Well, good morning. My name is Steve Atkinson.
I serve as one of the elders here at New Life.
If you're visiting this morning, like to welcome you and pray
that you leave our service today encouraged, blessed, and
reminded that we serve a risen Savior.
Amen. Sitting over here this morning
as we were singing, I had a thought about something.
This is totally off script already.
Sondra gave it, sent me a forwarded me a text or a
Facebook post or something earlier this week that really
touched my heart. And if for some reason I feel
like I need to start this morning with this because it, it
describes me and maybe it describes you.
Every time I get up here, I tell you about how how God saved me
as a young man and then I drifted away and, and now he's
using me more than ever in my later life.
But what Saunder sent me was a note that said my past is a
point of reference, not a place of residence.
Amen. So that's where I'm at this
morning. I am I'm no longer in my past.
I'm resting in my my future with Lord Jesus Christ.
So we got a lot to cover this morning.
I sent the elders a text earlier this week and said bring you
popcorn boys. It's going to be a long it.
So I know everybody went, but we're going to go ahead and get
started this morning by my we're going to be in Psalm one O 5.
Psalm one O 5. The big, big idea for the sermon
is remembering God's faithfulness fuels our faith.
Remembering God's faithfulness fuels our faith.
Once you get to Psalm one O 5 with the first thing you'll
notice is it's a, it's a fairly long Psalm that 45 verses.
So for those of you that were excited when you saw that I was
preaching this morning thinking you were getting out early and
going to get in the line before the crowd at Chickadee or
Whataburger. I can't guarantee that if I
spend just a couple of minutes on each verse, that's like an
hour and a half or two hours. So not sure when we're going to
be there. We may have to take a break
halfway through and eat and come back.
I don't know, but so get comfortable, you know, I'm
kidding, right? It's I.
But just for the record, I want to tell you all that so far, you
know, we've, we've had this wonderful, this great preaching
on Sunday nights, the last Sunday night of the month.
We've heard from all these young guys preaching along with James
and I. And so far, I hold the record
for the shortest sermon. You're welcome.
And I think at least through next month, my record is secure
because Kyle and Dustin are preaching next month.
So I, I, I need not worry about. Anyway, let's pray as we get
started. Heavenly Father, as your people,
we come before You today with gratitude and wonder, eager to
hear of Your faithfulness throughout the generations.
As we look at this passage, remind us that You are the God
who keeps Your Word, who leads with power, and who never
forgets Your promises. Lord, give me the ability to
preach Your Word with clarity, with humility and boldness.
You are always so gracious during my preparation to show me
amazing things about You. Father, allow me now to share
those things with Your people. I pray this morning that you
transform the black letters on the white paper in front of me
to read letters the voice of our Savior Jesus Christ as He is
seen in this passage. Let every word I speak be guided
by Your Spirit and let every ear hear not my voice but Yours.
I pray earnestly that you be glorified in it all in Jesus
name, Amen. Jasper did a great job last week
helping us to see God's glory and providential care, how He is
revealed in creation, and how the glory of creation leads to
praise and worship of the Creator.
Just think how infinitely, infinitely complex God's task is
of managing the world in which we live as He supplies food and
water to his creatures. So last week he taught us about
how God's creation, how God is faithful through his creation.
The realization of the complexity of our world can only
result in great praise, worship, and all of God as the Creator
and Sustainer of this vast world.
As we look this week at Psalm One O 5, a historical Psalm that
recounts many of God's blessings on His people, Israel.
This psalmist placed where it is not because David numbered the
Psalms as he authored them, but because there is a divine order
to God's Word. Psalm One O 4 speaks of the
mighty works of God and the glory do Him in creation.
Then Psalm One O 5 continues this praise and worship by
remembering his deeds and mercy granted toward the people of
Israel. Before we read our text today,
I'd like to ask you to join me in a little visualization.
You heard the little bell earlier.
This was my grandmother's. I'm I'm guess I'm going to start
getting the the being thought of as the guy that always brings
little keepsakes or trinkets when I preach.
But this was my grandmother's. My grandmother was confined to a
wheelchair most of her life. She used this bell to summon my
grandfather and that's what she wanted.
Something you you can't see. Maybe y'all can, but but this
bell has been broken at least three times.
The handle has been broken and it's it's been fixed.
And I don't know whether that was because my grandfather was
deaf or because my grandmother may have thrown this at him.
