Savage Street Church of Christ

The Lord Our God Is Very Great, Psalm 104

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11152015TheLordOurGodIsVeryGreatPsa104DonRuhl

The Lord Our God Is Very Great 

Find out why you should bless the Lord with your soul

Psalm 104

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • November 15, In the year of our Lord, 2015

Song Leader and Song Suggestions: Kevin Michael – Songs that praise the Lord

Prelude: 

1. If you want to know how great the Lord our God is, 
   1. consider how great water is, and
   2. what He does with it.
      1. How great is water and what does it mean to us?
      2. Try not using it in any form or for any purpose for one day.
         1. Even then you will still benefit from water, because
            1. you will put on clothes that were washed another day,
            2. you will eat food that was grown at another time, and so on.
         2. Yet, that one day of fasting from water
            1. will show you how much you need it.
            2. So it is with the Lord.
2. People think they do without Him, but 
   1. they still benefit from the rain that He sends upon all humanity.
   2. They drink water,
      1. they bathe with it, they grow food with it, all because
      2. in the beginning the Lord our God created the Earth,
         1. covering it initially with water, and
         2. He then made the dry land appear.
            1. He made the Earth with so much water
            2. that He used
               1. the water above the Earth to rain for 40 days and nights,
               2. the water under the Earth to shoot up upon the land
                  1. to cover the Earth once again with water, but
                  2. He made the water return into the seas and under the Earth,
                     1. so that we can still use the abundance of water
                     2. that inhabits our planet.
3. Psalm 104 uses water to show that the Lord our God is very great! 

Persuasion: 

1. Psalm 104.1ab – Bless the Lord for His Greatness
   
   1ab Bless the Lord, O my soul!
   O Lord my God, You are very great:
   
   1. Bless the Lord from your soul,
      1. not just from your lips, but
      2. fill yourself with the Lord.
   2. Think on the Lord’s greatness,
      1. as Psalm 104 shows,
      2. by focusing on water and what He does with it.
2. Psalm 104.1c–4 – The Lord’s Greatness: His Clothing and His Heavenly Works
   
   1c You are clothed with honor and majesty,
   2 Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment,
   Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.
   3 He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters,
   Who makes the clouds His chariot,
   Who walks on the wings of the wind,
   4 Who makes His angels spirits,
   His ministers a flame of fire.
   
   1. Imagine the Lord’s appearance:
      1. Honor and majesty cloth Him.
      2. He covers Himself with light unapproachable (1Ti 6.16).
   2. Imagine His heavenly works:
      1. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
         1. so that we see starlight from sources that are now light years away.
         2. Genesis 1 says that God created light on the first day.
            1. Then on the fourth day of creation,
               
               14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so (Gen 1.14–15).
               
            2. He created light on day one,
               1. then on day four He stretched it out,
               2. flinging all the celestial bodies into space.
      2. He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters.
         1. This would be the waters that are above,
         2. that He separated from the waters that are below.
            1. Can you lay beams in the waters above?
            2. Gravity means nothing to Him.
      3. He makes the clouds His chariot, and He walks in the wings of the wind.
         1. He does not need transport that uses the air for lift.
         2. He can drive on the clouds or walk in the wind!
      4. He makes His angels spirits, He makes His ministers a flame of fire.
         1. If we met an angel,
         2. we would do as all people did recorded in the Bible,
            1. except for one,
            2. we would run or bow down.
         3. Whereas the Lord our God makes them
            1. mere spirits who serve as His ministers.
            2. He makes them as a flame of fire.
               1. He does those things, because
               2. He far exceeds the angels in greatness.
   3. See the Lord’s extreme greatness further
      1. as the psalmist showed us several things, but
      2. in particular what God does with water.
3. Psalm 104.5–18 – The Lord’s Greatness: Water
   
   5 You who laid the foundations of the earth,
   So that it should not be moved forever,
   6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
   The waters stood above the mountains.
   7 At Your rebuke they fled;
   At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
   8 They went up over the mountains;
   They went down into the valleys,
   To the place which You founded for them.
   9 You have set a boundary that they may not pass over,
   That they may not return to cover the earth.
   10 He sends the springs into the valleys;
   They flow among the hills.
   11 They give drink to every beast of the field;
   The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
   12 By them the birds of the heavens have their home;
   They sing among the branches.
   13 He waters the hills from His upper chambers;
   The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.
   14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
   And vegetation for the service of man,
   That he may bring forth food from the earth,
   15 And wine that makes glad the heart of man,
   Oil to make his face shine,
   And bread which strengthens man’s heart.
   16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap,
   The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,
   17 Where the birds make their nests;
   The stork has her home in the fir trees.
   18 The high hills are for the wild goats;
   The cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.
   
   1. The Lord laid the foundations of the Earth!
      1. I can show you in Southern California,
         1. homes and businesses where I dug the ditch for their foundations, but
         2. what are those to the Earth?
      2. After covering the Earth with water, He made the dry land appear.
         1. Can we make continents appear?
         2. Can we speak land into existence?
   2. Then man began to sin upon the Earth,
      1. moving the Lord to wipe out all humanity except one family.
      2. He did this as verse 6 says,
         1. by covering the Earth with the deep,
            1. using the waters of the oceans and
            2. from under the Earth.
         2. The water rose until it covered the highest mountains by fifteen cubits.
         3. The mountains were not as high then as they are now.
            1. Verse 7 reveals
               1. that the Lord made the waters go back
               2. to the oceans and underground, and
            2. verse 8 shows
               1. that He lifted the mountains and lowered the valleys,
               2. causing a boundary that the waters can never pass over again.
      3. However, He has made another decision to destroy the Earth, but
         1. Second Peter 3 reveals that He will not do it by water,
            
            5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men (2Pe 3.5–7).
            
