if you will, the the militaries or the congresses or
• 4:16
  parliaments that praise God. No, it is the people's
• 4:19
  themselves. We are to glorify Him wherever
• 4:22
  humanity exists. We are to praise and to glorify
• 4:27
  the Lord that we lift his name up.
• 4:30
  We talk about what he has done. We tell other people about the
• 4:34
  various ways in which we are enjoying fellowship with Him,
• 4:38
  whether in His word or in prayer or in seeing answers to prayer
• 4:42
  or in just being astounded at his creation and being able to
• 4:49
  see the changing seasons and and all of the leaves.
• 4:53
  And we stand in awe of what our God has done.
• 4:57
  He has created our entire world, every area in which mankind
• 5:03
  exists. And so everywhere that mankind
• 5:06
  goes, we have new reasons to praise God.
• 5:10
  I read 1 commentator who said something along the lines of
• 5:15
  each nation, each people group has something unique that they
• 5:19
  can praise God for, in which all of us are called to worship Him
• 5:24
  together because He has done something unique.
• 5:28
  Here in Maryland, I can thank God for delicious crab.
• 5:34
  You can go. You know my friends in Arizona,
• 5:37
  they can thank God for the Grand Canyon in one sense.
• 5:42
  I can't thank God for or glorify God for the Great Barrier Reef
• 5:49
  in the same way that my friends in Australia can.
• 5:53
  But because God is, because they are there and they are able to
• 5:58
  experience and enjoy the things that are there where they are,
• 6:02
  they have a unique reason to praise the Lord.
• 6:05
  I can praise God for my church family and I can thank God that
• 6:09
  he has saved people down in Australia.
• 6:11
  But those in Australia, they have their fellow church members
• 6:15
  and their fellow Christians that they worship with, that they can
• 6:18
  thank God and they can glorify him in a special way that I
• 6:22
  can't praise God for the things that they, they and they alone
• 6:26
  can praise God for. None of you guys can praise God
• 6:32
  for every like private, private prayer request that I've prayed
• 6:37
  to God this past year that I've seen him answer.
• 6:41
  There's a great song by Leland. So that's Leland.
• 6:49
  He's a music artist, writes Christian music.
• 6:52
  I feel like it's probably his last name, but Leland has a song
• 6:57
  called My Worship that I'm going to link into the show notes for
• 7:00
  this, and I'm going to pull up the lyrics to that real quick.
• 7:06
  I apologize, but even as I was talking through that thought
• 7:12
  process, I wanted to pull those lyrics up because the way that
• 7:18
  it's phrased, I think it's just beautiful.
• 7:21
  It says you, Lord, you are worthy, and no one can worship
• 7:26
  you for me, for all the things you've done for me, and no one
• 7:31
  can worship you for me. Here's my worship, all of my
• 7:36
  worship receive my worship and I will not be silent.
• 7:41
  I will always worship you. As long as I am breathing, I
• 7:46
  will always worship you. This is a little bit shorter,
• 7:50
  simpler of a song, but I just I so love that thought that each
• 7:55
  of us, each nation and each person across the globe, we are
• 7:59
  called to praise the Lord and no one else can praise God for the
• 8:02
  things that we can praise God for.
• 8:05
  Not all of the things, if you will, that we can praise God for
• 8:09
  then verse #2 the Solomons with this, he says his faithful love
• 8:13
  to us is great. That's has said that's that
• 8:16
  steadfast covenant loyal love that says I'm going to stick by
• 8:21
  you no matter what happens because I've made a covenant
• 8:25
  with you. And it doesn't just say he has
• 8:28
  faithful love to us that that would be a comfort in our
• 8:32
  hearts. But he says his faithful love to
• 8:35
  us is great. He has so much.
• 8:38
  It's not just. OK.
• 8:39
  Yeah, I I made the covenant with you.
• 8:42
  And so I guess I got to stick by you even when you're sinning,
• 8:45
  even when you have failed. I guess I have to stick with
• 8:48
  you. No, his faithful love is great.
• 8:51
  It's huge. It's overwhelming.
• 8:54
  I read a quote by Spurgeon that said something along the lines
• 8:58
  of just like the flood in the Old Testament, in, in the book
• 9:04
  of Genesis, it, it came over and it swept over everything.
• 9:08
  It was the great flood. So God's faithful love to us is
• 9:13
  great and it overflows. It overflows our, our barriers
• 9:17
  and our expectations of what he could do or what he should do
• 9:22
  even. No, my friend, we serve a God
• 9:25
  who is endlessly faithful and loving to us.
• 9:30
  That second line in verse 2 says Yahweh's faithfulness endures
• 9:34
  forever here. This faithfulness, it's the word
• 9:38
  amet and it means hit God's firmness, His trustworthiness,
• 9:44
  His constancy. So it is the fact that God is
• 9:49
  trustworthy in every single circumstance.
