Theme: When the Church Becomes Like the World
In this week’s lessons, we see how the church can fall into becoming like the world, and so lose sight of thinking and acting the way God has laid out in Scripture.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:1-5
Theme: The World’s Wisdom
In this week’s lessons, we see how the church can fall into becoming like the world, and so lose sight of thinking and acting the way God has laid out in Scripture.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:1-5
Theme: Results of Abandoning Biblical Authority
In this week’s lessons, we see how the church can fall into becoming like the world, and so lose sight of thinking and acting the way God has laid out in Scripture.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:1-5
Theme: The World’s Theology and Agenda
In this week’s lessons, we see how the church can fall into becoming like the world, and so lose sight of thinking and acting the way God has laid out in Scripture.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:1-5
Yesterday we considered the first aspect of a secular church. Today we look at the second and third items.
Theme: The World’s Methods
In this week’s lessons, we see how the church can fall into becoming like the world, and so lose sight of thinking and acting the way God has laid out in Scripture.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:1-5
Having looked at the world’s wisdom, the world’s theology, and the world’s agenda, we conclude our study with one more way in which the church can look like the world.
Theme: Holiness in God’s City
In this week’s lessons, we consider the difference between the City of God and the city of man.
Scripture: Revelation 21:1-2
Theme: Holding to the Bible’s Authority
In this week’s lessons, we consider the difference between the City of God and the city of man.
Scripture: Revelation 21:1-2
Theme: A Distinct Theology
In this week’s lessons, we consider the difference between the City of God and the city of man.
Scripture: Revelation 21:1-2
Theme: Different Priorities and Lifestyle
In this week’s lessons, we consider the difference between the City of God and the city of man.
Scripture: Revelation 21:1-2
Theme: Depending on the Lord in All Things
In this week’s lessons, we consider the difference between the City of God and the city of man.
Scripture: Revelation 21:1-2
We also have to raise questions about the use of our money and other resources. We’re going to have to ask how our money should be used? How much should we really use on ourselves? How much is going to be necessary to do the Lord’s work? How much are we going to use for the benefit of other people?
Theme: Elements of the Early Church: Apostolic Teaching
In this week’s lessons, we see what true Christian unity looks like, and how it blesses everyone involved.
Scripture: Psalm 133:1-3
Theme: The Climax of the Pilgrimage
In this week’s lessons, we see what God will do for those who, as pilgrims in this life, look to him in faith and obedience.
Scripture: Psalm 132:1-18
Theme: Desiring God’s Honor
In this week’s lessons, we see what God will do for those who, as pilgrims in this life, look to him in faith and obedience.
Scripture: Psalm 132:1-18
Theme: Our Acceptance before God
In this week’s lessons, we see what God will do for those who, as pilgrims in this life, look to him in faith and obedience.
Scripture: Psalm 132:1-18
The next section of this psalm (vv. 6-9) recounts how the Ark was found in the fields of Jaar” in David’s time and how it was brought to Jerusalem. It is an accurate piece of historical remembrance.
Theme: What God Promises to Do
In this week’s lessons, we see what God will do for those who, as pilgrims in this life, look to him in faith and obedience.
Scripture: Psalm 132:1-18
Theme: Looking to Jesus
In this week’s lessons, we see what God will do for those who, as pilgrims in this life, look to him in faith and obedience.
Scripture: Psalm 132:1-18
Theme: The Gift of Unity
In this week’s lessons, we see what true Christian unity looks like, and how it blesses everyone involved.
Scripture: Psalm 133:1-3
Theme: Unity That Blesses Everyone
In this week’s lessons, we see what true Christian unity looks like, and how it blesses everyone involved.
Scripture: Psalm 133:1-3
In today’s study we continue our look at the points Psalm 133 makes about unity.
Theme: True Unity
In this week’s lessons, we see what true Christian unity looks like, and how it blesses everyone involved.
Scripture: Psalm 133:1-3
Theme: Elements of the Early Church: Fellowship and Worship
In this week’s lessons, we see what true Christian unity looks like, and how it blesses everyone involved.
