Ira Baptist Church
Sunday, October 12

      • Psalms 150.1-4ESV

      • Psalms 150.5-6ESV

  • Praise To The Lord The Almighty

      • 1 Corinthians 10.6-8NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 10.9-11NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 10.12-13NIV2011

  • Whate'er My God Ordains Is Right
  • Christus Victor (Amen)
  • A call to do three things - praise, worship, and give thanks.
    One of the biggest themes in the Psalms is the theme of exuberant praise!
    God’s people are often seen as giving loud and hearty praise to Him.
    Nehemiah 12:43 ESV
    And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.
    This Psalm is just that, a call to exuberant praise.
    But it is not just noise for the sake of noise
    any of you have kids who sometimes seem to just make noise for noise’s sake?
    There is a call to loud noise, but at the end, it comes with a hushed tone - a more solemn warning. Because what this Psalm teaches us is that our praise is more than just the joy of excitement - our praise is tied to the very real truth about who God is.
    Praise comes from knowing God.

    Part of knowing God as the King is having our hearts and eyes opened to see His work in our lives. When we see Him as He is, we can’t help but worship and bow down!

    The What - Let us Worship!

    “Thankful, joyful, reverent awe.”

    Psalm 95:1–2 ESV
    Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
    Psalm 95:6 ESV
    Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
    This is the centerpiece of the Psalm.
    5 verses before it, 5 verses after it.
    This is the main point that we are to get!
    And what does it call us to?
    worship and bow down - to bend low. To take a position that signifies honor. Put into words, it is like what John the Baptist said when Jesus began his ministry - He must increase, I must decrease.
    The phrase together, though, adds an important element - because it tells us not just to bow before him, but it tells us to approach him.
    “Come!” the invitation says.
    The invitation to approach God - that is amazing. Yes, we approach in honor. Yes, we approach in humility. Yes, we approach in reverence - but the fact that we are invited at all is wonderful.
    The invitation goes out
    Psalm 117 ESV
    Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!
    Not just for the Jewish people, but for all nations. All peoples. All who will come to him. On thursdays, we started our study on evangelism - spreading the good news! And this call to worship is really The same as the gospel message.
    Matthew 28:19 ESV
    Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
    What are we to do when we come before him?
    Psalm 95:1–2 ESV
    Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
    There is much here, but I want us to see a couple important elements.
    The intensity and the involvement
    Intensity
    Sing, make a joyful noise, songs of praise, thanksgiving.
    God’s people are exuberant in their praise and worship of their God.
    Psalm 150:3–6 ESV
    Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
    If you have it to give, give it! Don’t leave anything on the table in your praise before him.
    Football fans?
    In college, Knoxville Tennessee, Neyland stadiuim.
    College football excitement is something else!
    Orange everywhere
    Loudest football stadium crowd ever recorded - 137 decibels.
    Psalm 95:1–2 ESV
    Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
    Involvement
    “Us” - let “us” come, let “us” worship, let “us” bow down.
    The intensity of our worship and praise is supposed to be seen in our corporate involvement. That we come together. It’s not a spectator sport. Sure, there may be some who can sing and lead well. There may be some who can play an instrument. But all are called to come, to bow, to worship, to thank him, to make a joyful noise.
    You have a part to play in corporate worship. It is not less than your everyday worship - but it is a culmination of your everyday worship.

    The Why - He is Great!

    “Powerful, eternal, creator and Shepherd-king.”

    Psalm 95:3–5 ESV
    For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
    Why do we praise? Why do we worship? Why do we give thanks?
    Great - gadol. Remarkable, out of the ordinary, beyond what we expect and typically see.
    When you know him, you see things that cannot be explained any other way.
    This is a testimony
    To the nations, to others who might worship other so-called gods.
    This God has a name - YahWeh -the Lord. The creator. The supreme being.
    There are great spiritual beings - good and evil -angels and demons - the enemy is powerful, decieving many into thinking and believing that there are many gods - but there is only one. There is only one supreme being. He is over all, and he will make his enemies a footstool for his feet.
    Some are enthralled by nature - and nature is beautiful, but nature sings God’s praise because He made it.
    To us - that there are things that can only be explained by a great, powerful, eternal creator who is on the throne.
    The king is still the king - he will never be deposed - he cannot be defeated - he cannot be overpowered - he cannot be outnumbered - he cannot be thrown down. He is over, above, and greater than all - and he calls us - you - to come and see him, to come and know him, to come and worship him.
    Psalm 95:7 ESV
    For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
    It is a broad call, but it is a personal call. Is he your God? Do you know him?
    I want to be sensitive here, but as direct as the scripture. The question isn’t, “are you a spiritual person?” Nor is the question, do you believe in any God - any higher power at all? The question and the call is to come and see and know and worship The God. His name is YahWeh - Lord.
    He is the all powerful, creator, shepherd-king. Do you know him?

    The Warning - Don’t Harden your Heart!

    “Seeing God’s work but not knowing God’s ways.”

    Psalm 95:8–11 ESV
    do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”
    In short terms, the story of the Israelites was that they were delivered from terrible bondage in Egypt, but they kept forgetting what God had done and wanting to go back. And if you remember the story, the whole first generation who came out of egypt were told that they wouldn’t live to see the promised land. That is the “rest” that is referred to there.
    They couldn’t go in because of unbelief. They saw God’s work, but they didn’t reallly “know” him.
    Well, that story stands as a warning - but not just as an example, but as as what we would call a “type” or a foreshadowing.
    In the New Testament, after Jesus came, the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that this warning is for people today also.
    Hebrews 3:19–4:3 ESV
    So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
    Do you see the crux there? God’s work is evident — we can see it all around. And the good news, that we can enter into His rest, that we can know and worship him, goes out! But the message only benefits those who take it by faith. Who believe and trust him.
    Hebrews 4:6–10 ESV
    Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
    The “today” is now
    The “you” is you!
    The “rest” is salvation through the finished work of Christ.
    To harden against him is to try to foolishly do the work that He has already done.
    His finished work, His sabbath, not just in Creation but in Redemption.
    Philippians 2:10–11 ESV
    so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

      • Nehemiah 12:43NIV2011

      • Psalm 95:1–2NIV2011

      • Psalm 95:6NIV2011

      • Psalm 117NIV2011

      • Matthew 28:19NIV2011

      • Psalm 95:1–2NIV2011

      • Psalm 150:3–6NIV2011

      • Psalm 95:1–2NIV2011

      • Psalm 95:3–5NIV2011

      • Psalm 95:7NIV2011

      • Psalm 95:8–11NIV2011

      • Hebrews 3:19–4:3NIV2011

      • Hebrews 4:6–10NIV2011

      • Philippians 2:10–11NIV2011

  • Grace

      • 1 Corinthians 10.31NIV2011

Ira Baptist Church
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