Prizing the Psalms

Well, good morning to you all. great to see you here this morning. Just a couple of items before we get underway, looking at the word this morning. as we mentioned last Sunday, Marlene Brogie's memorial service will be here at the church at 11 o'clock on Friday of, of this week.

So, that's September 23rd, this coming Friday at 11 o'clock, and I think we may be set up for food with the reception that'll be after the memorial service. But if you would like to help with that and have not been able to sign up for that, look for Lynette Kumamoto or Ruby Kimball and see if there's any needs with regard to food for the reception following the memorial service. Also, we're happy to have in our service the legendary Ron Needham and Emily. could you guys stand?

Ron and Emily need him. Oh, there's Ron. I guess Emily left. So, well, welcome.

they are charter members of Cornerstone, from the days of its founding, well over 30 years ago, and Ron was the chairman of our elder board for a number of years, and both of them have been a great blessing to our church body, and they, have marked our church deeply in ways that you guys still are living in the good of, so we're happy to have them with us this morning. Well, The sermon today will be a little bit different, but hopefully you'll be able to roll with it as we go.

last week, In our sermon from Hebrews chapter 10, the writer of Hebrews delivered a call to us to draw near to God in prayer and also in worship, and we're gonna carry on with that theme of drawing near to God in worship over the next few weeks. And in our effort to do that, we're going to be focusing on the Book of Psalms over the next couple of months or so, preaching some messages from some of the Psalms that we find in the Psalter, which is the Book of Psalms.

On November 13th, coming up here, Matthew Smith from Indelible Grace is going to be with us, that morning, and he has promised that he will be awake. And in the upright position while he is, with us, contrary to what you see in this picture, but he'll be with us during the Sunday school hour. He will be leading our worship, the Sunday morning of November 13th, and he'll be doing a concert, that afternoon here in this auditorium. We'll be saying more about this as the time approaches, but, the whole focus of that Sunday is going to be on worship.

Today represents our first installment in the lead up to that Sunday of November 13th as we focus on the subject of worship, and much of what we draw from scripture on this topic will be drawn from the Book of Psalms, which is the only divinely inspired worship manual in existence. And it is for the church. As much as it was for the Israelites of the Old Testament. Athanasius was a leader of the ancient church who lived in the 300s AD, and listen to what he, a leader of the church, said about the Book of Psalms.

He said the psalter is the first hymn book of the church, and it will outlive all other hymn books. It's treasury of pious experience and spiritual comfort will never be exhausted. And as it will continue to be used in public worship and private devotion everywhere, so commentary will follow commentary to the end of time. I'd like to talk to you this morning on the Book of Psalms itself and the title of my message is raising the Psalms.

It's my goal this morning to motivate you and to encourage you to prize this particular book of the Bible and to give it a high place. In your walk with the Lord. Before we do that, let me give you just a few quick facts about the book of Psalms. The most obvious of which is that it has more chapters in it than any other book of the Bible by far, boasting 150 chapters or 150 Psalms.

this book boasts the longest chapter in the Bible and the shortest chapter. In the Bible. Psalm 119 is the longest, having 176 verses, and Psalm 117 is the shortest, having only 2. I once made an offer to my children that I would give them $20 for every chapter of the Bible that they memorize.

And Psalm 117 was suddenly very attractive. to them, so I had to add a provision to the deal and tell them that the chapter they memorized has to be at least 20 verses long in order for them to get the money. So they never memorized Psalm 117. there are many authors that we find, not many, but a variety of authors.

David wrote perhaps as many as about 80 of the Psalms. Other Psalmwriters are Moses. And a guy named Herman, the Ezrahi, Solomon, Asaph, and the sons of Korrah, and there's a number of other Psalms that have no author that is identified, although we know from the language of the New Testament that the Psalms were inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. God is the author of the Psalms that we see in the Book of Psalms.

