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Psalm 138 - Brag About God To Demons · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in Psalm 138, Psalm
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  138, and this is a Psalm of David.
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  And so I am excited for this little Psalm.
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  It's got some recurring themes that we've been looking at a lot
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  through. Book 5 of Psalms has some
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  interesting portions of it that I'll kind of highlight for us as
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  we go through. But let's begin reading.
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  I will give you thanks with all my heart.
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  I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings.
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  I will bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your
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  name for Your constant love and truth.
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  You have exalted Your name and Your promise above everything
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  else. On the day I called, You
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  answered me. You increased strength within
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  Me. All the kings on earth will give
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  you thanks, Yahweh. When they hear what You have
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  promised, they will sing of Yahweh's ways, for Yahweh's
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  glory is great. Though Yahweh is exalted, He
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  takes note of the humble, but He knows the haughty from a
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  distance. If I walk into the thick of
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  danger, You will preserve my life from the anger of My
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  enemies. You will extend Your hand.
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  Your right hand will save me. Yahweh will fulfill His purpose
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  for me. Yahweh, your faithful love
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  endures forever. Do not abandon the work of Your
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  hands. Well, what can we get from this
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  little nugget of Scripture? Let's begin.
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  In verses one through three, there is this declaration, just
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  of thanks, of praise, of adoration from David towards
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  God. In verse #1 he says, I'll give
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  you thanks with all my heart. Well, that should be something
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  that we attempt to do as well, where we say, God, I am
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  wholeheartedly, enthusiastically yours, my time, it's yours.
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  My mouth, my expression, my words, my my posts, they are
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  yours. God, my wallet, what I spend my
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  money on, it will be under your command.
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  I will do what you ask with my funds.
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  I'll do what you want with my calendar, with my days, with my
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  weeks, with my weekends. God, what you have declared is
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  what I will enthusiastically do. Lord, even my thoughts are yours
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  because you are the one that is worthy of my gratitude and of my
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  praise. And that's what he says next.
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  I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings.
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  These are the Elohim, this is the Gods, the other spiritual
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  beings that exist. David says God, I am going to
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  sing if you will. I'm going to sing to World's
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  Unknown about how wonderful you are.
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  There's something mentioned many times in scripture.
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  Here is is a great example of it, of the fact that our worship
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  of the Lord is something that is both visible to the spiritual
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  realm, it's visible to spiritual beings.
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  It is disheartening and insulting and derogatory to
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  Satan and his demons. It is the worship and the
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  attention that they crave, but that they are not receiving, and
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  that the Lord is the one who is deserving of it.
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  They refused to worship Him. But when we fallen creatures who
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  cannot even see God when we worship Him, it reemphasizes to
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  the fallen beings that you are stupid.
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  Like you guys are so dumb for not following and worshipping
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  Yahweh and it exalts him all the more.
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  It's something that brings God joy and gladness in his heart to
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  to see his people praising. And you can look at even his
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  interactions with Satan in the book of Job in chapters 1 and 2
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  that God says, have you considered like, oh, hey, Satan,
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  have you checked out Job, How awesome he is?
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  Like, he's one that loves me. He rejects evil.
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  And in chapter 2, even after, you know, Satan brings some
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  trials and temptations into Job's life and Job didn't fall
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  to them, that God goes. And you know, even though you
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  tried to move me against Job, even though you tried to move me
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  against Job, he still follows me even though you tried to move me
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  against him. And so our praise and worship
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  and adoration and obedience of God is something that can be
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  done in the sight of angels and demons, knowing that other
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  beings are seeing what you do and what you say and how you
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  worship. Will that change how you worship
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  this week? Or even, as we're told in
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  Hebrews 12, seeing that we are encompassed with so great with,
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  with such a large cloud of witnesses that ought to affect
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  the way that we live. Where's #2 I will bow down
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  towards your holy temple and give thanks to your name for
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  your constant love and truth. He says, God, I am going to
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  recognize who you are and who I am.
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  And so that's going to cause a physical response in me that I
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  will bow down and I will recognize your authority in my
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  life. And I'm going to recognize the
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  fact that you consistently love me and that your word is truth
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  for my life. It's you are everything God.
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  And so that requires an actual physical response from me.
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  It's not just mental descent that you exist.
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  It actually changes the way that I live my life.
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  Then in the end of verse 2, he says you have exalted your name
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  and your promise above everything else.
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  The King James Version has this particular verse listed here.
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  There's another alternate way that you could phrase this.
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  You have exalted your name and your promise above everything
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  else. You could say something like you
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  have exalted your promise above all your name, or the King James
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  has it. You have exalted your word above
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  your name. What this means if you have a
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  translation that says something like that, is God has made his
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  authority and his promised actions and behavior towards his
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  people of utmost importance. Like God has staked his
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  reputation on his promise. He doesn't just say I'm the God
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  who made the world and so you need to bow before Yahweh.
