Would you turn to Psalm 105. Arabella Rose was born this morning,
actually, and everything went well. This is one of three historical
psalms where the psalmist gives a part of Israel's history. There's
Psalm 78, there's Psalm 105 and 106, and actually 105 and 106
in a way go together, but this covers 500 years history from
the time of Abraham to the Exodus. 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 in his strength.
Seek his face evermore. Remember his marvelous works
that he hath done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth.
O ye seed of Abraham, his servant, 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 law, 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 anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Moreover, he
called for a famine upon the land. He break the whole staff
of bread. 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
and 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,
that's the land of Egypt, And he increased his people greatly
and made them stronger than their enemies. He turned their heart,
Egypt, to hate his people." God turned their heart to hate his
people, to deal subtly with his servants. He sent Moses, his
servant 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 and in the chambers of their kings. He spake and
there came diverse sorts of flies and lice and 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 the coast. Now you know this is talking
about the 10 plagues. He spake and the locusts came and caterpillars
and that without number and eat up all the herbs in their land
and devoured the fruit of their ground. He smote also the firstborn
in their land and the chief of all their strength. He brought
them forth also with silver and gold and there was not a feeble
person among their tribes. Egypt was glad when they departed. for fear of them fell upon them.
He spread a cloud for a covering and a 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. And Abraham, his
servant, and he brought forth his people with joy and is 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. Let's pray. Lord, give us the grace from
our hearts By your spirit. To do what the psalmist said.
Praise thy holy name. Lord, unite our hearts together
in. Praising your name and glorying
in your name. We ask in Christ's name that
the gospel might be preached in the power of your spirit. Lord, what else could we ask?
Give us hearing ears, forgive us, forgive us of our sins for
Christ's sake. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. Lord, we pray for these. New birth, we
pray for your. Saving hand to be upon each child.
Bless our homes for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, Amen. History. Psalm 78, Psalm 105,
Psalm 106 are about history, the history of Israel. History is everything God has
done in time up to this point. That's a good definition of history,
isn't it? Everything God has done in time up to this point,
and everything he does, he does for his glory. Any other view
of history will be a skewed view of history. Now, I've said this
before. I heard Henry Mahan say this
for the first time I heard this said. We're all three people.
We're the people who we think we are. We're the people who
others think we are. And we're the people God knows
we are. That resonates with you, doesn't
it? Well, it's the same thing with history. History is what
we think took place. History is what others think
took place. And what I thought about was,
let's say, the Revolutionary War. We have the United States'
view of history, and we have Britain's view of history. They're
two different views. Same thing happened, but two
different views. There is our view of history,
what somebody else's view of history is, and what God knows
took place because he decreed it to take place. That is the
only accurate view of history. And here we're given this historical
view of about 500 years from the time of Abraham all the way
to the time of the Exodus. And in the next Psalm, Psalm
106, we're given an 800 year view of history. And what is
interesting is this historical account is more of praising the
Lord for his grace and his covenant. And the next historical account
is one of the greatest confessions of sin throughout
the entire psalm that you'll find in scripture. Psalm 105,
O give thanks unto the Lord. Would to God that that is what's
coming from my heart right now. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation, so rich, so free. Oh, give thanks unto
the Lord. This is an exhortation. These
first five or six verses of this psalm and every one of these
are so important. Call upon his name. His name is who he is,
it's his attributes, it's his holiness, it's his sovereignty,
it's his grace, it's his mercy. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. And that's true in the Old Testament.
That's true in the new. Call upon his name, make known
his deeds among the people. Now if you want to know what
the subject matter of preaching is to be, here it is. Make known
his deeds. His deeds of creation, his deeds
of providence, everything that's taking place is his deed. He's
in control of it. Most especially is his deed of
salvation. Salvation's of the Lord. Now
there is the subject matter of true preaching. Make known his
deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto
him. Talk ye of all his wondrous works. Now there, once again, that's
the subject matter of our preaching. Speaking of his wondrous works,
that which only he can do. Glory ye, verse three, glory
ye in his holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek him. Now, let me give you two reasons
why you ought to rejoice if you're seeking the Lord. If you are
seeking the Lord, it's because he said to you, seek ye my face. What could be greater than that?
