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Psalm 113 - Praising Our Charitable God · 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 Welcome back
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  to Tabernacle talk. Today we are looking at Psalm
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  113 and this begins several psalms that are known as the
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  halal psalms. These would be songs of praise
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  to God and these specific psalms, the Hello Psalms, which
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  I believe goes from Psalm 113 down to about Psalm 118, if my
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  memory serves correctly, these would be psalms that would be
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  sung each Passover season. So even over these next few
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  weeks, as we're looking at Psalms 11314151617 and I believe
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  18, we're going to come at them not just from the angle of the
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  amazing things that are written in there because they're the
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  word of God, but we're also going to be looking at them in
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  recognition of the fact that this was what Jesus sang the
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  week of his death. We often think about people's
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  last words and how important those could be, the insight into
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  what is really ultimately important in life as we consider
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  people's last words. And so that's kind of what we're
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  going to be looking at over the next.
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  I believe it's five weeks, might be 6 weeks before we begin going
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  actually to daily episodes once more as we walk through some
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  line, Psalm 119 and then from there to the end of book 5 of
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  Psalms. But here let's read through
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  Psalm 113, bearing in mind this is a Psalm likely of David, but
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  then a song that would be sung during each Passover over the
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  course of centuries, and that Jesus himself would have sang
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  the week of his death with his disciples and those that were
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  accompanying him. Verse one.
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  Hallelujah, that is, praise the Lord, Give praise, servants of
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  Yahweh. Praise the name of Yahweh.
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  Let the name of Yahweh be blessed both now and forever,
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  from the rising of the sun to its setting.
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  Let the name of Yahweh be praised.
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  Yahweh is exalted above all the nations, His glory above the
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  heavens. Who is like Yahweh, our God, the
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  one enthroned on high, who Stoops down to look on the
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  heavens and the earth. He raises the poor from the dust
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  and lifts the needy from the trash heap in order to seat them
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  with nobles. With the nobles of His people,
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  He gives the childless woman a household, making her the joyful
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  mother of children. Hallelujah.
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  All right, so just a little Psalm that we have for today,
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  but I think there's several things that can encourage and
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  and challenge our hearts and our lives.
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  So let's begin first by looking at this section here, verses one
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  through 3 talking about praising the name of Yahweh, the name of
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  the Lord. And then we'll see in verses 4
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  through 9 why we should praise the Lord.
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  But first, the command, what we are instructed to do, that is
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  today you've got a mission and your mission is to obey.
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  Verses one through 3, So he says first Hallelujah, praise the
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  Lord, to praise him, to speak well about God, to express
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  gratitude to him, to extol how wonderful and how amazing he is.
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  Verses 4 through 9 give an example of what it looks like to
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  praise the Lord. Sometimes we just say that as an
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  expression that is itself, in our estimation, praising the
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  Lord. So if I say Hallelujah, we might
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  say, Oh yeah, Brian's praising when the truth is I'm just
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  telling other people to praise is me.
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  Saying Hallelujah isn't necessarily a praise in and of
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  itself, but here he's giving the instruction, Praise the Lord,
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  give praise. Servants of Yahweh.
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  Our relationship with God is not simply friends, though we are
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  friends of God. Praise the Lord through both the
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  testimony of what Jesus says, that because he has told us the
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  mind and will and heart and love of God, that we are not merely
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  his servants, we are also his friends.
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  But our baseline relationship with God is that we are his
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  servants. We are the ones that obey Him
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  even as we think of his name, the Lord, that we are ones that
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  are subservient to him. We do as IT instructs.
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  We don't have OK, God, I've got my will and my will is pretty
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  good. And so if you would just listen
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  to me and sometimes we go along with what my plan is instead of
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  your plan, then you know, if we do 5050 and half the time you do
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  what you want in my life and half the time we do what I want
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  with my life. We, we tend, even if we don't
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  stay that overtly. That's how we behave.
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  It's how we think. We we assume that God's goodness
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  is based on how much he aligns with our vision of what our life
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  should entail and of the, if you will, riches that we should
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  enjoy the health that we have unencumbered by difficulties.
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  We think as long as God aligns with my vision for my life, he
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  is good. And when he doesn't align from
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  my vision with my life, well, I kind of have to trust him
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  because he's not being very good right now.
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  No, no, no, my friends, we are the servants.