Scripture: Psalm 133:1-3
We said yesterday that the early Christians had strong relationships with God, and thus also strong relationships with one another. Various elements go together in this important description, including the apostles’ teaching, which we looked at in yesterday’s study.
Theme: Man’s Chief End
In this week’s lessons, we learn about the importance of worship, and the responsibility of pastors to lead us in it.
Scripture: Psalm 134:1-3
What is the chief end of man? We know the answer to that question. It is the first response of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” But do we? Do we even know what it means really to glorify, praise or worship God?
Theme: A Trivial Age
In this week’s lessons, we learn about the importance of worship, and the responsibility of pastors to lead us in it.
Scripture: Psalm 134:1-3
Theme: Our Man-Centered Age
In this week’s lessons, we learn about the importance of worship, and the responsibility of pastors to lead us in it.
Scripture: Psalm 134:1-3
Why is so little of the worship that characterized past great ages of the church seen among us? One reason, as we noted in yesterday’s study, is that ours is a trivial age and the church has been affected by this. We look at two other reasons in today’s study.
Theme: Leadership in Prayer and Teaching
In this week’s lessons, we learn about the importance of worship, and the responsibility of pastors to lead us in it.
Scripture: Psalm 134:1-3
Theme: Leadership in Music and Reverence
In this week’s lessons, we learn about the importance of worship, and the responsibility of pastors to lead us in it.
Scripture: Psalm 134:1-3
Reference to the Levites in Psalm 134 leads to several important responsibilities of ministers. We have already looked at two such responsibilities: 1) Ministers must lead in prayer; and 2) Ministers must read and teach the Bible.
Theme: Praising God in All of Life
In this week’s lessons, we see why the Lord is to be praised continually.
Scripture: Psalm 135:1-21
Theme: Worship Defined
In this week’s lessons, we see why the Lord is to be praised continually.
Scripture: Psalm 135:1-21
The psalm falls into four clearly delineated parts: 1) an opening call to worship (vv. 1, 2); 2) the specific worship section, explaining why God must be praised (vv. 3-14); 3) a contrast between the one true God and the impotent gods of the heathen (vv. 15-18); and 4) a final section calling on all who know God to praise him (vv. 19-21). In these final verses the psalm ends with praise, as it began.
Theme: God’s Goodness and Love
In this week’s lessons, we see why the Lord is to be praised continually.
Scripture: Psalm 135:1-21
Theme: God’s Power, Grace, and Renown
In this week’s lessons, we see why the Lord is to be praised continually.
Scripture: Psalm 135:1-21
Psalm 135 gives us at least five reasons why God is praiseworthy. Yesterday we looked at his inherent goodness and electing love. Today we continue with three other reasons.
Theme: No Other Gods
In this week’s lessons, we see why the Lord is to be praised continually.
Scripture: Psalm 135:1-21
Are not other gods also to be worshiped? How could they be if God alone is the good, great, gracious, persevering and unchangeable God? Verses 15-18 make this point, contrasting the true God with the impotent gods of the heathen. These verses are repeated from Psalm 115:4-6, 8.
Theme: Thanks and Praise
In this week’s lessons, we learn to praise and thank the Lord for his goodness to us.
Scripture: Psalm 136:1-26
Theme: The Goodness of God
In this week’s lessons, we learn to praise and thank the Lord for his goodness to us.
Scripture: Psalm 136:1-26
The first verse of Psalm 136 sets the tone for everything that follows, for it gives an overall answer to the question, Why should we thank God? The answer is that we praise him because he is good. We thank him for his many good acts toward us and to all persons.
Theme: Our Response to Creation
In this week’s lessons, we learn to praise and thank the Lord for his goodness to us.
Scripture: Psalm 136:1-26
As we concluded yesterday’s study, we noted that what we find in Genesis is God’s declaration that everything he made is “good” (vv. 3, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). So not only is God good (Ps. 136:1), everything he makes is good also. This has certain consequences for how we are to regard nature.
Theme: Elements of Worship
In this week’s lessons, we learn to praise and thank the Lord for his goodness to us.
Scripture: Psalm 136:1-26
In recent years, I have noticed in many evangelical churches a decline and in some cases the total absence of worship elements that focus our minds on God, and at the same time a loss of the importance of the gospel.