And here's the next reason to rejoice. All that seek, find. Isn't that a reason to rejoice? To seek the Lord? It says, seek
his strength, the power to do. Without me, you can do nothing.
Seek his face, his presence evermore. Remember, once again, remember
his marvelous works that he had done. You know when I'm happy? When I'm not even thinking about
myself, which is not very often. But when I'm not thinking about
myself and I'm thinking about his marvelous works. Now there's a reason for happiness.
his marvelous works, that he hath done his wonders and the
judgments of his mouth. I love the word judgments. He
made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. He is the Lord our
God. His judgments are in all the
earth. Oh, verse six, O seed of Abraham,
his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen. You know,
I was thinking of the language of that. Election was just as
big, well, it's always big. It's just as big in the Old Testament
as it is in the New Testament. That's the way they referred
Jacob, his chosen. He is the Lord, our God, is God
before us. Who can be against us? His judgments
are in all the earth. He controls everything and whatever
he does is right. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Yes, he shall. He hath remembered his covenant
forever. And this is the same covenant
David said, although my house be not so with God, yet hath
he made with me an everlasting covenant. Yes, he made it with
his son, and in making it with his son, he made it with every
believer. You can say this just as much
as David did. Yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things ensured. He hath remembered his
covenant forever. The word which he commanded to
a thousand generations, which is all of history, is his will
being done. Which covenant he made with Abraham
and his oath unto Isaac and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law
and to Israel for an everlasting covenant. The emphasis of his
covenant. My salvation is because of his
promise. That's the reason, not because
of anything I've done or promised to do, but because of his everlasting
covenant. Saying unto thee, verse 11, saying
unto thee, will I give the land of Canaan? You see in his covenant,
he gives. We receive, he gives. Isn't that the tenor of the gospel?
He gives, he gives. The lot of your inheritance,
when they were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and
strangers in it. This is talking about when they
came into Egypt, you know how many people there were? 70. In all
the population of the earth, there were 70 insignificant people. And what I thought about this
while I was trying to just, I'm insignificant. The Lord knows
me. I'm fine with that, aren't you?
I'm not known in this world, neither are you, or insignificant.
Few in number, but the Lord knows. To have the Lord know me, I love
that scripture, now that you've known God, or rather, are known
of God. To have God knowing me. Verse 14, he suffered no man
to do them wrong. Yea, he reproved kings for their
sake, saying, touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets
no harm. Now the Lord says that about
you. Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Moreover,
he called for a famine upon the land. This is talking about the
famine during Joseph's time. Moreover, he called for a famine
upon the land, and he break the whole staff of bread. He sent
a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant. You can read that history in
Genesis 37, whose feet they hurt with fetters. He was laid in
iron. Now this is not given in the Genesis account, but here
the psalmist tells us when he was in that prison, his feet
hurt with iron fetters for a crime that he didn't commit. And yet
the Lord used all of that for his glory. Verse 19, until the
time that his word came. The word of the Lord tried him.
The king sent and loosed him, and the ruler of the people let
him go free. This is when Pharaoh, he interpreted
those dreams for Pharaoh. Remember, he interpreted the
dreams of famine. There's going to be seven years
of plenty and then seven years of famine. And here's what Pharaoh
did. He made him lord of his house.
and ruler of all his substance to bind the princes at his pleasure
and teach his senators wisdom. Joseph became the most powerful
man in the world. Israel also came unto Egypt and
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. You'll remember when Joseph
sent for his dad to come down into Egypt and he increased his
people greatly. and made them stronger than their
enemies. Now this is the 400 years of history, all in one
verse. He increased them greatly. I
think 400 years ago it was 1624, or 23, whatever year this is,
I can't remember, but all that's happened in 400 years, think
how much this nation had increased at this time. 400 years of history.
