Psalm 105 this evening. Psalm 105, I want you to read
this whole Psalm and I don't believe I'll take time to read
it tonight, but great, great language. I guess we better, let's look
at Psalm 105. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, Call upon his
name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing
psalms unto him. Talk ye of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy name. Let
the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord
and his strength. Seek his face evermore. Remember
his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders and the judgments
of his mouth. Oh, ye seed of Abraham, his servant. Oh, ye children of Jacob, his
chosen. He is the Lord, our God. His judgments are in all the
earth. He hath remembered his covenant forever. The word which
he commanded to a thousand generations, which covenant he made with Abraham
and his oath unto Isaac and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a long
and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying unto thee, will
I give the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance? When
they were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and strangers
in it, when they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom
to another people, he suffered no man to do them wrong, yea,
he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, touch not mine anointing,
and do my prophets no harm. Even though they were taken into
various captivities, he protected his sheep. Now, many died, but
not his people, not until it was time, and only exactly as
he prescribed, Men can't touch what God has given us and done
for us. They can kill this body, but
they just doing us a favor when they do that. Moreover, he called
for a famine upon the land. He break the whole staff of bread.
Verse 17. He sent a man before them, even
Joseph, who was sold for a servant whose feet they hurt with fetters.
He was laid in iron until the time that his word came. The word of the Lord tried him.
The king sent and loosed him, even the ruler of the people,
and let him go free. He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his substance, to bind his princes at his pleasure
and teach his senators wisdom. Israel also came into Egypt and
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham, and he increased his people
greatly and made them stronger than their enemies. He turned
their heart to hate his people, to deal subtly with his servants.
He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. They
showed his signs among them and wonders in the land of Ham. He
sent darkness and made it dark, and they rebelled not against
his word. He turned their waters into blood
and slew their fish. Their land brought forth frogs
in abundance in the chambers of their kings. He spake, and
there came diverse sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts.
He gave them hail for rain and flaming fire in their land. He
smote their vines also and their fig trees and break the trees
of their coasts. He spake and the locusts came
and caterpillars and that without number and did eat up all the
herbs in their land and devoured the fruit of their ground. He
smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all
their strength. He brought them forth also with
silver and gold and there was not one feeble person among their
tribes. He gave them the strength they
needed for the journey. Egypt was glad when they departed for
the fear of them fell upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering
and fire to give light in the night. The people asked and he
brought quails and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
He opened the rock and the waters gushed out. They ran in the dry
places like a river for he remembered his holy promise. He did all
of this for them because he promised them. He made a covenant with
Abraham his servant, and he brought forth his people with joy, and
his chosen with gladness, and gave them the lands of the heathen,
and they inherited the labor of the people, that they might
observe his statutes and keep his laws. Praise ye the Lord. All of these things God did for
his people, you keep in mind, his chosen, Jacob, his sheep,
his elect, and the psalm starts this way, give thanks. Thank
God for all that He has done. Israel had a history and so do
you. How has God dealt with you? These first five verses are packed
with exhortations regarding how we ought to always be doing all
we do unto the Lord. Do it unto Him. And in the rest
of the psalm are all these examples of God's greatness, of His faithfulness
to His people, of His protection of them, of His favor upon them.
