Caleb Walker

Resources: Lesson Manuscript, PowerPoint, and Devotional

Franklin Heights Church Connect Groups: https://franklinheights.org/connect/groups/

Teaching PowerPoint Link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dio1w0oqfcm4fgromwp5v/God-s-Faithfulness.pptx?rlkey=0ux8k7zl6otuymy1qad4031ju&st=hk1mrirb&dl=0

Review: Last week we looked at how God delivers us through the tough times. Maybe you are going through a tough time right now. God protects and defends you when you belong to Him; those who have given Him their lives, receiving His salvation.  God rescues us out of the dark pits and pulls us up so that we stand in a broad place of safety and freedom. God is our staff that supports and propels us forward. He rewards us when we faithfully walk closely with Him. He gives hope to the humble.

Title: God’s Faithfulness

Text: Psalm 105:1-11, 42-45

Key Verse: Psalm 105:1-2, “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
    make known his deeds among the peoples!
² Sing to him, sing praises to him;
    tell of all his wondrous works!”

Theme: God deserves our worship because of His faithfulness toward His people.

Introduction: In this week’s lesson we see that…

Context: I love the old hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” written in the 1920’s by a Kentucky Pastor, Thomas Chisholm. It comes from lamentations 3:22-23, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.”

Psalm 105 shows us that to live the Christian life God wants for us, we need to remember the imperative nature of remembering God’s faithfulness and recognize God deserves our worship for His faithfulness.

Main Points:

1. Call to Worship (vv. 1-6)

• The psalmist opens with ten statements that are imperative that call the believers to worship God.

Oh give thanks to the Lord; 

[The psalmist is going to point to the faithfulness of God in His dealings with His people from the Pentateuch.]

call upon his name;
    make known his deeds among the peoples!

[CSB, “proclaim His deeds”; Believers have a testimony of God’s faithfulness to proclaim to others.]

² Sing to him, sing praises to him;
    tell of all his wondrous works!

[The Hebrew word for “tell” here means meditate; Meditating on God’s works and allowing them to sink into our hearts and minds will increase our witness to others. It will make us want to share His wondrous works with others all the more!]

³ Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

[The CSV uses the word “Boast” for “Glory” here. Boasting about one’s own accomplishments and achievements seems to be the standard modus operandi in our day and age. But the one who matures in his or her faith will be quick to shy away from the elusive and vaporous “limelight,” and will instead boast in the holy name of the Lord while rejoicing in our hearts because we’ve sought Him, as this verse says. Psalm 33:21 says, “For our heart is glad in him,
    because we trust in his holy name.”]

⁴ Seek the Lord and his strength;
    seek his presence continually!

[This verse is a reminder that we will never arrive in the Christian life and there is always a need for growth and sanctification to be more like Christ, and that requires a continual pursuit. Learn from the past experiences of God, but don’t rest on those past laurels of experience. What is God showing you, changing in you, removing from you, helping you have victory over today?]

⁵ Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
    his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, [This call to “Remember” reminds us that in our fallen humanity we are guilty of spiritual amnesia at times we can forget His works and truths of the past that fortify us for today. Israel often forgot God’s works and so He took them through a cycle of sending the chastening that brought them back afresh to repentance and pursuing Him once again.]

Gospel: In redemptive history they looked forward in faith to the promised Messiah, and we look back in fact on the promised Messiah’s work on the cross and in His resurrection. How much more should we be compelled to remember and not forget what God has done for us. One of the best ways to remember what God has done for us is to share it with others. That’s why it’s so important that we seizing opportunities to share the Good News with others.

Three circles walk through with recommended verses:

God’s Design Passage: Genesis 1:27, 31

Sin & Brokenness Passages: Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23

The Gospel Passages: I Corinthians 15:3-4; John 1:12; Romans 10:9

⁶ O offspring of Abraham, his servant,
    children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

[We can have certainty that the offspring of Abraham and Jacob—the nation of Israel, as promised by God and expanding to the church—are chosen and special in God’s sight as His covenant people. There were three key aspects to this covenant made to the descendants, Israel: (1) a nation, (2) the land, (3) blessing them with being a blessing to the world (i.e., the Messiah + the gospel +the church + His promised return, etc.,)

II. Covenant Made (vv. 7-11)

• In this next section we see God’s rule not only over Israel but over all nations, exercising complete sovereign control. This is a comfort as we see major world events unfolding on our TV screens each day.
• The key verse in this section is verse 11 where Abraham’s descendants are promised the land. The rest of the psalm celebrates this. God works in real, concrete ways in our lives, as he did in Abraham’s and promised to do for his descendants.

