Series: Psalms
Title: In God We Boast
Text: Psalm 44: 1-8
Date: July 11, 2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
Psalm 44: 1: We have
heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou
didst in their days, in the times of old.
The greatest
responsibility of fathers and mothers is to teach our children the gospel—“our
fathers have told us”
God told the fathers
concerning the Passover--
Exodus 12: 26: And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say
unto you, what mean ye by this service? 27: That ye shall say, It is the
sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of
Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.
God told the fathers concerning the offering
of the firstborn--
Exodus
13: 14: And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is
this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out
from Egypt, from the house of bondage: 15: And it came to pass, when Pharaoh
would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of
Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I
sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the
firstborn of my children I redeem.
God told the fathers
concerning the giving of the law at Sinai concerning the mountain of fire and
their need of a mediator
Deuteronomy 4: 9:..teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
God told the fathers concerning the crossing of the Jordan
Joshua 4: 21: And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When
your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean
these stones? 22: Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came
over this Jordan on dry land. 23: For the LORD your God dried up the waters of
Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over…24: That all the people of
the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye
might fear the LORD your God for ever.
So God commands
fathers to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the LORD. Same is true for mothers—Paul commended
Timothy’s mother and grandmother for teaching him the scriptures as a child.
I have seen parents
who were not consistent to have their children under the preaching of the
gospel. They were in the services a
great deal of the time. But if something came up they went and did that instead. So they taught their children that the gospel
is not the most important thing there is.
So the children made a profession then went off to college then into the
world.
Other parents taught their children that the
gospel is more important than our daily food.
They had their children in every service and let nothing take them from the
preaching of Christ crucified. And God
honored it by planting their children in his church under the gospel faithfully. It is not a guarantee because God chooses
whom he will but Christ said,
John 12:
26:…[Christ said] if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
We see it in God’s commendation of Abraham.
Genesis
18:19: For I know him, that he will command his children and his household
after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment;
that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
But we see the opposite of Eli. God rebuked Eli for not teaching his sons
to honor God and God said,
1 Samuel 2:30: Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed
that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever:
but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will
honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
Fathers and mothers should
study the scriptures so we can teach our children God’s mighty works. Nothing else we teach them will save them
eternally—only the words of this book! I
want for my children to say one day, “We have heard with our ears, O God,
our father [and mother] have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in
the times of old.”
For you children, it
is a great blessing from God that he has given you believing fathers and
mothers to teach you the gospel. I
commend our young people who are always here to hear the gospel preached. Scripture says,
James 1: 19:…let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to
wrath: [lay apart everything that will distract you and] receive with meekness
the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Then after you hear the gospel give
yourselves to diligently seek Christ in the scriptures. The Bereans,
Acts 17: 11: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that
they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures
daily, whether those things were so.
Do not go the way the of the world—use your believing fathers and mothers
to ask questions and heed what they teach you and seek Christ now!
Proposition: What are we to instruct
our children? The gospel is not man’s
works for salvation but God’s work—"We have heard with our ears, O
God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times
of old.”
GOD’S ELECTION OF
GRACE
Psalm 44: 2: How
thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them [God’s elect]; how
thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. [the non-elect heathen]
3…[but he says of God’s elect] thou hadst a favour unto them.
The gospel we must instruct
our children is that God has an elect people in this world for whom God gives
nations. It is clear throughout the
scripture that some people in this world are God’s favored people and others
are not. There were many
nations—people—who God did not show favor unto but who God drove out of the
land of Canaan—they are called here “the heathen.”—"thou didst drive
out the heathen with thy hand, thou didst afflict the people, and cast them
out.” Then there were the children
of Israel—amongst whom God had an elect people—and toward them God had free
favor—free grace—not based on anything in them—God “planted them” This shows us plainly that there are people
in this world who are God’s elect and there are people who are not.
The only difference
is the difference made by God’s favor—his sovereign, free,
distinguishing grace. Take Noah for
example. He was a sinner like all the other people in his day—“every
imagination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually.” Who
made Noah to differ? Ge 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. God had favor unto Noah like he does his
elect today.
God works all things
in this world for his elect. God gives
up whole nations of people for his elect’s sake.
Isaiah 43: 3: For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. 4:
Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have
loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
Everything God does
in this world, he does for his elect—everything Christ did he did for his elect
and his elect alone!
Remember what we saw
is the purpose of God in electing some and passing by others?
Romans 9:11: (For the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works, but of him that calleth;)…
The first thing that
must happen for a sinner to be saved is we must be made to see we are sinners. We
have no will to come to God. We have no
works to make ourselves accepted of God. Salvation must be by God who calleth
because we are helpless, ruined sinners.