I don't know. But but I never asked my mom,
but the bell was passed down from her to my mother, to me in
a box of keepsakes. I think this bill probably
brought back good memories for my mom, probably not so much for
my grandfather. But what I want to talk about
this morning, and I wanted to relate this passage to is a box
of keepsakes that David is going through.
So I'd like for you to if you would.
I know this is dangerous for a preacher to say, but I'd like
for you to close your eyes. Just relax now I already saw
that some of y'all already had your eyes closed, so y'all do
have to open your eyes back up after this is over.
But picture in your mind. Picture in your mind.
David, King of Israel. He is.
He's in his palace. He's in all of his royal robes.
He's got a golden crown with jewels on his head.
He's got golden rings. He's got golden chains.
He is, he is dressed in all of his royalty.
He's in the palace living room and he's getting ready for the
Covenant, the Ark of the Covenant to be brought back to
Jerusalem. Today he he's got a tent set up
for the ark and he's planned a celebration.
That'll be the biggest church service Jerusalem has ever seen.
Every detail has been taken care of.
The priests know all their duties.
The burnt offerings and peace offerings have been prepared.
The musicians are ready to play, the dancers are ready, the food
is ready. First Chronicles 16 four tells
us that David appointed Levites as ministers to invoke, to thank
and to praise the Lord the God of Israel.
Others were there to play harps and liars, sound symbols, blow
trumpets and others to sing. It was truly going to be a
celebration, nephew. Keep that visualization in your
mind. You can open your eyes before
you start nodding. Second Samuel 6 and First
Chronicles chapters 13 through 16 tell us of the moving of the
ark from Ovid, Edom's house, to Jerusalem.
The Levites carried the ark into the into Jerusalem with great
celebration, and David and all Israel danced and rejoiced
before God. The ark was placed in the tent
that David had prepared, marking its permanent residence in the
city. Later, in First Chronicles 22,
David realizes the inequity of him living in a cedar house.
But God only has a tent. So he tells Nathan, the prophet,
of his plan to build a magnificent temple to God where
the ark will be permanently housed and all Israel will
worship God. But David will learn from Nathan
that God will not allow him to build a temple.
But Solomon, his son, will have that honor.
But David doesn't know that he's not going to get to build a
temple. Right now.
He has this image in his mind of the temple that he wants to
build for God. But as he's thinking about all
these things, he's sitting on the royal sofa, and suddenly he
remembers that there's a box in the drawer of the sofa table.
So he reaches down and he opens that drawer and he takes out
that box. He knows that whatever's in this
box is important because maybe he saw his dad, Jesse, looking
at the things in the box many years before.
But before we look into this imaginary box with David, please
stand with me as we read Psalm One O 5.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name, make known
his deeds among the peoples, sing to Him, sing praises to
Him, tell of all His wondrous works.
Glory in His holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek
the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and His strength.
Seek His presence continually. Remember the wondrous works that
He has done, His miracles and the judgments He uttered.
Oh, offspring of Abraham, His servant, children of Jacob, is
chosen once. He is the Lord our God.
His judgments were in all the earth.
He remembers His covenant forever, the word that He
commanded for 1000 generations, the covenant that He made with
Abraham, His sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to
Jacob as a statue to Israel, as an everlasting covenant.
Saying to you, I will give the land of Canaan at your portion
for an inheritance. When they were few in number of
little account and sojourners in it, wandering from nation to
nation, from one king to another people, he allowed no one to
oppress them. He rebuked kings on their
account, saying, Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no
harm. When he summoned a famine on the
land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead
of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
His feet were hurt with fetters, his neck was put in a collar of
iron, until what he had said came to pass.
The word of the Lord tested him, the king sent and released him,
and the rulers of the people set him free.
He made him Lord of his house and rulers, and ruler of all his
possessions, to bind his Princess at his pleasure and to
teach his elders wisdom. Then Israel came to Egypt.
Jacob summoned in the land of Ham, and the Lord made his
people very fruitful and made them stronger than his foes.
He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily
with his servants. He sent Moses his servant, and
Aaron whom he had chosen. They performed his signs among
them and miracles in the land of Ham.
He sent darkness and made the land dark.
They did not rebel against his words.
He turned their waters into blood and caused their fish to
die. Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the chambers of the kings.
He spoke, and there came swarms of flies and gnats throughout
their country. He gave me.
He gave them hail for rain and fiery lightning bolts through
their land. He struck down their vines and
fig trees and shattered the trees of their country.
He spoke, and the locusts came, young locusts without number,
which devoured all the vegetation in their land and ate
up the fruit of their ground. He struck down all the first
born in their land, the first fruits of all their strength.
Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold, and there was
none among his tribe who stumbled.
Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had
fallen upon it. He spread a cloud for a
covering, and fire to give light by night.
They asked Him. They asked, and he brought
quail. He gave them bread from heaven
in abundance. He opened the rock, and water
gushed out. It flowed through the desert
like a river. For he remembered His holy
promise, and Abraham his servant.
So he brought out his people. So he brought his people out
with joy. His chosen ones was singing.
And He gave them the lands of the nations, and they took
possession of the fruit of the people's toil, that they may
keep His statues and observe His laws.
Praise the Lord, this is the word of the Lord.
You can be seated. Now.
I want you to remember the picture of David that you
visualized a moment ago. Visualize the anticipation that
he has before he even opens this little box, and his anticipation
is leading to to joy and excitement and that culminates
into spontaneous worship. This joy and excitement that we
see in David shows how God's faithfulness fuels our worship,
which is my first point today. God's faithfulness fuels our
worship. The comment in the ESB Study
Bible regarding this Psalm says that this is a hymn urging God's
people to trust and worship the Lord alone by reminding them
that He is, that He alone is worthy of their deepest loyalty.
Look at the phrases that David uses in this these first 7
verses. Look at verse one.
Give thanks to the Lord. Call upon His name.
Make known his deeds in verse 2. Tell of all His right wondrous
works and glory in His holy name.
Verse 3, rejoice. Verse 4 seek the Lord and His
strength, seek His presence continually.
And then in verse 5, also remember the wondrous works He
has done, His miracles, all that.
Sound familiar? We've all heard those phrases
before, haven't we? So what attitude then should we
bring into worship of the great God Jehovah Yahweh, King of
Kings? Are we together in somber
silence? Sometimes.
But when we gather on the Lord's Day to worship our Creator, we
are to come with joyful thankfulness.
Now, does that always happen? I don't know about you, but
there are times that I come with a heavy heart and to be brutally
honest, I may not even feel like being here.
Oh, an elder admitted being human.
But you know what? There's no other place on earth
that I need to be during those times.
Then in the House of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen. Thanksgiving and gratefulness or
spiritual habits that we have to intentionally develop through
continual practice. We could practice by taking time
each day to talk with God and to thank Him for all He has done.
We can choose each day to believe His promises and in His
faithfulness. Once again, I'm going to get off
track here. I have a habit of getting
getting up early most every morning, but on mornings that I
preach, I get up really early. And the time that I get to spend
with Jesus early in the morning on the Sunday morning before I
preach is absolutely amazing. He showed me something else
about my little bell this morning.
Our prayer life can be like this bell.
When everything is going well, when life is good, finances are
great. Our little bells, our prayer
life sits on the desk. But then think about when when
the economy starts. Going down, we start worrying
about finances. Jesus, I need you.
But then when he works all that out for us, our little bell goes
back on the desk and it's quiet the next time we need something.
Jesus, I need you. Help me Then our bill is quiet
and goes back on the desk. How's your prayer life?
We're going to move on. We can all agree that God is
faithful, right? Then as His children, we should
also be faithful. We should strive to utilize the
power of the Holy Spirit to fight our broken, sinful
humanness, to submit to this holy power, to help us remember
God's faithfulness, Lamb and faith.
Lamentations 322 through 23 tells us the steadfast love of
the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an
end. They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness, Deuteronomy 79 says.
Know therefore, that the Lord your God is God.
He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to 1000
generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.
So, because He is faithful, the appropriate and natural response
from His people should be Thanksgiving, joy, and gratitude
expressed in our worship of Him. True and proper worship does not
flow merely from beauty. Rather, it should gush from our
hearts like a stream in the spring that is fed by the
snowmelt from a heart overwhelmed by God's goodness
and dependability. We don't worship to earn God's
favor. That can't happen.
Our worship is a response to the already given grace and mercy
that comes from God. It is a call to remember that
worship is rooted in the nature and actions of God, not in our
worthiness or emotion. His unchanging faithfulness is
the anchor and motivation for a life of praise, Thanksgiving,
and devotion. Now to get back to our
visualization. We're finally now get to see
David opening this box and finding out what's inside.
So now he has the opportunity of remembering God's faithfulness.
It's my next point, remembering God's faithfulness.
As David opens the box, what's he find in there?
He finds memories. Memories of God's faithfulness
to His covenant people, Israel, from God's promise to Abraham to
the entrance into the Promised Land.
