Psalm 111 | In Praise of God's Faithfulness

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Good morning.

The last 60 years of faith's history has been one of trusting in Providence and adjusting to Providence.

Welcome to this morning.

We are adjusting to Providence and trusting in Providence.

We had a service plan all worked out, and now that's all in flex this morning.

So if you are watching from home and you feel like this is a little strange, well, don't worry, we're all in it together, and it's all strange together, right?

Trusting in God's providence.

Would you take your Bible and open it to Psalm 111?

We are at the end of our summer, and at the beginning of our summer, we had determined that we would have three specific Sundays of thankfulness, recognizing and remembering God's faithfulness to us as a congregation.

Now, some of you are newer here, have not been here that many years, and some of you have been here from the very beginning.

We give thanks to God for all of you and remember God's faithfulness no matter how long we've been here.

So we're going to be thinking about that together in different ways this morning.

And one of those ways is looking forward.

So at the end of our service, we're going to be spending some time thinking about the future and what's coming up.

But as we as we get into God's word this morning, I'd like to focus our time on Psalm 111.

But before we get to Psalm 111, I'd like you to just think in your minds with me about Hebrews 11.

We were there, I don't know, a few months ago.

Hebrews 11, if you don't know about it or unfamiliar with it, is often referred to in church circles as the Hall of Fame of faith, right?

It starts with what faith is.

It's that hope in something that we cannot see.

And then the chapter goes on in details specific people in church history, in biblical history, who exemplified that kind of faith in what they could not see.

But it's the end of Hebrews 11 that has always fascinated me.

After thirty-seven verses of praising faithful Old Testament saints, the chapter concludes by recounting the enduring faith of any number of unnamed saints.

Says that there were women who received back their dead by resurrection.

It talks about some faithful saints being tortured.

Some mocked and flogged, others chained and imprisoned, some stoned, some sawn in two, some killed with the sword, others were destitute.

That is, they didn't have anything.

They were afflicted, mistreated, they wandered around in deserts and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

That sounds terrible, and we don't even know their names.

That sound strange to you?

We go through all of these Old Testament saints, remembering and recognizing their endurance and their trust in the unknown, and then we get to the end and we say, Well, who are these people?

And God says, I'm not going to tell you.

Why would he do that?

Certainly I can't be the only one that wonders about that.

But I wonder about that.

Some saints in Hebrews 11 are named, and others will never be known this side of heaven.

Why would the author of Hebrews want us to see the faith of commonly known Old Testament characters and the persevering faith of unknown saints?

Why would he want us to know what happened to God's people, but not to know their names?

On the one hand, it shows us that God sees the faith of the known and the unknown.

And that ought to be encouraging to you.

In following Christ, you don't have to be Billy Graham.

You don't have to be D.L.

Moody.

You don't have to be the Apostle Paul to be known and seen by your God.

There's comfort in that.

There's encouragement in that.

There will be millions more around the throne of God in heaven that we have never heard of than there will be those we know from Scripture or from life.

God knows you.

God knows your faith.

But knowing the faith of the unknown and known saints can't be why some of them go unnamed at the end of Hebrews 11.

That's not the author's point.

And it doesn't fit with the context of Hebrews.

So if anything, it is to show us that true faith is an enduring faith.

That's the end of Hebrews 10.

Whether you're a known saint or an unknown saint, true faith is an enduring faith.

And that gets a little closer to answering my question about those unnamed saints.

Why are we told about them but not told who they are?

Why would God leave some of those faithful followers anonymous?

I've concluded that they are left unknown to remind us that a life of faith is not about us.

It's not about the people living out their faith.

It's not about the people enduring for Christ.

It's not about those persevering for Christ.

Instead, it's about Christ Himself.

A life of faith, a life of service, an enduring, persevering faith is not about me.

It's not about you.

It's about Jesus.

And you know that same thought is true for the church as well.

Why do we have only a handful of churches represented in Scripture?

Because it's not about the churches in local areas.

It's about the Lord of the church.

