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Psalm 151 - A 2200 Year Old Song · 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 have a super special
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  Tabernacle Talk episode that I am really looking forward to.
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  We just completed book 5 of Psalms and so all 150 Psalms now
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  have a Tabernacle Talk episode. And so if you want to go back
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  and look at any Psalm at any time, you can certainly use, if
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  you're listening to this podcast, you can use the search
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  feature on Spotify podcast, Apple Podcast, whatever you use,
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  you can use that to find any Psalm you want.
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  You can also use Tabernacles YouTube channel, which is
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  youtube.com forward slash at TBC Essex and you can find all of
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  the psalms on there. Or you can use our church
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  website, tbcsx.com/psalms, that's TB csx.com/psalms.
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  And on that particular web page, I have all 150 psalms listed
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  out. And for the 22 episodes that we
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  did in Psalm 119, those are all listed out.
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  I also have all of the sermons that I've preached through any
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  of the individual psalms. Those are also all listed on
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  that particular page. Actually at anytime you want, if
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  you go to tbces.sex.com and then you can do forward slash
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  whatever book of the Bible that you want.
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  Or if you go tbcsx.com/bible, you can see all of the books of
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  Scripture listed out. And on every single one of those
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  pages I have, if I've preached any sermons or done any podcast
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  episodes on those from those books of Scripture, I've listed
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  those in there. And then oh, what's the other
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  thing then when there's any summary videos of those books of
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  the Bible. So like from the Bible Project,
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  I have included those summary videos at the top of all of
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  those pages. So the goal is that the website
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  would be able to be a little bit of a one stop shop for you as
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  you have Bible questions, as you're wanting to do your
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  devotions, you have questions about a particular book of the
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  Bible or a particular chapter or portion of Scripture.
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  The goal would be that you would be able to find all of those
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  answers in one place. And so I've made that resource
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  available for you. We are going to next in
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  Tabernacle Talk. We're heading back over to the
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  New Testament and I'm going to be going over the book of first
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  Timothy. First Timothy and we did Second
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  Timothy together, going one verse at a time in each episode
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  all the way through Second Timothy and Tabernacle Tidbits
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  last January or no? I think it was like last
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  February through April. And that was a incredibly
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  enjoyable, enriching time. But we're going to be going next
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  through First Timothy. And when we do that, we'll have
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  done all of the New Testament books in either podcast or
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  sermon, from Ephesians all the way to Jude.
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  So we almost have done together almost all of the New Testament
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  books. We only have a few that are
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  left, Matthew, Luke, Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians and
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  Galatians and then Revelation at the end.
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  So we are fast approaching the end of having completed all of
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  the New Testament books and then we'll still have many Old
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  Testament books that we'll be going through.
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  So Next up, we are going to be looking at First Timothy
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  starting on Monday. But today I'm really excited for
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  today. And tomorrow we're kind of going
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  a little bit off script, if you will.
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  And that is because today we are going over Psalm 151 and you
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  might go, but wait, Brian, there's only 150 Psalms.
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  Well, yes, for the vast majority of Christians throughout the
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  last 2000 years, that has been the case.
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  However, in the what's called the intertestamental period.
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  So after the Old Testament was completed and before Jesus and
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  the apostles came on the scene, it was about two to 400 years
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  worth of time where God's people were reflecting on the Old
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  Testament and what God had declared and what he had said
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  and what the stories of God's people were.
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  And they were looking forward to the promised Messiah that would
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  be coming. And so they wrote a lot of
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  stuff, if you will, commentaries and short stories and fan
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  fictions and prayers even, and applications and things of what
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  God's word meant as they pondered it, like what God was
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  doing in their hearts. And one of the things that they
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  wrote was this Psalm called Psalm that they called Psalm
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  151, which is a, as they write the inscription here, oh,
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  Hallelujah, praise the Lord of David, Jesse's son.
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  And so it's written from the perspective of David as he
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  thinks about his life and what God had done in and through him.
