Psalm 81

Our text for this morning's Bible study, as Daryl mentioned in his prayer, is Psalm 81.

So if you'll turn in your Bibles to Psalm 81.

While you're getting there, let me talk to you just a little bit about our plans for our Sunday Bible study

and then when we can meet back together, our Sunday sermons across this next year.

Just in case you didn't see my little video that I posted on Slack this past week.

We are, just yesterday we started in the Bible reading plan that many of us are participating in

and some of us are not, and that's okay.

This is not an obligation. This is the way to read the Bible.

It's just a way, and it's a good way to read the Bible.

But yesterday we started into the New Testament readings in the book of Matthew,

and then there's a reading from a psalm every day, and yesterday's psalm was Psalm 81.

Today it's Psalm 82, and so forth.

So if you're interested in doing that with us, we'd encourage you to do so.

To do that, you can go to the Read Scripture app.

You can download that onto your device.

Set the start date for August 27th, and this is really important, 2019.

It's going to really be confusing if you set it for 2020.

So August 27th, 2019, and that'll show you where you ought to be each day in your Bible reading.

And beyond that, I'm going to post it every day to Slack, the Bible reading moving forward.

And when we can meet again, it'll be on the screen and on your bulletin, etc.

And what we're going to do is we're going to teach from a text from that previous week's reading.

So we're going to be going all throughout the Scripture, teaching, working to tie it together for you,

to kind of present a biblical theology, tracing the main theme of Scripture,

which is God's redemptive work for His glory and the good of His people.

So we're going to be picking selected texts across that time,

which means we'll be working fairly progressively through the Bible.

But from time to time, we'll step off to a psalm from the daily reading,

which is what we're going to be doing today.

And then parents, I'm working on right now.

I'm not, it's taking me a lot of time, as you might imagine,

but selecting a couple of verses from each day's reading that you can read with your children.

So I think I've done between two and four verses per day.

So if you're doing the Bible reading, and then you're sitting down with your children

and doing that briefer Bible reading, hopefully you'll be able to help them,

give them some context, press them along in their understanding of the Bible as well.

If I can get my act together, I'll get that to you this afternoon.

If not, by tomorrow, I'll have that to you, at least for the Gospels.

That's where I'm at so far.

So you can start doing that with your children.

And then on Monday, so starting tomorrow morning at 6.30,

I'm going to host a Zoom meeting before our Devotion Plus Prayer meeting, 6.30 a.m.

And I'm simply going to say a quick prayer, read the text for the day,

say a closing prayer of kind of application, what's coming to my mind as I'm reading.

So if you'd like to join us for that, just pay attention, keep tuned in.

I'll talk a little bit more about the details for that later on.

So that's the hope.

So we've spent a lot of time as a church drilling into books.

So we've just finished the book of Hebrews.

A lot of people who come and are part of our church come for just a number of years

while they're in school or they're living in Dahlonega for a brief period of time.

And it's a wonderful thing that we get to really,

really get into the depths of a book together.

But we thought it'd be nice to kind of step away, get a higher view,

even as we come into particular texts as we walk through the Bible together.

So we'll still be doing expositions.

We just won't be verse by versing it through a single book of the Bible.

But so that said, today's text is Psalm 81.

And I'll begin reading in verse one.

Sing aloud to God our strength.

Shout for joy to the God of Jacob.

Raise a song.

Sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.

Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon on our feast day.

For it is a statute for Israel, a rule of the God of Jacob.

He made a decree in Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt.

I hear a language I had not known.

I relieved your shoulder of the burden.

Your hands were freed from the basket.

In distress you called and I delivered you.

I answered you in the secret place of thunder.

I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Hear, O my people, while I admonish you.

O Israel, if you would but listen to me.

There shall be no strange God among you.

You shall not bow down to a foreign God.

I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

But my people did not listen to my voice.

Israel would not submit to me.

So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own counsels.

O that my people would listen to me.

That Israel would walk in my ways.

I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.

Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him and their fate would last forever.

But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock.

I would satisfy you.

So in order to set our minds moving in the right direction as we study the psalm, I'd like to begin by reading you a bit from an article on Psalm 81 that I found on Ligonier's website by a man named W. Robert Godfrey.

And I just think this helps kind of set the stage for this particular psalm.

So I try to listen carefully here as I give this a quick read.

What does the church most need today?

In answering this important but rather general question, Psalm 81 is uniquely important and helpful.

This psalm obviously contains beautiful promises and clear directions to help the people of God.

But careful study of this psalm will deepen our appreciation of it, increase its value for us, and show us how distinctive it is for helping the church.

As we study psalms, we soon learn that the central verse of a psalm is often significant as a key to its interpretation.