Theme: “His Love Endures Forever”
In this week’s lessons, we learn to praise and thank the Lord for his goodness to us.
Scripture: Psalm 136:1-26
One striking feature of Psalm 136 is the way in which it works around to the place at which it started out. It began with a call to thank God; it ends the same way. And here, in verse 25, it even moves back to thoughts of a general benevolence of God to all people, not just Israel.
Theme: Babylon and Jerusalem
In this week’s lessons, we are reminded of the need to trust God in the midst of great hardship and difficulty, and to wait upon him for help.
Scripture: Psalm 137:1-9
Theme: Sadness in a Strange Land
In this week’s lessons, we are reminded of the need to trust God in the midst of great hardship and difficulty, and to wait upon him for help.
Scripture: Psalm 137:1-9
Theme: Faith in the Midst of Suffering
In this week’s lessons, we are reminded of the need to trust God in the midst of great hardship and difficulty, and to wait upon him for help.
Scripture: Psalm 137:1-9
Theme: Appealing to God for Justice
In this week’s lessons, we are reminded of the need to trust God in the midst of great hardship and difficulty, and to wait upon him for help.
Scripture: Psalm 137:1-9
Theme: Repent
In this week’s lessons, we are reminded of the need to trust God in the midst of great hardship and difficulty, and to wait upon him for help.
Scripture: Psalm 137:1-9
Christians may have problems with the vindictiveness and violence of this passage of Psalm 137, but it is important to notice other points as well. In yesterday’s study, for instance, we noted that the words are an appeal to God for justice. Today we look at two other things evident in these verses.
Theme: A Contrast
In this week’s lessons, we are again directed to the privilege of offering to the Lord our worship and our thanks for who he is, for what he has done, and for what he promises to do for his people.
Scripture: Psalm 138:1-8
Theme: A Puzzling Phrase
In this week’s lessons, we are again directed to the privilege of offering to the Lord our worship and our thanks for who he is, for what he has done, and for what he promises to do for his people.
Scripture: Psalm 138:1-8
Theme: God’s Word and God’s Name
In this week’s lessons, we are again directed to the privilege of offering to the Lord our worship and our thanks for who he is, for what he has done, and for what he promises to do for his people.
Scripture: Psalm 138:1-8
Theme: Anticipating a Future Day
In this week’s lessons, we are again directed to the privilege of offering to the Lord our worship and our thanks for who he is, for what he has done, and for what he promises to do for his people.
Scripture: Psalm 138:1-8
Theme: God’s Perfect Purpose
In this week’s lessons, we are again directed to the privilege of offering to the Lord our worship and our thanks for who he is, for what he has done, and for what he promises to do for his people.
Scripture: Psalm 138:1-8
Theme: Theology of the Best Kind
In this week’s lessons, we see the importance and blessing of God’s omniscience.
Scripture: Psalm 139:1-12
Somewhere in J. I. Packer’s writings there is a reference to the Puritan theology as theology of that “older, better, wiser and more practical sort.” That applies to the Puritans, but it applies even more to the theology of Psalm 139. For here is theology that is even older, even better, even wiser and even more practical. It is theology of the very best sort.
Theme: God’s Omniscience
In this week’s lessons, we see the importance and blessing of God’s omniscience.
Scripture: Psalm 139:1-12
The theme of the first six verses is the omniscience of God, the proper term for the fact that God sees and knows everything. But omniscience is not expressed here as mere doctrine. It is confessed in wonder and adoration, as the other doctrines (omnipresence and omnipotence) will also be. We should remember that confession is one way in which we worship God.1
Theme: The Perfection of God’s Knowledge
In this week’s lessons, we see the importance and blessing of God’s omniscience.
Scripture: Psalm 139:1-12
Theme: No Escape from God
In this week’s lessons, we see the importance and blessing of God’s omniscience.
Scripture: Psalm 139:1-12
Theme: When All Will Stand before God
In this week’s lessons, we see the importance and blessing of God’s omniscience.
Scripture: Psalm 139:1-12
Theme: Responding to God’s Attributes
In this week’s lessons, we learn about the benefits of God’s omniscience for his children.