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  He is the Lord. He's the one that calls the
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  shots in our life and the shots that He calls, they are good
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  shots. Now we can, along with Christ in
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  the garden, we can pray, Father, not my will, but your will be
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  done. And we can certainly pray that
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  recognizing that we have a will and that we can ask of God, but
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  recognize fundamentally we are not friends, pals, buddies, each
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  kind of eye. And for what are we going to do
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  today? No, we are servants called to
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  obey our heavenly Master. And so this heavenly master we
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  are called to give praise to and to talk about how great he is.
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  The end of verse one praise the name of Yahweh.
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  Yahweh obviously is that covenant name of God.
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  It is what he told to Moses that when Moses has OK well who am I
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  saying sent me to release the children of Israel from Egypt
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  and God said Yahweh I am tell them I am has sent me to you and
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  this I am Yahweh. He is the God that is all
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  self-sufficient. He doesn't need anything from
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  us. If we never gave him worship, if
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  we never never gave him adoration, if we never gave him
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  our love, he would be just fine. He doesn't require anything from
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  us. He's not like the gods that so
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  many people worshipped back in these times, where the God would
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  be incapable of staving off famine or infertility or
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  terrible storms if you did not offer sacrifices to that God.
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  No, you always completely different.
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  You always doesn't need anything from his people.
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  Jesus does not require anything from anyone else.
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  Anything that we bring is simply in free joy and relationship and
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  love with crime. But He does not require anything
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  from us in order for Him to exist or to be adored.
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  He has been adored and loved and respected all throughout the
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  ages past, throughout all of created history by the angels
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  that surround the throne worshipping and saying holy,
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  holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
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  The whole earth is full of His glory.
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  He has received worship and adoration, and He has received
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  love from the Father and from the Spirit throughout all ages
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  past. And as there's been that
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  community of love within the Godhead, within our triune God,
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  there has been love, there's been worship, there's been all
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  of the things. Humans are not needed by God.
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  We are wanted and beloved by God and man.
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  What a better relationship that that is.
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  If God had to have something from us, it would be
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  transactional. But whatever path we choose, it
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  does not affect our God. It doesn't change who He is.
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  So let's worship Him. Let's love him as a result of
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  it. Let us praise His name.
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  We can think certainly in the Old Testament you have that
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  name, the Lord Yahweh I am that's used over 7000 times in
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  the Old Testament. And then you can think in the
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  New Testament of the name of Jesus, as we're told by Paul in
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  Philippians chapter 2, that Jesus is the name above every
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  name. That at the name of Jesus, every
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  knee will bow with things in heaven and things in earth and
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  things under the earth. And that every tongue will
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  confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
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  Father. And there Paul even quoting from
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  Isaiah where he says that the name of Yahweh will be praised
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  by all people. Everyone will confess that
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  Yahweh is God and Lord. And so here you have both from
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  the Old Testament and the New Testament, whether you think of
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  the great I am, or if you think of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God
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  who took away the sins of the world, our God, the God of, if
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  you will, 1000 names is the one absolutely worthy to be praised.
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  I'm going to do 2 things for this episode.
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  I'm going to link in there's a song by Sovereign Grace Music
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  that's on Psalm 113. And so I'll link in that one.
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  And then there's a song written by Phil Wickham called 1000
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  Names and it just sings through a bunch of names of God.
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  It doesn't sing through 1000 names, but it's a lot of them.
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  And so I'm, I'm going to link that as well, just to give you
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  guys some practical as you're praising the Lord.
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  Those songs will help you to do exactly that.
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  All right, I got to hasten on a little bit.
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  I got, I got kind of bogged down.
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  Verse 1 is great. Verse #2 Let the name of Yahweh
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  be blessed both now and forever. God's name is going to be
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  praised for forever. So let's start praising Him even
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  right now. Then verse #3 from the rising of
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  the sun to its setting, let the name of Yahweh be praised.
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  I saw a one of my study Bibles or something was talking about
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  this particular verse. I think it was the the New
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  English translation Bible study notes said this.
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  The talking about from the rising of the sun to its
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  setting. This isn't saying OK during the
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  daytime, praise God. It's saying from everywhere that
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  the sun rises to everywhere that the sun sets.
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  The Lord's name is to be praised.
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  So it's not temporal, it's spatial.