In the Psalms we find every possible emotion. and even spiritual condition, we find the heights of joy after victory. We find the psalmists in moments when they are in a great place spiritually rejoicing in the love of God, and in the presence of God and the goodness of God in their life. We also find the psalmist at many points filled with thankfulness to God, and in a sweet place of worship.

of God with hearts that are captivated by the loveliness of God, the beauty of God, and the transcendent greatness of God. At the same time, we have occasions in the book of Psalms when the Psalmists are depressed and anxious, and when they're angry and lacking hope, we find the psalmist in moments when they are wracked with guilt and coming to God with that guilt and repenting of their sin and asking for forgiveness. We find the psalmist in situations where they're reeling from injustices that have been done against them, and they're angry against the sin of the wicked, even angry against sinners.

And trusting God to deliver them.

Out of their distress. But in other moments, the psalmist in such moments are confused and bewildered, and frustrated with God, and asking God questions like, why have you forsaken me? And how long are you going to sleep, oh Lord? My point is that in this one book, we encounter every variety on the spectrum of human experience.

We see all the highs and the lows and the grand texture of human. Experience. We live in a beautiful but broken world, and that is reflected in the Book of Psalms. We find the Psalmwriters at times dazzled, even by the awesomeness of man as a creature created wonderfully by God.

And at other times we find the Psalmist seized with horror and profoundly humbled over the sin of man and even the sins that they themselves have committed. Yet amazingly we see various psalmwriters drawing near to God in all of such moments. That's the one common denominator in all of these Psalms. The Book of Psalms is the book where man meets with God and God meets with man at the intersection of every shade and hue of human experience.

This fact teaches us, I think, a profound lesson that we can take with us into our lives, which is this, that whatever your circumstances, or whatever your state of mind, as a Christian, Whether you're on a spiritual high or low, whether you are at peace, or angry, you can meet with God right there. And he will meet with you. I know that many of you prize the Psalms already. this past week, I was looking at, Marlene Brogie's membership application from, to our church that she had submitted over 16 years ago and I was going through her application and what she wrote on it in preparation for the memorial service this Friday.

And in her application, she talked about her husband's sudden and tragic passing back in July of 1997, and she shared three passages. That ministered deeply to her. After her husband had tragically and suddenly passed away, and all three of them were from the Psalms. I know that some of your favorite passages of scripture are in the Psalms and, and your care group meeting today and tomorrow, hopefully.

I know there'll probably be a lot of things that you're gonna be going over to get geared up for the year, but, perhaps you might have time to ask one discussion question, and if you ask no other, ask this question. What is your favorite passage in the Psalms and why? be a great way to get to know each other and asking and hearing the answers to that question. If you highly prize the Psalms already, I hope this message will encourage you in that.

If you don't prize this book as much as you should, I hope to persuade you to prize the Book of Psalms more highly. And to give this book a greater role in your life. So here's what we'll do this morning with the time that we have. We're gonna look at 3 reasons to highly prize the Book of Psalms and give it a meaningful place.

In your life. You interested? All right. Reason number one, the Book of Psalms was highly prized by the post-N New Testament.

Church was highly prized by the Post New Testament church. I know that technically, this point, even as I unpack it, is not authoritative, but I offer it nonetheless to help you, just give you a sense, Church history is your history, and I offer this to you just so that you can appreciate how highly the Psalms have been esteemed throughout church history. And as we look at all of this from church history, it will direct our attention to something that is authoritative. And that's what makes this worth sharing with you.

Augustine, the church father who died in AD 430, said, this, he says, what is there that may not be learned in the psalter? It is an epitome of the whole scriptures. The church father, Jerome, who died in AD 420, he learned the entire Book of Psalms by heart. When he was a child.

And he was passionate about that. Later in his life, when a father approached him, a father who had just had a daughter, and he asked Jerome, give me some advice. What advice would you give me for raising my daughter? Jerome responded by writing out several instructions for this Christian dad.

And one of his instructions was to have his daughter learn the Book of Psalms by heart before she became a grown woman. Imagine finding that counsel in a parenting book. Today During the 4th and 5th centuries of church history, anyone who aspired to be a leader in the church, or even a teacher in the church had to be able to recite the Psalms from memory. Imagine if we imposed that requirement on our Sunday school teachers.

