“'His Greatness is Unsearchable': Hope in God, and Respond! (Psalm 145)” | 11/22/2020
Psalm 145 | 11/22/20 | Will DuVal
This morning we’re gonna finish up our “Psalms of Hope” series; if you’re new to West Hills, we’ve spent this fall studying through the 16 most hope-filled psalms we could find, because God knows we have needed all the hope we can get these days. And we find hope...
-in God’s Listening Ear (Ps 13)
-in God’s Care (Ps 23)
-in God’s Protection (Ps 27)
-in God’s Redemption (Ps 30)
-in God’s Deliverance (Ps 31)
-in God’s Goodness (Ps 33)
-in God’s Faithfulness (Ps 42-43)
-in God’s Nearness (Ps 73)
-in God’s Help (Ps 46)
-in God’s Trustworthiness (Ps 62)
-in God’s Strength (Ps 71)
-in God’s Rule (Ps 47)
-in God’s Keeping (Ps 121)
-in God’s Omni-Cubed-ness (Ps 139)
And conclude with Psalm 145, “'His Greatness is Unsearchable': Our Hope in GOD... and Our RESPONSE!"
ALL of our study, in a sense, culminates in this final psalm and in its reminder that ALL of our hope, is ultimately in God. And as we’re going to see, the final thrust of this psalm isn’t JUST to point us to God; Psalm 145, perhaps more than any other we’ve studied, goes beyond that in calling us to RESPOND to this caring, redemptive, faithful, trustworthy God of ours. A God like THAT, deserves and demands a response from us.
Last week I pointed out that as A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Our theology, our view of God, more than any other single trait about us, will shape every aspect of our life. Who God is to us dictates How we will respond to Him. And our response to HIM, means everything.
When Polly’s mother, Peggy, turned 16, her mother took her on a sweet 16 trip to visit New York City. One day while they were eating lunch at the Plaza, the waitress tapped her on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, Miss, but the gentlemen at that table is inviting you to join him for lunch.” She looked over, and saw an attractive, older man with piercing blue eyes wink at her and gesture her over. Confused, and a bit creeped out, she turned back to finish her lunch when her mother GASPED and whispered frantically, “You get over there RIGHT NOW!” Still puzzled, but obedient to a fault, my mother-in-law reluctantly walked over, sat down, and forced a smile and conversation with this total stranger for 5 or 10 minutes until he finished paying his bill. Then he leaned in, kissed her on the cheek, slid his hotel room key across the table to her, got up, and left. At which point Polly’s grandmother came running back over and asked, “Do you have any IDEA who that was?” And seeing that Peggy clearly didn’t, she said: “That was Frank Sinatra!”
Now, I know what you’re thinking: Frank Sinatra was a CREEP! And that may be, but my point in telling the story is simply that who we think someone IS determines how we respond to them. He was just another creepy old guy to my mother-in-law, but to HER mother… this was ole’ blue eyes! When he calls you to his table, you GO!
Friends: I’m convinced that the reason so many people are so disinterested in the God of the Bible, or worse, so opposed to Him, is because they’ve got the totally wrong IDEA about Him. What comes into THEIR minds, when THEY think about God, is not actually who God is. They wouldn’t recognize Him, if he was sitting at the table right beside them. So when He invites them, they ignore Him, or worse, they RUN from Him.
Unlike Frank Sinatra, God is NOT creepy. Unlike many non-Christian’s perceptions of Him, God is NOT a cold, calloused, cruel, capricious, condemning, disapproving dictator. He’s not the cosmic fun police, who made up a bunch of arbitrary rules to make sure no one down here has any fun, and who’s constantly keeping a running tally to make sure He knows just how displeased he ought to be with us.
No, our God is GREAT, and our God is GOOD! And because He is, our rightful response is to PRAISE Him, and to PROCLAIM His holy name to others. That’s your outline for this morning; that is Psalm 145 in a nutshell: God is GREAT, God is GOOD… and I know, you want to say: “Let us thank Him for our food”. But we’ve got SO much more to thank Him for than just our food! Our proper response to God’s greatness and His goodness is INDEED praise and thanksgiving… but David is ALSO gonna call us to PROCLAIM His praises for the whole WORLD to hear!