Scripture: Psalm 139:13-24
Theme: God’s Omnipotence and the Human Person
In this week’s lessons, we learn about the benefits of God’s omniscience for his children.
Scripture: Psalm 139:13-24
Theme: God’s Knowledge and Our Obedience
In this week’s lessons, we learn about the benefits of God’s omniscience for his children.
Scripture: Psalm 139:13-24
Theme: Being Searched by God
In this week’s lessons, we learn about the benefits of God’s omniscience for his children.
Scripture: Psalm 139:13-24
As we concluded yesterday’s study, we noted that we can rebel against God’s knowledge and pursue evil, or we can ask God to search us with the goal of our being directed in his way. By repudiating the first and embracing the second option, the psalmist articulates a personal twofold response to this teaching.
Theme: Four Applications of God’s Omniscience
In this week’s lessons, we learn about the benefits of God’s omniscience for his children.
Scripture: Psalm 139:13-24
Theme: Worshiping While in a Wicked World
In this week’s lessons, we see the stark reality of evil, even in our own hearts, and that God protects and preserves those who come to him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture: Psalm 140:1-13
I have been arguing for a number of studies that the final psalms in the Psalter, beginning with Psalm 135, are chiefly about worship. They tell us what worship is and how we are to worship God acceptably.
Theme: A Portrait of Evil People
In this week’s lessons, we see the stark reality of evil, even in our own hearts, and that God protects and preserves those who come to him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture: Psalm 140:1-13
Theme: All in Need of a Savior
In this week’s lessons, we see the stark reality of evil, even in our own hearts, and that God protects and preserves those who come to him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture: Psalm 140:1-13
Theme: The Ground for Our Appeal to God
In this week’s lessons, we see the stark reality of evil, even in our own hearts, and that God protects and preserves those who come to him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture: Psalm 140:1-13
Theme: God’s Actions and Our Response
In this week’s lessons, we see the stark reality of evil, even in our own hearts, and that God protects and preserves those who come to him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture: Psalm 140:1-13
Theme: An Evening Psalm
In this week’s lessons, we learn about David’s prayers, and how we, too, need to pray for God’s protection as we seek to live an upright life.
Scripture: Psalm 141:1-10
Theme: Hindrances to Prayer
In this week’s lessons, we learn about David’s prayers, and how we, too, need to pray for God’s protection as we seek to live an upright life.
Scripture: Psalm 141:1-10
Why do we find prayer boring? There are a number of reasons.
Theme: The Substance of David’s Prayer
In this week’s lessons, we learn about David’s prayers, and how we, too, need to pray for God’s protection as we seek to live an upright life.
Scripture: Psalm 141:1-10
Theme: Keeping Away from Evil
In this week’s lessons, we learn about David’s prayers, and how we, too, need to pray for God’s protection as we seek to live an upright life.
Scripture: Psalm 141:1-10
In today’s study we resume our look at verses 3 and 4 in which David asks God to “set a guard” over his mouth, his heart and his actions.
Theme: Walk on the Upright Path
In this week’s lessons, we learn about David’s prayers, and how we, too, need to pray for God’s protection as we seek to live an upright life.
Scripture: Psalm 141:1-10
Theme: Alone and in Trouble
In this week’s lessons, we are reminded of God’s care for us as we cry out to him in our troubles.
Scripture: Psalm 142:1-7
Theme: Fervent Prayers
In this week’s lessons, we are reminded of God’s care for us as we cry out to him in our troubles.
Scripture: Psalm 142:1-7
The first two verses set the tone for the psalm, because here David is pouring out his distress before God, seeking God’s help in his trouble. He is praying urgently.
Theme: Seeing God in our Struggles
In this week’s lessons, we are reminded of God’s care for us as we cry out to him in our troubles.
Scripture: Psalm 142:1-7
Theme: Who God Is
In this week’s lessons, we are reminded of God’s care for us as we cry out to him in our troubles.
Scripture: Psalm 142:1-7
What did David see when he was in the cave alone? He saw that God was four important things to him and for him. We have already covered the first thing in yesterday’s study, that of a refuge. Let’s look at the next three points.