His love and blessing of them through many circumstances, through
many troubling circumstances, through bondage, through great
fear. But these first five verses tonight,
in just these few verses, we're told to thank God, call upon
Him, make Him known, sing to Him, talk about Him, glory in
Him, rejoice in Him, seek Him, and remember him. The first general observation
that we have to make here is that you can't have a casual
relationship with God. You can't just be kind of interested
in God. You can't just be an occasional
worshiper of him. If you think you are, you're
not a worshipper of Him at all. Do you see that about these first
five verses? Rejoice in Him. Seek Him. Thank
Him. Talk about Him. It's all about
Him. That's the title of the message
now. All about Him. The very nature and character
of God, as well as all of the great things that He's done,
that He cataloged here concerning the nation of Israel, a picture
of His people, His elect, All of who he is and what he's done
demand that we be utterly taken up with him. And that's the exhortation
here in these first five verses. Just be taken up with him all
the time, rejoicing in him, talking about him, thanking him, praising
him, glorying in him. God is not someone that you just
need to have in your life. He is a life changer. He is the
life giver. People say, well, you need God
in your life. No, you don't. No, you don't just need him in
your life. It's way beyond that. If you
can even say that you don't know who he is. Somebody you went to high school
with maybe and got along with, you know, and shared some moments
with or had some common struggles with. You might just keep in
touch with over the years and keep them in your life. But somebody
who gives you every breath you breathe. It's not like that. Somebody who gives you every
good thing that you have or ever had Someone who saved you in
every way that a man can be saved. You don't just stay in touch
with We've got to be we got to give
him thanks in everything the scripture says in everything
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and Ephesians 520, for
everything. Now if this is just a point in
a sermon to you, it won't be a very memorable one. But when
you realize, when are we gonna realize, and I mean realize it
in such a way that we don't forget it two minutes from now, that
everything we have is from God. When are we gonna realize that
finally? When is it gonna sink in that we owe everything to
God? Somebody might say, well, God
is important to me, but so is my family. Do you know where
your family came from? Do you know where they're going? Somebody might say, well, God
is important to me, but my job has to take some priority in
my life. Do you see that that's the wrong way to look at it?
Do you know why you have a job, where it came from, and why it
was given to you? It's time we knew that. And call upon him, David said,
call upon him. Thank him for all that you have
and call upon him for all you need. If everything you have came from
him, then when you need something, where are you going to go? We call Judas. An absolute blithering
idiot for selling the Son of God for 30 pieces of silver.
And yet we see people doing the same thing every day. Have you
ever? Nobody in their right mind would
not say he's an idiot for doing that. You think about that. You
remember what it says in Matthew 2615. Listen to this about Judas. He left. The one who made everything
now. The one who said the silver is
mine and the gold is mine. All of it. The cattle on a thousand
hills is mine. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. Everything. He left him and went to the world
and said, what will you give me? And I will deliver him unto
you. If you give me enough, I'll deliver
him unto you. And they covenanted with him
for 30 pieces. of silver. And we say we would never do
that, never in a million years. And yet I see, I see people all
the time move away from the gospel because they need or think they
need what this world has to give. Don't quite need God as much
as I need that job. That's just one example now that
seems to come up a lot because I see it constantly. You think God can't provide for
you where his gospel is preached? Is that what you think? When you need something, call
on him. Trust him. Not this world. Not
your circumstances. Not your own imagined resources. You don't have any. Everything
is in his hand. Everything you have comes from
him, and everything you're gonna have is gonna come from him.
Call upon him. Trust him. Rely on him. In faith,
commit yourself to him. And that's what it means now.
Do you know what it means to be committed unto him? That is
to be in a position and to know yourself to be in the position
of utterly relying upon him alone. I'm talking about burning every
other bridge and holding up your hand to God, saying, Lord, I'm
yours. If I perish, I'll perish at your
feet. And if I thrive, it'll be by
your great mercy and grace upon me. That's what it meant when you
were lost, wasn't it? You believers, and this is written to you, when
you first knew your need of the Savior, when you realized that
you were sinking down to hell and there was one that could
lift you up, you were dying and helpless and there was one that
could heal your soul, one who could forgive your sins, one
whose righteousness was sufficient in which to stand before God,
one whose precious blood redeems all that he shed it for. What
did you do then? You called upon the Lord. You
committed your very soul unto him. Paul said, I've committed,
and I know he's able to keep me. I'm persuaded. That's what this
is now. Do that now, too. You need him
just as much tonight as you did that night. We need him every
hour. Call on him. Call on him. And
then thirdly, David said, let everybody know Let everybody
know that everything you got came from him. And that your
hand, was it Abraham? That they said, you know, we'll
give you all this stuff. And he said, keep it. My hand
is lifted up to God. Don't need it from you. We know that the Lord uses means,
but that situation that he was in, it taught us something, didn't
it? Our hand, no matter where it comes from, is lifted up to
God. Everything we need is in His hand to give. He said, tell everybody that.