Now, should we give thanks for those who have gone before us?

Certainly.

That's part of the application of Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

But giving thanks for those who have gone before us is only appropriate if it draws us to praise and thanksgiving for God.

Otherwise, it becomes or even remains something that is driven by pride for people rather than praise for God.

This morning concludes our three Sundays of thanksgiving for 60 years of God's faithfulness to Faith Evangelical Free Church.

We've tasted a bit of the beginning on our first Sunday.

We've tasted a bit of the history as well as a little bit of the present, and we're going to look now towards the future.

But if we are not careful, the anniversary, an anniversary, any anniversary, can quickly become a prideful focus on people to the neglect of God.

So our desire this summer has been oriented around giving thanks for God's faithfulness to us.

He began a good work.

And if he began the good work, then he has continued his work.

And if he has begun the good work and he has continued the good work, what will he also do?

He will complete that good work.

He will bring it to completion because even if we are faithless, Scripture says, He remains faithful.

In our Thanksgiving, many people integral to faith's history remain unnamed.

We're limited in time, of course.

So we can't mention everyone or everything.

But let those who are unnamed remind us of Hebrews 11.

And so direct our thinking back to the one who is always faithful.

For none of us, none of us would have faith to follow him if he were not first faithful in all his works.

Do you direct your attention now with me to Psalm 111?

Psalm 111.

As we look to the faithful one, I'd like to direct your attention for a few moments to praising God's faithfulness to us.

Psalm 111.

I'll be reading from the English Standard Version.

It says, Praise Yahweh, or your Bible may have the literal transliteration of the Hebrew, hallelujah.

I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart in the company of the upright in the congregation.

Great are the works of Yahweh, studied by all who delight in them.

Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.

He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered.

Yahweh is gracious and merciful.

He provides food for those who fear him.

He remembers his covenant forever.

He has shown his people the power of his works in giving them the inheritance of the nations.

The works of his hands are faithful and just.

All his precepts are trustworthy.

They are established forever and ever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.

He sent redemption to his people.

He's commanded his covenant forever.

Holy and awesome is his name.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom.

All those who practice it have a good understanding.

His praise endures forever.

Amen.

The author of this song remains unnamed.

Like the saints at the end of Hebrews 11, there is no author attributed to this psalm.

That's a bit strange, since the three previous songs are all connected with David.

And then suddenly we have this song of praise by an unnamed composer.

It could be David, or it could be any, nearly any other Old Testament saint.

But the composer is left unknown so that the congregation will focus not on the saint or on the saint's faith, but on God's faithfulness.

The psalmist is looking back.

Looking back at what God has done in Israel's history, and he's seeking then wisdom also for the days that are ahead.

He does that by remembering that God is the faithful God who always keeps his covenant and his steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

Similarly, the song guides us as we look back at what God has done for us while we seek wisdom for the days and the years ahead.

In the same way, we must follow the psalmist's pattern of remembering that our God is a faithful God who always keeps his covenant and always keeps his steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

So consider these ten verses with me.

I'd like us to think of the song in two different ways.

First, let's consider it just as the psalmist did and then seek to apply it to our 60th anniversary as a local church.

Then let's think of the song in light of its context in the book of Psalms, but also extending to all of Scripture.

So first, the psalmist composed this song from what I would call a biblical historical perspective.

The psalmist, the composer of this song, is looking back at Israel's history, and all along the way he's seeing the hand of God's faithfulness.

It begins and ends with praise.

Hallelujah.

And his praise endures, his hallelujah endures forever.

But it's also a public praise.

Did you catch that?

I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart.

Where?

In the company of the upright.

That is in the congregation.

This is intended to be a song of praise to God's thankfulness in the congregation of God's people.

It's a communal response, you might say, to God's faithfulness.

So it's designed, it's written to inspire praise, as Israel sang about God's faithfulness.

Can I make one thing clear?

Praise is the expected response to the recognition of God's faithfulness.

Praise is the expected divine biblical response to the recognition of God's faithfulness.