Imagine that in our announcements we say we're in need of volunteers for people to teach our Sunday school classes and children's church classes. If you have the entire psalter memorized. And can recite it by heart, please go to the sign-up table afterwards and volunteer. Basil of Caesarea, who lived in the 300s AD, said that the, listen to what he says, quote, The Book of Psalms is a compendium of all divinity, a common store of medicine for the soul, a universal magazine of good doctrines profitable to everyone.

In all conditions. Around AD 600, Gregory the Great refused to allow a man named Rusticus to become a bishop because he did not know the psalter by heart. Looking back on his rejection of Rusticus, Gregory said he was a vigilant man indeed, but he did not know the Psalms. The Second Council of Nicaea, which was in AD 787, made this declaration and directing all of the churches.

It said, when we recite the psalter, we promise God, I will meditate upon your statutes and will not forget your words. It is a salutary thing. For all Christians to observe this, but it is especially incumbent upon those who have received the priesthood. Therefore, we decree that everyone who is raised to the rank of bishop shall know the psalter.

By heart During the monastic period of church history, Benedictine monks chanted the Psalms daily. The daily schedule of chanting and singing the Psalms was such that the entire book of Psalms was chanted and sung by each person every week. That's how much the Psalms ran through the bloodstream of the worship of these monks. The Council of Laodicea in AD 360 and the first Council of Braga in AD 563 decreed that no psalms composed by uninspired men should be used in the church service.

Now, I'm not suggesting in any way that that is a biblical position, but I share this so that that the phenomenon of Christian singing. Non-inspired songs other than the psalms and church services was not an automatic thing that the church arrived at. There were many who felt that only biblically inspired psalms should be sung in Christian worship services, and this was even true in some parts of the Reformation Church. Some followers of John Calvin held to that view, and there's some within the Reformation Church that hold to that view still today.

Speaking of the Reformation Church, Martin Luther called the Psalms, my little Bible. John Calvin said, I am want, or it is my habit to call this book an anatomy of all parts of the soul, since no one can experience emotions whose portrait he could not behold reflected in its mirror. You see what he's saying? He's saying you will never experience any emotion.

That is not also found in the Psalms. The Psalms is a great book to go to, to find yourself. John Calvin taught the church that in giving us the Psalms, the design of the Holy Spirit was to deliver to the church a common form. Of prayer Again, I give you all this information by way of historical observation, even though I know that it does not carry any authority.

I'm not trying to say that all of our elders and Sunday school teachers from now on need to memorize the psalter. But I'm simply pointing out that the Book of Psalms was highly esteemed. In church history. And this fact raises a valid question that's useful for us this morning, and the question is, why?

Why did the church historically so highly prized the Book of Psalms so much? Well, that leads us to the second reason we should prize the Psalms, and that is because the Book of Psalms was highly prized by the New Testament church. This is authoritative. Let's look at a few examples that show how integral the Psalms were in the life of these first century Christians that we see recorded in the New Testament.

first of all, consider that of all the books of the Old Testament that are directly quoted in The New Testament, the Book of Psalms is the most frequently quoted book. If we go by direct quotations and indirect quotations, and there's, there's different ideas on this, but If we go by direct and indirect quotations, we could say that out of the roughly 263. Old Testament quotations in the New Testament, 116 of those are from the Psalms. That's 44% of all Old Testament quotations.

are from the salter. If you're interested in the very earliest stages of church history, you would want to study the Book of Acts, right? And if you do that, you would notice right away that the Psalms figured prominently in the earliest stages of church history, even directing the course of events and giving shape to the preaching and the prayers and the thinking of the earliest Christians. In fact, in Acts chapter 1, the 120 are gathered together after Jesus' ascension, and they're waiting there for the Holy Spirit to descend, and they're praying together in Acts 1, and they're trying to process everything that has happened, and what they should do on the road ahead.