Make it known, now. Make it known. Don't let anybody
think for a second that you rely on this world. Make it known,
and let them know that it's the same for them, whether they know
it or not. They're mercy beggars at the
feet of Christ. Just tell them what our Lord said. Listen to
Mark 5, 19. Remember that man who was possessed with many devils?
And the Lord, you talk about saving somebody. He was full of devils, so much
so that he was, everybody was scared to even come around him. I've known a couple of people
like that, haven't you? Scared to even, I don't even
want to go around you. I don't even want to be in the same room. Just scary evil. And God saved him. He told him to sit down, put
some clothes on, and gave him his right mind. And here's what
he said to that man. He said, I'm coming with you.
And the Lord suffered him not. But sayeth unto him, Go home
to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath
done for thee and hath had compassion on me. That's what David's saying
here. Make it known. Make it known
to everybody. Don't ever let anybody think
for a second that you depend on anybody but God. And don't ever let anybody doubt
that everything you have came from him and how greatly he's
blessed you. they gonna make a lot of people
make fun of you for it but we are what we are by the grace
of God I don't care who knows it let everybody know that you were
saved by Christ alone that he picked you out of a multitude
of worms And He picked you the worst, most wretched, stinky,
vile, slimy worm in the pile, so that all the glory would be
His. So give Him all the glory for
it. Let everybody know that your only hope before God, and it's
a good one, it's a sure one, is that the Son of God shed His
precious blood for your sins. That's my hope now. That's not
my chance. That's my hope. That's not my
opportunity. That's my salvation. Nobody can
condemn me. Not any devil in hell or any
sinner on earth. And even God himself can't condemn
me. Because why? Because it's Christ that died
for me. Tell everybody that. Let everyone
know that you are what you are simply and purely by the grace
of God Almighty. whatever that is, let everybody
know that you're only righteous before God in Christ himself
who is himself the Lord our righteousness. All of my works, all of my best
works are nasty, filthy, stinky rags in God's sight, but I stand
before God in Christ, my great high priest. Let everybody know
that you got your job from Christ and that you work ultimately
for him. Let everybody know that Christ gave you your home, your
family, your children, your wife or husband, everything you have. Don't forget these two words
as you go through this life from that verse right there. Make
known. Make known. Don't forget that. Make known. How wonderful he
is. Verse three, glory in him. Glory
in Him. Paul said in Galatians 6.14,
but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom. You know why it says that? Don't
glory in your wisdom, your strength, your anything. Because that's
what we typically do. The mighty man glory in his might.
Let not the rich man glory in his riches. No. That's typically
what men do. We glory in ourselves. But Paul said, God don't let
me glory in anything but Christ and Him crucified. By whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. And that's
important context there, because think about that. It is because
of Christ crucified that it is impossible for me to glory in
this world. It's dead to me. Because He died. and rose again. Glory in his holy name. You see
that in the text? Glory in his holy name. The name
is the character of God. The person of God. You see, when
people say God loves everybody, it's there. It's his holy name
that they're defiling. They're saying God loved that.
You go to heaven or hell, but God loves you. Christ died for
everybody. That's his name you're defiling
when you say it. You're defaming him in his holy
name. Because if God loves you, you
loved. And love's not just him wishing
the best for you. God's love is you have every
blessing he has in Christ. And His precious blood don't
make things possible. It gets things done. His blood
is effectual. So they're defiling His holy
name when they speak like that. Let's glory in His holy name.
