Selections from Psalms – Proclaiming the greatness of God

Project Ezra
June 18th, 2011

Hello Project Ezra! This week we will be reading a selection of verses and chapters from the book of Psalms. The Psalms I selected deal primarily with glorifying God for who He is and what He has done. The outline focus will be to take those truths and present them to explain why we preach the way we do and how we should respond toward God. I also spent some time focusing on the kind of claims made about God compared to the “what’s right for you, but not for me” attitude that is so prevalent these days. We need to be clear with people that the God of the bible is the one and only true God, and they will be responsible to Him whether they believe in Him or now. I hope this outline is a blessing.

All for His glory,
Dan

READ Selections from Psalms
Psalm 66: 16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
17I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
18If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
19But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
20Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!

Psalm 99: 1 The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2The LORD is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
3Let them praise your great and awesome name!
Holy is he!
4 The King in his might loves justice.
You have established equity;
you have executed justice
and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Exalt the LORD our God;
worship at his footstool!
Holy is he!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel also was among those who called upon his name.
They called to the LORD, and he answered them.
7In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them;
they kept his testimonies
and the statute that he gave them.
8O LORD our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,
but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
9Exalt the LORD our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the LORD our God is holy!

Psalm 95: 1Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts

Psalm 96: 1 Oh sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth!
2Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
3Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
4For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
6Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
8Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts!
9Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!
10Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity."
11Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13before the LORD, for he comes,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Today we are proclaiming to you the God of the scriptures, the one true God

I want to be clear about the claim we are making, and the God we are talking about

God is not just an idea or a concept, meant to bolster our egos or soothe our worries

He is not true for me but not true for you.

Scripture says If Christ is not raised, eat and drink for tomorrow we die.

It says if our hope is only in this life, we are of all men most to be pitied.

The God of the bible is either real or He is nothing. But He is real.

Listen to what these chapters say about who this God is.

They say that the Lord God is great, and He is greatly to be praised

They say God is the creator, and that He is worthy of our praise

God reigns as our sovereign ruler. The scriptures say “Let the people tremble.”

He is a God of power, and is worthy of our obedience

Scripture tells us that God is holy. That means He is perfect, pure, and set high above all of His creation.

We are told to worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness

The true God is a God who hears our prayers

The true God is a God of steadfast love

Splendor and majesty, strength and beauty are His, and we are to declare His glory and His marvelous works. The reason we exist is to glorify Him

Do these descriptions look like your God?

The God described in the bible is different that most people’s conception of God.

And we must have this right, because God is a jealous God. He will not allow His glory to be given to another.

God’s word says that all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens

It says if you give your worship to false gods you are actually giving your worship to demons.

There is only one true God, and that is the God all of us will stand before one day, to give an account for our lives. For it is appointed for man once to die, and then face judgment.

We will all be judged. The one, true God loves justice, and He will judge the world in righteousness.

And God is not like us. Our standards are not His standards. His standard is not “better than my neighbor does”, or “I did my best” or “I never did anything really bad.” His standard is perfection

You will stand before a God who says that lying lips are an abomination to Him, and we all have lied.

You will stand before a God whose name is above all names, and you will know that you have used that name without proper respect, or even as a curse word.

You will stand before a God who gave sex as a gift, and for pleasure, but which He gave only to be enjoyed within the context of marriage. But every one of us has committed adultery, in our imagination if not in physical fact.

You will stand before a God that is more just, and more holy, than you can image.

You will see that the true God is not like the god you have created in your mind to suit yourself, and realize that you have committed idolatry.

These are only a few of God’s laws. Every one of us has broken most, if not all of them. God gave us His law as a mirror, to show us how we reflect His perfect, holy standard. Every one of us has fallen short.

If you say you have not sinned, you make God a liar, and His word is not in you.

If you say you know God, but do not follow His law, His word says you are a liar.

In truth, every one of us has rebelled against God, and we all are sinners, worthy of judgment and an eternity in hell.

Revelation 21:8 - But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."
But we don’t tell you this to bring you to despair. God is also a God of patience, of mercy, and of love.

God gave us a way to be made right with Him, not through our own efforts or good works, but through the work of another.

Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, fully God and fully man, and totally without sin, paid our fine.

We need grace, undeserved favor, and God provided grace through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

The cross is the ultimate expression both of God’s love, and of His justice.

There are only two possibilities. Either Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross will count as payment for your sins, or you will deny Him and reject Him, and pay for them yourself.

God’s word says He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

It also says that now He commands all me everywhere to repent, and unless you repent, you will perish.

You need to come to God in humility, repenting, or turning from your sins, and putting your trust in Him alone.

Only by trusting in Christ alone, the living God, who takes away the sins of the world by satisfying justice with His own blood, can you be saved.

Please put your trust in Jesus Christ today, while he has graciously given you time.