Theme: Three “Summits of Faith”
In this week’s lessons, we are reminded of God’s care for us as we cry out to him in our troubles.
Scripture: Psalm 142:1-7
Theme: A Life of Repentance
In this week’s lessons, we see how our entire lives should be characterized by repentance.
Scripture: Psalm 143:1-12
Theme: On the Basis of God’s Righteousness
In this week’s lessons, we see how our entire lives should be characterized by repentance.
Scripture: Psalm 143:1-12
Theme: Remembering and Following
In this week’s lessons, we see how our entire lives should be characterized by repentance.
Scripture: Psalm 143:1-12
In the third stanza David puts himself under an important spiritual discipline: to remember God’s acts on his behalf and for other godly people in past days. He uses three verbs to describe what he does: “I remember,” “I meditate,” and I “consider.”
Theme: The Foundation of God’s Character
In this week’s lessons, we see how our entire lives should be characterized by repentance.
Scripture: Psalm 143:1-12
Theme: The Importance of Personal Pronouns
In this week’s lessons, we learn what it means to trust God for his help and blessing.
Scripture: Psalm 144:1-15
Martin Luther used to say that true religion is to be found in personal pronouns. He meant that it is only when we are able to speak of God as “our” God and call Jesus “my” Savior that Christianity becomes more than mere ideas and is truly real for us.
Theme: God’s Faithfulness
In this week’s lessons, from this last psalm of David we see that we are given a guide for how to praise God.
Scripture: Psalm 145:1-21
Theme: Our Weakness and God’s Power
In this week’s lessons, we learn what it means to trust God for his help and blessing.
Scripture: Psalm 144:1-15
Theme: Our Covenant God
In this week’s lessons, we learn what it means to trust God for his help and blessing.
Scripture: Psalm 144:1-15
Theme: Singing a New Song
In this week’s lessons, we learn what it means to trust God for his help and blessing.
Scripture: Psalm 144:1-15
Theme: A Confident Prayer for Deliverance and Blessing
In this week’s lessons, we learn what it means to trust God for his help and blessing.
Scripture: Psalm 144:1-15
Theme: The Last of David’s Psalms
In this week’s lessons, from this last psalm of David we see that we are given a guide for how to praise God.
Scripture: Psalm 145:1-21
Theme: Three Important Statements
In this week’s lessons, from this last psalm of David we see that we are given a guide for how to praise God.
Scripture: Psalm 145:1-21
The nearly parallel lines in verses 1 and 2 make three statements, as we see below.
Theme: God’s Mercy
In this week’s lessons, from this last psalm of David we see that we are given a guide for how to praise God.
Scripture: Psalm 145:1-21
It was probably his reference to God’s “goodness” in verse 7 that led the psalmist to deal with God’s grace, compassion, patience and rich love (v. 8) in stanza three (vv. 8-13a), the theme introduced by verse 8.
Theme: A Wonderful Universality
In this week’s lessons, from this last psalm of David we see that we are given a guide for how to praise God.
Scripture: Psalm 145:1-21
Theme: Reminding Ourselves of God’s Blessings
This week’s lessons show us that it is essential to remember God’s blessings, and how we are to praise God for all that he is and for all he has done for us.
Scripture: Psalm 103:1-22
Theme: How Should a Person Praise God?
This week’s lessons show us that it is essential to remember God’s blessings, and how we are to praise God for all that he is and for all he has done for us.
Scripture: Psalm 103:1-22
Theme: Why Should a Person Praise God?
This week’s lessons show us that it is essential to remember God’s blessings, and how we are to praise God for all that he is and for all he has done for us.
Scripture: Psalm 103:1-22
Why should a person praise God? It is because of “all his benefits.” David lists what he means by God’s benefits in verses 3-5.
Theme: What Is God Like?
This week’s lessons show us that it is essential to remember God’s blessings, and how we are to praise God for all that he is and for all he has done for us.
Scripture: Psalm 103:1-22
As we read yesterday, we should praise God because of “all his benefits.” David lists what he means by God’s benefits in verses 3-5. Yesterday we looked at God’s gifts of the forgiveness of sins and healing. Today we continue with two more of God’s benefits.
Theme: Who Should Praise God?
