Psalm 095

Introduction

We come today to Psalm 95 which is in two parts. The first part is verses 1 to 7a and the second part is verses 7b to 11.

In the first part, the psalmist summons the people to come and worship the Lord. He does so in verse 1 and also in verse 6. He says in verse 1: ‘Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord’. And he says in verse 6: ‘Come, let us bow down in worship’. And after summoning us to worship the Lord, he gives us reasons for worshipping him. Take a look at verse 3 which begins with the word ‘For’. Verse 7 begins with the same word. Why should we worship the Lord? For, or because, the Lord is the great God. For, or because, he is our God.

That’s part one. In the second part, the psalmist issues a warning to us. He says at the end of verse 7: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts….’ And he goes on to remind us of what happened to the Israelites in the wilderness in the days of Moses when they hardened their hearts and did not listen to God’s voice.

So, the psalmist is calling God’s people to worship the Lord; and he’s warning us to listen carefully to God’s voice when he speaks to us through his word. We gather in God’s presence on Sundays to sing praises to him and to worship him. But we also gather in God’s presence on Sundays to hear his word. And when we hear it, we must receive it and believe it and obey it, because it is the word of God.

Verses 1 to 7a

Let’s turn now to the first part, which is verses 1 to 7a. In verses 1 and 2 we have a summons to worship the Lord and in verses 3 to 5 we a reason for worshipping him. Then in verse 6 we have another summons to worship the Lord. And in verse 7 we have another reason for worshipping him.

The psalmist tells us to come. So, let’s not neglect to meet together. Let’s not stay at home. Let’s not go to the shops or out to the sports field. Let’s not go for a walk. Let’s come together and let’s sing for joy to the Lord and let’s shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. He refers to God as the LORD.. That is to say, he’s our covenant God, the God who has bound himself to us with a promise to be our God and to deliver us from our sin and misery by his Son. And he’s the Rock of our salvation or he’s the rock who saves us. When the wind is blowing hard and threatening to carry us away, we need a rock which we can hide behind and cling to for shelter from the storm. And that’s what our God is like: he’s able to save us from our sin and misery.

And we’re to sing for joy to him and we’re to shout aloud to him. Our praise should be joyful and enthusiastic. And we should come before him with thanksgiving and we should extol him with music and song. There should be thanksgiving, because every good thing we possess has come to us from him. He’s given us life and breath and health and strength and friends and family and work and rest. He’s given us abilities and talents and interests and knowledge. And he surrounds us with other people who different abilities and talents and interests and knowledge to complement us and to help us when we’re in trouble. He’s given us his Son to be our Saviour and he’s given us his Spirit as the deposit, guaranteeing what is to come, which is eternal life in his presence. For these and all his other gifts, we should give thanks to him when we worship him.

And why should we worship him? The psalmist explains. He says: for, or because, the LORD is the great God and he’s the great king above all gods. The psalmist is not saying that there are other gods. He’s not saying that our God is one God among many. But he’s saying that our God is greater than all the gods the pagans believe in. Our God is infinitely greater than the gods they create for themselves. In Isaiah 46, the Lord mocks those people who trust in idols. Look at your gods, he says. You have to carry them about with you. And they’re a burden for you. They’re heavy and hard to carry. But God says: ‘I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you.’ The gods of the pagans are nothing, but our God is great and mighty and powerful. He made us and he sustains us.

And in his hand are the depths of the earth and the mountain peaks belong to him. So, everything from the depths of the earth to the tops of the highest mountains, belongs to God. And then he mentions the sea and the dry land. He’s referring to everywhere, every place, because there’s nowhere else than the sea or the dry land. The pagans said one god ruled over one area and another god ruled over another area and so on. But our God, the one we worship, rules over the entire world because he made it all.

So, why should we come before the Lord to sing and praise him? Because he’s the great king over all. There is no-one greater than he is.

But the psalmist isn’t finished, is he? He summons us again in verse 6 to come and to bow down before God. We’re to kneel before the Lord our maker. When I was young, there were little stools in some of the pews in my home church for people to kneel on. I don’t remember anyone ever using them, but perhaps people did before I was born. But whether or not we actually get down on our knees is not the point. What’s important is the attitude of our mind and spirit when we come to worship God. It’s about being humble in the presence of the Lord. Humbling ourselves, instead of exalting ourselves. And it’s about yielding to him and submitting to him. We don’t come before God with pride in our hearts and boasting about ourselves and how great we are. We come before the Lord with humility. We boast about him. And we confess that he is God and we are not. He is the king and we are his servants. He commands and we obey.