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  If he did that, certainly he'd be worthy of it.
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  But he he tethered himself to humanity, to promises of
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  redemption, promises of day by day grace and new morning
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  mercies. He has tethered himself to the
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  forgiveness of our sins when we turn in in humble repentance
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  towards Him. And so he tethered himself to
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  his promises to say, my reputation and my name is staked
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  on what I have told you I'm going to do.
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  He says, I, I promise to do this.
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  Aren't I the God that led you out of Egypt?
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  I have promised to do this. Aren't I the God that created
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  the world? And so it means we can believe
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  his promises because he has staked his reputation to it and
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  his reputation is phenomenal. And so because he has a
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  trustworthy track record, when he says, based on my track
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  record, here's what I'm going to do, believe it.
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  We can believe it. This does not mean as very
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  unfortunately I have heard people say that the you know any
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  particular translation or the Bible itself is more important
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  than the name of God. That is solidly not hear what
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  David was communicating. So if you ever hear anyone say
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  something like that, just note they are deeply mistaken on what
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  is being intended by this passage.
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  Verse #3 As an example of this, David says, on the day I called,
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  you answered me. You increased strength within
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  me. So God, you promised me that I
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  would, you know, one day be king.
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  You promised me that I would live, that I would sit on the
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  throne, that my descendants after me would sit on the
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  throne. And when I was in trouble, when
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  I needed you, I called and you answered me.
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  You increased strength within me.
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  So God, I know that you're reliable and that your promises
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  are true versus then four through 6 are the next portion
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  of it. All the kings on earth will give
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  you thanks, Yahweh, when they hear what you have promised.
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  There is joy to be found from the highest positions of
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  government into the lowliest hovels on earth.
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  When we hear about the promises of God and David says even
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  kings, those so often viewed in ancient times as like demigods
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  themselves, he says even the kings of earth, they will
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  experience joy knowing what God himself has promised what what
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  will be their response to the promises of the Lord.
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  Well, verse 5, they will sing of Yahweh's ways for the sorry for
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  Yahweh's glory is great. There is to be singing that
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  erupts as a result of knowing God, knowing God's promises,
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  knowing God's ways, knowing how glorious, how shining, how good
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  he is ought to result in our praise and adoration.
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  Verse number six, though Yahweh is exalted, that even kings sing
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  about him, that they tell of his ways, though Yahweh is exalted,
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  He takes note of the humble man. What a joy that is.
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  Can I tell you I, I am not anyone special.
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  I think I have, you know, probably less than like 1000
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  friends on Facebook and you guys know Facebook friends.
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  Like that's not reality. Like I am just an incredibly
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  small fish in a huge sea. No world leader knows that I
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  exist. No world leader cares about me.
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  No one with a net worth of over like I don't.
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  I actually don't know if I have any super rich friends.
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  I don't think anyone with with a net worth over 500,000 or a
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  million. I don't think any of those
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  people know that I exist. They don't care about me.
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  God is the ultimate 1. He is the one who is the king,
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  the suffering, the God of all other spiritual beings.
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  He is the one that can bless this entire earth.
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  He is the one who is everlasting and eternal.
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  He is the one that has made countless promises, and He takes
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  note of me like the God who made the heavens knows my
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  insignificant speck of a life. And He takes note of me, and He
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  loves me and He died for me. Man, how in the world can I not
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  erupt in praise at that God? Because He is good in every
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  possible way. And he says there that he notes
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  the humble, but he knows the hottie from a distance.
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  There is separation from God, not for those that aren't
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  important enough, but for those who view themselves as too
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  important. It's the rich man who comes to
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  Jesus and says, listen, I've kept all of the 10 commandments
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  and all of the laws. What do I need to do to inherit
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  the Kingdom of heaven? Jesus tells him, well you want
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  to know what you got to do, Sell everything you have and follow
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  me. And the rich man goes no, no,
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  no. Jesus is worth me.
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  Like obeying the easy commands quote UN quote.
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  But when it comes to me laying aside my my pride and my
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  possessions and my net worth, I'm not going to lay that down
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  for Jesus. Jesus isn't worthy of that.
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  My money, my possessions, my status is more important than
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  following Jesus. Well, then there was no
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  relationship that was found there.
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  Can I tell you your greatest opposition to the Lord will not
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  often be just total rejection of God's existence, The thing that
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  will most damage your relationship with God and my
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  relationship with God is pride to say, well, I am too important
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  to apologize to someone else. I am too.
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  I value my possessions too much to give to the Lord's work or to
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  the poor. I believe that I was right and
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  so I will not humble myself before anyone else or Oh well,
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  don't you know that my schedule in my calendar is super
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  important? And so I'm not going to make
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  time for my family. I'm not going to make time for
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  church. I'm not going to make time for
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  discipling and investing in others.
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  Pride is that thing that wrecks us.
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  We learned in James 4. God resists the proud, but he
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  gives grace to the humble. When you come to God and you go,
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  I got nothing, that is someone that God can use.
