Psalm 81: Listen Here

 Okay, my friends, if you have a Bible, would you please grab it and open with me to Psalm 81.

If you're using the chair back bibles, it's on page 582 every summer. This being our 10th summer, we preach through the Psalms. The Psalms are the poetry of the passions. They are the songs that Jesus himself grew up singing and indeed, perhaps, probably knew them by heart. These are the parts of the ordination requirements that were asked of every minister.

For many years in some traditions to have memorized so that they would be able to recount the point outline of any Psalm given in their ordination exams. These psalms were the basis of classical education for many years, also in Western Europe and in this country, and we today, as modern people don't know them very well.

And so in the summer, we take time to reintroduce these songs of Jesus, to reintroduce the Psalms to us, to help them become, even as Ms. Joanne has said to us, help become for us ways that we know how to pray. Learn how to pray. The Psalms encompass the full orb of human emotion. Those of you who doubt the Psalms are for you.

Those of you who are overwhelmed with joy, the Psalms are for you. Those of you who are incredibly, incredibly in periods of really deep blue depression, the Psalms are for you. The Psalms give us permission, don't they, to be where you are, but they call out to us and point us to Jesus, and they never leave us where we were.

They point us again to the hope of the gospel. And so if you're willing and able, would you stand with me as we read Psalm 81, friends, this is given to you in love. Brothers and sisters have died to have these words translated into English. So let's not take it for granted to the choir master according, according to the gith of asap.

Sing aloud to God our strength. Shout for joy to the God of Jacob. Raise a song, sound the tambourine, the sweet liar with the harp blow the sho blow the trumpet at the new moon at the full moon on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel. A rule of the God of Jacob. He made it. A decree in Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt.

I hear a language I had not known. I relieved your shoulder of the burden. Your hands were freed from the basket in distress. You called and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of MEbA Here owe my people while I admonish you. Oh, Israel, if you would, but listen to me.

There shall be no strange God among you. You shall not bow down to a foreign God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up outta the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. But my people did not listen to my voice. Israel would not submit to me, so I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own councils.

O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways. I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him and their fate would last forever. But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you.

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but God's word stands forever. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated, please.

How many messages to buy into something does one here in a single day? Now for a long time, based upon the Harvard study in 1968, the number used to be 5,000. And so recently some guys decided to put that to the test and they asked many people to keep an ad diary. We just wanna know how many ads you see in a single day.

And so Sam Anderson was a young 20 something editor. He decided to be part of the experiment, and on April 26th, he woke up. This is Sam's Day. I'm not commending it to us, but this is Sam's Day. He had a brief Twitter scroll. Surprisingly he found no ads. Then an Instagram scroll, one ad. He marked it down.

He wandered around his house. In his morning evolution, he didn't see any ads. He felt some time he had some time reading a novel. He enjoyed no ads yet in novels. He writes. He checked his personal email. He saw 14 total emails that could be construed as ads, although from companies that he had given some data about himself to.

His work begins and throughout the day, he gets five emails from promo from promotional newsletters, 13 from PR firms, trying to reach him in a work capacity. He got one product, ad, email, web ads throughout the day. He tallied up to be 21. Lunch breaks. He saw two product ads on his Smart TV's homepage.

None on the news that he happened to watch shockingly lunchtime Twitter scroll. He saw two more ads. The afternoon. He walked to a shop. He saw one billboard. No ads in the shop. Workday Inns. He saw five ads of various kinds on a YouTube video he watched, he went to a restaurant. On his way there, he saw three ads at the restaurant himself.

He saw, uh, surprisingly no ads in this pub except for ads that were from products that he himself were, was purchasing. On the way home, he saw six ads and a YouTube video before bed. He saw three more ads, okay, 5,000. For Sam Anderson, he tall them up and he saw 93 ads in a given day that he did not ask for.

Now that's a long way from from 5,000 or even 10,000 ads that sometimes we hear said, but the point is that any given day a given person sees 93 ads, 60 to a hundred emails, five to 20 text messages. 20 to 50 instant messages on apps that we use, 10 to 30 social media notifications and five to 15 automated alerts that might not be important, but they can be overwhelming.

And last week in Psalm 80, it was a psalm that we prayed for those who had wandered from the faith. Who had left the faith and it was a prayer to bring them back. How do we bring back our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, our children who have left the covenant community of faith? And in Psalm 81, it is placed here by the church because they know that the way to come back and the way for us to grow in our maturity in Jesus is to listen.