Boast of Him as the Lord our righteousness. Our only righteousness
before God is Christ alone. Boast in Him as the crucified
Redeemer of sinners. My Redeemer actually redeemed
all of His people with His precious blood. Every single sinner that
he shed his precious blood in order to redeem, he obtained
eternal redemption for them. That's glorying in his name,
his character, his attributes. Boast of him as the Lord who
provides. Jehovah read. Abraham said, God
will provide himself a lamb. And he did. Brag on him as the
almighty God who does as he pleases, when he pleases, with whom he
pleases. Then we're exhorted also to rejoice
in him. Let the heart of him rejoice
that seeketh the Lord. Paul said rejoice in the Lord
always. Always. And I want you to look
at the context of that verse because I thought it was interesting.
Philippians 4. Let's turn over there this time. Philippians
4. Look at the context. This verse
seems out of place. seems like it's just interjected
in there randomly look at verse 3 of Philippians 4 Philippians 4 3 and I entreat thee also true
yoke fellow those who are fellow laborers together with the Saints
Help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement
also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the
book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known
unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Verse four just kind of
seems like it's just stuck in there randomly, doesn't it? But
it's not, it never is. Think about this. Rejoice in
the Lord, delighting, helping others, rejoicing in the Lord
to do it. When you help these women, do
it cheerfully, gladly, delighting that you're able to help. It's
by God's grace that you're able, and knowing that it's His grace.
It ought to make your heart glad that you're able to do something
for them. Oh, and here, rejoice in the
Lord. It ought to make our heart glad
that we're able to do something for Him. He said, when you've
done it to these, when you help them, you're helping me. Can
you imagine that? You talk about rejoicing in the
Lord. He's given us freely and abundantly all these blessings
that He's given us and allows us the great privilege of giving
something to Him because He first gave to us. And then he blesses
us for doing it. Rejoice in the Lord. You see
how it's in the context. Rejoice as you are moderate.
He said, let your moderation be known. After that verse, rejoice
in that to deal appropriately, equitably, fairly, to be reasonable,
to be humble, to be gentle with people in all things, to just
act right toward people. May that be what makes us happy. You know what makes most people
happy? When they can take advantage of somebody. Isn't that right? You find that to be so in this
world? They're not happy unless they're getting it over on somebody
somehow or another. Let your moderation be known
and that you rejoice in the Lord. And here's the soul of this,
the heart of this verse now is this. Those who are not moderate are
proud, harsh, taking advantage of people, and it always has
to be about them. It's always about them, and that's
what it boils down to, it being about you. Rejoice in the Lord,
not you. That's how you'll be moderate.
If he's your joy, he's your happiness, and not yourself. And then back
in our text he said, seek him, seek the Lord, seek the Lord. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek him and seek him. Seek him. What is it to seek
the Lord? It's to seek his will, wouldn't
you say? To seek his will in all things. We talked about this
Sunday morning. We have his will, generally speaking,
revealed to us. People just say, oh, I just want
to do God's will. And then they deliberately run
from every revealed aspect of God's will in this book. They
act exactly contrary and all the while saying, I just want
to do the will of God. We'll find out what his will is then.
But in specific things, here's an example. We know that it's
God's will to honor his son in this world. That's why he has
a world. OK. Let us seek his will, though,
and how specifically we can do that. What can I do today to
honor Christ? And what about this decision
I'm about to make? A or B, which one honors Him? Which one honors
Him the most? Let us seek His will. Listen
to this, 2 Corinthians 7, 14. Just listen to me for a second.
Seek His will. Seek His face. Seek His face. You ever thought about what that
means? If my people, which are called by my name, is that you? Then listen up. God has a proposition
here. If my people, which are called
by my name, shall humble themselves. Can we get in the dust? It kind
of feels like home, doesn't it? Where we belong. I belong in
the dust. It shouldn't be real hard to
get in the dust for us. and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.