And among the things that they're trying to process is Judas' betrayal of Jesus and his suicide. And they're trying to figure out what do we do about that? Should we replace him or should we just keep the number of apostles at 11? How could the salter possibly help them?

With that. Well, in Acts chapter 1, verse 16, Peter speaks up and he gives this perspective. He says, brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas. Judas is in the Psalms, Peter saying, For it is written in the Book of Psalms, and now he quotes from Psalm 60:25, let his homestead be made desolate and let no one dwell in it.

And now he quotes from Psalm 109:8, Let another man take his office. So that's what the Psalms say. That's the guidance that is there. So what does this group do?

They take the direction from the Psalms and appoint another man to fill Judas's position. As an apostle. We see here an example of how the Psalms help these early Christians to process a painful betrayal and figure out what to do next. In Acts 2.

We see that the day of Pentecost arrives and the Spirit descends upon these 120 and they begin speaking in tongues and a crowd gathers, and some who gather think that the 120 are drunk. And others are startled that they're hearing the tongue speakers speak in their own dialect of the mighty deeds of God. Peter then stands up before the crowd that had gathered, and he gives them perspective on what it is that they are witnessing and hearing. And then after he gives them perspective on what it is that they are seeing and hearing, Peter then launches into his sermon.

Beginning in verse 22, and listen to what he says in this sermon. And keep in mind that this is the first sermon preached. In church history. This is the birthday of the church and the first sermon.

Peter says, beginning in verse 22, men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus, the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God, with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power.

For David says of him, and now Peter quotes from Psalm 16, Verses 8 through 11. Here's the quote from the Psalm, I saw the Lord always in my presence, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue exalted. Moreover, my flesh also will live in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow your holy one to undergo decay.

You have made known to me the ways of life, and you will make me full of gladness with your presence. There's the quote from Psalm 16. Peter then goes on to say, brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David, who wrote the Psalm that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. And so because he was a prophet, And knew That, and now he quotes from Psalm 132:11, God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne.

He, David, looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ that, and now he quotes from Psalm 16:9, he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh suffer decay. This Jesus, God raised up again to which we are all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father, the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this, which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, and now Peter quotes from Psalm 110 verse 1.

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, Peter says, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom you crucified. What we see here is that the Psalms help these early Christians to understand what happened to Christ in his suffering, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. And the Psalms helped them to present the truth about Christ to the world.

It should be hugely instructive for us that in this first sermon on the birthday of the Christian church, that the apostle Peter quotes from the Psalms 4 times, and he uses the Psalms to give his audience perspective on Christ and what happened to him. And 3000 people get saved. Apparently, the Psalms are not a bad resource to use in preaching. Jesus Christ.

It's easy for us today to see the Psalms as an Old Testament book that doesn't have so much relevance for us today, but there's a profound sense in which the Book of Psalms is the most New Testament of all books in the Old Testament. It was a book that was ahead of its time and it was one of the key books through which the early Christians viewed Christ and through which they explained Him. To their own hearts and to the world. The narrative of acts continues.

We see how The early Christians in Acts 4 use the Psalms and their prayers to God. Up until Acts 4, the church and enjoys a lot of favor. From the people and there's no persecution. But it's in Acts 4 that the church experiences its first dose of persecution.

Peter and John are arrested for preaching in the temple. They're brought before the Jewish council. They're told to be silent and to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. Peter says, we're not gonna stop.

And so the Jewish leadership threatens Peter and John further and then sends them on their way. Well, how did the early Christians respond? To this first dose of persecution and the threat of further persecution. How did these early Christians respond when Peter and John reported to them, About their arrest and about the threats that had been made against them.

How did they respond? Well, we see in Acts chapter 4 verse 24, how they responded, and that is they prayed. But they didn't just pray. Look at what the text says in Acts 24:24.

And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord, and said, Oh Lord, it is you who, and now they quote from Psalm 1466, who made the heaven. And the earth and the sea and all that is in them. Who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our Father David, your servant, and now they quote in their prayer from Psalm 2, verses 1 and 2, which says, why did the nations' rage and the people's devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ, unquote.