And he increased his people greatly and made them stronger than their
enemies. And look at this verse, verse 25. He turned their heart. The Lord God turned the heart
of the Egyptians to hate his people. To deal subtly, deceitfully
with his servants. God is completely sovereign over
all of the free and uncoerced actions of men. Now these men,
it wasn't like they thought, well, the Lord is doing this
to us. No, they saw Israel is growing
and they thought we got it. We got to put a stop to this.
They're gonna become so powerful and so strong They're gonna do
they're gonna defeat us. They're gonna join up with our
enemies and we're gonna be in trouble. Therefore we're gonna
They were doing what they wanted to do, what made sense to them.
But remember this, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it, whithersoever he will. And I want you to remember this.
I want to remember this. The next time we feel mistreated, who caused it? The Lord did. for your good and for his glory. Everything that takes place in
the world, he is in control of. And he took these people, he
took these Egyptians. Yes, they did what they wanted
to do, but he turned their heart to hate his people. Does somebody
hate you? Who's behind it? For what purpose? It probably is. If somebody hates
me, I'm sure a lot of it's my fault. Maybe all of it's my fault,
but still the Lord is in control of all of it. I'm thankful for
this verse, aren't you? I mean, he turned their heart
to hate his people, to deal subtly and deceitfully with his servants.
He sent Moses, his servant and heir in whom he had chosen. They
showed his signs among them and wonders in the land of Ham. Now,
Ham was one of the three sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth,
and they represented the Egyptians, and that's why he calls the land
of Egypt the land of Ham. Now, he sent darkness and made
it dark. You know, the scripture says
it could be felt. The darkness could actually be
felt. Now that's dark. And the scripture also says they
were afraid to get up. I mean, they sat in darkness
for three days, everybody afraid to get up and move. They were
in darkness. And when the Lord sent that darkness,
they rebelled not against his word. Now, the saying is, at
the end, When Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey
him? At the end, he said, oh, please get out and leave us alone.
We're in trouble. You've destroyed the land. They
gave him all their gold and silver and watched them leave. They
ended up not rebelling at what he said. I love to think of that
when Pharaoh starts out, who is the Lord that I should obey
him? Well, he's going to find out. And he did end up obeying
him because everybody obeys the will of God because he's God. Verse 29, he turned their waters
into blood. and slew their fish, the scripture
says the whole land stank. Can you imagine all the stinking
fish in the land? What Egypt must have smelled
like at that time. Their land brought forth frogs
in abundance in the chambers of their kings. I love the way
it points out, not just the slaves, but in the kings. I mean, Pharaoh
lays down that night and there's frogs in his bed. There's frogs
everywhere. Can you imagine how grievous
that would have been? Verse 31, he spake and there
came diverse sorts of flies and lice and all their coast swarms
of flies. I hate flies and lice. Everybody's covered with lice.
Can you imagine how grievous that was? And the people were
thinking, can't we get these Egyptians out of here? He gave
them, verse 32, he gave them hail for rain. The hail that
broke down all the trees and killed animals and flaming fire
in their land when the hail would hit, fire would cover the ground.
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 numbering did eat up all the
herbs in their land and devoured the fruit of the ground. In the
Exodus account it says there wasn't one green thing left in
all the land. Can you imagine? the devastation of all of that. He smote also the firstborn in
their land and the chief of all their strength. And he brought
them forth also with silver and gold. And there was not one feeble
person among their tribes. Now, imagine this. While they're
leaving, the Lord turns the heart of the Egyptians to give them
all their money. And they did. You know, that's how they built
the tabernacle in the wilderness with all the gold and everything
was given to them. The Lord turned the hearts of
these people to do that. And they go out into the wilderness
rich with all the riches of Egypt. And Egypt is left in devastation. There was not one feeble person
among their tribes. And as a matter of fact, if you
read Nehemiah's account during the 40 years, their clothes never
became dry rotted or anything. Their clothes stayed fresh. They
always had something to eat. Wasn't one feeble person. They
were all unable to make this journey. Egypt, verse 38, Egypt
was glad when they departed for the fear of them fell upon them. Now he doesn't give the account
of going through the Red Sea. That's going to be in the next
psalm. But it says he did do this. He
spread a cloud for a covering and a fire to give light in the
night. By day there was a cloud. They would look and follow it.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. At night there was a fire and
they would follow it. That was the Lord Jesus Christ.
