Psalm 115 is our text for this morning.
It's a favorite of mine for a couple of reasons.
First of all, it's relatively simple.
We've looked at some pretty complex Psalms recently,
but this relatively simple, straightforward,
very logical in its flow, and for us,
it leads to some very practical applications in our lives.
As you can see on the screen,
this Psalm has traditionally been known
as a liturgical Psalm,
meaning that it's held in an important place,
both in the temple worship of ancient Israel,
but also later among the Jewish diaspora.
And before we're done today, we're gonna see an example
of how this Psalm was used in the liturgy of Judaism.
Now, if you look at the top of the Psalm,
you will see that unlike many of the songs
that we've covered recently, there is no superscription.
Do you see that?
No authorship, no historical context given to us.
Now, scholars have debated this for centuries,
trying to place the context or the content of the Psalm
into some place in Israel's history,
but there's no real consensus about who authored it
or exactly what's happening in Israel at this time.
So what that means for us is no map today.
And no timeline, because we just don't know.
So very disappointing, but still one of my favorite Psalms.
What we do know about Psalm 115
is it reflects a time in Israel's history
when the surrounding pagan nations were taunting the Lord
and mocking his people.
For some unknown historical reasons,
these people in these pagan nations were saying,
hey Israel, where is your God?
Where is your God?
And in response, we're gonna see the psalmist
rebuke these nations and ridicule the absurdity
of their false gods and their idols.
And at the same time, while rebuking the pagans,
he's gonna call Israel to renew their trust in Yahweh alone
for his protection and blessing.
So there's two beautiful literary tools
being used in this Psalm.
On the one hand, you see an apology
or a defense of Yahweh and Judaism.
And at the same time, you also see what we call a polemic,
an attack against false worship.
So you get both sides of that coin.
Now, as I said, this is a liturgical Psalm.
It's part of what's known as the Hallel Psalms.
Some of you know that term.
Of course, the Hebrew word Hallel means praise.
It's part of everybody's favorite Hebrew word to say.
We love to say hallelujah, right?
As you can see on the screen, what that means is
hallelujah ends with the word Yah,
which is an abbreviated form of Yahweh.
And it starts with the imperative form
of this root word Hallel for praise.
So you put it together whenever we shout out hallelujah,
which we love to do, we're just simply saying,
praise Yahweh.
And over the centuries,
there is a set of six particular Psalms,
including this one, from Psalm 113 to Psalm 118,
which became associated with Passover
and the Exodus out of Egypt.
In fact, if you have Jewish friends,
you might sometimes hear them refer to these six Psalms,
113 to 118, as the Egyptian Hallel,
because of their connection to the Exodus.
They're viewed as songs of deliverance.
And this is what you have to know.
They're songs of deliverance.
So they would be recited or sung
at various feasts on the calendar, always Passover,
but also sometimes at the Feast of Booths,
and also at Hanukkah as well.
And depending upon which tradition
you follow within Judaism,
what you do is you would set up your Passover Seder,
and usually the first two Psalms,
113 and 114, would be read or sung,
and then the others at the end of the meal.
Now here's what's exciting to think about,
because of the history of this section of the Psalms.
When you consider the final Passover
that Jesus celebrated in Jerusalem,
on the night that he was betrayed,
you know that both Matthew and Mark say
that before they left that upper room,
he and his disciples sang a hymn on Passover.
So it's very possible that that night,
these guys, Jesus and his 11,
were singing from Psalm 115.
So consider this as we read,
were these the words, the final song
on the lips of our Savior
before he was arrested and crucified?
Let it be powerful for you.
Let's go ahead and stand again.
We're gonna read through all 18 verses here.
So pick up your Bible,
and follow along with me as I read.
Psalm 115, verse one.
Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
but to your name give glory.
Because of your loving kindness,
because of your truth.
Why should the nations say, where now is their God?
But our God is in the heavens,
he does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of man's hands.
They have mouths, but they cannot speak.
They have eyes, but they cannot see.
They have ears, but they cannot hear.
They have noses, but they cannot smell.
They have hands, but they cannot feel.
They have feet, but they cannot walk.
They cannot make a sound with their throats.
Those who make them will become like them,
everyone who trusts in them.
O Israel, trust in Yahweh.
He is their help in their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in Yahweh.
He is their help in their shield.
You who fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh.
He is their help in their shield.
The Lord has been mindful of us.
He will bless us.
He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless those who fear the Lord,
the small together with the great.
May the Lord give you increase, you and your children.
May you be blessed of the Lord,
maker of heaven and earth.
The heavens are the heavens of the Lord,
but the earth he has given to the sons of men.
The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any who go down into silence,
but as for us, we will bless the Lord
from this time forth and forever.
And what's the final phrase you see there?
Say it in Hebrew with me.
Hallelujah, praise the Lord.
Go ahead and have a seat.
Now interestingly, this Psalm also has
a history beyond Judaism.
In fact, there are several great examples
from European history where Christian knights
and Christian kings referred to Psalm 115
in their declarations of victory.
