About this sermon
Psalm 111 praises the great works of the Lord, especially his works of redemption in the exodus, the wilderness, and the gift of the land. His works are studied by all who delight in them, and his people must remember his wonders, because drifting from them comes easily. The psalm ends with the motto of the wisdom books: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Christ is the wisdom of God, and the message of the cross makes sinners wise unto salvation.
Sermon transcript
Well, please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. We continue our study and consideration of various Psalms in the Book of Psalms. And this evening, we’re going to consider Psalm 111, often regarded as the first of the so-called Hallel Psalms. Let us hear God’s holy words, Psalm 111. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is His work, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonders to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has given food to those who fear Him. He will remember His covenant forever. He has made known to His people the power of His works in giving them the heritage of the nations.
The works of His hands are truth and justice. All His precepts are sure. They are upheld forever and ever. They are performed in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people. He has ordained His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever. Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God to bless the proclamation of His word this evening. Gracious Heavenly Father, indeed, how great and awesome are Your works, for You are the great and awesome God. We ask, Heavenly Father, once again, as we sit at Your feet this evening and hear Your Word proclaimed, we pray that Your Spirit would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from Your Word.
And once again, we would beseech you, God, to set a guard over my lips that I might speak only that which is faithful to your word and beneficial to your people and glorifying to your name. We pray these things, heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. Once again, I would point out we have about six key words that you can be listening for this evening, and especially the words praise, redemption, and wisdom are significant words in our passage for this Lord’s Day evening. Well, dear friends, our psalm for this Lord’s Day evening is a joyful psalm of praise and thanksgiving. It’s a psalm which includes an emphasis on the theme of godly wisdom, a psalm which also extols and celebrates the mighty works of Yahweh, our faithful covenant-keeping God.
The mighty works of the Lord that appear to be the particular focus of this psalm’s anonymous author and which serve as the backdrop of this psalm are His mighty works of redemption in particular. Psalm 104, for example, focused on God’s mighty works of creation and providence, but once again, we have in this psalm this evening a focus on God’s mighty works of redemption. Though these mighty redemptive works are not explicitly mentioned, it seems clear that the spirit-inspired psalmist alludes to Yahweh’s mighty works such as the exodus deliverance of His people from Egyptian slavery through things like the plagues and the Red Sea Crossing. God preserving them in the wilderness and in their wanderings in that wilderness, His conquest of the promised land, and also possibly His revelation, the revelation of His law on Mount Sinai.
That is perhaps what is referred to as the precepts of verse 7. Although, as an aside, I will say that this term, precepts, may in this passage also encompass God’s covenant promises given to Abraham and not just God’s giving of the law to his people from Mount Sinai. In any case, one commentator writes in introducing Psalm 111 the following. The commentator says, this psalm of praise recalls the exodus, wilderness wanderings, and conquest of the promised land. The psalm is an acrostic. That is to say, every line of this psalm is a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So the psalm is an acrostic, a trait common among wisdom poems, and it ends on a note that could be called the motto of the book of Proverbs. Again, that motto, if you will, is found in verse 10, where it says, and you’ve probably heard these words before, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
A good understanding have those who do his commandments. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Again, that highlights the wisdom emphasis of this particular psalm. Now as I mentioned, Psalm 111 is often regarded as the first of the so-called Hallel Psalms. And usually those psalms are listed as being Psalm 111 through Psalm 118. And they are called the Hallel Psalms for a couple of reasons. First of all, because of their liturgical use, their frequent liturgical use of the Hebrew phrase Hallelu-Yah. And what do those words mean? Hallelujah, it means praise ye Yah, or praise ye Jehovah, praise ye the Lord. And it’s also, these are also classified as Hallel Psalms because it is believed that these particular praise songs, Psalms 111 through 118, were used in the liturgy at the three annual festivals of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.
Now in terms of the question, who wrote this psalm in terms of its human author and when was this psalm written? Honestly, we simply don’t have enough information to know who in particular wrote this psalm. We know that the author was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write what he wrote, but we can’t identify that author with absolute certainty. Nor can we be dogmatic about precisely when this psalm was written, although some scholars are of the strong opinion that this psalm is no doubt a post-exilic psalm. That is to say, some scholars believe that it was written after God’s people returned to the Promised Land following their Babylonian exile. But again, we cannot be too dogmatic about that view. In terms of the theme and structure of this beautiful psalm, again I refer to, as I often quote him, Dr.
