Psalm
1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Outline
Delay Senility—Sing!
Psalm 95
Sing to God with Joy
Encourage others to join with you, Psalm 95:1
Sing the Psalter on the way to worship, Psalm 95:2
Sing to God with Meaning
Sing of the Power of God, Psalm 95:3
Sing of the Upholding of God, Psalm 95:4
Sing of the Creation of God, Psalm 95:5
Sing to God with Humility
Sing while kneeling, Psalm 95:6
Sing as a sheep in God’s care, Psalm 95:7
Sing to God with Benefits
Sing and avoid senility, Psalm 95:8
Sing and avoid provoking God, Psalm 95:9
Sing and avoid grieving God, Psalm 95:10
Sing and enjoy God’s rest, Psalm 95:11
Photo
"We are the sheep of His flock"
Sermon
Delay Senility—Sing!
Psalm 95
By Pastor Clinton Macomber
This short psalm summarizes the way to sing to God in worship and in spiritual enrichment. It also mentions the earthly benefits of doing so. This is such a wonderful psalm it has been quoted in Hebrews 3-4, where it talks about the importance of entering into the rest that God gives to His people. Thus we see that the principles taught to the Jewish people are applicable to the Christian today. What they experienced physically, we too experience spiritually. God is the same in the Old Testament as in the New Testament, thus it is important that we learn the Old Testament to understand our Great God over all.
Sing to God with Joy
Encourage others to join with you
Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
There are special rewards for those that turn people to righteousness. One of the best ways to do this is to get them to join in singing the best of musical hymns and Biblical pieces of music. Not only will the subject matter be controlled, the person has to apply his whole attention into learning the melody and getting the timing and words right. This structured learning is then interposed when the others go their way. Here and there the Holy Spirit can use the words and bring to mind the hymn. The result is one that can guide another person into holy living.
There is another aspect in our day. People grow up with heathen racket, jungle beats, crooning songs, immoral lyrics, sensual cadence, and simply raucous messages. They have to be forced to accept this stuff, but once acclimated to it, they seemingly cannot function without it. The result is that they remain dead in sins, and have no means to see the light.
By bringing a person away from this horrendously evil influence, and getting them to learn what music is and the powerful wonder of the anthems of heaven, they learn that worship of God is wholesome, enjoyable, and a spiritual thing. The door is then cracked open for them to learn to escape the corruption of this world’s distortion of something that was meant to be holy and pure.
Sing the Psalter on the way to worship
Psalm 95:2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
This is an important two message lesson. First, as we approach God to worship, we need to do it by singing a psalm. It also needs to be where we can sing loudly in thanksgiving.
Second, we need to learn to sing and the song before we go to worship with it! Worship services are great for those who already know how to sing and the words and parts, but to try to worship “on site” is not the best thing to do.
So what can we learn from this? God’s people need to meet in their homes with other new believers to learn to sing hymns, and how to read music. Furthermore, they need to be taught how to follow a song leader’s hand motions, so their can be unity and harmony in the meetings of worship.
Second, the worship service must start with singing. Those that come to worship should turn off their radios, and other means of corruption and use the trip to sing hymns. This will control the use of the time and focus the attention of each person on that which is holy. It will frame the whole day for what it is, and leave behind a large part of the things that plaque our minds and destroy the effects of God’s Spirit in the service.
Third, worship should be a time of raising our songs in loud praise. It was for this reason that some underground churches have had to go deep in the woods to hold worship services. Other services are held in the outdoors and others in resounding auditoriums, where the sound is kept alive and not deadened.
Today the ‘places of worship’ are heavily carpeted, padded and designed to kill all noise. The leader of worship has his voice electronically reproduced and magnified many times a natural volume. The worshippers are assaulted by a loud and obnoxiously overwhelming blast of sound that drowns out any participation by the worshippers. The atmosphere is so synthetic; it lacks holiness, honor, or dignity. It is the same atmosphere used to brainwash with things that are not true, right or appropriate.
Sing to God with Meaning
Sing of the Power of God
Psalm 95:3 For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods.
So how do we find good music to sing? What is used must be deeply Scriptural and full of meaning. It must first of all be about the greatness of God, and the fact that God is King over all. Glorying anything else is a horrible waste of our efforts, because God is over all.
Sing of the Upholding of God
Psalm 95:4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also.