In verse 8, we see confirmation of God that remembers that God
remembers his covenant forever. So does that mean that God
forgets? Of course not.
Here the phrase he remembers is more of a relational term,
meaning that it's a signal or a sign that God's loyalty and
faithfulness to his people. God remembering means His
promises are never broken, regardless of our failures.
In verses 9 through 11, we see that God's covenant with Abraham
to possess the land of Canaan continues with his sworn promise
to Isaac and then confirmed to Jacob.
David also recalls how God protected his people before they
became a nation when they were few in number, vulnerable.
And we're wondering, God protected them by demonstrating
His faithfulness through His covenant.
These verses reinforce the value of God's people, not because of
their strength in battle or their number, but because of His
promise. In verses 16 through 25, David
looks into the box again and sees how God orchestrated the
events to fulfill His covenant promises even through hardship.
Verse 16 tells of the great famine that was summoned by God
in order to get Joseph to Egypt sold as a slave.
This is amazing. God summoned the famine.
The ESB is the only version that I found that I looked at that
used the word summoned. All the other ones that I looked
at used the words called for. There's something we don't need
to miss here. Whether it's summoned or called
for the famine, The Hebrew word is KAWRAWI have no Hebrew
training so I'm not going to try to roll that R and and tell you
what it's supposed to sound like, but it means basically
called for. These verses don't say that God
caused the famine, rather he called for it.
The famine was already planned and created by God for his use
at this time to preserve the nation of Israel.
Genesis 4154 says that there was a famine in all the lands, but
in the land of Egypt there was bread.
Those of you that have played baseball, there's an example
here. God is standing at the at the
dugout door and he says, hey famine, you're up, but don't hit
the ball to left field. That's what God did with the
famine. He could have had that famine
include the entire world, but that famine was stopped at the
borders of Egypt. This shows that God is sovereign
even over natural disasters. The famine didn't happen by
accident, it was called for or summoned by God for a greater
purpose. Nothing, absolutely nothing,
happens in creation without being part of His plan.
What immense, immeasurable, faithful power of Yahweh, the
God of our salvation, to put limits even on a famine.
Verse 18 speaks of the suffering Joseph endured before his rise
to power. Spurgeon says of this burst that
the iron fetters were preparing Joseph to wear chains of gold
and making his feet ready to stand on high places.
This verse emphasizes real pain and injustice.
Joseph, though he was faithful, was wrongly imprisoned.
Yet this was all part of God's larger plan.
It shows us that God's promises often involve seasons of waiting
and pain. Joseph's suffering shaped his
character and positioned him to save nations.
When Pharaoh finally releases him, Matthew Henry says the
verse 21, Pharaoh made Joseph Prime Minister of state, Lord
president of his council to command his Princess at his
pleasure and teach them wisdom. Here we are reminded that when
we remain faithful, God not only lifts us up, he equips us to
bless others with wisdom and compassion.
Again, David looks into his imaginary box in verses 26
through 42. He sees a memory of Moses and
Aaron, as well as God's mighty acts in delivering Israel from
Egypt and his faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham.
We see God's sovereignty in these verses and how He controls
nature and nations, acting with purpose through miracles and
judgment. Verses 28 through 4028 through
34, God shows us his control over darkness.
He turns water into blood. He calls for swarms of frogs and
flies and gnats. He changed their rein into hail.
He killed their crops with hail and with locusts.
And these plagues culminated with what will forever more be
known as Passover, when we see God powerfully delivering His
people from bondage. As they leave Egypt, He makes
provisions for them in the wilderness in the form of food,
water, and protection from animals and armies, Verse 42
says, For he remembered his holy promise and Abraham his servant.
This short verse carries profound meaning.
It serves as the climax and motivation behind all of God's
mighty acts listed in the previous verses.
If we break this verse down, look at the first part He
remembered. This doesn't imply that God had
forgotten and suddenly recalled. I mentioned this earlier, but
it's important enough to say again.
In Scripture, remembering often means acting on a promise.
God remained mindful and faithful of what He had said to
the generations before. The next part of this verse, His
holy promise. This refers to the covenant with
Abraham to make his descendants a great nation, give them a
land, and bless all the nations through them.
It is called holy because it is set apart, divine and
unbreakable. Then at the end of the verse it
says and Abraham his servant. Even long after Abraham's death,
probably 1000 years after his death, God still honors his
servant. This shows God's faithfulness
across generations, not just in the moment.
My final point this morning is that God's faithfulness calls
believers to trust in His promises.