Willem van Gemeren. He has some helpful comments to consider. He writes, this psalm celebrating the wonders of Yahweh is in the form of a hymn but has a clearly defined concern with wisdom. The acrostic structure reveals a careful and artistic composition. The psalm consists of 23 bi and tri colons, each beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet except for the introduction in verse 1a. And Dr. Van Gammeren also points out that Psalms 111 and 112 form a unit and may have been written by the same author or originated from within the same general approach to piety. And so as you read these Psalms, it’s helpful to read Psalm 11 along with Psalm 12. And you’ll notice some similarities between those two Psalms. And you’ll see that they go together and fill out one another, if you will.
Now, when we as Christians, as believers in Christ and as the Christian church, as we use this psalm and approach psalms like Psalm 111, how are we to do so from a distinctly Christian point of view? Well friends, as we in the Christian church take up this psalm to use in our own prayers and in our own praises, I would suggest to you, beloved, that the great works of the Lord that we should especially remember and especially celebrate are the saving works of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially His atoning death on the cross his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven and his pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon his church on the day of Pentecost. When this psalm was sung by Old Covenant believers, believers living under the Old Covenant, they would naturally, as they reflect on the mighty works of God, they’d naturally think back to events like the Exodus, the plagues that God poured out upon the Egyptians, and the rescue of His people, His bringing them through the Red Sea on dry land, His giving of His law to His people from Mount Sinai, His presence with His people in the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night in their wilderness wanderings, and ultimately through Joshua, His bringing of His people into the promised land through the conquest.
And certainly it is a right and good thing for us as God’s people living even as we do today in the new covenant to remember those mighty works of the Lord in the past, those mighty acts of redemption and deliverance under the old covenant. But again, remember brothers and sisters, all of those Old Testament redemptive events, what did they point forward to? What do they prepare the way for? they ultimately point forward to the saving work of Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross of Calvary as the Passover lamb and his glorious resurrection from the dead, wherein he brings in the new creation and guarantees us an eternal inheritance. Another way to put this is that we need to read these Old Covenant Psalms, including Psalm 111, with new covenant eyes. We need to ask ourselves, and this is how I like to put it with children.
Children, when we read the Old Testament, we need to put our Jesus glasses on. We need to ask ourselves as we approach any passage of the Old Testament, how does this passage prepare us for and point to and lead us to Jesus Christ and His fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures. So with all of this in mind, let’s consider Psalm 111. We’ll focus, first of all, on the first three verses of this psalm. And one of the things we learn in the first three verses, this opening section of this brief psalm, is that the Lord, Yahweh, our faithful covenant God, is to be publicly praised for His mighty works. The Lord is to be publicly praised for His mighty works. The psalm begins with that hallelujah language. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart in the company of the upright and in the assembly.
The psalmist here declares his intention to thank Yahweh, to thank the Lord, and to do so not just in an external ritual ceremonial sense, but to do so with his whole heart, with his entire being. His praise and thanksgiving to God is to flow out of the very center of His life and being. We learn here in this verse that Yahweh, the covenant Lord and faithful Redeemer, is to be given wholehearted praise. And He is to be given wholehearted praise where? In the company of the upright and in the assembly, or that could be translated as the council of the upright and in the congregation. What do these terms refer to? Well, the Council of the Upright, as one commentator points out, this could be referring to the intimate fellowship of the individual members of their group, whereas the congregation refers to the gatherings of those intimate friends in the house of God.
In other words, the references to private prayer and public worship. And I think this is important. We tend in our culture here in America to be very individualistic, focused on individual practice of our faith, and that’s very important. Personal devotions, personal prayer and Bible study, personal praise to God, and praise to God in the context of your families, family worship together, family devotions. Those are important and commendable practices, but we often downplay the significance and importance of corporate worship. But the scriptures don’t share that hyper-individualistic focus. Like many other passages of God’s Word, and especially of the Psalms, this verse underscores the importance and the centrality of the corporate worship of God in the context of the covenant community. And perhaps I don’t need to highlight that or point that out to you folks. who are here for this evening service.
You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t think that corporate worship was important. But nonetheless, we need to have our attention focused on how the scriptures highlight the importance of corporate worship. Brothers and sisters, we are not meant to be disconnected Lone Ranger Christians who praise God only in our private prayer closets, as important as private prayer and devotion is. After all, when Christ saves us, he connects us not only to himself, but to the body of Christ. We’re not supposed to operate outside the body We are to be connected to the body, not only in fellowship, but in worship as well. And then verse two, it goes on, the psalmist goes on to say, great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. Some translations, I believe, say they are pondered by all who delight in them.