Man still cannot enter the depths of the ocean, any more than get to the planets. Just reaching the peaks of the mountains is normally impossible, and the few who try have high death rates. Yet these things that are so impossible for us, are but miniature features that fit into the hand of God. Not only does He know all about them, they are His, and He made them!
Sing of the Creation of God
Psalm 95:5 The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land.
The sea is something that has tormented man for all of human history. It is so great, and the power of the water so overwhelming, incredible destruction comes when it is stirred up. Yet God made the sea and it is under His control and power. He simply speaks and it obeys. In trying to limit the loss of life, massive amounts of money and human ingenuity have been expended (at a high cost in human blood) to try to set barriers against the seas, oceans, and rivers. These measures work to limit to a certain degree but are easily overpowered and destroyed when challenged by greater storms, or they fail due to age and simple weaknesses. Consider the frugal efforts of bridges everywhere. Most are temporary at best when faced with the power of an assault of high water flows.
The dry land is also something that has limited man for all of history. There are features man is incapable of changing. The high mountains are so inhospitable, man can rarely visit them, let alone explore them to any serious degree. Furthermore, with volcanic activity, they change and present great danger to life, acting as barriers to human habitation and travel.
Sing to God with Humility
Sing while kneeling
Psalm 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
In what position should we sing? We should sing as we are preparing to go worship. We should sing as we bow before God. This is the general posture of worship. Rocking and swaying, choreography and display, self-centered and activity to bring self-glory are not part of real humble praise to God. But neither is kneeling before images and before mankind proper worship of God. When we kneel in humility, it is appropriate, to kneel and put on a show is wrong and sin.
The question may be asked, what about the fact I cannot kneel? There are many good benefits to kneeling, but God says that more than the action, He is after the attitude and heart of the worshipper.
1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
Sing as a sheep in God’s care
Psalm 95:7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice:
Although we all think we are high and mighty chiefs and “masters of our own fate,” etc., we are not. We are nothing more than sheep in God’s pasture. We are sheep that are to respond to His hand and His voice. We do not know anything more than other sheep, unless we have walked with God all our lives. But even then we would never consider ourselves higher than others. Those that would wish to follow our example are making good choices because we can show them the proper way of doing things and encourage them to stay close to our shepherd. But sheep come and go, some get slaughtered, some die of old age, some leave the place of provision and protection and succumb to their own devises. But through it all, one thing is constant, and that is who we are and who God is. He is the Shepherd, and we are His sheep.
Sing to God with Benefits
Sing and avoid senility
Psalm 95:8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
As we mature physically, we have to fight getting “set in our ways.” Due to fear, habit, frustration, experience, etc. we harden in our ways. We refuse to consider any other path or way. We become set in our attitudes and activity. When this comes on, it is not a good thing. It is called senility to make it a “condition” of the aged. It is evident in actions, attitude and physiologically. The Biblical term is simple—rebellion. The following is a list of how this word is translated in Scripture.
- Labor to deliver a baby can be cruel and unremitting
Genesis 35:16-17 And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.
- Wrath of man can be cruel and unforgiving
Genesis 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
- Kings can be cruel and disregard facts
Exodus 7:3 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
- God can punish wickedness with severity
1 Samuel 5:7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.
- Hardened hearts make for impossible negotiation
2 Samuel 19:43 And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye: why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.
- A leader with a heard heart brings great grief
1 Kings 12:4 Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.
- Refusing to hear is a form of a “hard neck”
2 Kings 17:14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
- Although we may harden our necks at God, He is always ready to pardon
Nehemiah 9:16-17 But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
- Hardening our heart is a sure way to fall into trouble
Proverbs 28:14 Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
- Hardening our neck after often results in permanent destruction
Proverbs 29:1 He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
- A hard neck is made to become deaf and reject instruction
Jeremiah 17:23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
Sing and avoid provoking God
Psalm 95:9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work.
The very idea that we would even attempt to test (KJV—tempt) God is ludicrous. To test something is to put it through varying conditions to find out of it is serviceable and of value. It is Scriptural to test a sword before going to battle and needing it. It is also Biblical for God to test us to see how strong our faith has become. It is ridiculous that the thing created would turn on the Creator to test Him! God does not need to be tested or proven. He is God! Yet people are not willing to follow God, even after they have tested Him. This means that when we are testing God we have no faith in Him, and we are looking for ways to justify our rebellion against God.