One of the most famous stories comes from King Henry,
the fifth of England, whom Shakespeare wrote about,
who after fighting this very famous battle,
the Hundred Years' War against France,
winning this battle at a place called Agincourt,
he dramatically, and it's well documented,
dramatically rode his horse up to the front of his troops,
dismounted from his horse, knelt down and prayed
after the victory and then recited,
sang in front of his troops a portion of Psalm 115.
Not to us, Lord, but to your name be the glory.
But even better than that, a better story for us,
the great William Wilberforce,
how many of you guys know who he is?
Amazing guy.
He's the one who made the Christian case
for abolishing slavery in England in the 19th century.
And after decades of hard work,
he witnessed the House of Commons finally pass
his anti-slavery bill in the year 1807.
And when that vote was done,
he quietly retired to his room,
and as he told the story later,
he flooded his bed with tears and he recited Psalm 115,
saying this at the end, you've done this, Lord.
I've spent my life battling,
but you have done this, all glory to your name.
This is a great song with a great history.
Now here's how I wanna approach it.
Let's look at our structure.
We've been doing this each and every week,
so I wanna, and I know I've gotten some good feedback.
I appreciate you guys letting me know.
Some of you guys are enjoying writing in your Bible,
drawing lines.
You can do that, which is really cool.
So this is how we're gonna break this down.
By the way, our primary focus really is gonna be
verses one through eight.
We're gonna touch briefly in nine through 11, 12 and 15.
We don't even have time for that last section today.
But really our focus is gonna be on one through eight.
And we're gonna start with the very obvious application
that you see at the beginning of this,
that God alone deserves all glory.
But what's often missed in that is what is woven
into those first three verses.
The psalmist gives us three reasons why
he deserves to be glorified in our lives.
So we'll look at those things,
and then we're gonna look at the polemical side,
and that's in verses four through eight, right?
The polemical side.
We're gonna talk about idolatry.
Not just in that day, but we'll talk about idolatry today,
and how even you and I can fall into that
if we're not careful.
So let's start in verses one through three.
Take another look at it.
It famously begins, not to us, oh Lord,
not to us, but to your name give glory.
Wasn't there like an 80s or 90s worship song
called Not to Us?
Yeah, okay.
Oh man, you don't want that.
Now, if you love Reformation history
and Reformation theology, that statement
about giving God glory may set off some bells for you.
Back in 1647, see I'm getting some history in here, right?
We don't have maps and timelines,
I'm getting my history in.
1647, the Church of England and the Church of Scotland
came together to hammer out one of the great creeds
of the Reformation period.
It's called the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Just some light reading, I'm sure you all have it
on your bedside right at the table.
No, I know that most of you have probably not read
through that document, but you may be familiar
with the very first question that it asks and answers.
It says this, what is the chief end of man?
That's the question that this great creed raises.
Right out of the gate, what is the chief end of man?
What is the chief end of man?
Right out of the gate, what is the chief end of man?
What is the purpose of our lives?
I mean, is that not something we should figure out?
And the answer comes back, man's chief end
is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
And that truth is sort of, since the Reformation period
has been held up as like the North Star
and the guiding light for churches that seek to be faithful
in giving glory to God.
Everything we do, both as individual believers
and as local churches and everything, every choice,
every decision, every action we take, that is our goal.
To bring glory to God's name.
Now, what does that mean?
We throw that phrase around a lot,
but do we really know what it means?
In its simplest terms, what it means is that we're
to reflect his image in our lives.
We're to be a reflection of our God.
Bringing glory to God means putting on display
as much as we're able his perfect attributes
and his moral excellence and his infinite greatness
and worth, that is our chief end,
the purpose of our lives, to reflect him.
And then as the Westminster declares, in glorifying God,
we're able to abide with him.
We're able to, I know it's hard to imagine,
but with the God of the universe to enjoy,
to enjoy him, to enjoy relationship with him,
and not just here on earth, but for all eternity.
That's a big vision, is it not?
Friends, for us as Christ followers,
glorifying God through Jesus is to govern
every aspect of our lives.
It's to be our daily practice.
In all things, we're to sit back and say,
all right, is the way I'm living right now glorifying God?
And you can do this daily, you can do this
when you wake up in the morning,
you can do it when you go to bed at night,
you can do it all day long, ask the question,
am I glorifying God right now?
Do I reflect his image when I go to work?
Do I reflect his image as I parent?
Do I show him, put him on display in my marriage,
in the way I use technology?
So many questions, right?
It's to govern all aspects of our lives.
Now, what reasons does the psalmist give us
to take this command seriously?
There's three reasons in that opening section of the psalm.
First, you read in verse one that we should give glory
to God because of two things,
because of his loving kindness and his truth,
or in Hebrew, his hesed and his emet.
Now, we've covered that first word multiple times
in this series because it shows up all over the place.
It is literally all over the psalms,
the covenant love of God, his steadfast love.
It is such an important descriptor
of how God operates with his people,
and that was true with ancient Israel,
and it's true with the church today, his hesed.
Yahweh is a God whose steadfast love never changes.
Bank on it.
His steadfast love never changes.
Why?
Because it's rooted in himself.
It's who he is.
It's rooted in his name.
