God Will Bless So Let Us Praise Him

Well, good morning to you. If you would, open your Bibles to Psalm 115. The book of Psalms 115. We will take another week break from our study in John as we celebrate perhaps a couple weeks early this holiday of Thanksgiving. While we read this psalm, I want your minds to be put on this season of Thanksgiving, but I also want you to think two things as we're reading this.

I'd like your mind to be meditating on the fact that God is the great blesser. he blesses that's who God is he blesses but I also want your mind to be put on sometimes he withholds blessing so I want your minds to be put on those two things as we go and read through this psalm that God is the one who blesses and sometimes he withholds blessing let's read the text together psalm 115 not to us oh lord not to us but to your name give glory for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness why should the nation say where is their god our god is in the heavens he does all that he pleases their idols are silver and gold the work of human hands they have mouths but they do not speak. They have eyes but they do not see. Their idols have ears but they do not hear and even noses but do not smell.

They have hands and do not feel. Feet but they do not walk and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make these idols become like them. so do all who trust in them. O Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord.

He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. The Lord has remembered us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel.

He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord. both the small and the great. So may the Lord give you increase, you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. The heavens are the Lord's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence, but we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

Praise the Lord. Let us pray together. Oh God, would you help us now in this time that we have to look at your word as it is expounded? Oh God, would you make the word clear to the hearers? Would you make it clear to their own souls? Could you give them the ability by the Holy Spirit to take this word, this truth, and apply it to their own hearts?

Would you make the word clear from my mouth to make that an easy task for them by the aid of the Spirit? Would you help us, Lord, to see Jesus Christ in this text? Would you help us to see his glory? Would you help us to see what it means to follow the Lord Jesus Christ from this text? Lord, we know that of our own selves we are very powerless, but by your grace and mercy and strength found in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus alone, you empower us to glorify your name and enjoy you forever.

So, Lord, it's to him we look to now, together. May you, Lord, be faithful and good to your people. Not because we deserve it, but because you're a God of grace, and we thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. One of the things I like to do with each of my children, it seems like, when they get to a certain age where it's appropriate, though after I say this, you might say it's never appropriate for me to do this to them, but I just find myself, we have a game where they try to scream as loud as they can.

This is one of the only times I'll tell them to be loud. And they try to scream as loud as they can, and I put my hand over their mouth and try to muffle it as much as I can. So it becomes like a challenge, right? They try to scream with everything, and I try to muffle it as much as I can to no noise at all. And one of the things that I'll do, and I always get them the one time, that's it.

But I always do it. I just can't help myself. But after they've given a great, you know, they try their hardest to just really make the loud noise and all the air is out of them, then, you know, their face is so small that I can easily slip up my hand and cover their nose as well to where they're out. They can't breathe. And so they'll, and then I'll do it, and then they'll freak out.

Like, the world is ending. Like, I will never take my hand off again. I get them once, and after that, they know it's coming, and then it's a game after that. But for that one time where they don't know, you should see the terror in their eyes only for a moment, because I do take my hand off, I promise you. And this reminds me where we're at in this psalm, because there is nothing more, well, a most foundational reality for us as humans in light of our God is one of that we are to be blessed by the blesser.

God is the blesser and we have our existence, the really foundational reality with our existence with our God, that we would receive this blessing. It's the most foundational principle to our relationship with our God and that is a major point in this psalm If you notice it look again at verse 15 and 16 when the psalmist says may ye be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. The heavens are the Lord's heavens but the earth he has given to the children of man.

And what that's highlighting is it's a most foundational reality that God blesses his creatures and has given them to earth to do that very thing. It's a very foundational principle of our relationship with our God that he is blesser and we are blessed by our God. When you look at the creation account, the thing that should just be clear in your head is, wow, God knows how to bless.

As you read all the beauty of creation that he is forming from the voice of his, just the say of his voice. God blesses. And then whenever he puts creatures in that blessing, that blessed place, you should consider God loves to bless his creatures. This is a most foundational principle of our relationship with our God, that God is blesser and we are the blessed.

But a major point of this psalm, in fact, I think the major point is that sometimes God, who is the blesser, who blesses, he shuts his hand of blessing. And it's like so vital to who we are as creatures, like the air in our lungs that when it gets stifled or stopped, what do we do in that moment? Because it is very, very easy for us to panic, and it's very, very easy for us to then go to other counterfeit blessing.

