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HopeLives365

Mark Finley

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2024: Psalms

01 How to Read the Psalms

02 Teach us to Pray

03 The Lord Reigns

04 The Lord Hears and Delivers

05 Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land

06 I Will Arise

07 Your Mercy Reaches Unto the Heavens

08 Wisdom for Righteous Living

09 Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord

10 Lessons of the Past

11 Longing for God in Zion

12 Worship That Never Ends

13 Wait on the Lord


Welcome back. I'm so glad you've joined us for this series on the Psalms. Have you been richly blessed as we've been studying the Psalms? What's the major theme that you have taken away in the first 6 lessons? Here's my major theme, and that is that human beings are fallen.

They are due to live a life condemned by God because of their sins. But because of his mercy, because of his kindness, because of his love, they can find forgiveness, they can find grace, and they can find salvation. The theme of the Psalms is that God is our refuge, he's our defender, he's our strong tower, he's our fortress, he's our rock, He's the Sun that shines in our darkness The Psalms are all about the greatness and majesty of God the weakness of man His goodness now our lesson today is entitled your mercy reaches Unto the Heavens. The second paragraph in Sabbath afternoon's lesson I think summarizes the lesson. The Psalms stress the fact that people are fully dependent on God's mercy.

Fortunately, God's mercy is everlasting as evidence in both God's creation and the history of God's people. How would you define God's mercy? What is God's mercy? I would define it this way, that God's mercy is his steadfast love. This love that never lets us go.

In 1st John chapter 4 verse 8 it says God is love. So love is part of the character of God. God always acts lovingly because that's his very nature and he can't act any other way. So what is God's mercy? It's his steadfast love.

We find that in Monday's lesson in Psalm 136. Did you notice the repetition in that psalm? I mean, you couldn't miss it, right? It says, Psalm 136, O give thanks to the Lord for he is good. What is God?

He's a good God. For his mercy endures forever. Throughout Psalm 136, 26 times it mentions His mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever. Why do you think the psalmist mentions that 26 times?

Because he doesn't want us to miss it. Now there's a little perplexing passage in verse 2. It says, Oh give thanks to the God of gods. Why is it that David says give thanks to the God of gods? Were there other gods?

Certainly. The Babylonians had 13 gods, chief god Bel-Marduk. The Egyptians had multiple gods, Amun-Re. And so when Psalmist says, give thanks to the God of gods, what he's saying is, you guys may have these other gods, but they're false gods. They are not real gods.

They didn't create the world like our God did. Our God is sovereign. Our God is mighty. And then in verse 12 of Psalm 136, he says, He talks about the fact that God created the world throughout the psalm that that indicates his power Then in verse 12, it says with a strong hand and outstretched arm His mercy endures forever strong hand Outstretched arm. What what What picture do you get from that phrase?

Strong hand. God is powerful. He's mighty. He's strong. His outstretched arms.

What do you get there? You get the idea of beckoning, grace, mercy. So on this side you have God's strength, his power. On this side you have God's mercy. When you come to the end of the lesson on Sunday, it says, Psalm 136, close it with God's universal care of the world, last paragraph, God's mercy is extended.

Now don't miss this, not only to Israel but to all God's creation. The psalm speaks of the universality of God's saving grace and exhorts the whole world to join Israel's praise of the Lord. So the psalmists do not see this narrow-minded, limited mercy of God that just goes to the Israelites. They rather see the greatness and the goodness of God that goes to the whole world. In Monday's lesson we find David pleading and I think Psalm 51 is 1 of my favorite psalms.

So if you happen to have your Bible and you're at home not listening to this in your car, but if you happen to have your Bible and you are at home, take and turn to Psalm 51. And I really hope that as we study the lessons together you have a pen, you have a notebook, or you're just taking notes in your Sabbath school quarterly itself. In Psalm 51 we have that great psalm where David is praying, and he's earnestly seeking God for forgiveness. And I love to look at the verbs in that psalm. So here David cries out.

This is the psalm of David when Nathan the prophet goes to him after David has committed adultery with Bathsheba. So I want you to think about it from this way. Look at the background of the psalm. Nathan the prophet speaks to David about his sin of adultery. David is filled with guilt.

He's filled with shame. He's filled with condemnation. And so that's the context of Psalm 51. David begins to pray, have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Did you notice the verbs there? Blot out my transgressions. David's sin is so much before him. You know, let me pause here just for a moment. When we sin, take the sin of immorality, the sin of pornography, the sin of adultery.