Oh Lord, turn us and we'll be turned. Then will I hear from heaven
and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Seek my face. What does that
mean? Seeking the face of God is to
desire nothing more than his presence and his favor. He said, I'll cause my face to
shine upon you and give you peace. If that's your greatest desire, to have the light of the countenance
of God shining upon you, then you're seeking his face. Is there anything you want more
than that? If there's anything you want
more than the presence, blessing, and favor of God, than the shining
of God's face upon you, then not only are you a godless wretch,
you're a fool. Because you prefer something
over that which above all else is to be prized. To seek His glory, to seek the
Lord is to seek His glory. Paul said, whether you eat or
drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Whatever
you're doing, do it for His glory, and if you can't do it for His
glory, then don't do it. If this were our constant motive,
and again, you can't casually Worship God you can't occasionally
seek God and you can't just In a shallow and intermittent
way serve him His character just doesn't allow for that you just
gonna have to be sold out to him or you gonna have to go your
way It's gonna be one or the other because if you think well,
you know, God is important to me, but other things, you know,
I then God's not important to you, you've just fooled yourself. Seek His glory. If that were
our constant motive in everything, how different would our lives
be? And then finally tonight, we
just have to look at these five verses tonight, and I don't know
if we'll look at the rest of this psalm in particular, or
just remember the glorious things that are described therein, the
salvation of God, of His people. It was all through their lives,
wasn't it? Salvation, not a one-time thing. It's having, it's if God
be for us, who can be against us? And if He's for you, He was
for you before you were born. He was for you the day you were
born. He was for you the day you met Him. And He'll be for
you the day you die. And 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands
of thousands of years from now, He'll be for you. Salvation is
God all in for you. That's why we got to be all in
for Him. It just isn't God. It's just not of God. That's
just the way He does things. He does it toward you and He
does it in you. But finally, David says this,
remember. Remember, remember. How many
times in this book are we exhorted to remember? Here's why. Because we forget. The first reason we're exhorted
constantly to remember is because we forget. And the second reason
is this, because remembering will affect all that we do. Remembering
Him will make us thankful. Remembering Him will cause us
to glory in Him. Remembering Him will cause us
It'll bring out our hearts in gratitude and in prayer to Him
and all these things. We'll sing to Him. We'll sing
His praises. We'll talk about Him. We'll make
His glory known if we remember. If we remember. That's why the
Apostle Peter said, I think as long as I'm in this flesh, I
think the thing for me to do is to just keep putting you in
remembrance of these things. I kind of feel like that too.
Let's just keep remembering together. If we remember, we'll sing, we'll
seek. Remembering is more than just
not forgetting. Remembering is acknowledging
God in all things and honoring Him for who He is and for what
He has done for us. That's what He's doing in the
rest of this psalm. He's remembering all the great
things that God had done for His people. And remember this, there's a
good time to remember and there's a bad time to remember. What's a good time to remember,
Chris? Ecclesiastes 12, one, remember now, thy creator, in
the days of thy youth. How can there be a bad time to
remember? Lazarus sat at the rich man's
gate, and Lazarus was a child of God. but he didn't have much
in this life. And that rich man had everything
in this life, but he had no hope. He had no use for God, had no
use for his gospel. And even as it's revealed there
in Luke chapter 16, even after he died, he didn't think much
of the gospel of Christ. Do you remember that? Because the prophet said to him, You
know, the man who was in hell, the rich man who lifted up his
eyes in hell, being in torment. He said, Father Abraham, send
somebody back from the dead to go tell my brother, to warn my
brothers. If somebody comes back from the dead, they'll believe. And Abraham said, they have the
law and the prophets. They have God's message concerning
his son, Jesus Christ. which was preached from the beginning.