So would you stand with me as you’re able, and turn in your Bibles... Psalm 145:
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man your[b] mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
[The Lord is faithful in all his words
and kind in all his works.][c]
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
This is the word of the Lord… Let’s pray…
-
First, a word of CONTEXT:
Psalm 145 is one of 7 “acrostic psalms”, meaning that each of the 21 verses here begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet - aleph, bet, gimel, dalet, etc. J.M. Boice notes that Hebrew poetry employed acrostics for three reasons: “(1) It [was] an artistic device used to add a certain beauty to the psalm, much like rhyme does in our poetry. (2) It may indicate that a subject is being covered completely, from A to Z, as we might say. And (3) The acrostic may have been a mnemonic device designed to assist young pupils in learning the psalms.”
My wife can remember the lyrics to just about any song that’s ever come on the radio. I, on the other hand, couldn’t sing you my favorite song of all time from memory; I can remember Ken Griffey Jr.’s batting average from his rookie year, cuz I’m a numbers guy - not a lyrics guy. So acrostics help folks like me.
But this psalm, 145, was particularly important for young Jews to learn, because this psalm is still recited three times A DAY, by devout Jews all over the world - twice in the morning and once in the evening. The Talmud declares that all who repeat it thrice daily will have a share in the world to come ( b. Ber. 4b ).” (VanGemeren, 1561).
And remember, the psalms were essentially an OT hymnbook; Psalm 145 is titled “A Song of Praise. Of David.” It’s actually the final psalm attributed to David, and the only psalm with this title, “a song of PRAISE”. There are LOTS of psalms of praise in the Bible, but this is the only one David himself deemed worthy of that title, because it is SO thoroughly rich in praise. We’re gonna find the word “praise”, or a synonym, 9 times in ch.145, and the word “all” 17x, because David wants to emphasize just how comprehensive God’s praise is: He is SO good, to ALL, that ALL of his works praise Him.
Now since I’ve already spoiled the bulletin for you, I want to go ahead and give you my outline for the chapter as well; I hope it may help give you a sort of frame of reference, for the big picture here before we dive in verse by verse. So HERE’S the whole passage. And I know it looks kinda trippy, but bear with me; we’re gonna break it down together. But pay attention especially to the KEY there at the top, for each of the colors: Because God is great, we praise Him. Because God is good, we proclaim His name.
Now, let’s quickly define those two terms: BIBLICALLY, when we say that God is GREAT, what we mean is that God is “set apart in His perfection”. This is not “great” like your wife’s meatloaf from dinner last night… “Oh, it’s greeeeat, honey”; No. God is “set apart in perfection”. Greatness carries BOTH the connotation of “set apartness” - to be “unusual or considerable”, to “an extreme or notable degree”, “distinguished or extraordinary”, but specifically, God is set apart in PERFECTION: “wonderful; very good; first-rate”, “of noble or lofty character”, “having unusual merit; very admirable” (dictionary.com). That’s what we mean when we say “God is GREAT.”
To say that God is GOOD, is to say that He is “benevolently caring” - “characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings”, “desiring to help others”, “feeling or showing compassion”. So another way to think about it, is to say that God’s greatness refers to how amazing He is intrinsically, just in and of Himself. God is AWESOME. While God’s goodness refers to how amazing God is toward US. Got that? There’s obviously some overlap there, and we’ll see that in the passage; some of these verses could be highlighted in both orange AND pink - God’s greatness and his goodness, but nevertheless, we’re gonna work our way through here sequentially from v1 to v21, not topically, not in the order of your bulletins, so if you wanna try and categorize each of these phrases under its appropriate bullet point, good luck keeping up; here we go:
Vv1-3: “I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.”
We PRAISE God - “I extol you… bless your name… every DAY I will bless you… and praise your name” - WHY? Because God is GREAT - “Great is the Lord… and his greatness is unsearchable”. v1: we praise Him because He is “my God and my King”. That’s Psalm 47 all over again, and you’re gonna see it crop up here as a recurring theme again, esp in vv11-13: God’s greatness is manifested in His KINGSHIP, His KING-DOM. To declare that God is KING, is to acknowledge Him as the one, Great, SOVEREIGN Ruler over all of life:
Psalm 47: “God is the King of all the earth… God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.” (vv7-8)
1 Chronicles 29:11-12 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power… for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all… you rule over all.”