It's rooted in his perfect attributes.
And then that second word you see there,
by the way, that can be translated either truth
or faithfulness.
And again, this is who Yahweh is.
Yahweh is the very definition of truth.
Remember, he made all things, he sustains all things,
so think about it.
Apart from what he says, there is no truth,
and everything he says is true by definition.
He's altogether faithful to the covenant promises
that he gives to his people.
Paul says they are irrevocable.
They cannot be taken back,
which means Yahweh will never forsake or abandon us,
and he will accomplish everything
that he purposes to do in our lives.
He is these things.
He is filled with loving kindness,
and he is filled with truth or faithfulness.
And everything he does magnifies those two attributes
about himself, everything he does.
And by the way, for that, we should be exceedingly grateful
because without those two things,
both of which, by the way, culminate in him
lavishing his grace upon us,
we would all be lost and without hope.
So we should be exceedingly grateful
for those two attributes.
Now the third reason's a little bit more complex, right?
It's in verse three, and it's his sovereignty.
His sovereignty, look at verse three.
Our God is in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases.
Now that is the very definition of sovereignty.
You could not state the principle of sovereignty
any more clearly than that.
Sovereignty means being utterly free to do as one pleases.
If there are no restraints on you, you are sovereign.
And that's who God is.
He is the only being that exists in that mode.
Unlike us, he is completely free, he is non-contingent.
He is what we call assay,
which means he is from himself and of himself.
Right, that's not us.
We are not from ourselves, we are not of ourselves.
We are creatures.
God exists in this mode, so he can do whatever he pleases,
and all of it brings him glory.
We heard him declare this in our call to worship
this morning from Isaiah 46.
Listen again, God says, I am God, and there is no other.
I am God and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done.
I do that, he says.
My counsel shall stand, I will accomplish all of my purpose.
I have spoken, I will bring it to pass.
I have purposed, I will do it.
He is sovereign, he is sovereign.
Now it's hard for us to understand that, right?
We're finite beings, right?
There is nothing prior to God,
there is nothing greater than God,
there is nothing greater than God.
He has no counselors to instruct him,
he has no power that can restrain him.
He's outside of time, yet he's ruling
over every moment of time.
He's beyond creation, yet he's moving within the creation.
He sees all things at all times, all at once,
and he has absolute authority to move any piece
on his universal chessboard for his purposes,
and for his glory.
That's our God, and yet he knows your name.
See, we can talk about God in that big way
because we're like, ah, it's beyond us,
but the fact that he counts the number of hairs
on your head and knows you by name,
that's what really, it's his eminence
that really makes him spectacular.
Now I know some people are bothered
by this concept of sovereignty.
I read it online, I hear it in debates,
some people are bothered by it.
When they hear that phrase, he does as he pleases,
in their limited mind they think,
well that sounds kinda arrogant, and kinda self-centered,
and you know what, that would be true if God were a sinner.
But we're talking about the Lord here,
and he is altogether holy, so he's not arbitrary
in doing the things that please him.
He's not erratic, right?
He's not impulsive.
He simply brings to pass what he has already decreed.
Think about that.
God decreed all things even before the world was formed,
and now those things are unfolding in successive moments,
and somehow he's able to fit all of our volition,
and even our sin into all of that story,
and bring about his purposes.
It's mind-blowing, isn't it?
He simply brings to pass what he's decreed.
Ephesians 1-11 says it beautifully,
God works all things after the counsel of his will,
and it pleases him to do so.
It's because of who he is,
his will is always for the benefit of you and I.
That's another beautiful part of who God is.
Not only does he know you, but all the things he's decreed,
all the things that he is sovereignly overseeing right now
are for your benefit.
Even if it doesn't always feel that way, right,
in our limited vision, we can't always see the end
from the beginning as he does, it's always for our good.
So I get it, the idea of God's sovereignty
isn't always an easy thing to accept,
but that's primarily because of our limited understanding.
It's because of our finiteness.
So we gotta be careful that we don't take our finite logic,
our narrow vision, and say, well,
this is the way it should be,
and I'm gonna apply that to an infinite being.
That's above our pay grade, right?
It's an important article of faith for us
to recognize God's sovereignty, and you know what?
Here's the thing, and I found this out many years ago
when I first wrestled with this doctrine.
Once I understood it more from the scriptural perspective,
guess what, I saw it on almost every page of the Bible.
I mean, it jumps off the page after a while,
and you're like, wow, God does as he pleases.
So we have to decide, if we're wrestling with God's
sovereignty, do I believe what the scriptures say?
Am I gonna trust that?
Do I believe what God has said about himself,
including in Isaiah 46?
For us today, if we're committed to glorifying God
in our lives, it starts with us meditating
on these three essential attributes of who God is,
his loving kindness, his truth, and his sovereignty.
We glorify God when we meditate on such things.
And so mark that down, take a screenshot if you have to,
but these are things we need to meditate on all the time.
Now, interestingly, if you look closely
at those first three verses, you might also see something,
and I would say it's almost hidden here,
but you see two ways that we can fail to glorify God
if we're not careful and not paying attention.