As if testing God was not enough, mankind tried to prove God. This is to put something through a series of very tough situations and see if there is purity. It is done with precious metals, by firing them to the melting point, so see if they are pure gold, silver, brass, etc. This is what a godly person will ask for, so that they may be purified in the process, Psalm 139:23. There are times it is appropriate to test even family members as Joseph did his brothers, before giving them protection, lands and long term provisions.
The reason God is disgusted with the Israelites is that they tested and proved Him even after seeing the displays of His power, love and provision. The word for seeing is very broad. It is not only to see something physically, but to experience it, feel it, observe it, know it, etc. God’s people in the book of Numbers were very much at the center of God’s working with them, yet they still considered themselves so high, they figured they could go on and pretend to be God by disregarding His rules and instruction. They even figured themselves too lofty to bother to listen to His voice as He wanted to talk to them Himself and not through another.
Singing in worship of God will help us to keep our minds in the right frame so that we can make sure we treat God as God and not allow pride and arrogance to overtake us and bring us to ruin.
Sing and avoid grieving God
Psalm 95:10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’
God is longsuffering, and He is always ready to forgive and move onward in training, if we will follow, and seek direction from Him. The Israelites grieved God for forty years because they were too weak spiritually to honor God and obey Him. They wanted their own way and at their own time.
Singing will keep the heart from straying, and cause us to want to learn the ways of God, as long as it is holy hymns that we sing, that is, songs and music from God’s Word. It will remind us that we must follow God’s ways if we are to move forward in our lives.
Sing and enjoy God’s rest
Psalm 95:11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
God will bend as far as possible when working with us, but there is a point when He makes a permanent decision about us. His wrath means that we are acting absolutely inappropriately towards Him, and He really does not want to make the proclamation, but we have left Him without a choice. So he says, “They are locked out of my rest.” The book of Hebrews expounds on this concept and applies it to the Christian. If the Israelites reached this point, and they are the blood family of those chosen by God, how much more should we fear, who are wild grafts, that God would say worse of us? For more, see the “Bible says…” portion.
Topic Study
God’s Vengeance in Scripture
by Pastor Clinton Macomber
God’s presence brings us rest
Exodus 33:14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
God knows we are weak and provides accordingly
Psalms 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
We foolishly think we know just how to escape reality to find rest
Psalms 55:6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
God offers us rest while the wicked try to harm us
Psalms 94:13 That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
Experience teaches us to return to rest for the soul
Psalms 116:7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
The physical rest our bodies crave will not come till the Lord returns
Isaiah 14:3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,
Most people refuse to accept the kind of rest God offers
Isaiah 28:12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
God shows us the way to rest is to return to holy living with God
Isaiah 30:15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
When we partake of God’s provided rest, we cannot help but glory in Him
Isaiah 63:14 As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.
God’s rest is found in the old “fashioned” ways
Jeremiah 6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
God is determined to get us to rest in Him
Ezekiel 34:15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.
God’s rest is done while we fulfill obligations and responsibilities
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Our souls find rest when realizing our Savior will be revealed and will come for us
II Thessalonians 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
We ought to fear not obtaining God’s rest and promise
Hebrews 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
When we are saved we enter into rest
Hebrews 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
God’s rest is reserved only for God’s people
Hebrews 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
There comes a time when death is sweet rest to the Saint
Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
Quote
Psalm 95:11
by Frederick Brotherton Meyer, Our Daily Homily
(Redding, CA: Pleasant Places Press, 2004). Vol. 3 page 95
Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
God’s Rest has been waiting for man’s entrance, since He rested from all the work that He created and made. To all other days there were evening and morning, but not to this. It does not consist in circumstances, or conditions of existence, but in disposition. It does not lie, as sacred poets have too often suggested, beyond the confines of this world—it is now, and here. Canaan is not primarily a type of heaven; but of that blessed experience which is ours when we have passed the Jordan of death to natural impulse or selfish choice, and have elected for evermore to accept, and delight in, the will of God.