So what do you do, beloved, as we're considering Thanksgiving, and as we're considering being blessed, as we consider these foundational topics, what do you do when God seems determined to close his hand on blessing? And I think this is really the essential point of this psalm that we're going to uncover, which I think is helpful for us as we encounter this very foundational reality of being the blessed ones from the great blesser himself. So let's look at this text together.

The psalm starts by saying, not to us in Psalm 115, not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. It's a vital point that's being made there. It's that God is the blesser, which is the point of this psalm, but he blesses in the framework of receiving glory. Okay? God blesses, but he does it in a certain framework. He's not a genie that just gives us everything that we ever want.

But he does it in a particular framework that he would receive all glory. And that's one of the major things that we can get mixed up in the moment where that blessing is shut off. We can freak out and forget that God will bless, but it's in the framework of something that's higher than that blessing, his glory. That's one of the major issues that the prosperity gospel heretics will highlight.

They will highlight the fact that God is a God of blessing. Amen. They'll highlight the fact that our foundational reality is to be receiving the blessing from the blesser. Amen. But they do not set it in the framework that God would be glorified. Instead, they set it in the framework that we would be glorified.

And that is, as we see from the very first verse of the psalm, backwards. God blesses. He's the blesser, but he does it in the framework that he would be glorified. Therefore, sometimes he shuts his hand to blessing you. That's one of the things that Adam and Eve had to realize, that they were placed in the garden, filled with blessing, but yet there was one aspect that was shut off to them.

And they had to understand that this is for God's glory to be revealed, and so I'll be satisfied with that and not partake of the blessing. But instead, they failed and they partook and they received a counterfeit blessing, which they received their death. And so we must understand, again, to properly understand and to properly respond when God closes his hand to blessing us, it is because he works in the framework of his own glory.

And so sometimes it dictates that you will not receive the blessing that you think makes sense to receive. How vital it is to understand that, to remember that, to place your feet firmly upon that when you are very disappointed in not receiving a certain blessing. We've all been there. In fact, most of us, all of us, can think right now, if we're willing to do it, of a blessing that we would really like to have.

That's not bad at all, but yet God has decided to close his hand to it. And it's because he operates in the framework of what gives him glory. And so since we are people who want to glorify God, we say yes and amen. But notice the psalm continues. It says, Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. And then what is that manifested in particular?

In what way is it manifested? Well, it says, For the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. This is really setting up the whole psalm here, in which it's saying, You are revealed, your glory is revealed in your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Those two words we see all the time in Scripture. Steadfastness. with his love is steadfast and his faithfulness and it denotes um uh it denotes something that is a hard circumstances that perhaps makes you in some ways doubt yet he remains faithful or true overcoming that obstacle so again i don't think i've said this before but if i have i guess i'll be redundant but it reminds me every when i see these words when i consider this point it reminds me of I talk about my house often but it reminds me of being in my old farm house in the upper floor and it was one of the first storms that we ever experienced up there and the house likes to rock in the storm I never experienced that before it was moving I could feel it moving and so I seriously questioned whether or not we would actually see the light of day the next day because I didn't want to be a wimp and like go downstairs and it was just a thunderstorm.

So I just said, okay, we'll see what happens. And in the morning, the house proved faithful. It proved steadfast because we were alive. It didn't go and blow over. The point is, that what proved its steadfastness, its faithfulness, we call the house Old Faithful now, It's because it can endure something that is pushing or a circumstance, a trial that's trying to overcome it.

And so here in this psalm, we have God is to receive glory. That's the framework of his blessing. And he proves it by being steadfast, by being faithful. What is the circumstances overcoming potentially that conviction? Well, it's the fact that he has decided to shut his hand on a blessing for the moment. that when he does this, the psalmist recognizes that he has only proven himself to be faithful and to be true, despite the fact that in the moment he is shutting his hand to a blessing.

There's great trial and hardship that when you see something that appears like, why can't I have that? And God says, no. And here we see the psalmist is setting up the psalm to say that happens and it's to show that he is faithful that he is steadfast even overcoming that obstacle that hardship of closing that blessing the thing that you are so essentially used to receiving from the blesser for a moment these are the things that we need to think we need to understand when we go through this life in which we are reliant upon the blessing from god but yet he closes his hand sometimes to blessing.

We need to settle ourselves on the fact that it's for his glory and to prove himself to be faithful and steadfast despite the hardship of not receiving that blessing in the moment. Now, why do we need to settle ourselves on this? Why do we need to remind ourselves this when we face this over and over and over again in our lives with the different aspects that it hits us.