Because there are a cacophony of voices. There are lots of voices who are shouting for our attention constantly. That's one reason. By the way, in this place, we tried to just get as much technology outta the room as possible because the entirety of your life is just consumed with distractions and bells and whistles.

And so one of the great disciplines, even of the church is coming. Maybe one spot. One part of your week is to actually turn your phone off. And to be inaccessible to the world that so often just demands your attention. Because God has rescued us in Jesus, Psalm 81 teaches us that we should wholeheartedly praise him, listen to his word above all others, and refuse the deadly counsel of our own stubborn hearts.

So let's dive in to Psalm 81 and look. First we are called in verses one to three to praise the God of the exodus. Praise the God of the exodus because he's crying out to us. Do you hear him? We're to praise him because we are to remind ourselves that we are not to listen to ourselves, but we are to speak to ourselves.

We are not to trust our feelings, but we are to speak the gospel to ourselves. And so he says, sing aloud to God our strength. Sing aloud. He says, in Hebrew to Elohim, ZANU to the God of our strength. The word strength is used throughout the Old Testament to declare God's mighty acts, his ability to save dead and hardened sinners like you and like me.

And here we're commanded to sing. Notice. Notice all of the verbs. Sing. Shout, raise a song, sound the trampoline. Tra uh, a tambourine. Blow the trumpet at the new moon. Listen, these are verbs to say sing to yourself. You thinking about Deuteronomy six, four, tell your children about the good works of the Lord when you walk along the road and when you rise up and when you sit down, what is the melodic line of the story that goes through your family?

What do your children say? My mom and dad, if I knew nothing else about 'em and I just watched them, this is the, this is what they worship by the way they speak.

Are you consumed with materialism? Are you chasing the Joneses? Does your anxiety disciple your children, or do you sing? I mean, guys, do you realize that in, in, uh, one of you recently told me that, that the greatest persecution right now in the world is happening in Nigeria and they're facing death and persecution just to go to work as Christians, just to go to worship as Christians?

And here we get to be in this beautiful place and rejoice and we are all so self-consumed. This in Psalm 81 calls us to sing, don't you know how good the Lord has been to you? I know that you're going through a hard season of life, but don't you know even despite that, that you're father and heaven loves you and he cares for you, and he has you here for a reason, and he intends to change you in the community by his spirit.

We sing aloud to God our strength. The Psalmist calls God the God of Jacob. He's recalling God's covenant faithfulness in the past. This is not just any God. It is the God who committed himself to his people. It is the God who promised to be their God and make them his own. And verse three tells us when this happens, it says, blow the trumpet in.

In Hebrew, it's the shofar blow the shofar at the New Moon. The full Moon on our feast day, he's saying that this is the time we celebrate. In the Old Testament, Israel would come together on the first day of the seventh month for the Feast of Trumpets, and then 10 days later they'd celebrate Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and then they would enjoy the Feast of Tabernacles at the Full Moon, at our feast day.

Feast Day refers to the feast. Of Tabernacles where they would set up makeshift tents to remind themselves that they once waled in the wilderness. We sometimes joke here that one of these days we're gonna close the church and we're gonna put a tent out back just to remind us that for 10, 12 years we worshiped in different places throughout this city.

But oh, don't forget the faithfulness of your covenant. God. Praise the God of the Exodus.

It was during the Feast of Tabernacles that Solomon brought the ark back to the temple in one Kings chapter eight. It was when Ezra taught the returned, uh, exiles to praise him. This is all during the Feast of Tabernacles y because they stood in the history of what God had done for his people. It's when Zachariah prophesied of the consummation that would come in Zacharia.

At chapter 14, praise the God of the Exodus. Don't let your praise be cold or routine. Don't you dare do it. Don't let me do it. We have been given the ability to praise our father in heaven. May we therefore sing and shout and raise a song and the sound of a tambourine, and may we blow the trumpet for the new moon.

May we assemble in joy because he has been so good to us. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I wonder if this is the message you tell yourself amidst the 93 ads you see in a given day. Secondly, not only do we praise the God of the Exodus, but we are to listen to the redeemer who rescued verses four to 10. As you move deeper into Psalm 81, he shifts from a call to praise, to a call to listen.