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  And so this is not for anyone in like the Protestant or Catholic
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  tradition. Psalm 151 has never been
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  included in any of our portions of Scripture.
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  The what's called the Eastern Orthodox Church, which I do not
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  have time to do a whole church history lesson right now, but if
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  you have any questions, I encourage you look at the
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  website gotquestions.org. gotquestions.org and that's a
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  resource. Many of the individuals
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  associated with that come from Dallas Theological Seminary,
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  which is a solid orthodox and by that I mean they they have the
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  historical legitimate Christian faith.
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  It's not a spin off cult or something.
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  They are an orthodox conservative, Bible believing
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  seminary and have been for many years.
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  Some of my professors even in Bible college were graduates of
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  Dallas Theological Seminary and they have a wealth of resources
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  available. So Psalm 151 people had not had
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  any Hebrew copies of this portion or of this writing up
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  until the Dead Sea Scrolls in the last century.
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  So the Dead Sea Scrolls were kind of found by accident by a
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  kid that I like thrown a stone, heard a clay pot like shattering
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  from the rock that was thrown in a kind of a, a very hilly cave
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  section of Israel. And so when he went to go see
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  like, oh man, what was that sound?
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  He discovered an immense amount of pottery and, you know, the
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  remains of scrolls and different things.
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  And so thankfully they were able to get some archaeologists that
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  came and there were just an immense wealth of resources and
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  historical insights, as many of these scrolls had come from the
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  1st century AD. And it gave such an incredible
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  look at what the Jewish life and beliefs and practices and
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  scriptures looked like during the same century and in the same
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  country as Jesus lived. So there's a wonderful resource
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  to find. Before that, the oldest Hebrew
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  manuscripts that we had came from about AD 1000.
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  And so for a long time, people wondered if the Hebrew
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  manuscripts that we had could be trusted.
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  And what the Dead Sea Scrolls showed us is that, yes,
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  absolutely, that the text that we have in our Hebrew
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  manuscripts today is materially the same.
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  It's it's the same stories, the same theology, the same beliefs,
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  even much of all the same like breakdowns.
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  There was great immense continuity between what they
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  discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls and what we have today
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  2000 years later. And what a joy that as God
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  promised to preserve His word, that His message would not be
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  twisted beyond belief, that we could believe the Word of God,
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  that that was proven true through the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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  And as the Dead Sea Scrolls had many of those intertestamental
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  writings or those things that had come in the 2 to 400 years
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  prior to that century, one of the things that they discovered
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  was the first Hebrew manuscripts of Psalm 151.
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  And by the 1st, I mean the first ones that we had extant or still
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  surviving. It was not like the initial, you
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  know, papyrus or scroll that the author had written Psalm 151 on,
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  but it was Psalm 151 in Hebrew. So that was a lot of background
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  to kind of give you what this what this poem, what this song
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  is. And so I want to be clear, this
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  is not part of the Canon of Scripture, but this is a song
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  that a believer in God wrote sometime between BC400 and AD0.
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  And So what a joy that we can see what the thoughts and what
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  the worship of God look like about 2200 years ago.
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  And so let's read through Psalm 151, quote UN quote, together.
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  And I hope that it'll be an encouragement to you as you
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  think about the life of David, the sweet psalmist of Israel.
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  Verse number one, I was the smallest of my brothers, the
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  youngest of my father's sons. He made me shepherd of his
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  flock, ruler over there, young, if you will.
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  I was king of the sheep and of the lambs.
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  Verse 2, My hands made a flute, my fingers a liar like a harp.
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  Let me give glory to Yahweh. I thought to myself, the
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  mountains cannot witness to God. The hills cannot proclaim him,
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  but the trees have cherished my words, the flocks, my deeds.
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  I love this picture here. He says that the mountains, they
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  are not going to sing to God and the hills cannot preach to other
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  people about who God is and what he has accomplished.
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  I'm not in the way that a human mouth can.
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  And I love that, he says here. But the trees have cherished my
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  words, that as he's out watching these flocks, he says the trees
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  have been my audience hearing as I've been praising the Lord and
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  these sheep have heard about the works that God has done even in
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  and through my life. Verse #4 Who can proclaim?