Before we can be saved we have to be humbled from our proud, arrogant
pedestal down to Christ’s feet. Coming
to Christ is not of your will or mine. Being
God’s elect is not because of some work in us.
It is simply of God that shows mercy to whom he will. He gives a new heart and draws us to Christ
Romans 9: 16: So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Would you believe that as I studied this 44th
Psalm, I came across a commentary which said, “See, human will must work
together with divine grace.” It is due
to such blindness of the depraved heart that God must do the choosing and give
us a new heart and a new will.
SALVATION BY CHRIST’S HAND
Psalm 44: 3: For they
got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm
save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance,
because thou hadst a favour unto them. 4: Thou art my King, O God: command
deliverances for Jacob. 5: Through thee
will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that
rise up against us. 6: For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword
save me. 7 But thou hast saved us from
our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
We must teach our children that salvation is
not by our hand but by God’s right arm, Christ Jesus his Son. Someone correctly said that verse 1 speaks of
Gods’ “work” singular because all the works of God in delivering
Israel pictures that one work of Christ on the cross whereby he crushed the
devils head, fulfilled the law and delivered his people from all our enemies. The children of Israel did not get the
land of Canaan in possession by their own sword, neither did their arm save
them. Nor did we get heavenly
Canaan in our possession by our works. We
are possessors of heavenly Canaan by Christ Jesus who is described here as "thy
right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst
a favour unto them.”
It was common when I was growing up to hear
free will preachers say, “Since God is Spirit, God has no hands but your hands
and no arms but your arms.” Truth is, God
has no hands and no arms but those of the GodMan, Christ Jesus, his Son. God who is Spirit came down and took a human
body like those he came to save so that Christ is the right hand and right arm
of God—Christ is the power and wisdom of God!
Isaiah 53: 1: Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the ARM OF THE
LORD revealed? 2: For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a
root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see
him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3: He is despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it
were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4:
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5: But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Christ is the “Light of God’s countenance”
Hebrew 1:3: Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image
of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Christ is King and
God in the hearts of all who he regenerates through the Spirit—"Thou
art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.” Christ commanded Lazarus come forth from
the tomb! He commanded the wicked
spirits depart the demoniac. Christ commanded
the wind and waves be still. Christ is
at God’s right hand with all power and our King, our God, COMMANDS DELIVERANCE
FOR HIS HELPLESS JACOBS
But someone will
object. They will say but the children
of Israel fought the Canaanites so we must fight with our hand and our
arm. Yes, we must fight the good fight
of faith. But it is only through Christ
that we win the victory—"Through thee will we push down our enemies: through
thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust
in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our
enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.” This is the Psalm that gives
us the familiar verse in verse 22. We
are sheep accounted for the slaughter. What did Paul say on this verse?
Romans 8: 37: Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors THROUGH
HIM that loved us.
Listen to this beautiful picture of our
salvation.
Joshua 24: 11 [God told Israel] And ye went over Jordan, and came unto
Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you,…and I delivered them into
your hand….13: And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and
cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and
oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.
That is a picture of
our salvation by Christ Jesus. We have
all these free blessings for which we did not labor but Christ won the victory on
our behalf.
Joshua 24: 14: Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity
and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side
of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
So long as sinners
keep boasting in their fighting, in their faith, in their
overcoming then they are worshipping idol gods. But those who fear the Lord serve him in
sincerity and truth, giving the glory to God!
GIVE GOD ALL THE
GLORY
Psalm 44: 8: In God
we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
So, lastly, we must
teach our children that true worshippers give God all the glory for all. This is the difference in false and true
worshippers. False worshippers boast in themselves. True worshippers boast in God and praise his
name forever.
Selah—means give that serious
consideration.
1 Corinthians 4:7: For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what
hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou
glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
Listen to 1
Corinthians 1: 30-31. “But of him are
ye in Christ Jesus”—if we are in Christ God the Father chose us in Christ. “Who of God is made unto us”—if
we believe Christ in truth it is because the Spirit of God revealed Christ unto
us. And if we worship Christ in truth it
is because Christ is all our salvation—"wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption.” So seeing that God alone made us to
differ; seeing we received everything from God and had nothing to do with any
aspect of our salvation—that leaves us only one thing to do—"He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
May God give us
fathers and mothers grace to teach our children that salvation is by God’s
electing grace, that salvation is by Christ our God and King doing all the work
and that salvation is to the praise and glory of God. And may God give our
children grace to hear their father and mother and believe on Christ.
Amen!