All of Yahweh’s works are great, for Yahweh, the true and living God, is Himself the infinitely great One. And since Yahweh is great and His works are great, we read here that these great works of the Lord are studied by all who delight in them. My friends, there is this conception out there, this view out there among those who probably don’t spend much time studying the Bible, that Bible study is boring, right? Now, Bible study can be approached in a boring way, I’m not denying that, but when you actually do a deep dive into scripture, When you get beyond the surface and you dive into the word of God, there are treasures, there are treasures here, spiritual treasures found in this book, in this word from God. They are studied by all who delight in them.
Do you, dear listener, delight in studying the great works of your great and awesome God? And if you’ve been redeemed by Christ, how could you not delight in studying the person and work of Christ, in studying what your Savior did to redeem your soul and bring you back into a right relationship with God and secure for you everlasting life and eternal hope? Let us delight in studying the great works of our great and awesome God as those mighty works are revealed to us in his inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. And then we read on in verse three, the psalmist says, splendid and majestic is his work and his righteousness endures forever. Did you notice the exalted terminology that the psalmist uses to describe these mighty works of God? They are splendid. They are majestic, just like God himself is splendid and majestic.
And we are told that his righteousness endures forever. Now, when we think of God’s righteousness, We no doubt think of things like his moral uprightness. God is infinitely righteous. There is no evil or wickedness in the Lord. He is perfectly pure and holy and righteous. He is ethically supreme and just and good and right. But this word righteousness means more than simply the Lord’s moral uprightness, his ethical excellence. Dr. Van Gameron, points this out, he says that the word righteousness refers to God’s orderly rule over creation, his victorious rule over the nations, and his redemption of his own. By his righteousness, God puts all things right in the end. and so we can trust in Him. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ever strive to make the public praise and worship of our God and the declaration of His mighty works a top priority here at Grace Church.
So we see that the Lord is to be publicly praised for His mighty works. And as we move next to the central section of our Psalm verses 4 through 9, consider next that the Lord who in covenant faithfulness acted to redeem His people in the past can be trusted to deliver His people in the future. The Lord, Yahweh, who in covenant faithfulness acted to redeem His people in the past, all in fulfillment of His covenant promises, He can be trusted to deliver His people in the future as well. Sometimes if you’re discouraged in your faith and God seems distant from you or you’re going through a spiritual dry season, One of the things that, I don’t know about you folks, but one of the things I find encouraging when I go through periods of spiritual dryness in my own walk with the Lord is to remember how God has worked in my life in the past, to remember how God has shown me mercy and kindness in the past, and how he promises that he will never leave us or forsake us.
And this is what we find emphasized here in this section of Psalm 111. Our God has been our help in ages past. He will be our hope for years to come because He is the same from everlasting to everlasting. His promises are sure and secure and dependable. We can depend upon Him. And so we go on here in verse four. The psalmist says, He has made His wonders to be remembered. The Lord is gracious. and compassionate. Yes, he’s holy. Yes, he’s righteous. Yes, he is just. Yes, he will bring his wrath upon those who rebel against him and persist in their impenitent sin. But he is gracious and compassionate. We also learn in the scriptures that he is slow to anger and abundant in steadfast love and covenant faithfulness. We are often, we and our sin are often quick to anger.
We have a short fuse. And we sometimes get impatient with God because we look around the world and we see all the wickedness and evil that is committed in the world. And we think, Lord, why don’t you act? Are you asleep, God? No, he’s not. He’s patient. He’s slow to anger. He’s gracious. He’s compassionate. But notice in verse four, this emphasis on remembering God’s wonders. To remember God’s wonders, in other words, His miracles, especially His miraculous works of deliverance and redemption, this remembrance of God’s wonders is obviously a high priority to the Lord because many places in the scriptures contain the command or the exhortation to remember the Lord. And why is it that we are called to remember the Lord? Because we are so prone to forget the Lord. in Old Testament times. But we may wonder, you may wonder, well how is it that the people of God who lived under the Old Covenant, how did they remember the mighty works of the Lord?
After all, they did not have the completed scriptures. They didn’t have this book all in one, bound in one volume. And so how was it that the people of God living at that time of redemptive history, how did they remember the mighty works that the Lord had done for them? And we need to keep in mind too, brothers and sisters, you know, think about how many Bibles do you own? If you’re like most people, especially most American Christians, you probably own multiple copies of the Word of God. And praise God, that’s a great blessing to have multiple copies of the Word of God. But back then, if you were part of the people of God, to have a copy, to have a scroll of various writings of Scripture was a great luxury. that only the most wealthy could afford.