God's faithfulness calls believers to trust in His
promises. Verses 42 through 45 bring the
Psalm to an end and allow David to tell us about God's
faithfulness, His blessings, and His purpose for His people.
The whole of Israel's deliverance and blessing is
grounded in God's faithful memory of His covenant with
Abraham. David tells us of the joy and
singing that emphasizes God's desire for his people to live in
freedom and celebration. Verse 44 tells us of God's
generous grace. 45 tells us that God's blessings were not just
for comfort, they had a purpose so that his people would live
according to his ways and be a lot to all the nations.
We have been this morning. We've been with David this
morning as he looked back at the faithfulness of God.
So is this Psalm just a history lesson?
Is it included in the Bible just as a reminder of all the things
God did for the Israelites? No, no, no, my friend is much
more, so much more. And there's another aspect to
this Psalm that David didn't understand but we know about and
that is the gospel of Jesus Christ here shown in Psalm one O
5. Y'all really didn't think when I
said that was my final point a minute ago.
That was like I was ending, did you?
No, I'm, I'm getting this preaching thing.
Let's look and see how Jesus shows up in this text.
First, God's covenant faithfulness culminates in
Jesus, the full fulfillment of the promise of the covenant.
The Psalm centers on God remembering his covenant with
Abraham, a promise to bless his descendants and bring salvation
to all nations. Listen to what the Lord told
Abram in Genesis 12. Three.
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I
will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be
blessed. Jesus is also the fulfillment of
God's promise. Galatians 316 says Now the
promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.
It does not say and to offsprings referring to many,
but referring to 1 until your offspring, who is Christ.
Martin Luther says of this verse that the praises the promises
that were made in view of Christ in one seed, not in many seeds.
God's commitment is personified in Jesus.
This commitment is the central theme of Christian faith.
It means that Jesus is the living, breathing, human
expression of God's unwavering faithfulness, love, and promise
to humanity. Through Jesus life, death, and
resurrection, God will make a new covenant with his people,
one of grace, forgiveness, and eternal life.
Verses 23 through 38 that we looked at earlier tell the story
of deliverance from bondage, exemplifying how Jesus rescues
us from sin. The Gospel tells us that Jesus
delivers us from the slavery of sin and death.
In Romans 6, Paul is talking about the believer under grace
and the problem of habitual sin. Beginning in verse 6, he says we
know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that
the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no
longer be enslaved to sin, for one who has died has been set
free from sin. Paul also tells us in Colossians
1 verses 13 and 14 that he has delivered us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The exodus of David that had been, that he had been taught
about was a foreshadowing of the salvation of Christ.
Freedom by grace, not by effort. We also see here God's provision
in the wilderness is also a foreshadowing of Jesus, the
bread of life. God provided food and water, and
Jesus said in John 635, I am the bread of life.
God's provision in the wilderness points us to Jesus as
our spiritual sustenance, the one who satisfies completely.
And finally, this Psalm is a call to remember and respond.
We are to seek the Lord. We are to embrace His guidance.
We are to trust in His covenant. We are to proclaim Him.
We are to praise Him for His faithfulness.
We are to proclaim His holy name.
We are to rejoice in Him. We are to rejoice in God's
provision through Christ. We are to rejoice in the new
covenant of Christ. I want to leave you with this
this morning. Psalm One O 5 is both a song of
praise and a spiritual anchor. It reminds us that God's work in
history it is not just for the past.
It is the foundation of our trust, worship, and obedience
today. It is the fuel for our faith.
The proper response to God's grace through His faithfulness
is worship, witness, and obedience.
Not to earn salvation, but because it's freely given.
If you don't have a personal relationship with my Jesus,
please come and talk with me or any of the elders after the
service this morning. We'd be thrilled to talk to you
about what life in Christ is all about.
Pray with me, please. Gracious and faithful Father,
thank you for meeting us through Your Word today.
As we saw, you are a God who keeps His promises, who leads
with power, and who provides with mercy.
Lord, help us remember what you have said through this passage.
I pray our worship is pleasing to you, that our faithfulness is
always anchored in Jesus, and that we are obedient to You not
out of duty, but out of love for you.
Teach us to remember with both our minds and with our lives,
declaring Your goodness and how we live, how we serve, and how
we trust You. Now, as we come to a brief time
of reflection, fill our hearts with the joy of Your salvation.
May the truth of Your Word guide our steps and may the power of
Your Spirit keep us faithful. In Jesus name we pray.