We may hide it from our closest family members. A man may hide his infidelity from his wife, But we can't hide it from God and we can't hide it from ourself. And there's something about the guilt of sin that eats away our vital forces. And this is what David is crying out. David is saying here, blot out my transgressions, wash me from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin." Then notice he says in verse 3, I acknowledge my transgressions.

Forgiveness from God does not come unless we acknowledge our transgressions. I remember an individual who I talked to a number of times about things in his life who were not in harmony with God's will, places where he had failed, and always he kept saying to me, but Pastor Mark, what about this? Pastor Mark, what about that? He'd always make excuses. You couldn't speak to him about anything unless he'd make excuses about that.

Have you ever found somebody like that? Always wanting to make excuses for what they've done and their sin. But then you go down to these verbs. Look at verse 7. Purge me with hissing.

You look at wash me. Make me hear the joy and gladness that the bones that you've broken may rejoice." Pause there, the bones that you have broken. Sin crushes us. Guilt crushes us. Iniquity, transgression, crushes us.

It gives us, actually physiologically, we know now today that guilt does aggravate things like an arthritic condition. It says the bones that you've broken. Don't cast me away from your presence. Create in me a clean heart of God. Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be converted unto you. Notice when, then. What's David saying? David's saying, I want to be a servant of God. I want to live a life that has meaning and purpose and direction.

But I can never do that unless God does something in me. Unless God does something in me, he can't do something through me. God will never do something with me until he does something to me. Unless I come to Jesus and have him cleanse me from my sin, I can't be effective in reaching others. So Psalm 51 in Monday's lesson is a great pleading of God.

In the 130th Psalm in Tuesday's lesson, David recognizes that If God would consider his sin an iniquity, nobody could stand for Christ. They couldn't stand at all. They would fail in their guilt and shame. Look, Psalm 130 verse 3, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? But there is forgiveness with you.

In other words, God does not mark our iniquities when we come to ask him for forgiveness. Our sins are covered. You remember what David writes, blessed is the man whose sin is covered. Covered by what? Covered by the blood of Christ.

Forgiveness comes because Jesus bore the guilt, the shame, the condemnation of all of our sin upon Calvary's cross. And then he says, David says in Psalm 130 verse 5, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits. In his hope, in his word, I do hope. Now did you notice that? I will wait upon the Lord.

In his word, I hope. There is a relationship between waiting and hoping. I really like what it's put in our lesson here in Tuesday's lesson. It says God's children are called to wait on the Lord. You can find that in a number of passages in scripture.

The Hebrew word for wait literally means to stretch, and is the root of the Hebrew word for hope. Thus, waiting for the Lord is not passive surrender to miserable circumstances, but rather a hopeful stretching or eager anticipation of the Lord's intervention." So when David says, I'll wait upon the Lord, What's he really saying? He's saying, I will stretch with hope, looking forward to the forgiveness that comes from Christ, looking forward to the deliverance that comes from Christ, looking forward to the freedom from guilt and condemnation that comes to Christ, I stretch forth in hope. Did you notice Psalm 130 verse 5? I wait for the Lord, my soul's waits, And in his word I do hope.

My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. I say more than those that watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy. So even if I do not feel that my sins are forgiven. Let's make this very practical.

Even though I don't feel my sins are forgiven, what do I do? I wait in hope, knowing that when I confess my sins, that they are forgiven by God. I may not feel forgiven, but feeling follows my commitment. It follows my confession, doesn't precede it. So I confess my sin, I surrender my life to Jesus, and then the feeling of forgiveness, the feeling of freedom from guilt, the peace that Christ gives and salvation will come to me.

In Wednesday's lesson, we talk about praise to the majestic and merciful God. I love that God is both majestic and God is merciful. Majestic and merciful. Notice here, for example, in Psalm 123, we find the majesty of God and we find that God is merciful. Psalm 123, the majesty and mercy of God.

It's a short psalm, let's read the whole thing. Unto you I lift up my eyes, O you who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of the servants looked in the hand of their masters, as the eyes of the maid to the head of their mistress, so our eyes look to you, our God, until his mercy is honest. Notice, God is where? Where is he?

He's in the heavens. He's in his sanctuary. And the scripture says, oh God, I look to you, you are majestic in the heavens. But then he says, you have mercy upon me. Verse 3, 4, have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt, our soul is exceedingly filled with scorn of those who are at ease with contempt of the proud.