Will you not take up this position today? Today! Oh that ye would hear his voice! To hear his voice speaking in the heart, in circumstances, and in nature, and to obey promptly, gladly, blithely,—this would bring the soul into the rest that remains unexhausted for the people of God. Are you hardening your heart against some evident duty to which you are called, but which you are evading? Are you hardening your heart to some appeal which comes to you through the ties of kinship and nature? Are you saying, Can God subdue these Canaanites, instead of God can? Beware, for this is the sin of Massah and Meribah, which, being interpreted, means strife. Woe to those that strive with their Maker; let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.
Every one comes in the Christian life, once at least, to Kadesh-Barnea. On the one hand the land of rest and victory; on the other the desert wastes. The balance, quivering between the two, is turned this way by faith; that by unbelief. Trust God, and rest. Mistrust Him, and the door closes on rest, to open to wanderings, failure, and defeat.
Devotions
Monday, Psalm 95:1-2 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-2
It is important that we sing to God out of a spirit of holy love of God. Anything else is a horrible waste and is nothing more than clamor. There is many an unsaved person that has sung great hymns, but they do so for the wrong reasons and there is no harmony. Before singing we must quietly consider our motives and purpose, and seek to remove anything that would keep us from honoring God by not singing loudly.
Tuesday, Psalm 95:3-4 and 1 Corinthians 13:3-4
Singing is not to be about ourselves, wishing we had something, being rude, but instead is of God’s greatness and power. So much that is called music is not appropriate to pass the child of God’s lips or mind! Loving God and singing to God must be about the things that God is about, and the way God would have things be done. How is your private collection of music? Is it holy or is it trash?
Wednesday, Psalm 95:5-6 and 1 Corinthians 13:5-6
God created all things, including us. If we loved God, we would pour out thanksgiving to Him of all he has done for us. We could not think about evil, nor could we consider that our needs come before God. We would kneel before God our maker and conduct ourselves in such a manner that considered Him to be with us at all times and in all places.
Thursday, Psalm 95:7-8 and 1 Corinthians 13:7-8
Both passages emphasize how important it is to believe all of God’s Word. We are the sheep of God’s pasture, and as such, it is important we follow Him and look to Him for all things. Failing to love God, and becoming hardened in our stubborn and wrong ways is a sure method of bringing God’s chastisement upon ourselves. Furthermore, it cuts us off from experiencing the blessings God would have for us.
Friday, Psalm 95:9-10 and 1 Corinthians 13:9-10
We are not God, and cannot for a moment think we know all we need to know about things. We only know fragments of the picture, and as such must depend on God’s direction and leadership to enable us to do what needs to be done. Walking according to our opinion and thoughts is sure to bring us to ruin, and to harm those about us. Grieving a God who loves us and directs us is nothing short of making self-inflicted wounds.
Saturday, Psalm 95:11 and 1 Corinthians 13:11-13
It is the love of God that causes Him to have emotions towards us. Because He loves us so much, and because He was willing to give His only Son to die for us, He will not stand by and ignore us. He takes strong postures in relation to our attitudes and actions. The secret to fellowship with God is the exercise of faith, hope and love in Him. The world provides lots of avenues where we can wrongly and inappropriately deposit our faith, throw away all hope in God and discard a love of that which is holy. These all justly bring God’s wrath.
Puzzle
| P | P | D | L | E | S | I | O | N | T | N | K | U |
| T | Y | Y | F | O | R | M | E | D | H | O | N | J |
| V | E | R | J | T | J | J | J | S | A | I | E | L |
| O | A | M | J | R | O | G | H | L | N | T | E | P |
| U | L | E | P | Y | E | E | S | H | K | A | L | S |
| P | V | D | F | T | E | K | A | G | S | C | F | W |
| F | S | U | E | P | A | R | A | E | G | O | M | A |
| Y | L | A | F | V | D | T | R | M | I | V | Y | R |
| O | F | H | L | E | E | U | I | R | V | O | C | E |
| U | O | H | N | M | T | I | E | O | I | R | O | R |
| R | R | O | D | S | S | T | R | K | N | P | M | E |
| O | T | P | A | E | N | W | J | G | G | C | E | S |
| U | Y | P | D | E | V | O | R | P | R | F | H | T |
| COME | KNEEL | REST |
| ENTER | MAKER | SHEEP |
| FORMED | NOISE | SWARE |
| FORTY | PASTURE | TEMPTATION |
| GRIEVED | PROVED | THANKSGIVING |
| HARDEN | PROVOCATION | YOUR |
| JOYFUL | PSALMS |
The Puzzle solution is found here....
