LIVE IN LIGHT OF WHO GOD IS!

CHECK YOUR LIFE AND SEE WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT GOD

Psalm 100:1-2

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

Serve the LORD with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!

Three straightforward commands: Praise! Serve! Worship!

The first one implies a godly attitude toward Jehovah. It might be helpful to think about what will therefore not be present in our lives, when they are filled with joyful praise: ingratitude, bitterness, anger, unhappiness, strife, complaining, and quarreling, which cannot coexist with praise.

‘Serve’ is an action! Faithful serving is the result of careful planning; it requires being attentive to needs and it implies sacrifice. Our service will always be weak if we do not keep in mind that we are serving our Lord, and not people. The needs of people will be met, but our focus point needs to be Christ! When people are our focus point, we will soon be disappointed by their lack of reciprocation and gratitude.

‘Worship’ is a way of life, not an event. We too often tend to look at worship as a church event, in which we can participate or be spectators. The music and/or the environment become our focal point. Reality is that we continually live in the presence of God, and we should continually have an attitude of praise toward the Lord because of who He is and what He does in our lives. Corporate worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ ought to simply be a public expression of our daily devotion to the Lord!

As we rehearse these commands, we realize that all too often we fail to obey them from day to day. And that is the reason the psalmist invites us to focus on our relationship with God.

Psalm 100:3

Know that the LORD, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

These are things we must know: The Jehovah is God! God made us! We are His people! We are His sheep!

Jehovah is the creator, the One who controls and sustains the world. He is perfectly aware of all, completely wise in His assessments, totally in control of all, and lovingly providential towards His creation.

God has created each person; He is intimately aware of all needs, He knows exactly what each person can bear, and what everyone is going through. He does not need to study us to find out: He made us!

We are His, not someone else’s! We are His property; our wise God will always deal with great care for His own.

We are His people; we are part of a community. We represent Him because we are part of His own. Scriptures remind us so often of our privileged position, to have become children of God.

God saw us when we were sheep without a shepherd and had compassion on us. He is committed as the Good Shepherd to care for us, to protect us, and to lead us.

Careful reflection on these truths cannot leave us indifferent! We must show a visible response to His kindness!

Psalm 100:4

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name!

Gratitude and praise are the only acceptable responses to God. Thankfulness and honor should be springing from our lips continually. People around us should be very aware of our dependence on, and satisfaction with, what the Lord is doing in our lives.

Yet there are times when we are going through trials and difficulties, that we may be tempted to question the character of God and the motives that drive His dealings with us.

Psalm 100:5

For the LORD is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

The psalmist reminds us that God is good – perfectly loving – faithful forever.

God is holy; there is no hint of evil in His motives or actions. All that happens to us comes only through His perfect and loving plans for our lives. Bad things can happen to us, but God intends them to produce that which is good in our lives.

God’s perfect love will endure forever. God does not love us in exchange for our behavior or ability to love Him back. He set His love upon us in eternity past, when we could not offer anything to Him. In fact, He loved us in spite of the fact that He knew we would rebel and offend Him with everything in our lives. His perfect love cannot be deterred by our actions!

God will not change. He will be faithful to His character and to every promise He has made. Our faithfulness does not drive God, for He is faithful to Himself.

Our service, praise and worship are dependent upon knowing our God, remembering what He has done, and resting in His unchanging character.

So, now, go out and live in light of these truths!

WE CANNOT BE INDIFFERENT TO GOD’S HOLINESS!

WHEN YOU BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND GOD’S HOLINESS, YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN

Psalm 99:1-5

The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble!

He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!

The LORD is great in Zion;

he is exalted over all the peoples.

Let them praise your great and awesome name!

Holy is he!

The King in his might loves justice.

You have established equity;

you have executed justice

and righteousness in Jacob.

Exalt the LORD our God;

worship at his footstool!

Holy is he!

God reigns from His throne. He is exalted over everyone, He is great, has a holy name, He is holy, He is just! He is set apart – different from everyone – pure – mighty – glorious – just – faithful… the list is inexhaustible and overwhelming. 

Too often, we approach our God in our own supposed sufficiency and with superficiality.

When Daniel saw the glory of God, he fell on his face, without strength. When John saw the Lord, he fell and worshiped.

Revelation 1:17-18

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

When Isaiah had his vision, he could not remain indifferent.

Isaiah 6:1-7

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

         “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

         the whole earth is full of his glory!”

         And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

        

If seeing and understanding who God is does not drive us to our knees and expose to us the immensity of our sin, then something is not right. No man who has his eyes opened to understand the holiness of God can be indifferent to his sin. The grace of God in atoning for our sin should be so very evident in contrast to the standards of His holiness, that it should change us forever!

Praise and worship can be the only response. God is HOLY!

True believers know the gravity of their sins and know that if they can approach God in any way, it cannot be by anything they do or say, but only because of His grace toward us. To believe that there is anything good in us, or that we can do anything good to attract God’s favor, is total foolishness. In fact, it is a total deception.

Psalm 99:6-9

Moses and Aaron were among his priests,

Samuel also was among those who called upon his name.

They called to the LORD, and he answered them.

In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them;

they kept his testimonies

and the statute that he gave them.

O LORD our God, you answered them;

you were a forgiving God to them,

but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

Exalt the LORD our God,

and worship at his holy mountain;

for the LORD our God is holy!

When God speaks, we must listen and obey! God is the only One who forgives, but He does it only when we approach Him on His terms, with appropriate humility and with repentance of our sins.

God’s holiness drives us to our knees when we understand it, for it causes true repentance and godly sorrow for sin. It also produces unending gratitude and worship, and leads us to yearn to walk in holiness.

When Paul encountered the pure brilliance of Christ on the way to Damascus, he fell on his face and he was never the same again.

If we truly reflect on God’s holiness, we cannot continue to embrace sin in our lives. We cannot justify it! May our lives be different because we have seen the only true God through the Scriptures!         

PRAISE TO GOD SHOULD BE UNCONTAINABLE!

ONLY FOOLS DO NOT SEE THE GLORY OF GOD

READ PSALM 98

Psalm 98:1-3

O sing to the LORD a new song,

for he has done marvelous things!

His right hand and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him.

The LORD has made known his salvation;

he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness

to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God.

God has done marvelous things! He has provided salvation, He has revealed His grace to us, he has revealed His righteousness to the nations, and He has shown love and faithfulness to Israel. That is why they sang a new song to Him.

Are our hearts praising God in a new song, as Paul did much later?

Ephesians 1:3-6

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

        

Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 3:3-7

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

        

Romans 8:37-39

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have the same reasons to worship God that Israel did! Have these truths transformed your heart and life?

Psalm 98:4-6

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;

break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,

with the lyre and the sound of melody!

With trumpets and the sound of the horn

make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!

Are these responses visible in your life? If you are not joyful and grateful, the problem is not with God, but with you! From the heart the mouth speaks. It is time to examine your heart. It’s time to repent. It’s time to praise!

Psalm 98:7-9

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

the world and those who dwell in it!

Let the rivers clap their hands;

let the hills sing for joy together

before the LORD, for he comes

to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

and the peoples with equity.

Nature praises God daily; only the foolish man does not see the works of God.

The believer should always be praising God, and our praise should be audible and clear!

Hebrews 13:20-21

         Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.