So did you notice the contrast there? God is majestic, far above the earth, sitting in his temple, but God is merciful. How do you apply that to your own life today? When we come to God we recognize that he's the creator of the universe. He is the 1 that made the sun, the moon, the stars.

He's the 1 that spoke and worlds came into existence. He carpeted the earth with living green. Through God, every flower blossoms and every fruit tree brings forth its fruit. He is the God that guides the planets as they revolve around the sun. He is the God that says, the tides, you come here and don't come any further.

He's the majestic, awesome God, but he's also the God that's personal, that wants to enter your life, that extends to you mercy, grace, and forgiveness. And that leads us to Thursday's lesson, Psalm 103. Now we can't miss this 1. Psalm 103 is, I think, 1 of the most outstanding, magnificent psalms. We're studying psalms in this particular lesson.

It's some of my favorite. You remember I mentioned Psalm 51. Well now here's Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. I want you to think of some of the benefits that God has given to you. Maybe around your supper table tonight or your breakfast table in the morning, Talk about the benefits that God has given. Fresh air, the benefit of having a house and a roof over your head, the benefit of the food that you eat, the benefit of positive relationships, the benefit of knowing Christ, the benefit of forgiveness, the benefit of peace, the benefit of power, the benefit of purpose. Forget not all his benefits.

Now what does he do? He forgives all our iniquities. In Christ our sins are forgiven. He heals all our diseases. You say, but wait a minute, I'm dying of cancer.

He heals all our diseases. What does that mean? There are 3 ways God can heal. 1 is he can heal you instantly as you seek him in prayer. He has done that.

I've seen him work miracles of instant healing. He heals all diseases. Secondly, he can heal you gradually through the modern medical medical miracle of science. Or, God can use natural remedies to heal you. He does that sometimes, but it's gradual.

Third, God can allow you to rest and wake you in the resurrection, like the apostle Paul says, "'The Lord himself shall descend from heaven "'with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first and we that are living shall be caught up to meet them in the clouds. Or as Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15, this mortal shall put on immortality. So we have mortal bodies subject to disease and death, but at the resurrection we will all be healed. And that's incredibly, incredibly good news. Now notice what our Psalm 103 begins with, bless the Lord, O my soul.

How do you bless the Lord? I think in 2 ways. 1, by praising Him, by thanking Him for all of His goodness. And secondly, by remembering His benefits to us. Our lesson comes to a close in Friday's lesson and I love what it says in Christ's object lessons page 148.

If you're following along you will find this in the third paragraph down. Ellen White speaking says, We've sinned against him, that's God, and are undeserving of his favor, yet he himself has put into our lips the most wonderful pleas. Do not abhor us. For thy name's sake do not disgrace the throne of thy glory. Remember, break not thy covenant with us.

Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory." Then Alan White makes this amazing statement, the honor of his throne is staked for the fulfillment of his word to us. The honor of God's throne before the whole universe is based on his mercy, his steadfast love. If God did not extend mercy, if he didn't extend forgiveness, if he didn't extend grace, if he didn't do everything to save us, Satan's charges against God would be correct if God was not a God of love. Satan has said he's an authoritarian dictator. He's filled with wrath.

But the psalmist revealed, his mercy endures forever. His steadfast love will never let us go. And that's something to be happy for. Would you like to today just bow your head with me right now and thank God for his steadfast love. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank you for our lesson today. We with David cry out that we're weak, feeble, and sinful, condemned by our failures, but we cry out with David. Your mercy, your steadfast love endures forever. In Christ there is forgiveness and peace and strength and goodness and salvation. Your benefits speak to our hearts every day And for that and your salvation and eternal life we thank you in Jesus name.

Amen. Be sure to join us next week for our next Sabbath school lesson. And look at our YouTube channel, Hope Lives 365, and pick up some of our YouTubes. We'll be delighted to have you join us. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more.

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Series

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2024: Psalms

07 Your Mercy Reaches Unto the Heavens

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

01 How to Read the Psalms

21m

02 Teach us to Pray

23m

03 The Lord Reigns

24m

04 The Lord Hears and Delivers

24m

05 Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land

22m

06 I Will Arise

20m

07 Your Mercy Reaches Unto the Heavens

19m

08 Wisdom for Righteous Living

25m

09 Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord

31m

10 Lessons of the Past

25m

11 Longing for God in Zion

22m

12 Worship That Never Ends

33m

13 Wait on the Lord

25m

Sound Doctrine