In their prayer, they're quoting from Psalm 2. After quoting this Psalm in their prayer, they then say, for truly in the city, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. And now, Lord, take note of their threats. And grant that your bond servants may speak your word.

With all confidence. This passage in Acts 4 illustrates the fact that the earliest Christians made use of the Psalms in their prayers. But even more than that, this passage demonstrates The fact that these early Christians already had the Psalms hidden in their hearts. And these memorized Psalms served as a filter through which they processed what was happening to them.

And it even gave shape to how they formulated their request to God. As the story in Acts 4 continues, we see that God answered their prayer. The place where they were gathered was shaken, and they became filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak the Word of God with boldness, a boldness that was empowered by the Spirit, and fueled at least in part, By the Psalms. Just from these early verses in The Book of Acts, we see the psalter playing a vital role in the development of the infant church.

The psalter was hidden in their hearts, and it served as the window through which they viewed their world. It figured prominently in their prayers and in their preaching, and it also helped them to know what to make and how to understand the most heavy duty events that have ever happened in human history. So think about it. If the Psalms help these early Christians in all of these ways, how might the Psalms help you?

And enrich you Perhaps you've been betrayed and you're trying to process that. Perhaps you're being persecuted and you're trying to process that and figure out how to respond. Perhaps you're wanting to understand God better, you're wanting to understand Jesus Christ better. Perhaps you see that you need a larger, more transcendent view of God that will give you courage to stand up and represent Jesus Christ to the world.

The Psalms can help you with all of that. If we keep reading through the New Testament, even beyond the Book of Acts, we see that the Psalms played a vital role in the worship and mutual ministry of the New Testament church. There are many quotations of the Psalms that are found in New Testament epistles. On top of that, in Ephesians 5:18.

Paul calls upon Christians to be filled with the Spirit. And then he tells them how to give expression to that fullness and worship and in ministry to one another. And he says, literally, this is how the text would read from the Greek speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming in your heart to the Lord. Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God.

Even the father. The Psalms spoken of here by Paul in Ephesians 5 almost certainly included Psalms other than the ones that we find in the Old Testament book of Psalms, but nobody denies that the Book of Psalms and the Psalms that are contained therein are a huge part of what Paul is talking about here. Passages like Ephesians 5 serve to explain why the later church placed such a high priority on knowing the Psalms, because the Psalms represent part of the content of what it is that we are to speak to one another.

And say to the Lord and our worship of Him.

At the very least, it's clear from Ephesians 5:18 and 19 that spirit filled people, spirit-filled Christians use the Psalms in their worship of God, and in their ministry to one another. This is highlighted all the more in Colossians 3:16 where Paul calls upon us all to let the word of Christ be dwelling richly inside of us and then he says, teaching and admonishing one another with what? With psalms And hymns and spiritual songs. He's recognizing the instructive power.

Of songs and among the Psalms, songs that he talks about using to teach and instruct one another is the Psalms. He's teaching here that the Psalms compose a part of the content of our teaching and even of our admonishing. One another And James chapter 5 verse 13, James says, Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful? Literally, the Greek reads, let him be psalming. Some of your translations say let him sing praises. But this is the word for psalming, singing psalms.

And again, while the psalming that James is talking about probably includes psalms other than the Psalms that we find in the Old Testament book of Psalms, it certainly includes the singing. Of the Psalms that are in the Psalter. This is why the King James and the New King James and Young's literal translation of this passage translates the phrase, let him sing Psalms. Clearly, The Psalms were highly prized by the New Testament Church, and that serves as a great reason as to why we should prize the Psalms as well.

But the prizing of the Psalms by the New Testament church raises yet another question, and that is why? Why did they prize the Psalms? The answer leads us to our third point, and that is because Jesus prized. The Psalms.

The 3rd reason why we should highly prize the Book of Psalms is because the Book of Psalms was highly prized. By Jesus Christ. Jesus quoted from numerous Old Testament passages during his public ministry. In fact, I'll give you a list.