This week’s lessons show us that it is essential to remember God’s blessings, and how we are to praise God for all that he is and for all he has done for us.
Scripture: Psalm 103:1-22
Theme: God-Centered Worship
In this week’s lessons, we are shown an abundance of reasons for which to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 147:1-20
Theme: Good, Pleasant, and Fitting Praise
In this week’s lessons, we are shown an abundance of reasons for which to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 147:1-20
Theme: God’s Care for Everything
In this week’s lessons, we are shown an abundance of reasons for which to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 147:1-20
Reflections on how God brought the exiles back from distant Babylon and reestablished them in a rebuilt Jerusalem leads the psalmist to reflect on God’s power, seen in his numbering and naming of the stars. Truly, “[God’s] understanding has no limit,” he writes (v. 5).
Theme: God’s Blessing and Rule
In this week’s lessons, we are shown an abundance of reasons for which to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 147:1-20
Theme: God’s Self-Revelation in the Bible
In this week’s lessons, we are shown an abundance of reasons for which to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 147:1-20
Theme: A Comprehensive Praise Psalm
In this week’s lessons, we see the comprehensive scope of worship—that all creation, both in heaven and on earth, is to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 148:1-14
Theme: Praise in the Heavens
In this week’s lessons, we see the comprehensive scope of worship—that all creation, both in heaven and on earth, is to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 148:1-14
Looking upward first, the psalmist sees two entities that he urges to praise God: the angels and the heavenly bodies. These are above man in the cosmic order, just as they are in Psalm 8 in which David looks upward to “the moon and stars” and “the heavenly beings [elohim]” (Ps. 8:3-5).
Theme: Praise on the Earth
In this week’s lessons, we see the comprehensive scope of worship—that all creation, both in heaven and on earth, is to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 148:1-14
Theme: False Worship
In this week’s lessons, we see the comprehensive scope of worship—that all creation, both in heaven and on earth, is to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 148:1-14
Theme: True Worship
In this week’s lessons, we see the comprehensive scope of worship—that all creation, both in heaven and on earth, is to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 148:1-14
Theme: Singing a New Song
In this week’s lessons, we see the importance of song in worship.
Scripture: Psalm 149:1-9
We need to begin this study by thinking about singing, not performing before an audience, but the kind of singing that takes place because a person is happy and singing seems a natural way to express delight. This happens when a person sings alone, like singing in the shower. But it also happens when a person sings with other people, as Christians do in church.
Theme: Singing of God as Creator
In this week’s lessons, we see the importance of song in worship.
Scripture: Psalm 149:1-9
Theme: Singing of God as King and Savior
In this week’s lessons, we see the importance of song in worship.
Scripture: Psalm 149:1-9
The second truth about God that was a delight to the psalmist is that God is our King.
Theme: Victory in Spiritual Warfare
In this week’s lessons, we see the importance of song in worship.
Scripture: Psalm 149:1-9
In yesterday’s study, I concluded with the point that while Christians can serve as soldiers, they are not to try to advance the work of God by killing its enemies.
Theme: New Songs on Earth and a New Song in Heaven
In this week’s lessons, we see the importance of song in worship.
Scripture: Psalm 149:1-9
We love the old songs, of course, just as we love the old doctrines (Jer. 6:16). But each generation has fresh lessons of God’s grace, and new experiences of God’s grace call for new songs. Israel had experienced God’s goodness in bringing the people back to their homeland and (probably) giving them a military victory. So they composed this psalm.
Theme: Worship as an “Appetite for God”
In this week’s lessons, we learn how this last psalm teaches and exhorts everyone, everywhere to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 150:1-6
Theme: Where We Should Praise the LORD
In this week’s lessons, we learn how this last psalm teaches and exhorts everyone, everywhere to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 150:1-6
Where should this be done? Where should “everything that has breath” praise God? The first verse gives us a comprehensive answer. It is “in his sanctuary” and “in his mighty heavens.”
Theme: How to Praise the LORD
In this week’s lessons, we learn how this last psalm teaches and exhorts everyone, everywhere to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 150:1-6
Theme: God-Centered and Mind-Engaging
In this week’s lessons, we learn how this last psalm teaches and exhorts everyone, everywhere to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 150:1-6
In yesterday’s study we looked at those churches that forbid the use of instruments in worship. But there is another side to this controversy as well. We look at that side in today’s study.
