THE EXALTED WORD by Pastor Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson
Introduction:Kids come with a degree in psychology. They know the difference between our nature and our instructions. Nature is who we are. Instructions is what we tell them to do. One of our kids understood that difference more than the others. She loved to explore and check things out. We would tell her not to touch the electrical socket but she would look at us as she stretched her little finger towards it. We gave her some books of her own but she loved to get into my books. Of course, we would pop her hand but it did not stop her. Somehow, she knew that we weren’t going to sell her to some Midianite traders. So she trusted our nature but disobeyed our instructions. So also, in the Christian life, there is God’s nature and there is God’s instructions. They are both very important. In fact, they are inextricably linked. His instructions proceed from his nature. Having said that, one is exalted over the other. His Instructions, his Truth, his Word. He does want us to trust him but he really wants us to obey him.
Psalm 138 A Psalmof David. 1I will praise You with my whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You. 2I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
Question: God’s name is his nature. It is who he is. God’s word is what he expects us to do. Trust God’s nature, but obey his Word. Do you obey God’s word, the truth? Have you received the Truth of God? Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Background:When we began planning for the first few weekends in this new sanctuary, we prayerfully decided that one of the messages should be about the importance of the Word of God at Clearview. Our desire is to build this ministry on this book. The psalm we just read tells us that God has magnified his Word above his name.That’s an odd statement. Scholars have long disagreed over its meaning. Some have suggested that there must be some grammatical mistake in it. Others have proposed some alterations to make it sound better. The more I have studied it, the more I have concluded that there is nothing wrong in it. The problem is in our failure to grasp the true value and seriousness of God’s Word.
Context: To start with, this is a psalm of David, i.e. composed by David. Besides being the shepherd boy who killed the giant Goliath and later became the great King of Israel, Davd was also a great song writer. In fact, as many as 76 out of the 150 psalms in the book of Psalms were written by David. That’s half of all the psalms! But he was more than just a song writer. In fact, listen to how the Word of God records David’s last words in 2 Samuel 23:1“Now thesearethe last words of David.Thussays David the son of Jesse;Thussays the man raised up on high,The anointed of the God of Jacob,and the sweet psalmist of Israel.” Now listen to the first line of the final words of David –2“The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and His wordwason my tongue.” Meaning: David was the human instrument of God’s truth. In I Samuel 13:14, God reciprocated by calling him a “man after his own heart.” In other words, his words should not be taken lightly. They are God’s inspired, infallible, and inerrant words to us.
Before we begin in verse 1, let’s first go to verse 3 to get the context:“In the day when I cried out, You answered me,andmade me boldwithstrength in my soul.” Meaning: The context of this song is a time of trouble in David’s life. We don’t know for sure what that trouble was. Maybe Saul was chasing him through the Wilderness of Ziph. Maybe the Amalekites had taken their women and children as captives. Maybe Absalom had just declared his revolt against his father David. Nonetheless, this was a tough time.
Application:Tough times come but be careful about creating doctrine based on what you are facing. Don’t let your experiences decide your beliefs.
Now let’s look carefully at what David wrote in Psalm 138:1“I will praise You with my whole heart.” Meaning: David declares his desire to give thanks and praise to God from the bottom of his heart for all he has done for him. A good way to bounce out of discouragement and defeat is to praise God with all your heart for what he has already done for you.
Application:Do you ever thank God and praise him for all he has done for you? Do you do it with your whole heart?
Then David says,“Before the gods I will sing praises to You.”Don’t misunderstand this. David is not saying that there are other gods in this world. He is just boldly declaring before the watching world and the pagan nations that there is no other god before the Living and True God of Israel.True boldness is not telling God what to do but telling the world that you are not ashamed to declare the praises of God and share his gospel.Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 2:2“we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict.”
Application: Do you shy away from declaring the name of God in public? Are you bold regarding your faith?
David continues– 2“I will worship toward Your holy temple…” Keep in mind that the temple has not yet been built but David has solid confidence that one day it will be. “and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness…” Don’t miss this. When the psalm writers and even David mention the name of God, they are not talking about a title of God. They are referring to the nature of God. They are declaring that his name reflects his lovingkindness. By the way, the word “lovingkindness” in Hebrew is “chesed” which does not have one single English word that adequately translates it. It can be “goodness,” “kindness,” “mercy,” “love,” “steadfast love,” “unfailing love,” and “lovingkindness.” In fact, everyone of God’s names reflects his lovingkindness towards us.
Application: Do you ever give God thanks and praise for his name, for his lovingkindness towards you? Do you ever thank God for being the faithful and loving God?
But David adds something more to God’s “lovingkindness.” 2“I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth.” Meaning: Inherent in God’s name and nature is not only his kindness towards us but also his truthfulness for us. The Hebrew word for truth is “ameth.” David is teaching us something here. He wants us to see God more than just a loving God. He wants us to see him as a truthful God.
Now he says – “For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” The word for “word” means God’s commands and his promises. Because God is also a truthful God, he will not just sit back and love you and do the best he can to help you, he also wants to speak to you. He has something for you to do and to obey. For you to be able to get the seriousness of his commands and his promises, he has magnified them even above his name, his character. No matter the circumstances, always let the Word of God win.
Application: Don’t compromise your morals and don’t justify your experiences.
Was this a problem for David? Of course not. 3“In the day when I cried out, You answered me,andmade me boldwithstrength in my soul.” Don’t think of God’s Word as a burden. Instead, it brings boldness in our soul. When you obey God and do things his way, you are able to stand against whatever comes your way.
Listen to what follows – 4“All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD,when they hear the words of Your mouth.” Once again David extolls the Word of God. 5Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the LORD,For greatisthe glory of the LORD.6Though the LORDison high,Yet He regards the lowly;But the proud He knows from afar.7Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;You will stretch out Your handagainst the wrath of my enemies,And Your right hand will save me.8The LORD will perfectthat whichconcerns me;Your mercy, O LORD, enduresforever;Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
Listen carefully: God’s name is his character. His character is one of lovingkindness towards us. He will take care of us. But, his character is also one of truthfulness. Because of his truthfulness, he will always give us the right instructions. The Bible is God’s instruction for us. He expects us to obey him. Obedience to his word is now the standard for the proper understanding of his character.
Luke 6 46“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
Question:
- How important is this book for you?
- Is it the final authority on all your understanding about God?
- Do you use the Word to justify your morals and your experiences?
- Do you obey his Word no matter the cost?
- Do you know the Word of God, Jesus?
John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
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