The 4th most frequently quoted book by Jesus was Exodus. The 3rd most frequently quoted book by Jesus was Isaiah. The 2nd most quoted book by Jesus was Deuteronomy. And the most frequently quoted book by Jesus was The Book of Psalms.

In Matthew, just some examples that we can look at in Matthew 21, we see the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. And in verse 9, we see that the people responded by saying Hosanna to the son of David. the word hosanna is, from the Hebrew expression Hosea nah, which means save now, which is a direct quote from Psalm 118:25. And then they quote from Psalm 118:26 and say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Well, once Jesus is actually in the temple, Matthew tells us that he performed some miracles and some nearby children. began to praise him, saying, Hosanna to the son of David. We see that in verse 15. In verses 15 and 16, the text tells us that the religious leaders hear what the children are saying to Jesus and worshiping Him and extolling him in this way, and they become angry.

And look at what happens, verse 16, and they said to Jesus, do you hear what these children are saying? And Jesus said to them, yes. Have you never read? And now he quotes from Psalm 82, out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes, you have prepared praise for yourself.

And Matthew 21:42, just later in the same chapter, Jesus speaks to the religious leaders who were bent on destroying him and casting him aside. And Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the scriptures? And now he quotes from Psalm 118 verses 22 and 23. which says the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone.

This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Jesus is in this moment delivering them a warning about what they're going to do, but also a warning about how God is going to overturn their actions and raise him from the dead and establish the church on the foundation of Jesus. And Jesus delivers that promise through Psalm 1:18. During his final week in Jerusalem, the Herodians and the Sadducees and the Pharisees at different points approached Jesus and ask him trick questions.

Jesus manhandles all of them. Jesus then decides that it's his turn to ask a trick question. And so in Matthew 22, we find the exchange recorded. Jesus asked this question of the Pharisees.

Verse 42, he says, what do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? And they said to him, the son of David, Jesus said to them, then how does David in the Spirit, call him Lord, saying, and now Jesus quotes from Psalm, 110 verse 1. Where David says, the Lord Jehovah said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.

Jesus then says, if David then calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word. Nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask him another question. Here's Jesus using Psalm 110 to silence the ignorance of foolish men and to make a point about himself, that he is the son of David, that he is also David's Lord, and that one day he will subjugate all of his enemies under his feet.

Seeing the growing anger of the religious leaders against him during the week of his crucifixion, Jesus says in Matthew 23:39, he says, for I say to you from now on, you will not see me until you say, and now he quotes from Psalm 118:26, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. After Jesus and his disciples celebrated, The Passover, the first celebration of the Lord's Supper, Matthew 26:30, tells us that after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives where Jesus ended up being arrested and leading to the suffering that followed.

They sang Guys, this is Jesus singing. The only time in the Gospels that we're specifically told that he sang, he took some time to sing right on the cusp of the terrible sufferings that awaited him, and he knew what awaited him, and he sang.

What did he sing? If you look only at the English translation, you would get the impression that they only sang one hymn. But a better translation of the Greek is this, after hymn singing, They went out After him singing. They went out.

Charles Riry and many others suggest that what they would have sung. they would have sung from all or a part of Psalm 115, 116, 117, and 1:18. Which are the 4 songs, there are at least 4 of the songs that were a part of the Passover halal. Or the Passover praise that were sung at the conclusion of the Passover celebration.

Others say they may not have sung all of those, but at the very least, the very strong suggestion is they at least sang Psalm 118, which was the last of the Passover songs, and it was sung by the Jews after the Passover celebration every year. Given this fact, We could say that the last thing apparently that Jesus did. Before entering into his suffering, going to the Garden of Gethsemane, and entering into the suffering that awaited him. was to sing a psalm or some psalms.

To prepare his heart for what awaited him. If you've never read Psalm 118, I would encourage you to read Psalm 118 with this in mind. Imagine Jesus singing this Psalm right before he enters into his suffering that followed. It's an absolutely perfect psalm to be sung at this exact moment.