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  When you come to God and you go, God, I'm imperfect, I'm flawed.
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  I just, I can't seem to stay on the wagon.
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  God goes perfect. That's the kind of person that I
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  can work with. That's the person I can extend
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  grace to. That's the person I want to
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  spend my spirits work on is the person that is humble.
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  May we not be haughty. May we not keep God at a
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  distance with our pride. Instead, may we humble ourselves
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  before Him. Then verse #7 if I walk into the
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  thick of danger, you will preserve my life from the anger
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  of my enemies. I think of Jesus multiple times
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  throughout the Gospels when it actually got a little hairy
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  before the time came that he was actually going to be crucified.
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  So times when they wanted to stone him.
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  So you can look at John 10, you can look at John 5, John 8, all
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  these different instances in which the Sanhedrin, the, the
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  Pharisees, all of those wanted to kill Jesus and Jesus was able
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  to make it out alive. There's even 1 instance
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  mentioned, I believe it was in Nazareth.
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  It's not in the Gospel of John because that's the one that I've
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  walked through over the last couple of years.
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  And it's not the Gospel of Mark because we went through that
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  together on Tabernacle Talks. So it's either Matthew or Luke
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  highlights it. Jesus is in Nazareth and they
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  are going to try to throw him off of a nearby Cliff and just
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  sheer frustration and rage as a result of what he was preaching.
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  And it says Jesus passing through the midst of them like
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  he escaped. And here it makes me think of
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  this certainly as this is a Psalm of David.
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  David himself personally experienced this many times that
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  Saul tried to kill him. The Philistines tried to kill
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  him. He was, you know, kind of sold
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  out by by people locally, even shepherds and things that were
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  there. And so David experienced this.
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  But I love this, that as long as God ordains for us, we are
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  immortal. That we can know I will be fine
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  in my life until such time as God says.
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  All right now I've got a new path for you.
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  This does not mean that we are totally immune from danger, that
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  we can go, OK, well I'll never get in a car accident because I
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  believe then God will protect me.
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  Well, God might have you to go through a car accident, but when
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  you encounter difficulties, you go, OK, this came from the
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  sovereign hand of God. And so I can trust that He has a
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  purpose in it. And if He has protected me from
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  all sorts of evil things that could possibly happen in my
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  life, if you let this one happen, then it happened for a
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  purpose. The end of verse 7.
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  You will extend your hand. Your right hand will save me.
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  This is God's strength, His ability that He is exercising
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  His divine nature and power in order to save.
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  God is not indifferent to us. He is ever reaching out to bless
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  and to benefit. Verse #8 Yahweh will fulfill His
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  purpose for me. Yahweh, your faithful love
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  endures forever. Do not abandon the work of your
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  hands. Here's the prayer God you
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  started something and you have a purpose for my life.
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  I OK, I'm going to level with you guys here and I don't know
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  from who listens if anyone's going to be like you haven't.
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  I have not read the the book the purpose driven life.
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  My pastor Rick Warren from from California and Saddleback
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  Church. I know that might be blasphemy
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  for a couple of you. They're like what you never read
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  it. But here as I read this line,
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  Yahweh will fulfill his purpose for me.
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  I want to have a life that has lived for the purpose that God
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  has for me. I could have a purpose for my
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  life and I could have dreams about what the next, you know,
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  year or five years or 10 years of ministry here at Tabernacle
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  look like for me. But I don't want to be limited
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  by what my purposes and my best ideas are.
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  I want to fulfill God's purpose for my life.
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  But I'm so thankful that the verse doesn't say I will fulfill
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  Yahweh's purpose for me. He says Yahweh, fulfill your
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  purpose in me. And so knowing God has a plan
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  for my life, I want to be a part of that plan and I'm thankful
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  that God is the one that accomplishes it.
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  I just have to be faithful to say, yes, Lord.
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  One phrase I heard often growing up was obey every impulse of the
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  Holy Spirit that when God says go, I go.
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  When God says talk to him, I talk to him.
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  When God says be generous, I'm generous.
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  When God says wait, pray, be still that I follow everything
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  that he has. Why?
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  Because he's the good God. He's the one that I can listen
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  to, that I can worship, that I can brag about to the spiritual
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  beings. He's the one that kings would be
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  intelligent to follow and to worship.
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  And he's the one that takes note of the humblest, the the lowly,
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  those that are nobodies. And may we live not for our own
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  purposes, but for his purposes, listening to him each step along
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  the way. Well, thanks for tuning in and I
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  hope Psalm 138 was an encouragement to you next
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  episode. Psalm 139, many people's
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  favorite Psalm. It's right up there like Psalm
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  23, Psalm 51, Psalm 139, like it's one of the best known ones.
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  And I am super, super excited. Frankly, I may need to take a
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  couple episodes to go through Psalm 139.
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  It is so good and I'm really looking forward to it.
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  Thanks for tuning in.