1 Timothy 6:15 calls God “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords”
But once again, David is not content to merely affirm God as A King, or even THE King; David says in v1: “Your are MY God, and MY King”. And our ability to now call God MY king is not just good news for us; that is THE good news, that’s the gospel. We read in Mark ch.1, when Jesus arrived on the scene in the NT, he came “proclaiming the gospel of God, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (vv14-15). In other words: the gospel, the good news of Christianity, according to Jesus, is that “the wait is over; I’m finally here. I am your long-awaited KING.” And we’ll see later why that’s such good news for you and me.
But for now, vv1-3 are really emphasizing the PRAISE that is due the Lord, simply because of His greatness, who He is. “His greatness”, v3, is “unsearchable”. The word means literally inexhaustible. God’s greatness is like a Big Gulp; you can drink all you want, but you never seem to find the bottom. His greatness is like a Lord of the Rings movie - just when you thought SURELY you’d come to the end, you discover you’re not even halfway through. It’s endless. The more of His greatness you uncover, the more you realize there is left yet to explore.
And in Vv4-6, we see a NEW color show up...
“4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
Now David shifts from simply praising God, personally, to exhorting his readers, his subjects, his fellow Israelites, singing along to this song, not just to sing God’s praises themselves, but to pay it forward to the NEXT generation by telling THEM of God’s great works, God’s mighty acts, as well. That’s why we gather for services like Night of Thanks tonight; to commend God’s works to one another. And especially to the next generation: I cannot TELL you how many church services I sat through in my childhood. Literally thousands, because we went twice a week, every week. But I can tell you how many I remember: the service when I decided to follow Jesus, and the Thanksgiving service when they passed the microphone around, and my father stood up and publicly thanked the Lord for rescuing Him. Pastor Winter, God love him, I’m sure he was a gifted preacher. But I couldn’t tell you ONE WORD that man said in the 18 years I grew up in that church. But I can tell you exactly what my father said when HE publicly commended God’s work in HIS life on that day. Let that be a lesson to us, parents: your children might not remember a WORD I teach them up here. Pastor Thad, and Ally - they can run the best kids and youth programming in town, “Next Gen” ministry - that’s great. But NO ONE is going to get through to your kids like YOU can. That’s why in Deuteronomy 6, immediately after God delivers the most important commandment in the whole Bible - “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might”, God’s very next command is “You shall teach these words 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.” (6:7) That’s how discipleship happens; it’s in the everyday sitting down around the dinner table together, while we’re walking the dog as a family, from your rising til your lying down - is Jesus a part of every aspect of your life, in your home? They say faith is more caught than it is taught. You want to commend God’s works to your kids? Live like the gospel is actually true. If you really believe that you deserve to be in Hell today, but instead you get to enjoy the crisp beauty of fall, the tender embrace of a loved one, the unparalleled deliciousness of your wife’s chicken piccata, and one day you’re gonna get to enjoy all the splendors of Heaven for all of eternity, if we really BELIEVE that, then we’re naturally gonna live like the most joyful people on earth, and the church’s recruitment problems will just take care of themselves. The next generation, and the current one too, for that matter, will be lining up out the DOOR to get what WE got. Our genuine, heartfelt praise and enjoyment of God is the best form of proclaiming Him there is.
Now, it doesn’t STOP there. Yes, actions speak louder than words; but we’re also called to SPEAK. V6: “6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.” So the whole Francis of Assisi approach, to “preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words”; that’s garbage. Whenever POSSIBLE, we want to use words; to tell people about Jesus. Romans 10: ““everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” So we gotta TELL them, brothers and sisters!
But sandwiched right there in the middle of Ps 145, you’ve got v5: “5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.”
This proclamation, our paying it forward, the good news of our great God - it STARTS with us, personally, as his people, meditating on what He’s done for us. I want to encourage you this week, to take 1 minute, that’s all, just 60 seconds, every day this week, to simply preach the gospel to yourself. It can literally be as simple as this: “I should be in Hell today, but instead I’m HERE, in this amazing world, and one day, I’m going to be in Heaven with Jesus forever.” Just meditate on that, and on the DEPTHS that God went to, in sending Jesus to die for you, in order to make that reality possible for you, and just see if it doesn’t affect your JOY; I bet EVERY day this week turns into Thanksgiving for you! And I bet it starts to spill over into proclamation, declaring His goodness, to those around you, as well. A Quick practical tip: I know we’re not supposed to be getting together with extended family for Thanksgiving or whatever, but if you are, or even if you’re just ZOOMing to check in with them, can I suggest you start a new family tradition this year; every year my family goes around the table when we sit down to eat, and we each share what we’re thankful for that year. If you have unbelievers in your family, who you regularly pray for, but you evangelize LESS regularly, because it’s awkward, or they’ve already heard it 1,000 times, or whatever the reason; can I just encourage you to take that opportunity to share with them how thankful you are that Jesus has saved you from your sins and raised you to new life in Him. If that’s your story, proclaim it this Thanksgiving. Amen?
That’s v7: “7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.”
And now we get our final new color - the pink: God’s GOODNESS. His abundant goodness. God’s GREATNESS makes his GOODNESS that much more astounding. When we realize just how holy and perfect, how awesome and majestic our God is, we truly do have to ask ourselves, as David does elsewhere in the psalms, “What is man that you are even mindful of us?!” (8:4) “God - why does a Being like YOU even take NOTICE of pathetic creatures like US?!” But inexplicably, friends, He does. And not only does he NOTICE us, but the Lord is, vv8-9:
“gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.”
That is as glorious a description of God as you will find anywhere in all of Scripture. If anyone ever asks you, “What is God like?” Especially if that person envisions God as the disapproving dictator, or the dispassionate disciplinarian… take them to Psalm 145, vv8 & 9. It’s reminiscent of God’s own self-description in Exodus 34:6-7, just on the heels of His giving Moses the 10 commandments in Exodus chs.20-31, and then what do the Israelites do literally the very next chapter? They build themselves a Golden Calf to worship instead. But does God give up on his children? Does He leave and search out another family to parent instead? No, he declares: I am “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands,[a] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin”.
And friends, you and I cannot read words like THAT without thinking of JESUS! It is in Jesus Christ that God’s grace and His mercy, God’s slowness to anger and his faithful, covenantal love, God’s forgiveness of sin and His merciful invitation to ALL find their climactic fulfillment - in JESUS! David just got a GLIMPSE of God’s goodness that we now see in FULL. Because on the cross, God’s grace and mercy, his patience and steadfast love, God’s faithfulness and forgiveness were on FULL display. And now, because of Jesus’ atoning, sacrificial death in YOUR place, in MY place, God’s mercy is available to ALL; mercy is not getting what you deserve. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” - that’s what you deserve. BUT. But... “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Trust in Him today, and you WILL be saved!
That’s the gospel, friends. The good news of Jesus. And it’s SO good, that David has to take a break here in v10 just to simply praise God again: “All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your saints shall bless you!”
Praise is only befitting for such a great King. And that’s who God is, vv11-13a; He is the all-powerful, all-glorious, everlasting King:
“11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man your[b] mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.”
The Bible uses repetition to emphasize a point. Here, in describing God’s KINGDOM, David restates its POWER in vv11 & 12, its GLORY in vv11 & 12, and its eternality in v13a & b - all THREE attributes duplicated, to highlight just how great a King, our God really is.
But he’s not the kind of king that you’d expect Him to be, if that’s all you knew of Him. If all you knew was that God was ALL-powerful, ALL-glorious, ALL-Sovereign for ALL of time, you’d expect that when He showed up here on earth, in human form, He’d come in, guns blazing, kick in the doors to Caesar’s palace, and just start lighting these godless, pagan, Roman infidels up. That’s the kind of king God’s people WANTED him to be. They wanted Jesus to be their new DAVID. You know, the guy who collected Philistine foreskins for sport. “Saul killed his thousands, David his tens of thousands, and now, surely Jesus is here to kill his HUNDREDS of thousands”; as many as it takes, to overturn this political power structure and re-establish God’s earthly kingdom. But Jesus said, “Sorry to disappoint, but my kingdom isn’t OF this world”. In fact, he said, “I got some bad news for ya: everyone born into THIS kingdom, this earthly kingdom that you all spend so much of your lives trying to get AHEAD in; it’s hopelessly futile: this world is passing away, and every one with it. 100% of people born into THIS kingdom will DIE. But if you are born again; if you have have been crucified with Christ, and died to your self and your sins in order to be raised to new life in Him, then you’ve been born into a NEW kingdom. And Jesus IS your king. And THAT kingdom, HIS kingdom, is an everlasting one. A spiritual, heavenly, imperishable kingdom that can never be shaken.
But this is not just “pie in the sky, bye and bye, when you die” spirituality. Jesus didn’t just preach the good news that “the Kingdom of God is at hand”; he proved it in his OWN “mighty acts” and “wondrous works”. He proved that God isn’t just the GREAT king of Psalm 145, vv10-12; He’s ALSO the GOOD king of vv13-20.
*Jesus was “faithful in all his words” (13b): 1 Peter 2:22 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
*Jesus was “ kind in all his works.” (13): Matthew 4:23 “He went throughout all Galilee… healing every disease and every affliction among the people.”
*Jesus “upheld those who were falling
and raised up all who were bowed down.” He touched the lame and they jumped to their feet; he spoke a word and paralytics walked for the first time in their lives.
*“The eyes of all looked to Jesus,
and He gave them their food in due season.
He opened his hand, and satisfied the desire of every living thing.” He didn’t just feed thousands with a few loaves and fishes, he fed them with the Bread of Life, and invited them to eat and never grow hungry again, to be satisfied eternally!
*Jesus was “ righteous in all his ways”: 1 John 3:5 “in him there was no sin”, but even better: “he appeared to take away sins”, because 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God.”
*Jesus is “near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.” He declared, “I AM the truth; the way, the truth and the LIFE; no one comes to the Father but through me.” “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name [and called on Him in faith], he gave the right to become children of God” (Jn 1:12)
*Jesus “fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.” He said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Lk 19:10)
*And Jesus “preserves all who love him,”: He declared, John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” [Video on ME]
Every LINE of this psalm prophesies of JESUS! He is the greatest and the most good, He is the most praise-worthy, and the most deserving of lives surrendered in joyful devotion to proclaiming his mercy to all who would listen and believe.
But make no mistake, friends. EVERY line of this psalm is about Jesus. That means v20b as well: “all the wicked he will destroy.” The same king who came so unexpectedly the first time as a sacrificial lamb to give His life as a ransom for many, will come unexpectedly again, like a thief in the night, but next time, He’s coming back as a roaring LION. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 describes that day this way: “...when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction”
Friends: the “wicked” of Psalm 145 are NOT people who weren’t holy enough to make the cut into heaven; the Bible makes it clear that we’ve ALL sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No, “the wicked” are those “who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus”; they are those who in their pride have refused to admit their sinfulness and their need for a savior, and who have therefore REJECTED Christ as their King.
Remember, let’s bring this full circle here at the end: your theology will determine your response to God.
-If you think Jesus was just a good teacher, you might take a casual interest in some of his philosophies.
-If you think Jesus was a good role model, that he lived the kind of life we should look up to and strive for, you’re honestly probably incredibly discouraged and guilt-ridden, because you can try all you want, but you’re never gonna get anywhere CLOSE to being in the same ZIP CODE, the same SOLAR SYSTEM, as Jesus. He was God in human flesh; you skip church when it rains. He was perfect; you’re not that good.
-But when you realize that He came not to call the righteous, but SINNERS to repentance… that if you will but “confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”... when you finally realize that you need so much more than a teacher or a role model; you need a SAVIOR, and praise GOD, that’s exactly what He has provided for you in the gift of His only Son Jesus… when you realize how GREAT He is - able to forgive ALL your sin: past, present and future; able to conquer even the power of Hell and Death itself! - and yet how GOOD He is - that he wasn’t just ABLE to do it; he was WILLING to do it, and died a gruesome death in your place to prove it - when you realize that, friends, the only appropriate response, the only POSSIBLE response, is to spend the rest of your life praising Him and proclaiming His gospel to others who need to hear it.
So as for me, I’m with David: “My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
And [I want to do my part to spread his praise, so that] all flesh [might] bless his holy name forever and ever.” Amen. Let’s pray