It's because in that moment when God closes his hand, so it's not this one, we will want to and we will be tempted and many times we will follow lies and deception. And this is where the psalm goes in verse two. Why should the nation say in that moment, in that moment the hand is shut, the hand is shut, I could just ignore it I guess, the hand is shut in that moment, why, oh, now I lost my train of thought.

Let's reset here. In that moment, when God closes his hand, the psalmist brings up a point, what happens often, is that the nations, the unbelievers, those who do not follow God or obey God, he's not their God, they will say this, where is their God in verse 2? The nations are set up as unbelievers, as those who do not follow God. In fact, we'll see they follow idols, a counterfeit God.

And so in that moment, there is a temptation to believe, where is God? The blessing is shut off, is cut off, and it'll be tempting to believe. Is God here? You might hear it from, it says the nations. You'll hear it from a people group. You might hear it from an individual, or you could hear it from your own flesh.

In that moment, you want the blessing, and in your flesh, you can hear, where is God as he cuts off that blessing? Is God not good? Is God not powerful enough? Where is my God in this time where he cuts off something so essential for me as a blessed creature to receive from his hand? And look at that answer that is given in this temptation or this deception, this lie.

By the way, before we get there, Adam and Eve, they were given this lie, right? The blessing of the trees cut off, and what does Satan come and do? He's essentially saying, where is your God? And in verse 3, the answer is, our God is in the heavens, and he does all that he pleases. That is like the ultimate answer to give to the tempter, to the liar, is that our God is in the heavens.

Heavens denotes his throne, and from his throne and the heavenlies comes all goodness, blessing, power, might, authority. Nothing is impossible because God is enthroned in heaven over the earth. So this denotes that our God is in the heavens. He's all good. He's all powerful. He's not distant and unable.

And in fact, he goes on to say he does all that he pleases. And we've already said, what is God pleased to do? He's pleased to bless his creatures. This is one of the main points that we already talked about, right? That may God bless, may you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. The heavens are the Lord's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.

He has created to bless. So it pleases God to bless. and he does all that he pleases. So in that moment, when we're wanting to believe a lie, a deception from the enemy that says, where's your God? There's a blessing there. You answer with, my God is in the heavens. He is the blesser.

He's all good, all powerful, and he will do what he pleases. That is, he will bless me. Now, before he gets to that conclusion, that's what he's going to get to after this next section, and he's going to say, God's going to bless us then. That's the extent of the rest of the psalm after this next section. God's going to bless us. That's who he is.

That's what he does. He will do it. In the moment where he closes his hand, it doesn't mean he won't bless us. He will, and that's our conviction, even as we dealing with him closing off one aspect But before the psalmist gets there and concludes with that he actually takes a dig at the idols You know the idols the false worshipers the nations they take a dig at God.

Where is God? And he defends them. He's in the heavens. He does all that he pleases. And then he goes on the attack against these idols. He says in verse 4, he says, they're idols.

You want to talk about my God, where he's at? He's in the heavens. does all that he pleases. How about your God? Well, their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. Now, I want you to think about this for a moment, that whenever you are being tempted, again, to question God, to go to another God, to go to sin, this is what the psalmist is telling you.

This is the kind of God that you're going to. It's an idol. It's an idol that cannot give what it's promising to give you. You know, in that moment, That blessing is cut off, and so you're tempted to go to sin. You are tempted to go to a false god, to an idol. And he's saying, and this is the kind of idol that you're tempted to go to.

It is an idol that's silver and gold, the work of human hands. You notice the contrast there? Where is God? He's in the heavens. What about these false gods? They're creation.

They're on the earth. They can't give what God can give. It's literally impossible. They're not in the heavens. they are created things on the earth. You see the contrast there. So when you are tempted to go to sin against God, to an idol, you are essentially saying, I'm not going to go to the God who's full of goodness and power.

I'm going to go to this made up created thing that cannot give what it promises to give because it's a created thing. It says their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. Now idols certainly are statues in the ancient times, statues that people created and they worshiped as a god. But we know that even though we don't have many statues around, we know that we make many idols in our heart.

And whenever we are tempted to, because the blessing is cut off to go to a sin, we are treating that thing, whatever that is, whatever your poison it is. We're treating that as an idol. And the psalmist is telling you, don't even think about it. Because it is made by human hands. It is a creaturely, humanly, it is a of this world thing. And so therefore, it cannot bless like our God can bless.

Look at what it says in the following verses. It has a show of being able to bless. It shows itself as, hey, I can do this, but it can't actually do it. Look at what he says. He says, they have mouths, but they do not speak. You see that?