As I look back over my life, I see God's faithfulness to me over and over again.

And it's not just a not just a highlight reel of God's faithfulness.

It's a continual, continual reel, a continual lifetime of God's faithfulness.

There's nothing in my life that does not scream God's faithfulness.

And so praise is the expected response to that recognition.

It's not, hey, look what I did.

It's, hey everybody, can you believe what God did?

Do you see his faithfulness over and over and over again?

In the same way, when we as believers in Christ look at 60 years of local church history, we ought to see the overwhelming presence of God's faithfulness behind every face, behind every event, behind every success, and even, yes, every failure.

And we ought to be motivated to give praise every time.

You might say, how does this talk about 60 years of anniversary?

Well, the psalmist here is thinking about Israel's history.

He remembers an entire national history.

There's the miracles, the power of God on display in the Exodus.

There's God sustaining faithfulness as they wander in the desert.

He remembers the provision of manna, God giving food to his people.

He remembers the giving of the law of Moses, that covenant that God made with his people.

And he goes on and on.

God's faithfulness looms larger than life over all of Israel's history, and God's faithfulness looms larger than life over every aspect of your life.

It's more than a recounting of a national history, it's a proclamation of God's faithfulness.

He does that in four ways.

The first way is he gives praise for God's works.

Great, verse 2, are the works of Yahweh.

They're great, they're magnificent, and so magnificent are they that anyone who knows of God's work pursues knowing them even more.

They would say, Wow, can you believe that God split the Red Sea?

Can you tell me more about that?

How did that happen?

God just made water come out of a rock?

Yeah.

Can you believe how amazing that is?

How faithful God is.

Verse 3, the psalmist goes on and says, His works are full of splendor and majesty.

That tells us that these aren't the things of a normal human being.

These are divine works.

Because they reflect not people or creation, but they reflect and mirror God Himself.

When you see what God has done, you are seeing a reflection of God Himself because it is a reflection of His power, His magnificence, His splendor, His majesty.

And as we understand the greatness of God's works and we are awed by the splendor and the majesty of His works, we see in verse 4 why He has caused them to be remembered.

They are wondrous.

They are wondrous.

Verse 5, God's works include caring for his people's physical needs.

The biblical record recounts for us that God caused manna to just appear on the ground.

Every single day.

Except for the Sabbath day.

Six days a week.

For 40 years.

He met his people's needs.

And we know that it is a wondrous and magnificent and great work because it's called manna.

Mana is simply a Hebrew word that means what is it?

They've never seen anything like this before, and so they call it what is it?

And God says, Yes.

It's sustaining grace for you.

It's sustaining nourishment that will feed you and sustain you day after day, week after week, month after month.

That is the wondrous greatness of God's works.

How did we get here?

I don't know.

What is it?

God did it.

It's his faithfulness.

Verse 6.

He shows his people the power of his works.

How?

By fulfilling his promise.

He keeps his word.

He gives them the inheritance of the nation.

He fulfills his word in powerful ways.

Most powerful is in verse 9.

He redeemed his people.

He bought them out of slavery, and not only did he buy them out of slavery, he rescues them and he sustains them for decades until he brings them powerfully into the fulfillment of his promise.

Beloved, when we look at our history as God's people, we must see his incomparable works.

Warm feelings and glad hearts are generated when we remember people, when we remember relationships and connections and maybe events that we participated in.

But praise is rendered when we remember the works of our God.

Because they are great.

They are full of splendor and majesty and power because they only come from Him.

In his works.

But he also says to remember and to give praise for God's words.

God's words, or his word, if you will.

Sorry, guys, in the booth, my clicker's not working here.

If you can advance that for me.

Praise for God's word.

Look at verse 5.

He provides food for those who fear him.

He remembers his covenant forever.

What is his covenant?

I'll talk a little bit more about this in a minute, but that covenant that's being reflected here is that covenant at Mount Sinai after God redeems his people from Egypt and He carries them across the Red Sea and He gives them food.