So there's positive things, glorify God this way,
but there's also some things in there
that are warnings to us.
Look at the language again in verse one,
not to us, not to us, it's repeated,
for emphasis, isn't it?
Not to us, not to us, meaning what?
Meaning this, do not assign to yourself any glory
that God has owed.
Do not assign to yourself any glory that is owed to God.
And I know you're thinking, come on, Jeff,
I would never, who would do that?
I mean, who sets out to go, you know what?
I know God has owed this glory,
but I'm just gonna take a little bit of it.
Nobody does that, right?
But be careful.
This can happen in our lives, and it can be subtle,
because we're all prone in some ways to take at least some,
at least a sliver of God's glory for ourselves.
And oftentimes, and in many churches today,
it begins with salvation.
We act as though we are responsible for being saved.
We act as though we are, quote, we found God.
We came to salvation, we accepted Jesus,
and we let those things flow off of our tongues
without really lining it up.
Does that what the Bible actually says?
What's usually mixed into that scenario
is the idea that on our own, we were smart enough,
or we were good enough, or religious enough
to wake up one day and just decide to live for God
and give ourselves to Jesus.
The problem is, that's actually not how the Bible
describes the process, right?
So we have to be careful.
We don't hear buzz phrases in the church,
and we don't look at scripture and compare those two
and say, what's really going on here?
Now, I'm not denying that as a secondary cause,
we do, in fact, choose to trust in Jesus.
I did, many, many years ago.
But as a secondary cause, what's missing is the primary cause
of that decision that I made, to trust in him and be saved.
And what's the primary cause?
The calling, the drawing, and the regenerating of my heart
that brought about this desire in me,
this affection in me, to turn to God and be saved.
Without that primary cause,
the secondary cause does not happen.
And so I've gotta be careful that I don't say,
well, look, I got saved because of me,
because if God hadn't moved, I would be lost today.
So when we assign even a sliver of our salvation
to ourselves, we take from God the full glory
that he deserves as the one who marked us out,
as an object of his saving love.
When we take his glory, we actually empty the power
of that statement, that God marked you out
before the foundations of the world were laid
as an object of his saving love.
And then he, knowing your name, he called you
and he drew you to himself, and he changed your heart
and gave you new affections, and he saved you.
And if you need details on that, look,
just read Ephesians one and two every day this week,
and it will just hit you like a freight train
what God has done for you.
Because every single one of us in this room,
Ephesians says, we were once what?
Dead in our sins.
Unable to bring our, dead people don't bring themselves
to life.
We were dead in our sins, and then we were made alive.
Well, how did that happen?
Not by our choice, not by our decision,
but because of God's great love for us.
He made us alive.
And so Ephesians two says it, it's by his grace alone
that I'm saved, and that you're saved.
And not by anything inherently good or valuable in us.
And so all, not part of the glory should go to Yahweh.
And it's a really bad idea to try to steal glory from him.
And listen, it doesn't stop at salvation,
I know I'm hammering that, but even after God saves us,
we still have to be on guard, because we are still prone
to take credit for things that are due completely
to his grace and to his power and to his will.
How often do we do something like this?
We say, I'm doing so well in my life,
I'm doing so well in my ministry,
look at all the success I'm having.
I see pastors falling into this all the time.
Pastors do this all the time.
Look at how my church is growing.
My church.
Look at all these people who are coming to hear me preach.
Me.
And look at how much people are growing under my leadership.
Not to us, the psalmist says, stop it.
Stop it, apart from God, you can do absolutely nothing.
Stop it.
Not to us, the psalmist says.
Paul says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 4.
You might recall the story, the Corinthian believers
are boasting in their spiritual gifts,
and sarcastically he says to them,
what do you have that you did not receive?
And if you did receive it, why do you boast,
as if you didn't receive it?
It all came from the Lord.
So stop boasting.
Spurgeon put it really well.
Take a screenshot of this one.
He says, if you meet with a system of theology
which magnifies man, flee from it as far as you can.
Here is a test for you to apply,
and by it you may tell whether a thing is true
or false.
By it you may tell whether a thing is true or not.
If it glorifies man, if it puts human will,
human ability, human merit in the place of the mercy
and the grace of God, away with it,
for it is not food fit for your souls to feed upon.
That's an amen.
Okay, I beat that horse to death, right?
Okay, so that's the first failure we can fall into.
We attempt to steal God's glory.
The second one's found in verse two.
The psalmist says, why should the nation say
where now is their God?
Here's the exhortation.
We should never give unbelievers good reason
to mock the name of the Lord.
We should never give unbelievers good reason
to mock the Lord.
Now again, we don't know the specific historical context
here, but clearly in this moment,
the surrounding nations felt comfortable enough
to point their bony fingers at Israel
and say, where's your God?
Where is he?
Okay, Israel, you say you know the one true God
will show him to me, because we don't see him.
Something was going on that led these pagans
to question either the credibility of Yahweh's existence
or his power to protect his people.
And so listen now, Yahweh's name and reputation
was at stake in this moment.
And this is a theme we see in many pages in scripture,
because glorifying God means upholding his name
and his reputation.
We do not, as believers, want to be responsible
for tearing that down.