But before God speaks to us directly, he reminds us of why Israel is called to gather and listen into the first place. He says, the call to worship is not random or optional. It is a statute. It is a rule. It is. These are words in Hebrew that refer to ordinances and judgments, binding instructions set by God himself.

It is not just tradition. It is God's command rooted in his covenantal love. He made it a decree. In Joseph that that's a poetic way of speaking about all of Israel. It points us back to the Exodus when he went out over the land of Egypt. Do you see the Exodus language? When it says, I hear a language that I had not known, it captured the experience of Israel being in a foreign land under foreign masters with a foreign tongue.

It reminds Israel and us that God's commands are given to a people that he has rescued from a place where his name was not known. And so also one of the great privileges of being your pastor and the elders of our church, hearing your stories when you share your testimonies with us, is the way the Lord has brought you back from places that were.

Deeply enslaving to you and what a joy it is to know that though the exodus happened many, many years ago, nevertheless, each of us have been brought out of the land of slavery, of sin and death by our great Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ, who delivered us. Don't read the Old Testament and think that was great for the people back then read it, seeing it as a recapitulation of the way Jesus has opened your eyes to the gospel and he has welcomed you.

History. Yes, indeed. True. Yes, it is. Also, it was written for our instruction as the author of Hebrews says, so we are to listen to the redeemer who rescued us. I relieve this shoulder of your burden. Your hands were freed from the basket. That's a euphemism for brick making of Israel under. Egyptian bondage.

Saint Augustine in his sermon on Psalm 81 says that when I relieved your shoulder of burden, he reminds us that God says, come to me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. He riffs off of Matthew 11 because he sees it in that line in Psalm 81. In what do you find? Your rest, your truest rest?

Oh, Christian. We should find it in Jesus' finished work for us. But don't you see what a discipline it is to remind yourself of that every day. 93 ads, we've gotta come back again, again and again to his word because it is true. Where to listen to the redeemer who rescued us in distress. You called and I delivered you.

I answered you in the secret places of thunder. This is a reference to Mount Sinai. Where Moses came down. I tested you at the waters of Rabba. Don't you see the psalmist going back through the history of Israel in the waters of Rabba? That's Exodus 17 all the way through numbers 20. He's recounting the Old Testament for God's people.

And then he says, here, oh my people, while I admonish you. It's as though he goes back to Deuteronomy six, four in the Shama here. Oh, Israel, the Lord your God. The Lord is one something every Israelite would've known. And here he echoes it. Here, listen to a story that is too good to be untrue. And it's not just the story of scripture, it's your story.

Do you believe it? Because Jesus came and he lived a life you could not live and he died a death that you deserve to die. For you and children. I wonder as you come to church week after week and you see your mom and dad sing teenagers as you listen and form the habits of your own, independent of your mom and dad, is this the story that marks your life?

We are to listen to the Redeemer who has rescued us, and if you don't feel like you've ever been rescued,

look to Jesus. Who indeed is able to rescue you even today. And if you know that you have been rescued, don't trust your feelings. Trust his word, which tells us what is true. Amen. Amen. Listen to the redeemer who rescued you, verses uh, four to 10, the very end. It says, I'm the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt again, listen to me.

He recalls the way he begins. The retelling of the 10 Commandments in Deuteronomy chapter five in Exodus 20, I'm the Lord your God, who brought you up outta the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me. But instead, look at this word of grace. He says, open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

You can't possibly obey what I've asked you to do, but open your mouth. Would you listen to me? Would you stand in awe with your mouth opened in my presence and I will fill it with joy unsurpassed. Praise the God of the Exodus. Listen to the redeemer who rescues in third verses 11 through uh, 16. Be warned of the consequences of self counsel.

Be warned of the consequences of self counsel, but notice the contrast, verse 11, but my people did not listen to my voice. Israel would not submit to me. And so I gave them over to their stubborn hearts. If you're a CS Lewis lover, you know that CS Lewis once famously said that God says to us, or we either say to God in prayer, your will be done, or God says to us, your will be done.

And he says here. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own counsels. Isn't this exactly what he did in Genesis chapter three? Don't you see this again in Proverbs chapter one at the very end, verses nine, uh, 29 through 31. You see this in Romans chapter one, verse 24. God gave them over to their stubborn hearts when they refuse to listen to him.