They have a show of the blessing of speaking, but they can't actually do it. They have eyes, but they cannot see. They have a show of having the blessing of seeing and sight, but they can't actually do it. They have ears, the show of ears and hearing, but they can't actually hear. Noses, but they can't smell. They have hands, they can't feel.

Feet, can't walk. And they do not even make a sound in their throat. And I think what the psalmist is getting at here is that false gods, idols, they will lure you in by saying, I can give you the blessing. But they don't have the blessing themselves because they are creaturely made by human hands. How are they going to give you that blessing? So you see the train of thought here, right?

That God decides to close his hand on a blessing to you. The temptation is to say, well, God's not here. I'm going to go to an idol. And that idol looks like it can give you the blessing, but beloved, it doesn't even have the blessing itself. It's not going to give you what it promises. You know, you think of an example that there's people in this room that are probably struggling with it if we're taking statistics at face value.

But what about the great blessing of sex? And how about how many young people fall to, well, God's not giving me that right now with marriage, so I'm going to go a counterfeit blessing way. I'm going to go to pornography. That'll do it. It looks like it'll give you the blessing, doesn't it? But it doesn't.

It doesn't have the blessing. It only gives death. And that's endless. Think of any sin you're struggling with right now. It's because you want a blessing that God has promised you to some degree, but to some degree he's saying no. And so you say, well, I'll pursue a counterfeit blessing from an idol.

That will do it. And what the psalmist is saying is, no, it won't. It doesn't have any blessing of itself. it's not going to give you any kind of blessing. You see how helpful that is to remember when we talk about blessings and thanksgiving, that when God shuts it off to you, that does not mean we panic like the hand is over our nose and our mouth and we just go into panic and we just do whatever.

That's not what we do. He says in verse 8, I think I forgot to say that, those who make them, these idols, become like them. So do all who trust in them. So you will engage in something that looks like a blessing, but it's a counterfeit, and it doesn't actually lead to blessing. Note that. For you unbelievers, note how many times that sin ultimately gave you satisfaction.

Never. And you know why? Because it cannot. Only God can give you satisfaction from his right hand. For he is in the heavens, and all blessing and honor and glory is in his name. so you notice how the psalmist is kind of he defends god where is their god oh he's in the heavens he does what he pleases and then he attacks the false gods that we are prone to go to when we question god's goodness says it cannot do what it promises that it can do so what's the only answer what's what's our only answer here well he he goes off on and he heats himself, the answer is that in that moment where God shuts off blessing to us and we're kind of freaking out a little bit, in that moment what are we to do?

Well, he says in verse 9, O Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Right? You're worried, you're concerned, there's blessing that's cut off to me, maybe your health, any kind of wealth that you have, and what is the call? Trust in the Lord, not in an idol. Do not panic and go to an idol.

Trust in the one who has all blessings. It says, trust in the Lord in that moment. He is our help. He is our protector, our shield. In verse 10, O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.

You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. You see, he talks to Israel, the general people of the nation. He talks to Aaron, the religious leaders of the nation. And then he says, you who fear the Lord, which he's probably referring to people who believe in Yahweh, but they're not circumcised. They're not actually in the covenant community.

This is like a foreshadow of the Gentiles coming in. So he's saying everyone who trusts in the Lord or everyone who follows Yahweh, don't go to the idol. Don't go to the sin in your panic, But instead, trust in God, for he is the help, he is the shield. And then he goes on to say, in verse 12, The Lord has remembered us, he will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel.

He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great. The conviction is, is although he has closed his hand to this blessing, that does not mean that God now has forgotten to bless his people, but he will bless his people. So I will be patient and wait upon the Lord. I will not panic, but know that my God will protect me.

He will guide me. He will be a shield to me. I will not go to false blessers. And so he says in verse 14, May the Lord give you increase, you and your children. may you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth the heavens are the Lord's heavens but the earth he has given to the children of man when God decides to turn off a blessing it does not mean he is no longer the blesser it just simply means he will bless in other ways why does God do that? we already talked about that God has a framework of blessing for his glory and honor but also there's an aspect of which what is our greatest aim as we receive blessing?

God blesses and his framework is to glorify God and as we receive blessing from his hand what is our greatest aim It is to glorify God It is to worship It is to praise God which is how he concludes He says, the dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence, but we will bless the Lord from the time forth and forevermore praise the Lord. And so in this time where he's closing his hand, our greatest aim, this is what needs to ground you, is I want nothing more but to worship and praise God. And if God in all his goodness and his wonder in heaven has decided to shut this blessing like this, that means he's providing an avenue that I can worship him in greater ways.