He gives them bread and meat.

He gives them water.

He takes them to the foot of Mount Sinai, where Moses goes up and sits on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, and the people begin to wonder if he's dead or alive.

But all along God is talking to him because he's establishing his word of his covenant with his people.

Moses comes down from the mountain and they write out that covenant.

It's the words of God's covenant.

Verse 7, all of his precepts, his commandments, his law given to his people.

The precepts are trustworthy.

Why?

Because God is trustworthy.

Verse 9, we see his commandments are given to his people.

The psalmist is looking back not only at what God has done for his people, but at what God has said.

And he's giving praise for what God has said.

Now I can't say that I've ever heard anyone praise a church's bylaws.

Anton, has that ever happened in membership classes?

I've never heard that.

It's sort of drudgery sometimes to read through a church's bylaws.

But when we look and we read God's laws, we give praise for his words.

The psalmist says, listen, God is so faithful, and we see his faithfulness in his works, and we see his faithfulness in his words.

That then leads to our third category, which is a praise for God's covenant.

A praise for God's covenant.

Verse five, God remembers his covenant.

Verse nine, he commands his covenant, which tells us that when God remembers his covenant, it is unforgotten.

Sometimes, sadly, spouses forget their marriage covenant.

Sometimes, sadly, we we engage in agreements and we forget those agreements.

When God establishes his covenant, he never forgets it.

It is always there in his thinking at the front of his mind.

It is never gone from his awareness.

He remembers it, and therefore it is always unforgotten.

It is always alive and well and present in his mind.

Why?

Because he has commanded it.

And because he's commanded it, we see in verse 9 that his covenant is an enduring covenant.

It keeps going.

God doesn't do things that break, that stop unless he purposefully allows it.

He allowed his perfect creation to be broken by human sin.

We can argue for days about why he did that.

But when God gives his word and he says, I'm going to make my covenant with you, he commands it, and it is so and it is enduring.

What do we see about the God of Israel in this song?

Well, verse 3, we see that He is He is eternally righteous.

The judge of all the earth will always do right because He is right.

He is the standard of justice.

He is the standard of rightness.

He is the defining line between what is right and what is wrong.

And that continues for eternity.

He is never changing.

Verse 4.

If God were only righteous, if God were only eternally just, then we would be in a frightful position.

Because we can never attain to God's position of righteousness and justice.

But the psalmist looks at God's righteousness enduring forever, and he says in verse 4, Oh, but our God is gracious and merciful.

He is righteous.

He will always do what is right.

And that is always paired with his grace and his mercy.

Verse 5, he is a remembering God.

Has God forgotten you?

No.

No matter what your circumstance is, no matter what your trial is, no matter what your pain is, no matter what your glory is, God has not forgotten you.

He has not forgotten you in his justice and in his righteousness, and so you may have to face that.

He has not forgotten you in his mercy and in his grace.

And so you may be sustained by that.

He is a remembering God.

Verse 5, verse 6, he is a fulfilling God.

He gives them the inheritance of the nations.

He promised Abraham, he promised Isaac, he promised Jacob.

He promised his people, I will give you this.

And he fulfills that promise.

And therefore he is a trustworthy God.

Verse 7, he is a faithful God.

Your Bible, your translation may say he is full of truth.

All the works, verse 7, of his hands are truth and justice or faithfulness.

It's a word that is often translated truth, but it has this concept of stability, of endurance, of always present.

And so there's this faithfulness and this truthfulness that's all wrapped up and tied together because God is unchanging, and so he is always trustworthy, and he's always trustworthy, therefore he is always faithful in everything that he does.

All that he does is faithful.

Even if it doesn't feel like it.

Even if churches go through hard seasons, God is faithful.

Even if churches are full of joy and celebration, God is faithful.

Everything that he does is faithful and just.

And so, verse 9, the psalmist wraps up his remembrance and he says, I don't have any more words.

Holy and awesome is his name.

Holy and awesome.