Moving on In Matthew 27. Verse 46, we see that when Jesus was hanging on the cross, the text tells us about the 9th hour. Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, and on the cross, he quotes from Psalm 22:1, Ali, Ali Lamaabak Thani, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Even in Jesus' darkest hour.

He is using the language of the Psalms to give expression to the pain. And the confusion that he's feeling in this moment. In Luke 23:46, we learned that right before Jesus breathed his last on the cross, he cried out with a loud voice and said, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit, and having said this, he breathed his last. And guys, the words into your hands, I commit my spirit, are a quotation from Psalm 31:5.

Quite literally, Jesus died with the words of the Psalms. On his lips. His last words. were a quotation.

From the psalter. If you read Luke 24:44 and 45, you see that even after Christ's resurrection, Jesus is including the Psalms among the resources that he is making use of to explain to his disciples about himself, his suffering and death, and his resurrection and the glories to follow. The Psalms are included in the resources that he makes use of. It's evident that Jesus loved the Psalms and had them in his heart.

He clearly taught from the psalter, he engaged people with the psalter. He used the Psalms as a lens through which he saw himself and viewed his circumstances. The Psalms were on his lips and before his hour of great suffering came. And the psalms were on his lips in his hour of greatest suffering all the way to his final breath.

So think about it If the Psalms were that valuable to Jesus, for him to prize and cherish in all of these ways, then would we not want to prize and value the Psalms in similar ways. If the words of the Psalms were on Jesus' lips, in his hour of greatest suffering, would we not want them to be on our lips when we suffer? Clearly, Jesus saw himself in the Psalms and saw his whole life and suffering and death and resurrection as foretold in the Psalms. Is it not also true?

That we discover the truth about ourselves. In the Psalms and learn how to process and understand all that happens to us just the way the early Christians did in Acts chapter 4. All in all, the post New Testament church prized the Psalms because the New Testament church prized the Psalms and the New Testament church prized the Psalms because Jesus prized the Psalms and Jesus prized the Psalms because the Psalms were the inspired word of God. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, and stand forever as the eternal Word of God.

All of these reasons give us pretty solid indication that we too should prize the Psalms. In his book, Answering God, the Psalms as tools for prayer, Eugene Peterson delivers to Christians this challenge. He says, open your Bibles to the Book of Psalms and pray them. Sequentially, regularly, faithfully across a lifetime.

This is how most Christians, for most of the Christian centuries have matured in prayer. Nothing fancy, just do it, letting the motions of the heart come into harmony with the movement of the lips. That's good counsel. If we do this, And follow this council, we will not only see our prayer life being enriched and our worship being enriched, but we will also find our hearts becoming equipped to process our circumstances and understand ourselves truly and know God more deeply and know how to act in the midst of whatever circumstances we may find ourselves.

We will also thereby enter more deeply into the communion. Of the saints over thousands of years who prayed and worshiped God. With the same Psalms. Even greater than that, when we read the Psalms, we're reading the very prayer book of Jesus Himself.

When we worship God with the Psalms, we're worshiping God with the very songs that Jesus worshiped God with. So we can say that to pray and worship God with the psalter is in one sense to enter into the very prayer life of Jesus. to enter into the very worship of Jesus. Himself And there's so much benefit that comes to us through The Psalms in this way.

Let me close with this, We sang earlier in our service, a song that the lyrics were written by Martin Luther, his meditation on Psalm 130. most Christians associate Martin Luther with what book of the Bible? The book of Romans, and rightly so. We know that Martin Luther was reading Romans 1 and he came upon Romans 1:17, which says the just shall live by faith.

And it was this text that served as the window for Martin Luther to see the nature of true salvation and the reality of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. It was this text that Transformed Martin Luther's life and his mission and it was this text that launched the Protestant Reformation. And we can all be thankful for the book of Romans and for the role that Romans played in saving Martin Luther and launching the Protestant Reformation. What is not as well known.

is that before Martin Luther was converted through his reading of the book of Romans, he had spent a considerable amount of time studying. The Psalms. At the time, Luther was the professor of Bible at the University of Wittenberg, and he started teaching through the Psalter in his classroom on August 16, 1513. 4 years later, in 1517, Luther published his first book, which was a commentary on seven penitential Psalms, Psalms of repentance.