And he said, no, but send somebody back from the dead and that'll
impress them. That'll impress them. No use for God's gospel. When he was alive and no use
after he was dead. And it says. In Luke 1625, Abraham said to
that rich man in hell, son. Remember. Remember that thou in thy lifetime
receivest thy good things and never once thanked God. Which is the very first thing
in our text. Never once thanked God for what he'd given you. Never once sought him for what
you needed. Never once glorified him. Everything
in our text, never. But now remember, remember that. And Lazarus, his evil face, but
now he's comforted. Because his comfort now is the
same one who was his comfort then. The Lord Jesus Christ. And thou art tormented. We come to the Lord's table in
remembrance of him. As often as you come. He said,
do this in remembrance of me. When we worship, like tonight,
I pray that God has and will enable us to worship. When we
worship, among other things, it's a memorial service, isn't
it? It's a memorial of our Savior. David said in Psalm 103 to bless
the Lord, oh my soul. Don't forget all his benefits
David knew he was prone to do that. We know that about ourselves
Don't forget my soul. Don't forget Don't forget all
of his blessings And the more you remember the more your blessing Deuteronomy 6 I Just want to
read that and we'll be through Deuteronomy Chapter 6 verse 4 As I read the Lord saying to
these people all of the things that He's done, as we saw in
our psalm, the great things the Lord does. Think about your life.
Think about all that the Lord has done for you, whether you
knew it then or not. You know it now, don't you? Because we're not just looking
at history here. This is the God that we serve. This is the
God who was for us before we ever knew Him. This is the God who, even when
we were in bondage, His hand was upon us. This is the God
who has followed us all through this life with His pillar of
fire and His pillar of cloud. Deuteronomy 6, 4, Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with
all thy might. And these words where we say
the first thing we said tonight, you can't just kinda Worship
God you can't just kinda, you know want him in your life all
your soul all your heart all you might And these words verse
six, which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart This
is the covenant of grace. It's not just gonna be on tables
and stone. I'm gonna put it in your heart to love me like that. If he left it up to you, it's
not gonna happen. It never has and it never will.
And thou shalt teach them, verse seven, diligently unto thy children. You know, that just kind of happens
for me because my children are all here and they've been all of their lives, they've heard
me preaching. It's not just going to happen
at your house, is it? It's not just going to happen for you.
Now bringing them here, that's important, but you've got to
be their example. Teach them diligently unto thy
children. You gotta be their example and
their teacher in every way. Thou shalt talk of them when
thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the
way, and when you lie down. You see, that's why I call this,
it's all about Him. And when you rise up, it's about
Him. And thou shalt bind them for
a sign upon thine hand, And they shall be as frontlets between
thy eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house
and on thy gates. Why? Why is all that necessary?
Because we're going to forget if we don't. Unless we're diligent
about it. Unless we give diligence. And thou shalt write them upon
the posts of thy house, and on thy gates, verse 10. And it shall
be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land
which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest
not, and houses full of all good things, which thou fillest not,
and wells digged, which thou diggest not, vineyards and olive
trees, which thou plantest not, When thou shalt have eaten and
be full, then beware, lest you forget. You see that? That's
why you've got to bind it on your hand. When you go to sleep,
think about Him. When you wake up, think about
Him. Glory in Him. Thank Him. All the exhortations
in our text. Speak of Him in your house. Speak
of Him in the way. Speak of Him to your children.
Speak of Him to everybody you love, because He's their only
hope. Beware lest you forget the Lord. Oh, I could never forget
the Lord. Oh, you know, surely you know
better than that, don't you? By God's grace, I know a little
bit about how easy it is for me to forget. Which brought thee forth out
of the land of Egypt from the house above. You know what that
says in spiritual language? Don't forget the one who saved
you. He saved you. He pulled you out
of the fire. Don't forget him. Thank him. Seek him. Call on him. Talk about him. Glory in him. Remember him. May we never forget as a church.
How that the Lord has brought us where we are and provided
for us abundantly and has blessed our lives together. Thank God. Let's pray.