^“7 He is the Lord our God;
    his judgments are in all the earth.

[Limitless/infinite in His transcendent attributes: eternal, all-powerful, omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (in all places at all times), holy (without blemish), and immutable (unchanging, constant).]

⁸ He remembers his covenant forever,
    the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,

[This covenant was affirmed to Jacob, emphasizing the physical land, in Genesis 35:10-15, “¹⁰ And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. ¹¹ And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:^[a] be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.^[b] 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” ¹³ Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. ¹⁴ And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. ¹⁵ So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.”]

⁹ the covenant that he made with Abraham,
    his sworn promise to Isaac,
¹⁰ which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
    to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

[CSV, “decree”; a “law,” a “statute,” in Hebrew indicating an obligation of obedience  for the other party making the covenant.]

¹¹ saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
    as your portion for an inheritance.”…

III. Covenant Fulfilled (vv. 42-45)

⁴²For he remembered his holy promise,

[People will forget God’s promises, but God will faithfully remember them and keep them. People are fallible and forgetful; God is infallible and faithful.]

    and Abraham, his servant.

⁴³ So he brought his people out with joy,

[This was the historical—in-real-time- deliverance of God’s people from Egypt. This real-time in history deliverance validates the real-time in history promises being fulfilled of the covenant.]

“…his chosen ones with singing” (emphasis mine).

[Egypt is an Old Testament picture of the old man, the old life, the old sin nature. Has God brought you out of that old man’s enslavement and bondage? If so, there is therefore cause for great rejoicing today! You may be having a rough day at work. You may have a tough diagnosis. You may be dealing with a tough relational circumstance. But, if you’ve been delivered from sin and its eternal consequences, you have immense cause for joy and rejoicing in Jesus.]

⁴⁴ And he gave them the lands of the nations,
    and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil,

[referencing God giving them Canaan and using Israel to punish the evil, murderous atrocities of the other nations.]

⁴⁵ that they might keep his statutes
    and observe his laws.
Praise the Lord!

[God is worthy of our “Hallelujahs!” of praise for all he has done for us. What a blessing it is to be grafted in—by His new covenant of grace—to His faithful and sure promises to us.]

Doctrine: Our key doctrine for this week is Man.

     Lifeway says, “Only the grace of God can bring man into  His holy fellowship  and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.” God created man and offers us to join Him in building His kingdom, not our own kingdom.

Gospel:

Discussion Questions: Please share some of your answers to these questions in the comments.

• How would you describe how God has been faithful to you?
• When you remember that God is sovereign—completely in control of all things—how does that encourage your faith?
• How does Jesus’ example of promise keeping influence us to keep our word?
• Giving God the glory and gratitude He deserves is a great way to start gospel conversations. What are some creative ways you can start gospel conversations by celebrating God’s goodness with lost friends or coworkers or neighbors?

Big Takeaway(s):

• As believers, we need to be ready to tell others what God has done for us.
• We can praise God for His sovereignty over all things.
• God’s past faithfulness motivates and compels us to trust his faithfulness for the future.

Resources: See Description

Devotional:

Title: “Psalm 105 & My Promise-Keeping God”

     As you read Psalm 105 you will notice the emphasis on God initiating and keeping His covenant promises to His people, Israel, of which the church is grafted into as gospel-beneficiaries under the new covenant of grace. God never had to speak one word of promise; but He did. God never had to create the human race and specifically the recipients of His promises; but He did. God never had to go all the way to sending His precious Son to earth, and then to the cross, and then to the grave and up again the third day; but He did. God didn’t have to promise to send His Son at any moment; but He did. God didn’t have to send the Holy Spirit to live within believers in the Church Age in which we now, presently live and serve in our local churches—something He said was even better than the physical presence of His Son (John 14); but He did. If this doesn’t declare loudly the infinite love and mercy and benevolence and kindness and generosity and good, unstoppable plan of God to you and to me, than I don’t know what would. I have to say with the psalmist, “Hallelujah!”

How to Pray:

• “Hallelujah!”