Revere With Reverence

Dan Westbrook

Love Gives Thanks • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

Psalm 135

Thankfulness

Thanksgiving Psalm

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Revering God

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· Veteran’s Day/Connect Card/Pastor

o Don’t Keep Scrolling

Application: Worship, message, prayer, Communion, Bible, assembling—>Missing the moment

Revere with Reverence.

o Paw-paw and Uncle Terry

Psalm 135:20 sets the tone for this message.

Psalm 135:20--You who revere the Lord, bless the Lord.

· revere: to respect, honor, or hold in awe.

· reverence: to show respect, honor, to stand in awe.

o Psalm 135: Compilation/Call to Worship

o Greatest Hits Album

· Psalm 135 is a lot like a greatest hits album/ other parts of Scripture

· Blessing Time: Family Stories

Psalm 135:1–4 (NASB 2020)

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, you servants of the Lord,

2 You who stand in the house of the Lord, In the courtyards of the house of our God!

3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.

4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel as His own possession.

o Hallelujah Psalm: Everyone invited; included

Many reasons to praise Him, but bedrock of our praise is this

1. God is Good.

“God is good,” has become cliché./Desirable, pleasant, kind, moral goodness/CHOSEN by God

—> Deuteronomy 7.

Deut. 7:6-8

6 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

7 “The LORD did not make you His beloved nor choose you because you were greater in number than any of the peoples, since you were the fewest of all peoples,

8 but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

verse 7: “But not because you were greater in number (you’re actually the smallest in number!). But because He loved you.

Sarah claims me.

1 Peter 2:9:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

· As believers, Paul says we are “grafted in.” By His grace, God now says the same thing to us as believers/ foundational truth: God is good.

· “The Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” (Ps. 92:15)

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Ps. 27:13)

· Aslan: “Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”[1]

Yes, good. But also great.

2. God is Great.

· 5 For I know that the Lord is great…And that our Lord is above all gods.

· This is a reference to Exodus 18:10-12

10So Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

11Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they acted insolently against the people.”

12Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

·Jethro floored.

God’s goodness causes him to hear His people’s cries; His greatness empowered Him to act.

o Dayenu: Passover, joyful song

“If He had only brought us out of Egypt, and had not carried out judgment against them, – Dayenu, it would have been enough.”

- He punished their enemies…He gave them their wealth…- He led them through the sea…- He gave them the Torah, the Law…- He brought them into the Promised Land. “Dayenu, it would have been enough.”

Psalm 135:8-14

8He struck the firstborn of Egypt, Both human firstborn and animal.

9He sent signs and wonders into your midst, Egypt, Upon Pharaoh and all his servants.

10He struck many nations and brought death to mighty kings,

11Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, And all the kingdoms of Canaan;

12And He gave their land as an inheritance, An inheritance to His people Israel.

13Your name, Lord, is everlasting, The mention of You, Lord, is throughout all generations.

14For the Lord will judge His people and will have compassion on His servants.

· I think of our history in the church.

oGod’s cheerleader

The last thing is this:

3. God is God.

· We just read this, but let’s look at verse 5 again.

Psalm 135:5

5For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods.

· The psalmist unapologetically proclaims that God is infinitely superior to all other “little g” gods.

· He’s a God who creates, moves, and acts from His own volition.

Psalm 135:6-7

6Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, In heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all the ocean depths.

7He causes the mist to ascend from the ends of the earth, He makes lightning for the rain; He brings forth the wind from His treasuries.

He is the highest authority./Unseen works/quiet task of causing mist to rise/commanding acts of power in thunder, lightning, and wind

self-sufficient, uncreated, ancient and Holy God Who creates and moves at will./truth of idols in verses 15-18:

Psalm 135:15-18

15The idols of the nations are nothing but silver and gold, The work of human hands.

16They have mouths, but they do not speak; They have eyes, but they do not see;

17They have ears, but they do not hear, Nor is there any breath at all in their mouths.

18Those who make them will become like them, Yes, everyone who trusts in them.

No one else, Lord, is like You./

Easy choice: “You can have this priceless, marvelous, award-winning feast that people make reservations for months in advance, or you can have that taco that takes more than it gives. Your choice.”

· But maybe verse 17b is the most sobering; “Nor is there any breath at all in their mouths.”

· This word for breath in Hebrew can also be translated as “spirit.”

“Those who make them will become like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them.”

The god of my creation promises a great future but is unable to deliver me from my past.

· Michaelangelo’s sculptures: look lifelike, but can’t help me. They are only imitations of God’s majestic handiwork.

The God of creation delivers me from my past and always brings me into His promised future.

· Israelites could have never delivered themselves.

There are things in our lives that only God could have done.

1903: After hearing the dean preach a sermon about Christ’s return to earth, Queen Victoria said, “Oh how I wish that the Lord might come during my lifetime.” When the dean asked her why, she replied, “I should like to lay my crown at His feet.”