The Rest of God

It's actually a perfect psalm for today.

It's like a Thanksgiving psalm.

Yeah, Psalm 95.

Yeah, let me read it out loud for us.

Actually, let me pray to ask for God's help first.

God, we have gathered this day before Thanksgiving

to pray to you.

To hear from you, from your word,

and to speak to you with praise,

with confessions, with thanksgiving,

and with supplication.

We come because we cherish our relationship with you.

We come because we know our desperate need for you.

We come because we know that you are faithful

to fulfill your promises,

faithful to answer our prayers,

and faithful to meet with us each time we are gathered in your name

as your people.

And so we pray now that you lead us and speak to us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Psalm 95.

O come, let us sing to the Lord.

Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving.

Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise.

For the Lord is a great God,

and a great king above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth.

The heights of the mountains are his also.

The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

O come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker.

For he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture,

and the sheep of his hand.

Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,

as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

when your fathers put me to the test,

and put me to the proof,

though they had seen my work.

For forty years I loathed that generation,

and said they are a people who go astray in their heart,

and they have not known my ways.

Therefore I swore in my wrath,

they shall not enter my rest.

Psalms roughly kind of divided into two main sections.

One through most of verse seven

is basically an exhortation to praise God.

And then the rest of verse seven through verse 11

is really an exhortation to obey God,

trust God.

And there's kind of a build up

of the worship and praise of God

in verses one through seven.

So there's a refrain, right?

O come, let us sing to the Lord,

make a joyful noise.

Again, let's repeat it again.

Let us come,

and then make a joyful noise.

And then again in verse six,

O come, let us worship and bow down.

But it's, even though it's a refrain,

there's kind of a progression.

Because in verse one,

it's just let's come,

let us sing to the Lord.

You're kind of gathering into his presence.

And then verse two

gets a little bit more intimate.

It says, let us come into his presence,

which literally is before the face,

right, with thanksgiving.

And then in verse six,

it's even more intimate, right?

It says, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker.

And so there's kind of this progression

of kind of entering into the presence of God

and further in and further in.

And our worship also reflecting

that greater sense of his presence

and intimacy as we approach him.

And as we're praising God,

unlike some, you know,

modern praise and worship songs

that tell us to praise God

without giving us any reasons to,

Psalms always tell us,

gives us reasons to praise God

when it tells us to praise him.

And so here,

if it's verses one to two,

it tells us to praise him.

And then verse three gives us a reason,

one reason.

And that reason is for

the Lord is a great God

and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth.

The heights of the mountains are his also.

The sea is his,

for he made it

and his hands formed the dry land.

And so verses four to five

kind of use

the kind of a rhetorical device of merism,

kind of referring to two opposite things,

two polarities,

to point to the fact

that God's the creator of all things, right?

So he created the depths

as well as the heights.

He created the sea

as well as the dry land.

And then verse three

kind of is the reason, right?

The Lord is a great God

and a great King above all gods.

He is the one who created all things.

He's the one who reigns above all things.

He's the great God

and the great King

who's above all gods.

And this kind of reminds me of

when a child

is really proud of something

that his or her parent has done.

I mean,

it must happen for you,

actually,

quite a bit.

Well, just because,

I mean,

you know kids

really look up to teachers

and also,

I feel like kind of a,

if you're a gym teacher,

you're kind of the coolest teacher

in the school, right?

It's like,

so I could see

like your Teddy,

for example,

or like your son being like,

oh man,

that's my dad.

Like, you know,

like that's my,

you know,

right?

It's like a,

I mean,

I used to think,

you know,

that my dad riding his bike

to work was like the coolest thing,

you know,

like,

and he had to see him ride

and I was like,

oh,

he looks amazing.

That's my dad,

you know?

And then here,

it's like when you,

when it's,

it's like we're pointing to God

and saying,

God,

the one who made the heavens

and the earth,

the one who made the depths

and the heights,

the one who formed the sea

and the dry land,

that's God,

that's our God,

right?

He is the great king.

He's the one above all gods.

And it's,

we're given another reason

after another exhortation

to praise in verse six.

So,

come,

let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord,

our maker.

So it gets even more personal here.

Not only is he the creator,

generically of all things,

he is our maker.

He's the one who made us.

So that's another reason

to praise him.

So in verse seven,

for he is our God,

our God,

and we are the people

of his pasture

and the sheep of his hand.

That's just a,

so intimate,

it goes from that cosmic image

of the creator

to that intimate image

of the shepherd.

He's saying,

not only is God

the creator of all the heavens

and the earth,

he is our maker.

He's the one who made us,

who chose us,

who redeemed us,

and who leads us

through this pasture

and gives us

green grass to feed on

and guides us,

it goes before us.

That's our God.

And so that's really

the exhortation

to praise God

and then in the rest

of the psalm,

we're really exhorted

to obey him,

to hear him.