The central line of Psalm 81 is the heart of that psalm as the plaintive cry of God is heard,

O Israel, if you would but listen to me.

And this is the last half of verse 8.

Perhaps this line will resonate more profoundly with the readers of this article if we translate it,

O Israel, if you would but hear me.

The center of Psalm 81, indeed the whole psalm, is a reflection on the Shema.

And the Shema is from Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 through 9.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9

And so I'm just going to read that to you real quick before going back to the article.

And it says this,

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,

and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates.

Again, Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

So back to the article.

The centrality of this line and its importance are underscored when we recognize that Psalm 81

is the central psalm of Book 3 of Psalter.

Book 3, Psalms 73 through 89, principally concerns the crisis in Israel caused by the destruction of the temple

and the apparent failure of God's promises that David's sons would forever sit on the throne.

Something of the cause and character of this crisis is contained in this central line of the central psalm.

Since Book 3 is the central book of the five books of the Psalter,

Psalm 81 and verse 8 actually is the central line of the whole book of Psalms.

It stands at the very heart of Israel's songbook.

It calls Israel to deep reflection on her relationship to her God.

This psalm also appears to be central to Israel's liturgical calendar.

The praise at new moon and full moon can refer only to the seventh month of the year,

the Feast of Trumpets in Leviticus 23-24, which happened every year.

We know this as Rosh Hashanah, it's the harvest festival of Israel,

and the Feast of Tabernacles, which is every seven years.

Between these two feasts occurred the Day of Atonement.

As God called Israel to celebrate his great provisions as creator and deliverer,

so he called his people to hear him.

As the Shema was crucial to the Torah,

so it is central to the Psalter and the Christian life.

God's people must hear his word,

particularly to reject false gods and to walk in his ways.

They must not follow their own wisdom.

How sad to contemplate that God might give us what we think is good for us.

So that sets the stage for what I want to point out today in the text,

and that is that Psalm 81 contains within it three calls or summons.

First, in verses 1-5, there's a call to rejoice.

Second, verses 6-10, a call to remember.

And third, in verses 11-16, a call to repentance.

Let's look first at a call to rejoice, excuse me, verses 1-5.

So a call to rejoice, or quite literally, a call to worship.

This opening of this psalm was a specific call to worship,

and it was used for, we know, historically, for the Feast of Tabernacles.

For this festival, the Israelites would make temporary shelters

and would live in them for seven days as a reminder of their time in the wilderness

and God's faithful provision for them there.

This was to be a celebration of God's goodness,

and it was to be full of joy, right?

This is a call to rejoice.

Listen again to the first three verses.

So Israel was called to worship their God with gladness of heart.

They were to shout for joy, raise a song, and play instruments,

the tambourine, the lyre, the harp, and the trumpet.

They were to worship their God with the wholeness of their being.

The psalmist is calling us to the very same thing,

to not just work through the motions of our worship,

but to worship God in our waking and in our going about

or in this strange time in our staying in

and to worship God in our lying down.

Every moment in all of our actions and all of our thoughts

and all of our emotions,

we are to give ourselves to the worship of our God.

Worship is not just narrowed down to special planned times,

although it is that, but it is so much more.

We're meant to live lives of worship for our God.

We are to worship with all that we have for all that he is.

Listen to what our God said to the Israelites through the prophet Isaiah,

and this is Isaiah chapter 1, beginning in verse 11.

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord?

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts.

I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats.

When you come to appear before me,

who has required of you this trampling of my courts?

Bring no more vain offerings.

Incense is an abomination to me.

New moon, note the new moon there,

and Sabbath and the calling of convocations,

I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

Your new moons again and appointed feasts,

my soul hates.

They have become a burden to me.

I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you.

Even though you make many prayers,

I will not listen.

Your hands are full of blood.

The Israelites were worshiping God by his prescribed means.

These were the things that God had commanded that they would do,

but not with their whole selves.

They were going through the motions.

Verse 13 and then verse 15 shows us this.

I cannot endure iniquity,

and your hands are full of blood.

They were going through the motions of worshiping God,

but they were guilty of egregious sin,

and as such were not worshiping with their whole being.

God continues in Isaiah 1 to be instructive,

and this should be helpful to us.

In verse 16 and 17,

he says,

wash yourselves,

make yourselves clean,

remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes,

cease to do evil,

learn to do good,

seek justice,

correct oppression,

bring justice to the fatherless,

plead the widow's cause.

means for lives to be given to him in worship.

Beloved,

it is altogether possible to worship the right God,

but to worship him wrongly,

in an unacceptable manner.