So without access to their own copies of God’s word, how did God’s people remember the mighty works of the Lord? God’s mighty works were remembered in Old Testament times through things such as the feast days, the Sabbaths, the various ordinances of Old Covenant ceremonial worship, the sacrifices, the liturgical and life of worship in Israel, all of the things like the Passover and tabernacles and Pentecost and all of these ceremonies and sacrifices, all of these liturgical feast days, were intended and given by God to his people, designed to remind them of what God had done for them in redeeming them to be his people and reminding them of their identity as God’s chosen, redeemed covenant people. And so, again, God made provision for the remembrance of his mighty deeds. That’s why he can say that the Lord has made his wonders to be remembered.
But praise God, as I mentioned before, we have access to his word. But we also continue to have access to the ordinary means of grace. Not only the word as it’s publicly read and proclaimed, but the sacraments and public prayer and so forth. And God calls us in his word, commands us to diligently use these ordinary means of grace. through these ordinary means of grace, we do indeed remember His mighty works of redemption for us. And so the implication is that if we are infrequent or negligent or casual in our use of God’s ordinary means of grace, we are at higher risk of forgetting the Lord and His wonders. And When the Bible talks about remembering, it’s not just talking about mental remembrance. To forget the Lord is not just to forget about him intellectually speaking.
So this is not necessarily forgetting in the sense of intellectual forgetfulness, but in the sense of losing our grip on the importance, the priority, and the absolute centrality of our Lord and his saving work for us. as a pastor. I’ve seen it before and I’m sure every pastor, almost any pastor would say this. You think about folks who they’re regular in their attendance on the worship of God, the public ordinances of worship, but then they start to slack off. Not because of providential hindrances beyond their control. We understand that that some folks are hindered from regular attendance at the public worship services through illness, through incarceration, through various providential circumstances. But I’m talking about those who have access, who don’t have these providential hindrances. And one of the things that pastors sometimes see is that folks who start to gradually start abstaining from the regular worship assembly of the church.
Over time, they get into, they lose the habit of regular church attendance and they drift away, gradually, slowly drift away to the point where even though they know about church, they know about the things of the Lord intellectually, they forget the centrality and the importance of Christ. to their lives. We’re warned about this kind of drift in passages, for example, like Hebrews 2, verse 1. If you want to turn there, just very briefly, Hebrews 2, verse 1. The author of Hebrews writes, for this reason, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. We must pay much closer attention. In other words, we must remember, we must be earnest and diligent in paying attention to these things. And one of the ways that we do that is through the regular week in, week out, Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day attendance upon the public means of grace as God in His providence gives us opportunity to attend to those means.
And that’s why even as even Hebrews 10 verses 23 through 25, which is another familiar exhortation, I’m sure. But the author of Hebrews there, again, the author of Hebrews is addressing this warning to a group of Jewish Christians who were tempted because of the pressures of persecution to abandon Christ and go back to their former Judaism. What does he say? Hebrews 10, 23 to 25, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate one another. There’s the community, the covenant community. Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some. Even in the first century in the early church, there were some professing believers who were infrequent in attendance upon the public means of grace, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
And so this is why we believe in the importance of regular, indeed weekly, Lord’s Day worship together in the church. Not because we earn brownie points with God or earn his favor by coming together frequently in worship, but because God uses these things to help us remember his mighty works, to preserve us in the faith and give us hope and encouragement in our pilgrimage on the way to glory. But some would say, well, pastor, you know, I’ve been to services where, you know, and sometimes we’ve all been there, right? You attend a worship service and you leave and you say, you know what? I really didn’t get anything out of that service. Was that a waste of time? And even if the, and I’ll be honest too as a preacher, sometimes preachers bomb in their sermons.
Every preacher’s had that happen, right? Even if the sermon is technically accurate and in accordance with the scripture, sometimes it’s delivered in a way that is unhelpful or the spirit just doesn’t seem to be blessing the proclamation of the word. And sometimes we’re tempted to go away from services like that and say, you know, maybe that was a waste of time. No, it’s not. It’s not. It’s not. any particular service that matters. It’s the cumulative effect of week in, week out, Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day, attending upon the means of grace. You know, even when you’re tired, even when your mind is distracted with other things, you come together with God’s people. And even if you leave the worship assembly saying, you know, I was, my mind was so, Often in the distance, I don’t think I got anything out of that, but it’s the formation, the spiritual formation that comes through the habit of communing with God in the public means of grace, week in and week out.
And the Lord uses this to help us remember His mighty works. And so again, getting back to our passage, he has made his wonders to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. And then the psalmist lists particular ways that God has done this. He has given food to those who fear him. Now some commentators think that, well, this may be referring to God’s gift of the manna in the wilderness. And God did indeed provide manna for his wilderness, the wilderness generation. However, notice it says he gives food to those who fear him. The wilderness generation as a whole was not faithful in fearing or reverencing the Lord. I think this is probably talking about God’s general provision of food for his people. But then it goes on to say, He will remember His covenant forever.