The people asked. And he brought quails and satisfied
them with the bread of heaven, the manna that came down from
heaven, the quails for meat. And, uh, when they asked for
those, it's because they were tired of manna and the Lord gave
it to them. And, uh, well, you read the,
what happened in that, but the manna, what a beautiful picture
of the Lord. Jesus Christ came down from heaven. Didn't come from men. Didn't
come from their works. came down from heaven every morning
as dew on the ground. And every day they were to go
get one day's worth. Looking to Christ is looking
to Him for today. I look to Him today just like
I looked to Him the first time I looked. And if they would try
to gather two days worth, they would breed worms and stink. Only one day at a time, looking
to Christ. He's my bread today. He'll be
my bread tomorrow. He's all I have today. He's all
I'm going to have tomorrow. Christ only. That is what is
taught in that. He opened, look in verse 41,
he opened the rock and the waters gushed out. They ran in dry places
like a river. Now, picture that in your mind.
You remember the story of the smitten rock. They were saying,
we need something to drink. Lord said, I'm going to stand
on the rock. He said, I'm going to stand on the rock to Moses.
You smite the rock. And in smiting the rock, and
Paul tells us that rock was Christ. Waters flew out like rivers coming
out of that rock. And the scripture says that rock
followed them. Now, I don't understand how that took place, but that's
what the Bible says. And what the Bible says, Donny
Bell made one of my favorite statements with regard to the
Bible. If the Bible says that Jonah swallowed the whale, I'd
believe it. Me too. Me too, I have no problem with
that. And the rock followed them. And you remember the second time
they started complaining, I don't know what happened. And the Lord
said, speak to the rock. And what did Moses do? He said,
you bunch of rebels, must I fetch water out of the rock? And then
he took that rod and smote it three times. When the Lord said,
speak to the rock. And because of that, Moses was
not allowed to enter into the promised land. You see, Christ
is only spent once. Only once. And that takes care
of everything. But Moses, he had a temper. And
he said, must we? I think it's almost funny. He
opened the rock and the waters gushed out. They ran in dry places
like a river. Now here's why. He did all these
glorious, gracious things for he remembered his holy promise. Why does the Lord continue to
look in mercy upon me? Because he remembered his holy
promise. The covenant of his grace. He remembered his holy promise
and Abraham, his servant, and he brought forth his people with
joy. That's the joy and peace of believing.
And his chosen, there we have election, election. He brought
forth his chosen with gladness and gave them the lands of the
heathen. And they inherited the labor
of the people. Now they were given something they didn't work
for. Remind you of anything? They didn't do anything to get
this. The Lord gave them the lands
and the inheritance of the people for this reason, verse 45, that
they might observe his statutes and keep his laws. Number one, I've kept the law. When Jesus Christ kept the law,
I kept the law. And that's my only obedience
to the law. Uh, when Jesus Christ kept the law, I kept the law.
If you can look at God's law and say, well, I've kept that
commandment. I might've been weak on this one, but I did that. No,
you, you've missed it all together. You don't understand God's law.
All God's law does is condemn. But here's our joy, we've kept
it in Christ. When people say, well, we ought
to try to keep the law, I don't even like language like that, to be
honest with you, because all the law says is, you're guilty. You're
guilty. And in Christ, you've kept it.
Aren't you thankful for that? That they might observe his statutes
and keep his laws. Now, here's a law that I personally
have kept. and every believer has kept.
This is his commandment that we believe on the name of his
son, Jesus Christ. Have you kept that commandment?
You know it's only by grace that you've kept that commandment
because he gave you the grace to do it, but you keep that commandment.
You believe that his name is why you will be brought into
glory. You're relying on his name and love one another as
he gave us commandment. We love all those that he loves. We love those who love him, don't
we? There's a special bond between believers. So he ends this psalm
of history. Praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen.