Prepare
Opening Prayer
Father, thank you for the rich blessing of coming to your Word tonight. Bury these truths deep in our souls; help us believe them and love you. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
Psalm 95
A Call to Worship and Obedience
1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
5 The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.
6 Oh 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.
Today, if you will hear His voice:
8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
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.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 95.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Psalm 95 begins with a joyful call to worship the great King and Maker who shepherds his people. Then God's own voice warns the worshipers not to harden their hearts like the rebellious wilderness generation, who saw his works but tested him and failed to enter his rest.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
Psalm 95:6-8
Bryan first highlights verses 6-7 and then adds verse 8, saying the three verses summarize the section. They join humble worship of our Maker and Shepherd to the urgent warning that his people must hear his voice without hardening their hearts.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Bow, worship, praise, pray to, serve, and love the Lord as Maker, Master, Shepherd, Redeemer, and Rock. Do not presume on grace or harden your heart; because Christ has made believers new creations, follow his ways from love rather than trying to earn love.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Hey, hey, good evening and welcome to Coffee and Devotions.
This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all of the wisdom literature. Well, tonight we are at Psalm 95. Thanks so much for joining me tonight. Do me a favor, in the comments down below, let me know where you're from, where are you watching this from tonight. Why don't we go ahead and we'll have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into Psalm 95.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the rich blessing it is to get to come to your word tonight. We pray now that as we read it, that you would bury these truths deep down in our souls. Father, we pray that we would believe them. Lord, that we would love you.
In Jesus' name, amen. All right, why don't we go ahead and turn over in our Bibles here on the computer to Psalm 95, Psalm 95. O come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully to him with psalms.
For the Lord is the great God and the great King above all gods. In his hands are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the hills are his also. The sea is his, for he made it. and his hands formed the dry land. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord, our maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his land.
Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness. when your fathers tested me. They tried me, though they saw my work. 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. So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest." hard passage for us, but a very needed passage. Isn't it interesting how there's a shift that happens halfway through the passage here?
So let's ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what are we supposed to, or what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? A, what is this about? Well, the first part is a call to worship, isn't it? A call to lift up our eyes to God and to praise the one who made all things. This is a beautiful thing. Like, oh come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us shout joyfully. To who? To the rock of our salvation.
It is God who has loved his people. It is God who has cared for you, his people. It is God who has rescued us. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully to him with psalms, right? This is the beautiful language of, let's worship, let's worship, let's worship. God is worthy.
And then what does it say, right? The Lord is the great God, the king above all gods. And then the different aspects of the world. He made the sea, he formed the dry land, He made everything. Let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. Indeed, He made us. When we get later on in the Psalms, we're gonna find where the Lord says, I have been, the Lord knit me together in my mother's womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I know that full well. The Lord made us. The Lord has cared for us.
The Lord has been our God, so we should follow after Him. But then there's a switch that happens in the last part of the psalm. Listen to how it switches. Verse 7, For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his land. Thank God that he cares for us. Today, if you will hear his voice. And now it switches to the Lord's voice.
Do not harden your hearts. This is the Lord telling you now. Do not harden your hearts. as in the day of rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me." This is no longer the voice of the psalmist, this is the voice of God himself. Now all of this is inspired, but here it is God himself saying to his people, don't harden your hearts.
Do you remember your forefathers, how stiff-necked they were in the wilderness, how they grumbled and complained, how they tested and disbelieved? Don't be like that. Follow after me. They tried me, though they saw my work. For 40 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 way. So I swore in my wrath, you shall not enter my rest. Are you following after the Lord?
Well, let's just do B first, best verse to summarize this. Man, this is a hard one. I think in my Bible, I'm going to highlight verses six and seven. Maybe you would highlight something else. What would you highlight or underline in your Bible as the best verse to get at this? Maybe, though, I would also highlight verse eight. I think those three verses kind of summarize this section.
So, seek calling. What are you called to do in response to this? Bow down and worship your Lord. Get down on your face and praise Him and worship Him. Lift up your hands up into the heavens and pray to Him. Love Him, for He is your Master. He is your Maker. He is the Redeemer of your soul. He is the Rock of your salvation. Bow to Him. Worship Him. Serve Him, love Him with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
But don't let your heart be hardened. Don't turn away from Him. Don't test Him. Don't try Him. Don't presume upon His grace. But follow after His ways, not so that He will love you, but because you love Him and He loves you, follow Him. He's given you a new heart. If you're in Jesus Christ, He's made you a new creation. Follow Him. Walk after Him. Be comforted by Him. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural Southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.