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  So it's saying all across the world the name of Yahweh is to
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  be praised. There is no location that you
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  can go, there's no time of day that you can go where it is not
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  appropriate to praise the name of God.
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  All right, so that's our call to action in verses one through 3
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  is to praise the Lord, and we are his servants.
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  He has a name that's worthy to be praised, to be uplifted.
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  So then verses 4 through 9 say, well, why?
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  And this talks a little bit about who God is, what he has
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  done, what he has promised even for us, and why we should praise
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  him. Verse 4, Yahweh is exalted above
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  all the nations, His glory above the heavens.
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  So God is more powerful. I'll, I'll put it into today's
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  vernacular. God is higher, with greater
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  authority, greater might, greater power than Russia, than
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  North Korea, than China, than the United States, than any
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  other, if you will, world power that you might have.
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  I know there's all sorts of craziness happening in our
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  world. God has more authority and more
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  power and a fuller jurisdiction than any individual nation or
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  coalition of nations. God is better.
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  You don't have to fear the US. You don't have to fear Russia.
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  You don't have to fear China because we have of a God who is
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  greater and above and mightier than all.
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  He says His glory is above the heavens, that is the skies.
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  Think back to Genesis one. In the beginning, God created
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  the heavens and the earth, that is, the skies and the land, the
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  realm above and the realm below. And so God is exalted and
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  glorified even far above the skies, as we think of the
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  expanse of space and the stars and comets and and meteoroids
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  and black holes and all of that. God's glory is greater even than
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  the cosmos. So verse 5 is the appropriate
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  response to this. Who is like Yahweh, our God, the
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  one enthroned on high, who Stoops down to look on the
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  heavens and the earth. We have to look up to even see
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  things here on Earth like the mountains or you know, the the
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  lower amount, lower layers of clouds we have to send, we have
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  to send rockets into space for 50 years in order to see some
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  aspects of the edge of our universe.
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  But God, he has to, if you will humble himself.
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  He has to go down a step in order to see the vast expanse of
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  his creation. He is not a small thing in a big
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  universe. No, no, no.
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  He is the big thing. He is the largest, the most
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  glorified. He is the greatest being we
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  could ever imagine. And he Stoops down to look on
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  the heavens, if you will. It's it's almost belittling, you
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  know, you think I, I have my toddlers and when I am talking
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  with them, you know, I might get down on a knee.
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  So I can, you know, be face to face with B or EV and, and talk
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  with them a little bit, see what they're trying to say.
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  And if you will, that's kind of a humbling thing.
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  You know, if I kneel in front of another person, we don't really
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  do that anymore because it is belittling.
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  And so when I interact with, you know, someone that's older than
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  me, I'm not kneeling to them or bowing to them anymore.
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  But it says God Stoops down to look on the heavens and the
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  earth, but he's not just looking at all of the cosmos that he has
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  created. Instead, in verse 789, he cares
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  about individual people and he cares about the people that
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  everyone else looks down on. He cares about the people that
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  we go, well, you know that that person, yeah, they're in a rough
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  situation, but that's probably their fault and I don't have to
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  care about them. But God does.
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  The 1 enthroned above the heavens, verse 7, he says he
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  raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the
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  trash heap, from the landfills of this world.
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  God raises the poor and lifts the needy.
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  I'll say this just because there's whole mess of things
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  going on right now even in the United States with various
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  budgeting bills and things like EBT and SNAP benefits and things
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  like that. As someone that in the past has
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  had to be on EBT benefits or food benefits, not as a result
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  of a lack of work, but due to the expensiveness of the world
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  that we are in right now. I have such a burden in my heart
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  seeing sometimes even professed Christians who dried and despise
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  the poor and the needy. And here's why.
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  Because God doesn't do that here.
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  Talking about the great God that is greater than all of the
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  expanse of the universe. It says he cares about the poor
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  and the needy. And I wonder today, do you have
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  that same love and that same care for those that are
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  disenfranchised, for those that have undergone horrible
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  hardships in their life, that have found themselves in a
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  situation that you would not wish for yourself or any family
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  member of yours, but they are on incredibly hard times.
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  Do you love and care for the poor and the needy like our God
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  does? There was, oh, I wanted to say
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  if you have an ability to care for the poor or the needy, those
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  that are homeless, I encourage you to do so.