We want to uphold his name and his reputation.
Remember back in Numbers 14,
when the Israelites were sitting in the wilderness
and God said, I'm gonna destroy my people.
And what did Moses do?
He went into prayer, he intervened on behalf of the people
and said, Lord, don't destroy your own people,
because if you do, the pagan nations will see it
and say, ha, Yahweh cannot lead his people
into his promised land.
And God relented, didn't he?
Now why did he relent?
It's not because Moses's prayers were just so good, right,
or that he changed God's mind.
God relented for the sake of his name
and for the sake of his reputation.
But then centuries later, God raises up the Babylonians
and he sends Nebuchadnezzar and his army
to wipe out Jerusalem and to destroy the temple
and to take the people into captivity.
Why?
Again, God's name was at stake differently this time.
The Jews were stuck in this never-ending cycle of sin.
And so God punished them in order to vindicate his name.
He showed the pagan nations that my people
will be punished for their sin.
His reputation was at stake.
And yet, because God is filled with loving kindness
and faithfulness, he then promised the Jews
there's coming a time when I will regather you in the land.
Why?
I'll say it again, not for their sake
because they didn't deserve to be forgiven, but why?
For his great name, for the sake of his name,
for the sake of his reputation.
So we see this over and over again in Scripture.
So it's incumbent upon us as new covenant believers,
as the people who represent Jesus in this culture,
not to give those who love to mock God reason to do so.
All of us, that's our responsibility
because God's name and reputation is at stake.
Now, if he's mocked because we stand on the truth,
then so be it, right?
That's a good thing.
If he's mocked because we choose to reject sin
and promote holiness, so be it.
If he's mocked because we preach the gospel with boldness,
so be it, that's fine.
But if our Lord is mocked because of our sinfulness,
if he's mocked because we're treating our neighbors poorly,
if he's mocked because our marriage is a public disaster,
if he's mocked because our kids are out of control
and everybody sees it,
if he's mocked because our business practices
are clearly unethical,
because we act hypocritically
because we say one thing and do another,
or we point our fingers at the world
and then act just like the world,
then we give unbelievers solid ground
to take pot shots at our Savior
and to taunt the church and to even mock our faith
and to give them a foundation to say,
well, show me your God,
because I don't see him in you.
This is the reason behind principle number seven
in our covenant.
We say this every single time we gather for communion.
Number seven in our covenant says this,
we will seek by the power of the Holy Spirit
to live carefully in the world,
denying ungodliness and worldly lust,
recognizing that we have a special obligation
to lead a new and holy life.
Why?
Because God's name and reputation are at stake.
Don't give unbelievers good reason to mock our Lord.
So let's be careful on those two things, right?
Let's be careful.
Let's not fail to give God the glory due his name, amen?
Okay, let's turn our attention.
Let's go to the second section here, verses four through eight.
Again, this is gonna be very practical.
So far we have the pagan nations around Israel,
they're taunting Yahweh and they're mocking his people,
and the psalmist, now, his fellow Israelites
are still the audience that he's writing to,
but what we're about to see is him snap back at these taunts.
He is gonna give it back to them.
He's gonna ask the question out loud in verse two,
why should the nations be able to mock Yahweh,
the one true God, why?
Why?
I get a sense as I read the flat page that he's upset.
Why should they be able to do this?
And then he responds, he sorta turns the tables
on these pagans and he begins to mock the idols
that they serve.
Now we should remember in the ancient Near East
that this was very common.
Every nation had their own pantheon of gods,
and for every one of these gods,
they would make statues and images.
This was just common in that part of the world,
but not Israel, right?
Israel was the one nation in that region
who did not do this, because what?
It's the second commandment.
No graven images, right?
No idols.
And so part of this, when they say where's your God,
part of it, what they're saying is,
we don't see your God,
and that's weird to us.
Where is he?
Can you show us a statue of him?
Because our gods, we can walk right up to him,
we can pick him up and hold him, right?
We can bring libations before them.
As we read in Psalm 46,
we can pick him up and transport them,
but not your God.
Why can't we see him?
But the psalmist isn't gonna have this, right?
He's not gonna put up with this foolishness
from these idolaters.
So what you see in verses four through eight
is like an epic rant against these idols.
Beginning in verse four, he says,
their idols, now again, he's speaking to Israel,
but he's talking about these pagan nations.
Their idols are silver and gold.
The work of man's hands, and notice, I love this,
he could have said, ah, their idols are cheap wood,
but he goes straight to the top, silver and gold,
but it doesn't matter,
it doesn't matter how precious the metal is,
they're still lifeless.
They're still creations made by humans.
They have mouths, but they can't speak.
They say nothing, they're utterly mute.
What does that mean?
Their gods offer no promises to the people,
no comfort, no peace, no empathy, no nothing
to their worshipers.
They have eyes, but they can't see.
If you have eyes, but can't see, you're called blind.
Who worships a blind god?
Blind people, right?
They have ears, but they can't hear.
So it doesn't matter what kind of shenanigans
these pagans put forth in worship,
they can spin around and wave their arms and do whatever,
these gods can't hear them at all.