Those are the biggest words the psalmist thinks that I can get to apply to God.

That encompasses everything.

He is so awesome, there is nothing beyond him.

You know, we remember people fondly.

We look back at history, we think about our families, we think about our friends, we think about relationships.

Israel remembered Moses and David and others with fondness.

We even praise people.

But people do not have the perfection of character that resides in God.

And so our praise should be for God's character when we look at our past, our present, and our future.

Yes, we ought to be overwhelmed by the faithfulness of God as we look back at 60 years of history as a church, or as you look back at a lifetime of history.

For all of God's works are faithful and right.

That may require a mindset shift for you.

Because your life may not have turned out the way you expected.

This church may not have turned out the way you expected.

But God's works are always faithful and always right.

All of them, my friends.

Even the ones that we're disappointed in, even the ones that are painful, God was faithful and right when he caused Israel to wander in the desert for 40 years because of the unfaithfulness of a handful of idiots?

Can I use that term?

Is that okay?

God said, Go on in, I've given it to you.

Oh no, there are giants in there.

God remains faithful even in the hard times of your life.

My friends, the first step in understanding God's faithfulness is to look beyond.

To look beyond the events that are visible, the people that are visible, and to see God's sovereign, faithful hand in all things, and to praise Him.

Now, as he thought about Israel's past, the psalmist also considered Israel's future.

He says in verse 10, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom.

All those who practice it have good understanding.

His praise endures forever.

Now that sounds like a like Proverbs.

Sounds like something pulled right out of Proverbs and plucked here into Psalm 111.

So much so that it has made some wonder if Solomon wrote this Psalm.

We don't know that.

It just sounds similar.

But let's think about this.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom.

Fear is not simply being terrified.

Yeah, there's an element of that.

You see that all throughout scripture.

When somebody encounters the living God, they fall flat on their face and think, I'm gonna die.

There's an element of that.

And it's not mere awe, just being overwhelmed by his presence.

So, for example, we can have fear of someone who hurts us.

And we can be in awe of a movie star or a famous athlete or some kind of hero.

But biblical fear goes beyond those concepts.

The fear of God is the recognition that God Himself stands behind, above, under, and around everything.

It is a profound yet humble conviction that we are utterly dependent on the undeserved mercy of God for everything.

And that He is such a great and benevolent being to be so faithful to me.

Or as one pastor once said it, amazing grace.

I would look at such a worm.

And if I don't respond appropriately, as R.C.

Sproul once said, I'm guilty of cosmic treason.

That knowledge, that knowledge, that understanding is the beginning of wisdom.

Those who look at the past, those who look at the present and see the future with that kind of humble recognition that lends itself to love and obedience toward a faithful God, the psalmist says, are on the road to understanding and wisdom.

So our summer of thanksgiving as a church does not rest in the people of our history, but in the God of our history.

And we ought to be in awe of the riches of his mercy poured out on us through six decades.

And we should be so moved by that, but we can't help but declare our praise to the splendor and the majesty of his work.

Now, let's think differently of this song in light of its context, that a kind of look that we might call a biblical theological perspective.

On the one hand, it's it's about Israel's history.

On the other hand, all of history is about Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we read the Psalms two independently, and we don't see them connected in various ways.

So, for example, if you have your Bible open, you can see that Psalm 111, 112, and 113 all begin with the same Hebrew word.

Hallelujah.

There's parallels there.

Two of them end similarly.

The beginning and the end of verse of 111 is his praise endures forever.

Psalm 113 ends.

Hallelujah.

Praise to God.

There are similarities here.

They're intent.

These three songs are intent on praise.

They seem to be responses to something.

Gathering God's people together and saying, look at what God has done.

Remember what God has done.

Be motivated and inspired to give him praise for what he's done.

That's going forward.

But think back to Psalm 110.

Remember that there are several psalms in a row there that are authored by David, and Psalm 110 is the last of those in this set authored by David.

Psalm 110, as we look at it from our standpoint today, is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament.