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  I've been really, really encouraged.
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  I know he listens to many of these.
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  My friend Matthew Melton, he has an, a homeless outreach Dr. that
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  he's doing providing for some of the needs of homeless men even
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  in our community of like Essex, Middle River, Dundalk.
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  And he's doing that in October through mid November.
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  And so if you would like any information about that, please
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  comment on this video, send a message, e-mail, text, whatever.
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  I would love to connect you with Matthew and the great work that
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  he's doing even in our area and being able to help with this.
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  I'm thankful that God doesn't just say, OK, well, if they want
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  a better life, they can, you know, just get themselves up by
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  their bootstraps. No, the eternal, the everlasting
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  God of gods reaches down into the trash heap and lifts up the
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  needy. But he doesn't just lift them up
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  and get them to, you know, ground 0.
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  Instead, verse 8, he lifts them up and he raises them from the
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  dust and the trash heap in order to seat them with nobles, with
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  the nobles of his people. He takes those that were in the
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  trash heap and he says, you are now going to be a politician.
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  You're going to be one that has riches and land and joy.
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  What a good God that we serve. I think ultimately this is true
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  of our spiritual state. There's certainly there's
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  application here that can be made of care and respect and
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  love for those that are in hard times.
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  But we were spiritually poor and bereft of righteousness.
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  We did not have a relationship with God.
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  And as you think about all of our righteousness is Isaiah
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  tells us are like filthy rags that we were those in the trash
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  heap, those that have no righteousness of our own.
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  And yet God lifted us up in salvation, and He placed us with
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  Christ in the heavenly places, as we read in Ephesians chapter
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  2, and that we've been seated with the greatest noble Jesus
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  Christ, the Prince of Peace, the King of all kings, and he has
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  seated us with them. And so if God has treated us in
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  that way, how in the world can we not treat others with
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  kindness and respect and love and charity?
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  Verse #9 He gives the childless woman a household, making her
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  the joyful mother of children. Hallelujah, man, I think here
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  certainly this is not what David had in mind.
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  I wonder if Christ was not thinking even as he sang through
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  this portion of the song about the childless woman, a
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  household, making her the joyful mother of children, as he was
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  thinking about his own mother, as he would die on the cross.
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  And he gave this, he gave his earthly mother.
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  A son even in that moment that he told John the disciple that
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  he loved, He said, son, behold your mother, mother, behold your
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  son. That even as Christ was on the
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  cross in agonizing torment, bearing the sin of all humanity
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  from all of created history on Himself, He took time to care
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  for a mother that was losing her son and to make sure she was
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  cared for it and that she was loved.
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  The rest of the prophets, especially Isaiah and Ezekiel,
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  if I remember correctly, deal with this thought as well, that
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  God will take even those that are barren.
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  And you can think back to the historical counts of Sarah you
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  can think of. Let me see, there's Sarah,
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  there's Rebecca and Rachel that all suffered with infertility
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  and God gave those women households full of children.
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  But as Isaiah and Ezekiel reflect back on those stories
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  and think about what God will do in the future.
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  They said it will be that those that did not have children
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  themselves as they are caretaking for others children.
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  Even as you think about the tribulation and the Millennium
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  of the fact that there will be children of, of individuals that
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  have passed and perhaps their parents did not believe in the
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  Lord. And so they they passed away.
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  And these kids are orphans now going into the Millennium and
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  they will need individuals to care for them.
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  And I think that there will very likely be, even from the words
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  of the prophets, people that did not have children in this life,
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  but in the Millennium they will have these children that they
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  love and they care for and they raise as their own.
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  I that gets way into eschatology and a whole bunch of other
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  things. If you have any questions about
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  that, as always happy to answer any questions you have.
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  But I just think this Psalm is so enriching.
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  It gives us our marching orders to praise the Lord.
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  It tells us why we should praise the Lord because He is great, He
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  is exalted, He has the name above all names.
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  He is the one that is greater than the skies in the land,
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  bigger than the expanse of space, and yet he cares for the
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  poor and the needy and the barren.
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  And so our response ought to be worship of the Lord and then a
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  care and a love for those that are disenfranchised here on this
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  earth, that we would show them the same love that we have been
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  shown by our God. Thanks for tuning in today.
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  I hope someone 13 was an encouragement to you.
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  See you next episode.