Theme: Who Is to Praise the LORD
In this week’s lessons, we learn how this last psalm teaches and exhorts everyone, everywhere to praise the LORD.
Scripture: Psalm 150:1-6
As we noted in yesterday’s study, verses 10 and 11 are hard to understand, and the result has been somewhat different translations in the versions. Roy Clements spells out four possible translations before settling finally on the NIV rendering. We looked at the first two possible translations yesterday, and continue with the second two in today’s study.
Who do you turn to when you hear of an unjust accusation that someone has been making against you? Suppose you are at work and the secretary down the hall stops by your desk and says, “Do you know what so-and-so said about you yesterday?” Then she pours out the story, perhaps even embellishing it a little. Or maybe a business associate circulates a memo in which you are pictured in an unjust light. What do you do? Who do you tell? Most of us would go to our friends and complain, looking for sympathy. We might even start a slander campaign of our own. It might go: “Well, the only reason she said that is because she…” This is not what David did. Instead of turning to friends for sympathy or even attacking his enemies, David turned to God. “Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer” (v. 1). David knew that his only help was in God, which strikingly is where the psalm also ends. The last words of the psalm say: “You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (v. 8).
ls there such a thing as a totally righteous sufferer? Is anyone ever really innocent? The answer is: of course not, unless we are thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the way some of the interpreters of Psalm 4 have taken it. But that is not the point here. None of us is ever utterly innocent, but there are nevertheless times of relative innocence in which evil people really do heap injustices on us. There are times when we are falsely accused. At other times we are slandered. It may be because the other person wants to advance himself by getting us out of the way. At other times the attack may be occasioned by pure envy.
It is tempting to seek a historical setting for Psalm 4, just as for Psalm 3, but there is little justification for it. The title says merely: “For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.”
The most interesting part of this psalm is the second section (vv. 2-5) in which David relates to those who are harming him. They are wrong. He is right. He is asking God to help him. Nevertheless, although slandered and injured by them, David speaks of his enemies kindly and tries to win them from their errors. And there is this: in trying to help them, he unintentionally but inevitably helps himself.
Were David’s enemies likely to follow his advice, tremble before God, offer sacrifices for their sin and begin to trust the Almighty? It was not very likely! It is not even likely that David spoke these words to them. They are part of the psalm, words that David spoke to God and would have liked to have spoken to his enemies but probably did not have the chance to utter. But here is the important thing: although his enemies did not come to trust God, David did. He had trusted God in the past. He had laid his grief over the false accusations of his enemies before him. Now God provided the peace he was seeking. There were three things God provided.
In this week’s lessons, as we prepare for Christmas, I want to look at one of the greatest of the Christmas carols—not the carol itself, of course, since it is only a human composition, but at the text from which it is drawn. “Joy to the World,” by Isaac Watts, is one of my favorite carols, and it would probably be among the most favored carols on any list that might be drawn up by English-speaking Christians.
What kind of deliverance can we celebrate because of the victories God has provided through the death of Jesus Christ? The New Testament speaks of three kinds of deliverance.
The second stanza of Psalm 98 praises God as King. The first stanza praised God as Savior and called on the people of Israel to sing a new song to Him. This stanza views Him as king not only of Israel, but of all people everywhere. Therefore, it broadens its call to worship to engage the whole world in singing God’s praise.
The final stanza of Psalm 98 calls on the entire creation to praise God. In the first stanza the appeal was to Israel. In the second stanza the Gentiles were called to join in. In this last stanza the psalmist calls on what we would call the cosmos. And the reason is that God is coming to “judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity” (v. 9). In other words, the psalm ends by looking ahead to that future day when the ills of this suffering world will be set right. We know this as the day of the return of Jesus Christ.
As we noted in yesterday’s lesson, the final stanza of Psalm 98 calls on the entire creation to praise God. The Bible’s teaching about nature is threefold. First, this is God’s world. Second, the world is not now what it was created to be. Third, one day this fallen suffering world will be renewed.
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