J.I. Packer,

in his most wonderful work,

which I strongly commend to you this morning,

some of you may have some time to do some reading right now,

called Knowing God,

posits the following two points.

Listen carefully.

One can know a great deal about God

without much knowledge of him.

He makes this distinction between knowing about God

and actually knowing God,

being in relationship with God,

understanding his heart and his concern for his people.

And secondly,

one can know a great deal about godliness

without much knowledge of God.

So we can know the rules,

we can go through the motions

without much relationship with our Lord God.

I believe that we can all be guilty of this

from time to time, right?

Having sound doctrine

that doesn't lead to sound practice.

We can believe the right things,

but we can hold them wrongly

that doesn't lead to holy living.

of merely reading the Bible or some good book,

of listening to good teaching,

of singing gospel songs,

of gathering all sorts of data about God

without knowing him.

Packer goes on in his work

to give some helpful thoughts

on evidences of knowing God,

wherein he employs the following four points.

And I just want you to think about these things

for a moment as I read them.

How well could you say,

yes,

that is true of me,

of someone who gives evidence

of knowing God,

being in relationship with him?

Number one,

those who know God

have a great energy for God.

Number two,

those who know God

have great thoughts of God.

Number three,

those who know God

show great boldness for God.

And number four,

those who know God

have great contentment in God.

So you can see what he is saying,

right,

is it encapsulates all of us,

right,

all of us given to the worship

of our God.

Verses one through five of Psalm 81

are a call to rejoice

in the God of our salvation.

And I just wonder,

on this day,

will you heed this call to rejoice?

Secondly,

we see in verses six through ten,

a call to remember.

First,

a call to remember

what God had done.

Verses six and seven.

First,

we see in verse six

and the first part

of verse seven,

I relieved your shoulder

of the burden.

Your hands were freed

from the basket.

In distress,

you called

and I delivered you.

They were to remember

that God had delivered them

from their bondage

in Egypt.

We can read in Exodus chapter two,

verse 23 and following.

During those many days,

the king of Egypt died

and the people of Israel

groaned because of their slavery

and cried out for help.

Their cry for rescue

from slavery came up to God

and God heard their groaning

and God remembered his covenant

with Abraham,

with Isaac,

and with Jacob.

God saw the people of Israel

and God knew.

the Exodus

from Egypt

was a foreshadowing

of the deliverance

of God's people

from sin

and death.

We look back

to the Exodus

and should remember

the greater deliverance

that we have

in Christ.

We are meant

to remember

the Exodus

and so Psalm 81

speaks to us as well

although we understand it

more fully.

Paul wrote in Romans chapter six,

verse six and seven,

we know that our old self

was crucified with him

in order that the body of sin

might be brought to nothing

so that we would no longer

be enslaved to sin

for one who has died

has been set free from sin.

So we're meant

to remember what God has done

and the highest thing

of most important order

is that God has set us free

from the bondage of sin.

Second, we see in the rest

of verse seven

that they were to remember

that God had relationship

with them.

God says,

I answered you

in the secret place

of thunder.

This phrase most likely refers

to God meeting with Moses

and therefore his people

on Mount Sinai.

God listened

and he spoke

and he spoke

so that he would be known,

trusted,

and obeyed.

In the same way,

God has spoken to us,

not only on a mountain

in the secret place

of thunder,

but in these last days

he has spoken to us

by his son,

Hebrews chapter one

and verse two.

And we can read

of all God's working

on behalf of his people

by his son

in the totality

of the scripture.

Last part of verse seven

says,

I tested you

at the waters

of Meribah.

Here God is most definitely

referring to the episode

recorded at the beginning

of Exodus 17

where the people

quarreled against Moses

and God showed himself

faithful

by providing water

from a stone.

And although God

showed himself faithful

at Meribah

and many other times,

many of the Israelites

did not trust him

and were punished

for their faithlessness.

In the same way,

God has shown himself

faithful in provision

to us

and tests

our faithfulness.

We have

much of God's

kindness toward us,

much of God's

provision toward us.

He has relationship

with us

and because he has that,

he asks of us

faithfulness.

This is why Paul

instructs us

in first Corinthians

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10

verse one

and following.

For I do not want you

to be unaware,

brothers,

that our fathers

were all under the cloud

and all passed

through the sea

and all were baptized

into Moses in the cloud

and in the sea

and all ate the same

spiritual food

and all drank the same

spiritual drink

for they drank

from the spiritual rock

that followed them

and the rock

was Christ.

This is their

wilderness

traveling,

right?

And this was meant

to teach us

something.

Verse five,

nevertheless,

with most of them,

God was not pleased

for they were overthrown

in the wilderness.