They can't hear their pleas, they can't hear their cries,
can't hear their prayer requests.
And as I was reading it this week, I thought of Elijah,
in 1 Kings 18, right?
Remember how he mocks the priests of Baal?
Right?
You remember the story.
Elijah says to them, remember, they're trying to call down,
trying to call down Baal to do something,
and Elijah says, hey guys, shout a little bit louder.
Just keep shouting, because Baal's a god, right?
He'll respond.
Maybe he's occupied, Elijah says, or he's on a journey,
maybe he's asleep, you just need to wake him up,
so shout louder.
And so that's what they tried.
The priests of Baal, they got more hyped up,
and they began to dance and shout and cry louder,
and it says they began to cut themselves,
like blood sacrifices.
And it says at midday, they raved on, but what?
Nothing.
It says there was no voice, nobody answered,
no one even paid attention,
because Baal's a lifeless god.
It says it right here in Psalm 115.
Then it says they have noses, but they can't smell.
So look, if you pagans, when you want to go burn stuff
in front of your little statue, it doesn't matter,
it can't smell anything, right?
Makes no difference whatsoever.
They have hands, but they can't feel,
so they're not gonna be able to receive anything
you give to them.
They have feet, but they can't walk.
In fact, in Isaiah 46, you may have heard it,
we need to fasten them down, otherwise they just topple over.
That's your god.
He just falls over.
Silly.
They can't make a sound with their throat,
not even a grunt.
This is an epic takedown, isn't it, of idolatry.
It's a polemic, right?
These pagans, they had the audacity to ask where Yahweh is,
and the psalmist says, but look at you guys.
Look at the foolishness of your idols.
You worship things that are so obviously below you.
They come from the minds of men,
they're fashioned by human hands,
so think logically for a second.
If men made them, how can they be gods?
It's silliness.
At best, you worship imaginary beings.
You worship the projection of your own lusts and desires.
At worst, you worship demonic spirits.
But it's all foolishness.
And the point is, the psalmist wants to leave you
with this great contrast.
The God of Israel versus these dead idols.
Yahweh creates all things, these gods are created by men.
That's a slight difference.
Yahweh does as he pleases, these gods can do nothing.
While they're blind, deaf, and motionless, and silent,
Yahweh, in contrast, he speaks to his people,
he sees their needs, he hears their prayers,
he smells the fragrance of their worship,
and he acts on behalf of his people.
So choose this day whom you're gonna serve.
It's a pretty obvious choice.
Quite a contrast, isn't it?
Now, verse eight's very interesting.
Take a look at verse eight.
That list of idolatrous nonsense is a little bit funny,
but verse eight is not funny at all.
Because this is a tragic truth.
Those who make such idols become like them.
That is tragically true even today.
You become like what you worship.
That's true for all of us.
You become like what you worship.
And when you worship lifeless things,
you will live lifelessly.
And when you worship base things,
they will drag you down into the gutter.
False gods never lift up man, it always drags people down.
Just look at the world we live in right now.
I mean, can we even number,
could you even sit down and try to number
the number of idols in this world right now
that people are pursuing?
It's wild.
Where have those things led us?
Have they lifted us up, or have they dragged us down?
The saddest part is ultimately
those who worship perishable idols
will perish with them eternally.
And that's why we need to get out there and share the truth.
But it's encouraging also to know
that the reverse principle is true.
If you worship and obey Yahweh,
the Sovereign of the universe,
who does as he pleases,
if you worship Jesus' son,
you too will become like what you worship.
You will be made more and more,
conformed more and more to the image of Jesus Christ.
So the same principle which degrades the person
that's trapped in idolatry lifts up the Christ follower.
Because God is doing that work in us, right?
He is making us more and more like his son.
And then assures the believer that just as Christ lives,
you too will live for all eternity.
Isn't that great?
Can you see the beauty of this psalm
and this contrast that's being drawn here?
Now, let's get practical about this
because it'd be super easy for us to read this section,
four through eight, and go,
okay, idolatry is sort of stuck in the past.
You know, that's just ancient stuff.
No Americans are bowing down to idols anymore,
so we don't have to worry about this.
But guys, we know the principle of idolatry
lives on even today.
It is everywhere in our culture,
and it's not always absent in the lives of Christians either.
So we need to pay attention to this.
Idolatry isn't about carving a statue
and worshiping it anymore,
but it is about putting anything,
anything before God in our lives.
You've probably heard that before,
but I want you to listen to it again.
Idolatry can be putting anything before God in our lives,
valuing anything more than we value him.
Idolatry can sometimes fool us, by the way,
and surprise us.
So we gotta be careful.
We gotta be on the alert, right?
Because sometimes it gets packaged in a very benign way,
and we don't even recognize it.
In the Western culture that we live in,
most of it revolves around putting ourselves
in the middle of everything.
It's about the worship of the self.
And sometimes we're blind to this, right?
And by the way, social media has, I mean,
increased this a thousand fold in the last couple decades.
It has done nothing but feed the idolatry of self.
So be careful in the way you use it.
But I wanna give you some examples today
of idolatry that might be impacting your life.