God has shown His covenant faithfulness to His people throughout redemptive history. And then verse 6, He has made known to His people the power of His works in giving them the heritage of the nations. That is a reference to the conquest. That was part of God’s covenant promise to Abraham that he would give Abraham, his descendants, the promised land. And that promised land, of course, was a type and picture of the ultimate promised land, the new heavens and the new earth, wherein righteousness dwells. So in verses 5 and 6 we see a focus on Yahweh’s daily provision, His covenant faithfulness, and His provision of an inheritance for His people. And then in verses 7 and 8 the psalmist says, justice. All his precepts are sure.” Again, those precepts he could have in mind, the commandments revealed from Mount Sinai in particular, but I think I agree with commentators who suggest that the psalmist here is using that term precepts in the broader sense of God’s covenant promises as well, including his covenant promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And then verse 8, They are upheld forever and ever. God keeps His covenant promises forever and ever. They are performed in truth and uprightness. Here in verses 7 and 8, God’s works and words are shown to be true, just, and forever certain. How reliable and trustworthy He is as displayed in His wonders and in His precepts. And then verse 9. He has sent redemption to His people. He has ordained His covenant forever. If you were an old covenant believer, a believer living in Old Testament times, and you heard these words, the act of redemption that would come to the forefront of your mind, the act of redemption that showed the mighty power of God would have been the Exodus event. And indeed, that was a mighty redemptive work of the Lord. But again, as I pointed out before, This is ultimately fulfilled in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
He has wrought that ultimate redemption by his obedient life, his atoning sacrificial death, and his glorious resurrection from the dead. So the point here, friends, is that since God has been faithful in keeping His covenant promises and in delivering His people in the past, let us rest in His covenant faithfulness to us in Christ as we face the future, even an uncertain future. And finally, as the psalmist closes up our psalm for this evening in verse 10, he focuses on our proper response to this. What is our proper response to Yahweh’s mighty works? We are to pursue true wisdom and offer to Him continuous praise. Our proper response to Yahweh’s mighty works? is to pursue true wisdom and offer the Lord continuous praise. As it says in verse 10, the fear of the Lord, that is reverent awe and trust in the fear of the Lord, Yahweh, is the beginning of wisdom.
A good understanding have all those who do his commandments. His praise endures forever. Notice the close connection between wisdom, obedience, and praise. Again, to quote from Dr. Van Gammeren, he says, in which God’s people will express fear for him, submitting themselves to his rule and following his precepts. The bottom line, what is our proper response to the mighty works of the Lord, his mighty works of redemption? In short, fear God, strive to keep his commandments, and express his praise. However, let me step back and remind us that as sinners, we cannot do these things in the power of our flesh or by our own resources. You cannot fear God, obey His commandments, or even properly sing His praises in your flesh or out of your own resources. Let us remember, brothers and sisters, that it is in Christ that we have wisdom.
In Christ are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, as the Apostle Paul reminds us in Colossians 2, verse 3. Christ alone is our righteousness, our redemption, our sanctification, and our wisdom. He alone is our source for godly wisdom. So how do we get this godly wisdom? The answer is by grace alone, through believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, the cross of Christ, the message of the cross, is foolishness to those coming from a standpoint of worldly wisdom. It is foolishness, the wise of this world say, this idea of salvation through a crucified Messiah. That’s foolishness, the world says. But it is the very wisdom and the very power of Almighty God. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God because it brings us into union with Christ who is himself the living wisdom and word of God.
Dear listener, do you believe in the good news of Jesus Christ? Is his mighty work of redemption on the cross and by his resurrection the source of your joy and hope, that in which you delight to study? Do you look to Christ and his cross work as your wisdom. Pursue wisdom by resting upon Jesus Christ and then praise Him for His amazing grace to you. Amen. Let us pray. Our gracious Lord and Father in heaven, once again we thank you that in Christ we have righteousness, redemption, sanctification and wisdom. And we thank you, Lord, for your mighty acts of grace and redemption given to us in Christ. We pray, Heavenly Father, that we might not drift from these truths, but indeed that we might remember by trusting you and continuing to rest upon you each and every day.
Be with us now, we pray, and by your spirit, bless the word that we heard this evening. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, amen. As we close our time of worship this evening, let’s rise and we’ll sing Psalm 111B, O give the Lord wholehearted praise. We’ll rise and sing together 111B.
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