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  Who can announce, who can declare Yahweh's deeds?
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  God has seen everything, God has heard everything.
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  God has listened. God sent his prophet to anoint
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  me, Samuel to make me great. My brothers went out to meet
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  him. Handsome in form and appearance,
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  their stature tall, their hair beautiful.
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  But Yahweh, God did not choose them.
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  Instead He sent and took me from following the flock.
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  God anointed me with holy oil. God made me leader for His
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  people, ruler over the children of His covenant.
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  So this man that was in charge of sheep and lambs is now in
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  charge of God's people, Israel. And He is the ruler over the
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  children of Israel, just like the children of the sheep.
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  Now He's over the children of Israel.
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  I went out to attack the Philistine who cursed me by his
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  idols, but after I uncovered his own sword, I cut off his head.
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  So I removed the shame from the Israelites.
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  I love thinking about David, reflecting on God's goodness
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  towards him, about the way that God changed David's life.
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  Can I ask you today, you will not be named ruler over Israel.
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  You will likely. I think I know my audience for
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  the most part. He, God will not make you
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  shepherd over a literal flock. You will not be watching over
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  lambs. If you do happen to be a farmer
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  and you have some sheep or some lambs, let me know.
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  I'd love to hear from you. You will likely not make
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  instruments of your own here, a flute or a liar, a harp to give
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  praise to the Lord. You won't have to face Goliath,
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  but God is doing something in and through you that He did not
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  do through David. You get to know God's own Holy
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  Spirit indwelling you all the days of your life.
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  As you have believed in Jesus. You not just in a prophetic way
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  know about Jesus and what Jesus would accomplish.
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  You actually get to read in your scriptures about what Jesus did
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  for you. You have gotten to know exactly
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  what will happen as you draw your final breath, that you will
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  be reunited with your Creator and you will be with Jesus
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  forever. For as He said that where I am,
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  there you may be also, and to be absent from the body is to be
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  present with the Lord. So can I ask you, David, from
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  the perspective of the person writing this song, David knew
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  that the mountains and the hills couldn't praise God, not in the
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  way that He could. And you have an opportunity to
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  praise God today to tell other people about him, to declare, if
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  you will, to your office cubicle.
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  You can declare to the inside of your car or the inside of your
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  home. You can tell your Facebook
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  friends if you go out for a walk today, you can tell the grass or
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  a neighbor, or you can tell a friend about who God is and what
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  He has accomplished. You need to tell them about this
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  God, this one who is great verse #4 in this song says, who can
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  proclaim, who can announce, who can declare Yahweh's deeds?
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  And the answer is every single person that either has a mouth
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  or has hands to be able to text or to type, to proclaim to other
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  people about God and what He has done.
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  Can I ask you today, are you praising God?
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  Are you telling other people about him that does not?
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  I've mentioned it many times before.
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  When you're telling people about God, you don't always have to be
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  closing. You are still telling people
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  about God even if they don't pray a prayer, repenting of
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  their sin, and choosing faith in Christ.
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  At the end of your conversation, you can still be proclaiming the
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  Lord, but do the people that are around you.
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  Do your Facebook friends, Do your Instagram friends, do your
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  do the other people commenting on YouTube.
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  Can they tell that you love the Lord through the way that you
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  interact? Are you declaring who God is?
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  I love also this thought from sections like 5 and six, 5-6 and
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  seven of this song that God sent Samuel to anoint.
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  David and his brothers went out to meet Saul and they were, they
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  were taller, they were stronger, they were older.
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  He says they're stature tall, their hair beautiful, but Yahweh
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  God did not choose them. You might think while someone
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  else would be better to testify to who God is or what God's
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  accomplished, but God chose you. And if God chose you and He gave
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  you his salvation, then you are called to testify to the Lord's
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  goodness. You are the one who is meant to
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  disciple others in their walks with the Lord.