And this could be a little uncomfortable, but that's okay.
As I go through this list, I just want you to be honest
with yourself.
Don't shoot your hand up and go, yep, that's me.
Don't do that.
But be honest with yourself in your own heart.
Oh man, I didn't think about that.
That is an area where I might be prone
to allowing idolatry to seep into my life.
That is a very healthy self-examination.
I know we often, we refuse that, we're like,
that's too painful, I don't wanna think about it.
It's a very healthy thing to ask those questions.
So here it goes.
Just, I'll put some of these on the screen.
Your identity.
Any group that you put yourself in,
category that you place yourself in,
that has become more important to you than God.
And this, guys, that is rampant in our culture today.
If your identity in Christ is not the first thing,
but you found another, it might be your race,
your ethnicity, your gender, whatever it might be.
But if your identity has become an idol, pay attention.
Your physical appearance.
And that's an easy one.
I'm obsessed with how people see me,
and whether I'm getting enough attention.
People think I'm attractive, whatever it might be.
Material things in your life.
Now that's an old one, right?
We're all prone to this, right?
We're covetousness.
Man, there's so many things I want.
Are they on vacation again?
I don't get a vacation.
Right?
Material things, I need to have this to be fulfilled.
That's a big one.
Entertainment.
It's only getting more and more.
If you're my age, how many channels did you use
to have on your television?
Like six?
Like six channels, and you had to tune in
at the time the show came on.
What?
Like we gotta be home at eight o'clock
because that one show comes on,
and if I don't, I can't replay it.
The things we've seen in this lifetime,
but entertainment for so many of us has become an idol.
It's what we turn to.
We turn to it for escape and for comfort.
Entertainment's a big one.
Sex.
Yeah, have you noticed our culture's obsessed with it?
Yeah.
A constant longing for comfort.
Like I just, I just wanna, again, I wanna escape.
My life is hard.
This world is difficult.
I just wanna feel okay, and I'm not running to God for that.
I'm running to other things.
Just this longing for constant comfort.
Oh my goodness, technology.
Technology, again, I won't play the old guy card again.
We just didn't have these things when I was your age.
We just didn't have them.
Life was so simple.
Technology right now is an idol in many of our lives,
and whether that's your phone or your tablet,
you know, your social media, whatever it is,
is that creeping into your life?
Is that becoming your obsession?
And it's risen as a higher priority than even the Lord.
Influence.
There's things called influencers today.
I chuckle, but it's serious.
It's serious.
I just wanna be an influencer.
Fame and status.
Again, admiration from others can be an idol.
Your hobbies.
Your hobbies, whatever you devote time to.
And I remember when I was younger in my faith,
I was challenged, you know, right out.
At the time it was golf, I don't play golf anymore,
but at the time it was golf,
like how many hours do you devote to golf?
Oh, I wrote it down, then how many hours
do you devote to the Lord?
Oh, oh, interesting.
It's what you devote your time and your energy towards.
Your hobbies.
Yeah, your emotions and your feelings.
Again, this is a part of sort of the last few decades
of our culture where everything is about my feelings
and my emotions, and that's everything.
It's sort of like it's connected to the identity thing.
My feelings and emotions, everything revolves.
I am at the center stage of my life, not God.
These are all subtle things, you guys,
that can creep into our lives, so we've got to pay attention.
Now you can probably name some more,
and that'd be a really good exercise
to consider these things.
Oh, by the way, did I skip family and kids?
How'd I do that?
Woo.
That's a big one.
When we say family, well, my family's an idol,
sometimes it's your spouse, but more likely it's your kids.
Your life revolves around them, right?
They're the center, not the Lord.
Dangerous, subtle.
And maybe you can come up with some more,
but it's a really good, really good exercise
to examine these things.
And then you can take a screenshot of this.
Here's the questions we need to ask of all of those things.
Do I love or treasure any of those things more than God?
Like those things are my treasure.
God's a side piece.
God's for Sundays or God's for occasional
you know, if I pray I might get something.
But it's a side piece.
Do I love and treasure other things more than Him?
Do any of those things hold a higher priority
in my life than God?
Like if I have a choice between this or that,
God or something else, I'm going over here.
A higher priority for me.
I'm not gonna tell anybody that,
but in my heart, that's what I know.
That's sort of my priority.
Do any of those things bring me more pleasure
than the things of God?
Do I get more joy from those things than I do
from my walk with Jesus?
Do I place my identity in anything
over my status as a child of God?
That goes back to the identity thing.
That's who we are.
First and foremost, we are children of God.
We are Christ followers.
That is us.
And everything else has to be secondary to that.
Do I look to anything or anyone to meet my needs
instead of God?
I've got all these needs and desires
and those things really, they make, they fulfill me.
Warning, warning.
Do I seek fulfillment or satisfaction
from anything outside of God?
You get the point.
These are good questions.
Look, don't be afraid of them.
This is literally part of the sanctification process.
It is healthy and good,
especially if you can do it with others in the body
and say, let's be honest.
Let's just share these things.
This was a part of my testimony early on
when I was a young believer.
I had some guys in my life
and we asked these questions regularly.