And so I will take this and praise my God. But the lie again is that without this blessing, I must go to an idol. But the truth is that God operates for his glory and honor, and our greatest aim in receiving blessing is to praise him. So if he shuts off a certain blessing, it's so that we can have that full reality of praising his name. And as we close then, I want to look at what that looks like in particular.

Go to Ephesians. Go to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1. I almost went to another psalm, which perhaps I should have. We read Psalm 67. And if you notice, there's psalms that highlight God's blessings of physical, material blessings. but then we see things like this in which he closes those off.

And then there's those psalms that we see, especially in the New Testament, God's spiritual blessings. That when God closes his hand on material blessings, it's because so that spiritual blessings can shine. And when I say spiritual blessings, I mean our ability, our enablement to praise our God. It's a spiritual blessing. And so this is what needs to ground us. our greatest aim in this life is not to receive a bunch of stuff from God, but it is to praise our God.

And he gives us material blessings to do so, and sometimes he cuts it off, and so that spiritual blessings of an ability to praise him will shine. And this is what Paul highlights in Ephesians 1, verse 3, moving on. Notice the spiritual blessings of being near to God in Christ so we can praise him He says in verse 3 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places And so there is a contrast there God major aim is not to bless us with every physical blessings in the earthly places, but to give us spiritual blessings to be close to Christ.

And sometimes that means giving you material blessings, so you can enjoy the worship of Christ in those things. I love worshiping Christ with my family in my home that God has provided me. On a dinner table with food, the blessings God has provided me. I can worship Christ with my family with those material blessings. But the greatest blessing is the spiritual blessing that is to praise God.

And he says, Paul is focusing on that as he says, blessed be God praise me to his name for he has blessed us in the heavenlies in Christ with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in verse 4 then he denotes the salvation that enables worship he says even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy blameless before him in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace. So notice how the spiritual blessings of salvation enables to truly praise God from our very souls. And he goes on and he repeats it, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

In him we have redemption through Christ's blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in christ in heaven and on earth so in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will or pleasure so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be what? To the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

So the point I want to settle on as we end is that God is the blesser. every blessing that we have is from the heavenlies. And there are times in which he will withhold material blessing from you. But it is not because he has forgotten to bless. It is not because he's no longer in the heavenlies. It is not because he is now strangely absent But it is so he can bless you fully richly in Christ Jesus so that you can praise him forever There are times in which material blessings and the things that you want will get in the way, and our God is too kind to allow that to happen.

So in that moment where it feels like the hand is put on our mouth and our nose, the blessing is taken away, we must be resolved. That if God has chosen to withhold this blessing from me, it's so that the spiritual blessing of Christ can shine all the more, that I can praise him all the more. I am convinced that my God is doing this very promise that he has made to me.

This will cause us not to go to idols, not to go to false blessers, those who have a counterfeit blessing in their hand that will never satisfy. Instead, we say we will be patient and wait upon the Lord for he has blessings in his hand forever for those who love him. Let us pray. God, thank you that you are faithful. I thank you, Lord, that you are trustworthy.

I thank you that you are our shield, that you love us too much to give us all the things that we desire as if you're some kind of genie. but because you are steadfast and faithful and true we can know that when you withhold a blessing from us is so that a greater blessing can be realized so that we can realize the praises that we can have in christ jesus the lord would you help us lord to remember this oh would you even bring to mind right now certain sins that people are tempted with certain blessings that they want that are withheld and they want to then go to an idol for would you remind them that our God is in the heavens and he pleases to bless and perhaps not in the particular way that we want in that moment but we know that he will bless us in Christ that everything is amounting to his glory and our blessing in him so that we would praise the name so that we would have a life of worship to you. Oh God, I would rather have no material blessings at all but yet worship to my God than to have all the blessing, the material blessings in the world yet have no worship to my God. And may the people before me say yes and amen to that reality so that if you decide to shut up a material blessing, may it be that we would shine in Christ Jesus and worship him truly.

Would you remind us of these things so that we're not tempted to go astray? Would you remind us of these things so that whenever something that we want is shut off, we simply look to Jesus Christ all the more and be satisfied in his name. Thank you for his grace. Thank you for his power. Thank you for his spiritual blessing. May you be honored in him forever and always.

In Jesus' name, amen.