And it says at the end

of verse seven,

today,

if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts

as at Meribah,

as on the day at Mesa

in the wilderness.

This is a,

the word today

is that kind of literary device

is used frequently

throughout the book

of Deuteronomy

to kind of make a connection

between the past

and the present.

So there's,

it conveys a sense

of urgency,

right?

It's like,

you know,

not just genetically,

but today.

Today,

if you hear his voice,

make sure you don't

harden your hearts

as you did in the past.

So he makes a connection

to the past

because that past

kind of unfaithfulness

and the testing of God

is still a risk

and a temptation today.

So he says,

today,

if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts

as at Meribah

as on the day

and Mesa in the wilderness.

So this is probably,

this is a reference

to a couple different things.

One,

one occurs in Exodus,

one occurs in Numbers

where they basically

test God

and in the wilderness

instead of trusting

in the provision,

they're saying,

it'd be better for us

to go back to it,

to go back to Egypt.

They say,

we're going to die here

of thirst

and then Moses

brings water

out of the rock

and in Exodus 17,

Exodus 17:7

verse 7,

this is really summarized.

He says,

and he called

the name of the place

Massah and Meribah

because of the quarreling

of the people of Israel

and because they tested

the Lord by saying,

is the Lord among us or not?

The name Meribah

means quarreling,

like accusing,

almost like a litigation

and then the word Massah

means testing,

requiring a proof

and those two ideas

are really captured here

in verse 9 as well.

When your fathers

put me to the test,

right?

That's the idea

of testing at Massah

and then put me

to the proof,

accusing,

right?

Really kind of the idea

of Meribah,

do they see in my work?

And that's kind of the,

is the exact opposite

of thanksgiving,

right?

And the praise

that we're exhorted to do.

It's the grumbling,

it's the testing.

Is God really for us or not?

Is God really with us or not?

Is God really providing

for us or not?

Is God really good?

It's the questioning of God

instead of trusting.

It's the grumbling at God

instead of gratefully

praising God

and giving thanks to God.

And that was

such a grievous sin

that God says

in verse 10

of Psalm 95,

for 40 years

I loathed that generation

and said,

there are people

who go astray

in their heart

and they have not

known my ways.

Therefore I swore

in my wrath

that they shall not

enter my rest.

And so that generation

does not enter

the promised land.

They don't enter

the rest of God.

It's their children

that get to enter

the promised land.

But then of course

we know the rest

of the story, right?

Because even after

they enter the promised land

they continue to grumble.

They continue

their idolatry.

They don't trust God

and so that

they also fail

in their ways

to enter God's rest.

Even they lose

the promised land.

And that ultimately

points to the redemption

that we have

in Jesus.

And this passage

is made use of

the psalm

is made use of

in Hebrews 4.

It says

chapter 4

verses

the first few

verses here

it says

therefore

while the promise

of entering

his rest

still stands

let us fear

lest any of you

should seem

to have failed

to reach it.

For good news

came to us

just as to them

but the message

they heard

did not benefit

them

because they

were not

united by faith

with those

who listened.

For we who

have believed

enter that rest

as he has said

as I swore

in my wrath

they shall not

enter my rest.

although his works

were finished

from the foundation

of the world

for he has

somewhere spoken

of the seventh

day in this way

and God rested

on the seventh

day from all

his works.

And again

in this passage

he said

they shall not

enter my rest

since therefore

it remains

for some

to enter it

and those

who formerly

received the good

news

failed to

enter

because of

disobedience.

Again

he appoints

a certain

day

today

saying

through David

so long

afterward

in the words

already quoted

today

if you hear

his voice

do not

harden

your hearts

and for

if Joshua

had given

them rest

God would

not have

spoken

of another

day

later on

so then

there remains

a Sabbath

rest

for the

people of

God

for whoever

has entered

God's rest

has also

rested from

his works

as God

did from

his

let us

therefore

strive to

enter that

rest

so that

no one

may fall

by the

same

sword

of

disobedience

so this

is really

kind of

by typology

it's that

the Old

Testament

rest that

God held

out to

his people

in the

promised

land

and the

way they

failed to

enter that

rest

becomes a

foreshadowing

of this

eternal

rest

that Christ

won for

us

and makes

available to

us

and so

then

even though

in a real

way we

are already

in that

rest

if we

have put

our faith

in Jesus

there is

also a

final way

in which

we will

enter that

rest in

the future

when our

salvation is

consummated

and that

requires

perseverance

in the same

way the

Israelites

needed to

persevere

and that

means today

if we hear

his voice

we must not

harden our

hearts

so we

should be

giving thanks

and praising

him for

he's a

creator

and he's

our shepherd

he's our

redeemer

and for

the same

reason we

should be

praising him

and thanking

him

remembering

that and

walking with

him with

that reality

in our

mind

instead of

grumbling

complaining

distrusting

and failing

to enter

that rest

so let's

keep that

in mind

and sing

some songs