This is the very year that he posted the 95 theses on the Wittenberg door. It's hard to pinpoint the exact year that Luther was actually converted, but his own autobiographical account of his conversion begins with these words. Meanwhile, I had already during that year returned to interpret the psalter anew. And it was in this context that he felt a strong desire to understand the book of Romans, and it was while reading Romans chapter 1 verse 17 that the heavens opened and Luther finally understood the essence of the gospel.

But historians say that the Psalms provided a context for Luther's conversion and the transformation that followed. Jack Arnold. Say it this way, through the preparation of his messages on Romans and Psalms, the light dawned on Luther that men are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Steve Lawson, Say it this way.

He says it was these two strategic books, Psalms and Romans, that Luther was predominantly studying and teaching in the years preceding his posting of the 95 theses. It was these two books of scripture that radically affected Luther and changed the course of human history. While Romans would principally formulate his doctrine, it was the Psalms that dramatically emboldened him to proclaim God's message. To the world He goes on to say, in other words, Romans gave Luther his theology, but it was the Psalms that gave him his thunder.

The Psalms gave Luther a towering view of God, so much so that in preaching the gospel, Luther was ready to fight the devil himself. And so doing, these two biblical books laid the scriptural foundation. For the Protestant Reformation. So we're not surprised to hear Mike Barry say today that Luther from a meditation on Psalm 130, wrote the lyrics that we sang this morning, a song that emerged from A psalm We're not surprised that the song, the defiant song, a mighty fortress is our God.

was inspired by Luther's meditations on Psalm 46. So here's what I'm thinking. If the Psalms gave Luther His thunder. Then I'm excited that we are taking a few weeks to study from some of the Psalms.

I'm excited about giving the Psalms a more meaningful place in my walk with Christ and in our life as a community of faith. And I'm excited about how the Psalms might help us. To testify of Christ with greater thunder. In the days to come.

And I hope you guys are too. Let's bow our heads and let's just ask the Lord to open our hearts to receive. All that he has for us from His holy word, all 66 books. Of the Bible.

But let us, especially today, given what we've looked at, give thanks to him for the psalms. If you're here today and you have never Come to a point in your life where you have repented of your sin. And look to Jesus as your Lord and as your Savior. Who was spoken about throughout the psalter.

I hope that you feel the beckoning of God today to, as he beckons you to Jesus, to bow your knee before him as it were. And believe in Jesus. As your only Lord and Savior, and to do that, you must recognize I cannot save myself and there is no other way, not even through me, it's all Jesus. And if you've never withdrawn your trust from yourself and your own good works and deposited your trust upon Jesus in this way, please call upon him right now.

And he will be pleasured to save you. Don't think, well, I go to church, so I must be saved. Martin Luther. was a professor of Bible.

He studied hours and taught for hours before he was converted. The question is, have you seen that righteousness comes only through Christ? And embrace that righteousness through him. If you haven't, please open your heart and do that today.

Lord, we thank you so much for your precious word that just astounds and amazes at every turn. You're a good God to give us this revelation, and we could do a whole sermon on every book of the Bible and why this book should be so precious to us. But we thank you for the opportunity to just take today to look at Some of the glories of the Psalms, and we thank you for this opportunity to just take a few weeks. Leading up to November to, to look into the Psalms and behold you and to behold ourselves and, and to receive the profit that you have for us here in this part of your word.

Help us even this, the days of this week. To read the Psalms, to meditate upon the Psalms, and to give this book a meaningful place in our walk with you even this week. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity that you've given to us to give of our offerings to you, receive these funds that we give in this offering right now and do much with every penny that is given for the glory of Jesus. And we ask all of these things in the name of Jesus and all God's people said,