Now these things

took place

as examples

for us

that we might

not desire evil

as they did.

So we are supposed

to remember

what God

has done

and be found

faithful.

Secondly,

we're called

to remember

who God

is.

And here we find

verse eight.

Hear,

O my people,

while I admonish you,

strongly warn you,

O Israel,

if you would

but listen

to me.

And I hope

here and before

you've seen

the connection

to the Shema

found in Deuteronomy

chapter six.

Verse nine

then says,

there should be

no strange God

among you.

You shall not bow down

to a foreign God.

I am the Lord

your God

who brought you

up out of the land

of Egypt.

Open your mouth

wide

and I will fill it.

the whole

of the law

of God

was read

at the Feast

of Tabernacles

every seven

years.

So more

than just

the Decalogue,

the Ten Commandments,

the whole law

would have been

read.

But here in

verses nine

and ten,

we see the

preface

of the Ten

Commandments

and the first

two commandments

in summary.

First,

we see the

first two

commandments

summarized

in verse nine.

Commandments

for the proper

worship

of the

proper

God.

These are

found originally

in Exodus

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20

verses

three

through six.

And there

is so much

to unpack

out of these

two verses.

Now remember,

this would have

been a call

to worship.

Psalm 81

would have been

read at this

particular feast,

but also

the rest

of the law

would have

been read.

And so

when we think

of these

two commandments,

we often think,

well,

I have never

carved a

wooden idol

and bowed

down to it,

but it means

so very much

more than that.

And the

Westminster

Larger Catechism

is helpful

to us in this

way.

They did a

very careful

work to

summarize all

of the

scripture's

teaching that

feeds into

and out of

these commandments.

So I'm just

going to read

some of it

to you until

I feel like

I've read

too much

and then

I'll stop

to give you

some idea

of what the

scripture says

about these

commandments.

This particularly

about the

first commandment.

Question 104,

what are the

duties required

in the first

commandment?

And the

answer,

the duties

required in

the first

commandment

are the

knowing and

acknowledging

of God

to be the

only true

God and

our God

and to

worship and

glorify him

accordingly

by thinking,

meditating,

remembering,

highly esteeming,

honoring,

adoring,

choosing,

loving,

desiring,

fearing of

him,

believing him,

trusting,

hoping,

delighting,

rejoicing in

him,

being zealous

for him,

calling upon

him,

giving all

praises and

thanks,

and yielding

all obedience

and submission

to him with

the whole man,

being careful

in all things

to please him

and sorrowful

when in

anything he

is offended

and walking

humbly

with him.

This is the

summary of

what the

scripture

teaches about

what it

means to

obey,

but then

question 105,

what are the

sins forbidden

in the first

commandment?

Here's where I'll

stop short

because it goes

on and on.

The answer,

the sins forbidden

in the first

commandment are

atheism,

in denying or

not having a

God,

idolatry,

in having or

worshiping more

gods than

one,

or any with

or instead

of the true

God,

the not

having and

avouching him

for God

and our

God,

the omission

or neglect

of anything

due to him

required in

this commandment,

ignorance,

forgetfulness,

misapprehensions,

false opinions,

unworthy and

wicked thoughts

of him,

bold and

curious,

searching into

his secrets,

all profaneness,

hatred of God,

self-love,

self-seeking,

and all other

inordinate and

immoderate setting

our mind,

will,

affections upon

other things

and taking them

off from him

in whole or

in part,

vain credulity,

unbelief,

heresy,

misbelief,

distrust,

despair,

incorrigibleness,

and insensibleness

under judgment,

hardness of heart,

pride,

presumption,

and it goes on

for about another

paragraph,

listing off

those things

forbidden

in that very

first commandment.

The reason I read

all of that,

you think,

why in the world,

right,

is that I think

we find all of us

breaking

this command,

just the very

first one

about how we

think,

and therefore

how we act

toward our God.

Secondly,

we see the

preface found

in Exodus

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20

and verse 2

with a small

but very

significant

addition,

and this is in

verse 10

of Psalm 81.

I am the Lord

your God

who brought you

up out of the

land of Egypt.

This is found

at the beginning

of Exodus

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20

and verse 2.

But then Psalm 81

says,

open your mouth

wide

and I

will fill it.

John Calvin

speaks to this

in his commentary

on Psalm 81.

He writes,

he not only

bids them

open their mouth,

but he magnifies

the abundance

of his grace

still more

highly

by intimating

that however

enlarged

our desires

may be,

there will be

nothing wanting

which is necessary

to afford us

full

satisfaction.

So,

our God,

this God

that we are being

called to listen

to and to

know,

says to us,

open your mouth

wide and I will

give you

full

satisfaction.