   3. Picture what the psalmist said the Lord does with water in verses 10–13.
      1. Whether in those valleys or hills that He created after the Flood, and
      2. although they keep the water from covering the planet again,
         1. He still sends water into the valleys and in the hills
         2. with springs and rain.
            1. He gives enough water
               1. to quench the thirst of all animals, and
               2. to provide the birds places to live.
            2. His upper chambers, where He laid His beams,
               1. satisfy the Earth,
               2. producing fruit of all kinds.
   4. Verses 14–15 continue to picture for us what the water does.
      1. By the water, the Lord causes
         1. grass to grow for cattle, and
         2. vegetation for man,
            1. allowing us to farm the land
            2. that we may provide huge amounts of food.
      2. Because of water, we can make
         1. wine that makes us glad,
         2. oil that makes our faces shine, and
         3. bread which strengthens our inward heart.
   5. Verses 16–17 remind us that the awesome trees,
      1. such as the magnificent cedars of Lebanon, or
      2. the mighty redwoods of our area,
         1. grow by the water He supplies.
         2. Standing among the redwoods makes us feel small.
            1. What about standing in the presence
            2. of the Maker of these trees?
   6. Verse 18 shows that even cliff dwellers benefit from water.
4. Psalm 104.19–23 – The Lord’s Greatness: He Made Darkness
   
   19 He appointed the moon for seasons;
   The sun knows its going down.
   20 You make darkness, and it is night,
   In which all the beasts of the forest creep about.
   21 The young lions roar after their prey,
   And seek their food from God.
   22 When the sun rises, they gather together
   And lie down in their dens.
   23 Man goes out to his work
   And to his labor until the evening.
   
   1. While looking up at the trees,
      1. see the moon and the sun,
      2. products of the creative voice of our Lord God.
         1. Both of these celestial bodies close to Earth,
         2. follow a course that He set.
   2. The sun goes down, the moon appears to give light.
      1. Then many animals come out.
      2. They look for the food that God has provided for them.
   3. Then by the time they are done,
      1. the sun comes up and
      2. man works.
5. Psalm 104.24–30 – The Lord’s Greatness: His Wisdom in Creation
   
   24 O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
   In wisdom You have made them all.
   The earth is full of Your possessions—
   25 This great and wide sea,
   In which are innumerable teeming things,
   Living things both small and great.
   26 There the ships sail about;
   There is that Leviathan
   Which You have made to play there.
   27 These all wait for You,
   That You may give them their food in due season.
   28 What You give them they gather in;
   You open Your hand, they are filled with good.
   29 You hide Your face, they are troubled;
   You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
   30 You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
   And You renew the face of the earth.
   
   1. How many are the works of the Lord on the Earth alone?
   2. Every work on the Earth displays His wisdom.
   3. The Earth is full of His possessions.
      1. How much do you own?
      2. Do you ever that you think you have more than enough?
         1. Most of us do at some time.
         2. It just gets to be too much for us to tackle.
            1. Not so with the Lord.
            2. Psalm 50 understates
               1. the ownership of the Lord
               2. to make us aware of just how much He owns,
                  
                  10 “For every beast of the forest is Mine,
                  And the cattle on a thousand hills.
                  11 I know all the birds of the mountains,
                  And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
                  12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
                  For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.”
                  (Psa 50.10–12)
                  
   4. Psalm 104 turns our attention to what the Lord owns in the seas
      1. that teem with innumerable things, small and great.
      2. The seas are so great and wide
         1. that ships sail them, and
         2. Leviathan, a large dinosaur-like reptile of ancient oceans, lived there.
   5. Verses 27–30 explain that all of these creatures depend upon God for food.
6. Psalm 104.31–32 – The Lord’s Greatness: His Glory Endures Forever
   
   31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
   May the Lord rejoice in His works.
   32 He looks on the earth, and it trembles;
   He touches the hills, and they smoke.
   
   1. Looking at what the Lord does with water,
      1. makes us want to glorify the Lord, and
      2. we want Him to rejoice in what He has done,
         1. including His creation of us.
         2. May we give Him occasion to rejoice.
   2. He can look on the Earth and make it tremble.
   3. He can touch the hills and make them smoke.
7. Psalm 104.33–34 – The Lord’s Greatness: Sing of It and Think on It
   
   33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
   I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
   34 May my meditation be sweet to Him;
   I will be glad in the Lord.
   
   1. Thinking on the wise works of the Lord God,
      1. makes us want
         1. to sing to Him for the rest of our lives, and
         2. to sing to Him while we have any being.
      2. We want our meditation to be sweet to Him, because
   2. We find our gladness in the Lord.
8. Psalm 104.35ab – Sinners Are Not Great
   
   35ab May sinners be consumed from the earth,
   And the wicked be no more.
   
   1. Just like in the Flood the psalmist mentioned earlier
   2. so the sinners and the wicked of the Earth shall perish.
      1. They want nothing to do with the Lord;
      2. He shall grant them their wish.
9. Psalm 104.35cd – Bless the Lord for His Greatness
   
   35cd Bless the Lord, O my soul!
   Praise the Lord!
   
   1. The psalmist ended the Psalm the way he began.
   2. Let us also bless the Lord with our souls,
   3. praising the Lord, for that is our purpose.

Exhortation: 

1. The Lord used water to cleanse Noah’s world of sin and us of our sin,
   
   20 …the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ… (1Pe 3.20–21).