When the psalmist refers to God as our maker in verse 6, he might mean that God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. However, it’s perhaps more likely that what he means is that God made us his people. He made the church. That fits with what follows, where the psalmist explains that we should worship the Lord because he is ‘our God’ and we are ‘his people’. God chose the people of Israel to be his people in the world. He promised that he would be their God and they would be his people. In other words, he established his covenant with them. And we are his covenant people today, because he has chosen us in Christ Jesus for salvation and he’s promised to be our God and to deliver us from our sin and misery by his Son.

And so, he is our God and we are his people. The psalmist refers to us as ‘the people of his pasture’ and ‘the flock under his care’. Just as a shepherd looks after his sheep, so the Lord looks after his people. He provides us with all that we need and he leads us and he protects us.

The psalmist summons us to come before the Lord to worship him. And we’re to worship him because he’s the great God and he’s our God. He is the great, transcendent God who is over all. He is highly exalted. He lives in a high and holy place, far above all that he has made. But he’s also very close to us. He’s near us. He came to us and made us his people and he daily protects and provides for us. He’s great and mighty and powerful and he’s also loving and caring. He’s highly exalted, but he’s close at hand.

Verses 7b to 11

And so, we come to the second part of the psalm where the psalmist issues a warning.

When we come before the Lord to worship him, we must not only sing to him and give thanks to him, but we must listen to his voice. In the past, God spoke through his prophets. Then he spoke to us by his Son. And now he speaks to us through his word. And when he speaks to us through his word, we mustn’t harden our hearts.

What does it mean to harden our hearts to God’s word? The psalm explains what he means by referring to what happened at Meribah and Massah. You’ll see the footnote beside both place-names which explain for us that one name means quarrelling and the other means testing. Days after escaping from Egypt and crossing through the Red Sea, the Israelites began to quarrel with Moses because they’d run out of water in the wilderness. And they also put the Lord to the test: Was he with them or not? Was he with them to save them from their thirst or not? And so, instead of trusting in God, who had only days before opened a way for them through the Red Sea, they doubted him. And so the place where they quarrelled with Moses and put the Lord to the test became known as Meribah and Massah.

And that wasn’t the only time they doubted the Lord, because later, when God commanded them to enter the Promised Land and take possession of it, they did not believe that he would give it to them. They saw the inhabitants of the land and thought they were too strong for them. They thought there was no way that they could take over the land. Eve though the Lord had promised to give it to them, they did not believe his word. And therefore, since they did not believe, they did not obey.

So, what does it mean to harden our hearts? It means doubting and disobeying God’s word. And so, today, when you hear God’s voice, when he speaks to you in his word, don’t doubt his word and don’t disobey his word. Or the writer of the book of Hebrews refers to this psalm in Hebrews 3 and 4, where he tells us that we must see to it that none of us has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. A hard heart is a sinful, unbelieving heart that causes us to turn away from God.

The psalmist summons us to come before the Lord to worship him. And he warns us, when we come, not to a having sinful, unbelieving heart so that we turn away from God when he speaks to us from his word. So, instead of doubting God’s word, we’re to believe it. Instead of disobeying it, we’re to obey. We’re to believe God’s promises and we’re to obey his commands.

One person comes to church and switches off when it comes to the Bible readings and sermon. He does not pay any attention to what the preacher is saying, because he’s not interested in any of it. Another person comes to church and listens. But as she listens, a voice inside her is saying ‘no’: ‘No, I can’t accept that. No, I don’t believe that. No, I won’t do that.’ But then a third person comes to church and, by the grace of God, this person has a believing heart, so that he receives what he hears and believes it and obeys it because it is the word of God.

And so, the psalmist warns us not to harden our hearts. Not to doubt and disobey what we hear. And he reminds us of what happened to the Israelites who hardened their hearts to God’s word. He says that God was angry with them for forty years. That’s the length of time they were in the wilderness. And they were in the wilderness for forty years, because the Lord had sworn that not one of that unbelieving generation would enter the Promised Land, but they would all — with the exception of Joshua and Caleb who believed — die in the desert. And that’s what happened. That generation died in the desert and it was their children who entered the land and took possession of it.

And the writer to the Hebrews applies this psalm to his readers including us. He says the Lord has promised us rest, eternal rest in the new heavens and earth. This life is full of trouble and trials and we have to work hard to persevere and we have to overcome many obstacles and setbacks and frustrations. We have to endure and suffer in this life. But God has promised us eternal rest in the new and better world to come. Those who harden their hearts and who do not believe and obey God’s word will be shut out of that eternal rest. But those who believe God’s promises and who obey his commands will enter God’s eternal rest.

And we’re able to enter God’s eternal rest, because all who believe are united to Christ. And all who are united to Christ are pardoned and accepted by God. And just as Christ died and was raised, so all who are united to him through faith will be raised from the dead to enjoy peace and joy and rest in the presence of God. And when we come into his presence in the life to come, we’ll join together with all of God’s believing people to sing for joy to the Lord and to shout aloud to the rock of our salvation and to give thanks to him and extol his name for ever and for ever.