Now,

if we have a good

and proper view

of the scripture,

we'll understand

that we'll have

full satisfaction

in him.

So,

I wonder

on this day

if you will heed

this call

to remember

and to be

satisfied.

Lastly,

in verses 11

through 16,

we see a call

to repentance.

First,

we see a description

of their sin

in verse 11.

But my people

did not listen

to my voice.

Israel would not

submit

to me.

Beloved,

we are

often guilty

of the same.

We have

an abundance

of access

to our God

by his holy word

and yet we

often do not

even take it up

and read it.

And when we do,

we often

do not heed

its warnings

or follow

its commands.

We seem

so very

rolled to sleep

by the reality

we have

a God

who has

spoken

to us

and we

have it

everywhere

and I

just think

we take

it for granted

rather than

recognizing

this is a

precious

word

from a

God

who loves

us,

who seeks

our good,

who wants

us to

understand

who he

is

and how

he's

acted

toward us

in Christ

so that

our lives

would be

changed

by that

both for

us,

for our

good,

our deep

joy and

satisfaction,

our peace

in him

but also

for his

glory,

that others

would see

that we

have a

God

worthy

of worship

and I

wonder if

part of

the problem

of our

day,

why we

don't see

more people

coming to

faith in

Christ,

is that

they just

don't see

any need

for it

because they

don't see

us having

any hope

that is

greater than

theirs

and beloved

this should

just not

be so

right,

we should

be a

people who

are never

guilty of

this

but I

think very

often we

are.

Remember

verse 8,

hear oh

my people

while I

admonish

you,

I strongly

warn you,

oh Israel,

if you

would but

listen to

me.

And then

we see

the verdict.

Beloved,

we should

absolutely

shudder when

we read

these words

and we

should want

with every

bit of

our energy

to avoid

this

consequence

found in

verse 12.

So I

gave them

over to

their stubborn

hearts to

follow their

own

counsels.

For God

to say,

find them,

go your

own way,

is the

most horrible

of punishments.

If you

understand

anything about

yourself,

you'll know

that your

way is

the worst

way.

My way

is the

worst

way.

Many of

us live

as though

this is

not the

case.

We think

our way

is the

best way

rather than

God's

way.

God,

in his

loving kindness

for you,

will say,

find them,

go your

own way

in order

to teach

you the

error of

your way.

He'll say,

yeah,

follow that

path and

just see

where it

takes you.

When you

find this

to be

true of

you,

the call

of Psalm

81 is

to repent

because

God is

eager to

forgive.

He's

standing at

the end

of that

road that

you want

to go

down,

that you

think is

the right

way,

and he

is so

very

willing to

forgive,

to put

you back

on the

proper

path.

Listen to

verse 13

and 14,

God

longs to

forgive the

repentant

sinner.

I am

reminded

here of

Jesus'

words concerning

Jerusalem in

Matthew chapter

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

23 and

verse 37,

where he

said,

Oh,

Jerusalem,

Jerusalem,

the city that

kills the

prophets and

stones those

who are sent

to it,

how often

would I have

gathered your

children together

as a hen

gathers her

brood under

her wings,

and you

were not

willing.

Notice the

heart of

Jesus there.

He wants to

gather them,

but they're

unwilling to

be gathered.

You may be

thinking this

morning,

if I repent,

can I really

expect God

to forgive me?

Even me,

considering all

that I have

done?

And the

answer is

an unequivocable

yes.

It's yes.

God is

abounding in

mercy,

and he's

ready to

grant it.

We should

listen to his

word and what

his word has

to say about

repentance,

right?

Note the

warnings of

God,

but moreover,

note his

great kindness

towards those

who will

repent.

Turn and

repent.

This is

available to

all of us

this morning,

but we

must

repent.

Verse 15

shows us

this,

that those

who hate

the Lord

would cringe

toward him

and their

fate

would last

forever.

Don't be

those people.

Be a person

who recognizes

that you've

not heeded

the word of

God.

Repent of

that,

that he

would forgive

you,

draw you

back into

his way.

This is the

most wonderful

way in which

we can go.

And so I

wonder on

this day

if you

will heed

this call

to repent.

We've been

given three

calls,

a call to

rejoice,

a call to

remember,

and a call

to repent.

And so I

want to close

with verse

16,

and I just

want you to

notice the

abundance

of the

blessing,

not just a

blessing,

but an

abundant

blessing

from an

abundantly

loving,

gracious,

merciful God.

but he

would feed

you with

the finest

of the

wheat,

and with

honey from

the rock,

I would

satisfy you.

Will you

be satisfied

in God

this morning?