No other psalm is quoted as much as Psalm 110 in the New Testament.

Why is that?

Well, we see as we just scan through it that it is the song that connects the priestly function of the Davidic king to the reigning or the ruling role.

The psalm connects the human Davidic king to the sovereign power of the Almighty God.

The Psalm pictures God as the sovereign father and the human king as the son who rules in his stead.

It's the psalm that shows the work of God through frail human beings.

But the New Testament brings greater clarity to Psalm 110 as it details the fulfillment of that psalm.

The New Testament says that Psalm 110 isn't merely about David or even Solomon, of whom the Psalm spoke, but the Psalm speaks of Jesus, the Son of God.

He is the ultimate priest king that Hebrews says is in the line of Melchizedek.

He is the one in whom the saints of Hebrews 11 believed and hoped, yet without seeing him.

When we look at the context, Psalm 111 then responds to God's sovereign work in Psalm 110.

It says, look at this king, this Davidic king, this one in whom God works, this one through whom God rules, this is the one in whom we hope, this is the one in whom we trust.

Yes, now praise God for his faithfulness.

So when we look at it in its context, Psalm 111 anticipates God's faithfulness in Jesus Christ.

And where we stand, we have seen the faithfulness of God's works in Jesus.

Have we not?

Think about it.

Verse 2 of Psalm 111.

Jesus encountered a blind man in the Gospel of John.

And in an instant he made new eyes for him.

He gave leper new skin.

He enabled people to hear who had never heard before, to walk who had never walked before.

Have we seen the greatness of God's works in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Yes, we have, have we not?

Would we say that the works of the Lord Jesus Christ are full of splendor in majesty?

Would we say that in him we don't see, we don't see the reflection of people or of creation, but instead the reflection of God Himself?

Was it not Jesus who said, He who has seen me has seen the Father?

Two thousand years later, we recognize that he has caused his wondrous works to be remembered.

Jesus cares for his people's physical needs.

He fed 5,000 on one occasion and 4,000 on another occasion.

He fulfills his promise in powerful ways, verse 6.

And of course, verse 9, he redeems his people.

You see, friends, in Jesus we have received not just the works of God, but the word of God.

Not merely the laws of God, but the word himself.

In Jesus, we have received a new covenant, a new covenant not written in words, but written in blood.

In Jesus, we see the character, the image of God.

He is the image of the invisible God.

All of his works are faithful, for he is the priest king.

Holy and awesome is his name.

We do not have Israel's history.

But we do possess a history as a church.

Will we see God's works as faithful and so respond with praise?

Let me finish with this commentary from Daniel Estes.

In Psalm 111, the proper response to who the Lord is and what he has done is to revere him.

And this reverence leads to both wisdom and worship.

If the people of Israel who first sang this song in Old Testament times had ample reason for praising the Lord, how much more should Christians today worship him?

Like the Israelites, Christians also have been redeemed, not from bondage in Egypt, but from spiritual bondage to sin.

In addition, Christians have received a covenant from God, the new covenant of salvation through Christ.

And so as we contemplate and celebrate these expressions of the Lord's greatness and goodness, they should respond by revering and praising Him, and in doing that, cultivate wisdom and worship in their lives.

And it's our prayer that that would not just be our response today, but in 60 more years.

Not because of who we are or what we've done, but because God is faithful.

Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, we give all of ourselves and our fellowship to you, recognizing that we are who we are because of who you are.

All that we've done, all that we've been able to be part of is merely because of who you are and your faithfulness.

May you drill that deep down into us so that we might be a people known for praising your faithfulness.

May we be recognized and heard giving thanks for what you have done, for what you have said, for making a relationship with us through the blood of the perfect Lamb.

Because of who you are.

Lord, cause us here in our fellowship to reflect your faithfulness and your loving kindness as we point people again and again, week after week, to the great priest King, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the faithful one.

We lift up our eyes to you, looking for you to come and to gather us to yourself, until then cause us to stand firmly upon your faithfulness.

For it's you we praise.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.