And then we got on each other.
How you doing with that?
This is a normal part of the Christian life
to ask and answer these questions.
So if anything on that list jumped out at you
and likely at least one did, come on now.
I see some smiles.
I have good news for you.
If you're a believer, there's a way forward for you
and for me.
This is the good news.
This is why we don't have to be afraid
of asking these questions.
There is a way to acknowledge that idol
and still please the Lord and turn away from it.
As described in the Bible,
all it takes is honesty and humility,
acknowledging your sin, your need for change.
And folks, that is the hardest part.
Confronting it, looking into the heart,
saying, yep, this is true about me.
Lord, I'm gonna lay this open.
I'm gonna share it with you.
You already know it, but I'm gonna talk to you about it.
You know we try to hide things from God.
It's hilarious.
But we can open up our hearts and say,
Lord, you know this about me.
So I wanna talk to you about it.
And you know what?
I can't beat these things on my own.
I can't win.
So you can come before the Lord.
John assures us if we confess our sins,
he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We have this amazing promise.
Do not be afraid of this.
We can confess our propensity towards idolatry.
We can repent of it.
And then we can ask the Holy Spirit
to walk through the process with us.
We can ask for strength.
We can ask for self-control.
We can, by the power of the Spirit,
then strive to change our habits
and to maintain this transformed mind
where we acknowledge what's going on.
And then we can set out to establish healthy boundaries,
to strive in the power of the Spirit for purity.
And all of that, friends, is the privilege
that we have as Christians, as those who know Christ.
So take advantage of it.
I've known far too many Christians in my life
who are like, I don't wanna deal with it.
You've been given this privilege
to abide with the Savior of the universe
and to walk through these processes
of repentance and sanctification.
Take advantage of it.
And if you need help in that process,
we have people at Oak Hill willing to help.
You just have to ask.
Okay, gotta wrap up.
Last section, I'm gonna do this really quickly.
Nine through 15, nine through 15,
this is really how the psalmist then sort of closes this out.
He has attacked the foolishness of the false gods.
He has turned back and addressed God's people directly.
Here in these verses, nine through 15,
this is where you get a sense of how this psalm
was used in the liturgy of Israel.
It was probably sung back and forth
between the worship leader and the congregation.
We do this sometimes at Oak Hill, don't we?
Where Grant will say something and we respond back and forth.
That's what's going on here.
Verse nine, the worship leader says,
oh Israel, trust in the Lord.
And the congregation says what?
He is their help and their shield.
Verse 10, the worship leader says,
oh house of Aaron, the priesthood, trust in the Lord.
And the congregation says,
he is their help and their shield.
Verse 11, the worship leader,
you who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord.
He is their help and their shield.
Why such repetition?
Because God is emphasizing the importance of this.
To acknowledge what it says here.
God says, I am the one who comes to your aid.
I am your shelter and your defender
in the midst of the storm.
Because I'm not like those lifeless idols.
Put your trust in me.
That's what he's trying to say here.
The psalmist is like, okay, worthless idols,
but look at your helper and your shield
and your shelter from the storm.
Trust in the Lord.
And then the psalmist gives this assurance in verse 12.
The Lord has been mindful of us.
Catch the tense there.
He's been mindful of us.
He will, future tense, bless us.
You see what he's doing there?
And we should do this as well.
You look at the past and say,
look, God has been faithful in the past.
That is our assurance that he will be faithful
to bless us in the future.
True?
And then he repeats the same three groups.
He gives each one of them this assurance
that Yahweh will bless them.
He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless those who fear the Lord.
And I love this.
It's tucked in here, but it's so beautiful.
He will bless both the small together with the great.
Listen, nobody's insignificant in the kingdom of God.
Not just the great, but the small as well.
God will bless them.
May the Lord give you increase, you and your children,
he says in verse 14.
May you be blessed of the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.
And that's the truth, friends.
It's on the screen right now.
Yahweh helps and defends those who trust in him.
And he promises to bless those who fear him.
It's right there in the text.
So just to wrap up, guys, let us strive to lay aside
the idolatry that used to mark our lives.
We were all wrapped up in it, right?
And we're slowly breaking away from it.
It might still have a hold on us.
It might be creeping in.
Let's lay those things aside.
Let's put on the new man in the image of Christ
and give God the glory in all things and for all things.
Amen?
Amen.
Let's bow our heads.
Father, how good it is to read in your word
that you know us by name,
that you know us better than we even know ourselves.
You even know our sin.
You know the idolatry that we dabble with.
And yet if we're found in Christ this morning,
you still love us.
That is an amazing love.
That is amazing grace.
And so I pray for myself and for my brothers and sisters
that we will be a people that continues
to bring these things to life.
That we will be a people that continues
to bring these things before your throne,
continues to confess sin,
and continues to be encouraged by the fact
that you are faithful and righteous to forgive us
when we walk with you.
God, thank you for the great contrast we have
in this text this morning.
That you are the living God.
The one true living sovereign God
with steadfast love and truth.
You are the God we worship.
And we reject all others, Lord.
Let that be true of every person in this room this morning.
For your glory we pray.
Amen.