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  You are meant to pass on the faith to someone else, whether
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  that be a loved one or a friend or your kids or your grandkids.
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  You are called to pass on what God has given you, and God
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  doesn't care about who might be the quote UN quote best at
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  whatever task. Instead, as we would read in
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  Second Corinthians, not many noble people, not many rich
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  people, not many powerful people are called into the Kingdom of
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  God. And instead, God has given his
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  Kingdom to those that are meek and poor and destitute and
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  sorrowful. And so knowing that that God has
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  called us for a purpose and for a reason, I think that that
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  means we should, we should own the incredible worth and honor
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  that has been placed on us to say, God, if you loved me enough
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  to choose me out of, you know, everyone that exists on planet
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  earth right now, these 8 billion people, you chose me.
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  You didn't overlook me, You didn't reject me, but you
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  welcomed me in. And so God, I have a
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  responsibility. I have the honor to be able to
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  tell everyone around me who you are and what you will do for
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  everyone that calls on you. So don't view yourself as I'm
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  not that great or I don't have all of the oratory skills that
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  someone else has and I don't know how I'd answer some of
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  these questions. Don't have that mindset.
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  Instead, just say if God chose me, then he chose me to tell
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  other people about him. And I believe that God wasn't
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  stupid when he made that choice to choose me.
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  And so I can declare to others just as David did.
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  I can declare to others who you are.
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  And then kind of at the end portion of this where he says I
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  went out to attack the Philistine who cursed me by his
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  idols, but after I uncovered his own sword.
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  So sometimes what's forgotten in the David and Goliath story is
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  that the stone actually that wasn't the end of the story.
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  Like, yes, David hit him with the stone, Goliath went down,
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  but then David went, took out Goliath's sword and chopped off
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  his head. And what brings me so much joy
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  from that is that this instrument that was going, this
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  tool, this weapon that was going to be used to harm others, to
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  harm the children of Israel, to harm God's people, God actually
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  ended up using that sword to bring victory.
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  And so I don't know what kind of difficulties you're facing
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  today. I don't know in what way Satan
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  is trying to attack you. But it could well be that the
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  difficulty that Satan has brought into your life might
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  actually be the thing that as you overcome in the power of the
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  Holy Spirit through faith in the Son of God, that you do not turn
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  your back on God. Instead, you persevere in faith
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  that you might be able to see God use that weapon, that
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  hardship, that loss of a love loved one to be able to rescue
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  people from the power of Satan and darkness because they go,
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  well, my, my friend there or my Co worker there went through
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  this thing that would have totally demolished me.
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  But they went through it and they said their God got them
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  through it. And I have no idea how they were
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  able to do that. And so it might be that this God
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  is real. Let me look into that.
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  And God would use hardship and grief and difficulty and loss in
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  your life to be the sword that cuts Satan off in a person's
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  life. That they would experience new
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  life in Jesus, even through, if you will, the sword of Satan
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  that he wanted to use to destroy you.
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  That God would turn it for good. Well, I hope that this, this
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  song, this 2 millennia old song would be an encouragement to you
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  today as you think about the story of David, as you think
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  about our duty to praise the Lord about the fact that he has
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  loved us and chosen us and given us a mission, and that he works
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  even through what the enemy tries to bring against us.
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  I hope that this would be an encouragement to you today.
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  Tomorrow we have one more of these two millennia old prayers
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  that we're going to look at called the Prayer of Manasa.
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  The prayer of Manasa. And he was one of the Israelite
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  kings, technically, of the southern Kingdom of Judah.
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  And he was an incredibly wicked man who, as God brought judgment
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  on him for the wrong that he had done, he turned in faith and
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  repentance to God. And so one of the believers in
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  the Lord 2000 years ago wrote a prayer that he thought would
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  exemplify what would show, would illustrate what Manasso must
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  have felt or what that prayer of repentance could have looked
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  like. So we're going to look at that
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  tomorrow and I'm excited for it. And then on Monday, we're
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  heading over to First Timothy. Thanks for tuning in.
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  Have a wonderful day.