• 9:53
  Now here's where we get into trouble.
• 9:56
  Or I'll just say myself, here's where Brian gets into trouble.
• 10:01
  I think, all right, God, I am praying that you heal this
• 10:06
  individual and then the individual doesn't get healed
• 10:11
  and maybe they return to the Lord and they go to heaven.
• 10:16
  And in my heart I go, oh man, my God didn't answer my prayer
• 10:20
  request. Or, you know, maybe we're
• 10:23
  praying for someone that they would accept the Lord every
• 10:26
  single week, every single Sunday, I pray that there would
• 10:31
  be someone at Tabernacle that does not yet know the Lord is
• 10:34
  their Savior and that that Sunday would be the day that
• 10:38
  they accept the Lord. As far as I'm aware, I've not,
• 10:43
  I've not experienced that. I've not have heard of someone
• 10:46
  that has accepted the Lord at Tabernacle on a Sunday in
• 10:51
  probably a couple months now. But when I realized that God is
• 10:57
  faithful, he's trustworthy, He's constant, and that I can trust
• 11:02
  that his constancy endures forever, that he's always
• 11:06
  trustworthy, then I can recognize, OK, God, there's
• 11:10
  something different in what I'm asking that maybe doesn't align
• 11:15
  with your character or with your will.
• 11:17
  And so God, I think I know what's best.
• 11:20
  I think this person being healed of this hardship in their life,
• 11:26
  I think that that would be best. Or I think this person
• 11:29
  receiving, you know, finance finances that they need,
• 11:34
  receiving perhaps some assistance, this is what they
• 11:39
  really need. God, would you help me to
• 11:41
  recognize that when I'm praying, I'm coming to hear what your
• 11:47
  thoughts are, what your will is, and I'm presenting the need to
• 11:52
  you. But God, I'm not going to hold
• 11:54
  you hostage to say you are good and you are trustworthy if you
• 11:59
  do everything that I ask. Instead, I need to come to God
• 12:03
  and go, God, I'm coming to you because I believe that you're
• 12:06
  trustworthy. I believe that you're constant.
• 12:08
  I believe you are faithful. And so whatever you want to do
• 12:12
  with this request, I, I affirm here with the psalmist that you
• 12:17
  are trustworthy, whether or not you do what I want you to do,
• 12:21
  because you know ultimate good, you have eternity in mind and
• 12:25
  you know what will happen to this person 100,000 years from
• 12:28
  now. I don't know what's going to
• 12:30
  happen today. And so, God, I trust you that
• 12:34
  you are right and good and everything that you do.
• 12:38
  Well. We have reached the conclusion
• 12:41
  of Psalm 117 verse #1 praise and glorify the Lord.
• 12:45
  You have a particular praise that you can give about God, and
• 12:50
  specific worship and praises that you can give to God that no
• 12:54
  one else can. I'll phrase it this way because
• 12:57
  it popped into my head and I thought it was funny.
• 13:01
  No one else, except maybe your spouse has access to your bank
• 13:04
  account. You're the only one that can
• 13:06
  praise God with your financial giving to the work of the Lord.
• 13:10
  You are the only one who has lived your life who has sinned
• 13:14
  the sins that you have sinned and has been forgiven by God for
• 13:18
  every sin that you've sinned. You are the only one that can
• 13:21
  thank God for His forgiveness for your sins and so have that
• 13:26
  unique purpose of praise within your life that you say, okay
• 13:32
  God, you deserve my particular praise and Thanksgiving and
• 13:36
  worship and my testimony that I would tell other people about
• 13:40
  what you've done for me. And then that second part there,
• 13:44
  God's faithful love to us is great and his faithfulness
• 13:48
  endures forever. That I can always trust my God
• 13:52
  because He loves me. That love is never ending and
• 13:55
  his trustworthiness is never ending.
• 13:57
  And so I can believe this incredible God, someone 17 ends
• 14:02
  with the word Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
• 14:06
  Thanks for tuning in and looking forward to Psalm 118 next week.
• 14:10
  And then we will be back. It'll be so Psalm 118 will come
• 14:14
  out on a Wednesday. That following Monday will begin
• 14:18
  Psalm 119. There are 22 individual sections
• 14:22
  within that. It's like 22, if you will, mini
• 14:25
  psalms within the Psalm. And so we'll go through that
• 14:29
  every day and that'll take us from Psalm 119, the 22 mini
• 14:34
  sections of that, all the way through Psalm 150.
• 14:38
  And I'm really looking forward to completing Book 5 of Psalms.
• 14:43
  And what a journey that it's been.
• 14:45
  Thanks for tuning in. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.