Every man is without excuse. He has called out to us in the beauty of creation, but the 93 ads stack up as interference for us hearing his voice. Hearing special revelation in the gospel preached. We see through general revelation to the beauty of Jesus, but so often we're distracted. Listen to the way the Psalm says, oh, that my people would listen to me.

He is writing as though God is saying this in the first person. Oh, that my people would listen to me. Your father in heaven is saying, oh, that you would listen to me. How many times mom and dad, have you done this for your own children? Would you listen to me? And here's your father. Oh, admonishment of admonishments.

Yes. Father undeserved. Would you help me to listen to you? You ask me to obey you. You ask me to sacrifice for you. I don't always understand it, but I know, Lord. You tell me to listen to you. Oh, that Israel would listen to my ways. This is an invitation of grace. We are to heed the warning to self. Verses 11 and 12, listen to the warning.

They would not listen to me, so I gave them over to their stubborn hearts. And then we receive verse 13, the invitation to believe and obey his word. It is an invitation of grace O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my way. This is his invitation. Would you listen to me? And then he asks us to recognize the results of us listening to him in verse 14 to 16.

Recognize. The results, I would soon subdue their enemies and I would turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him and their fate would last forever.

And Deuteronomy chapter 28, God gave blessings and curses for those who obey his covenant. Go and read it sometime, and those curses and blessings are conditional. They're conditional upon one thing. And what is that one thing? Faith. That he indeed is the only one who can save you from your self saving strategies.

Faith that his finished work is enough for you. A Christian faith that you don't have to try to be the smartest person in the room. You don't have to try to one up your neighbor. You don't have to always have the final word at work. Faith that you are called to serve the Lord in humility and gladness and joy, and to spread his fame throughout all of creation.

Through your calling. Yes, through your evangelism, certainly through your hospitality, through your joy. Because my friends, it is because that God has rescued us in Christ. We are to wholeheartedly praise him, to listen to his word above all others and to refuse the deadly counsel of our own stubborn hearts.

And it's interesting that he, that the psalmist placed Psalm 81. After Psalm 80, because it's perhaps one of the reasons why those who have wandered from their faith, one of the obstacles of them coming back might be because of our own stubborn hearts that we as a church read in context. Psalm 81, following Psalm 80, ought to be a people who are the most humble of all people.

You don't think less of yourself, you just think about yourself less. And you think about Jesus more and you see him high and exalted. You see him dying on the cross for our sins and rising again in the third day, giving us his Holy Spirit and pointing us as verse 16 does to the new creation, where we will be able to glorify him and fully enjoy him forever because he says, but he would feed you with the finest of wheat, which we are about to partake of.

And with honey from the rock, he would satisfy you. So, oh, Christian, would you this week and after pray, Lord help me to listen to your word. Help me to praise the God of the Exodus. Help me to listen to the redeemer who has rescued me. Would you help me to be warned of my own consequences? Of self counsel to heed the warning of deliverance to self, to receive the invitation, to believe, and to obey him, and to recognize the results that Jesus accomplished for us, what we could never accomplish.

And he has given us news that is so sweet. He says it is like honey that comes from the strangest of places, the rock. And so in the strangest of places, even in the church, when he show you the sweetness of what it means to enjoy his presence and have a taste of what it'll be like to dwell with him in the new heavens and the new Earth.

So this morning, friends, would you join me in repenting of our stubborn hearts and coming again to the one who has given us the finest of wheat? And with honey from the Rock, may we be satisfied only in him, and it takes each of us together. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would indeed feed us with the finest of weed and with the honey from the rock that you would satisfy us.

Lord, would you be so gentle with us by your spirit to remind us that we have listened to a lot of voices and we have placed our faith in a lot of things. And I pray, Lord, that you would give us ears to hear, that we would be able to actively listen to your word and the intention of the authors, give it to us and we would see their words point us to the risen and ascended Christ who now Lord Jesus, you John, near to us and you invite us to a meal.

And so as we come to this meal, we pray that you would help us to come in faith and repentance with great joy. Help us to sing, to sound the tambourine, to raise a song to blow the trumpet because you intercede for us. And now as we give of our tithes and offerings, we pray, Lord, that you would bless the giving of your gifts for the extension of your kingdom and for future church plants that all may hear the good news and find rest.

And the only one who can satisfy. In Jesus name, amen. 

Sermon transcript is computer generated.