Psalm 95 – COME!
Gathering for worship is not a new thing.
It has been done by the Christians for 2000 years.
It has been done by the Jewish people many centuries longer than that!
Psalm 95 is a call to worship.
The Psalmist was inviting his fellow Jews to true worship.
The Psalmist is inviting you and me to true worship.
If we are going to worship together, we should do it in a way that pleases God. So, the Psalmist invites us to come!
COME JOYFULLY – Vs. 1
Vs. 1 – The Jewish religion was a joyful religion.
Christianity is a joyful religion.
Yes, there are times of sorrow.
Yes, there are times for repentance.
Yes, there are times to grieve.
But by and large, Christianity is a religion of joy.
It is a joy to know the God of the universe personally.
It is a joy to come before God in the name of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a joy that God encourages us to come to Him. He’s not standoffish.
It is a joy that our sins are forgiven.
It is a joy that we have eternal life.
It is a joy that He will never leave or forsake us.
It is a joy that He protects us.
It is a joy that He heals us.
We are told to come with singing.
We are told to come with shouting, a joyful noise.
Our worship should be enthusiastic on the outside, because we are enthused on the inside. Ephesians 5:18-19, Colossians 3:16
Our outward worship should be an expression of what is going on in our hearts!
Worship is a privilege. We should be joyful in that privilege.
Notice who we worship! We are worshipping the LORD – We are worshipping Jehovah, the great “I AM”, the self existent God of the universe.
We are worshipping the “rock of our salvation”.
A rock can not be moved. Our salvation as Christians is “rock solid”! When Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church,” the rock that He was referring to was Himself.
our salvation, if you are saved is worth singing and shouting about.
Your salvation is worth getting excited over.
Consider the words of Ephesians 2:1-7:
COME THANKFULLY – Vs. 2
Vs. 2 – There are people I only hear from if they want something. Do you know people like that?
When does God hear from you?
And when God does hear from you, do you come with a thankful heart for all that he’s already done?
Do you begin your approach to the “throne of grace” with a thankful heart?
COME KNOWLEDGABLY – Vss. 3-5
The better we know about God, and the better we know God, the more joyful and thankful we will be when we come into his presence.
Vs. 3 – There are so many ways that God is a great God, many we have already mentioned. But I think that two of the greatest things about our God are His holiness and His omnipotence. Nothing is impossible to Him.
God is great because He is holy. He is totally set apart from all that is evil, wrong, and wicked in this world. This puts God in a league of His own. 1 Samuel 2:2, Isaiah 6:4
God is holy, and therefore worthy of our worship.
God is all-powerful, omnipotent, with Him nothing is impossible. Again, He is worthy of our worship.
Jeremiah 32:17, Luke 1:37, Luke 18:27
The more we have a working knowledge that nothing is impossible with God, the more we will trust Him When it says that God is a great king above all gods, the psalmist is not saying that other gods are real. He is acknowledging that there are things that people have made to be gods, and God is superior to all of them. Psalm 96:5
Vs. 4 – God is in control of the deepest places in the earth, some of which man has never been to.
God is also in control of the highest mountain peaks.
Vs. 5 – God made the sea and everything in it.
God made the dry land and everything in it. Psalm 19:1
COME REVERENTLY – Vss. 6-7
Vs. 6 – When we worship we give honor and glory to God.
The word “worship” in Hebrew means to prostrate oneself. We know what it means to bow and kneel.
When we are reverent, we are humbling ourselves before God.
In this church we don’t literally kneel when we pray or worship. But we should be kneeling in our hearts, submitting to God. I recommend that you kneel to pray when and if you can at home.
Vs. 7 gives us reasons for the reverence we should show to God.
First of all, The Lord is our God. You reverence what you worship. If God is truly your God, you will reverence Him.
Also notice that we should reverence God because we are the people in his pasture, and thus, the sheep of his hand, or “under his care”.
Consider the 23rd Psalm as God expressing His care for you.
COME REPENTANTLY – Vss. 8-11
In spite of this great invitation to come and worship, there is also a warning and an abrupt warning at that.
This warning also calls us to repentance.
Vs. 8 – If we will hear God’s voice calling us to worship Him, (Vs. 7), let’s not harden our hearts.
Something that is hardened is not soft and pliable, not flexible, and not moldable. Stubborn is probably a good synonym.
Hearing the Word of God, obeying it, and applying it to your own life, will make you constantly repentant of the sins that God reveals to us. This will make you pliable, molable in God’s hands.
Failure to obey God’s Word and failure to believe God will lead to harden hearts.
When the children of Israel were relatively recently out of Egypt and headed for the Promised Land they came to a place called Rephidim (Exodus 17). There was no water there. The people complained against Moses and God instead of trusting God. Moses was told by God to strike a rock and water came out of the rock.
The place was called Massah and Meribah, or in English, test and quarreled. They tested God’s patience with their unbelief and quarreled with Moses.
Vs. 9 – This is one example of what went on during the time of Israel’s wilderness wanderings.
They were constantly testing and proving God, although they had constantly seen God’s miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness.
Their ultimate unbelief was shown when 12 spies checked out the Promised Land. Ten of them brought a bad report of the Land God wanted them to enter. Two spies, Joshua and Caleb believed that God would give them victory in the land.
The Children of Israel however griped and complained, and even wanted to return to the bondage of Israel. The end result was 40 years of wandering. All the adults except Caleb and Joshua died in the wilderness because of their unbelief. Their children entered the land.
Israel’s bottom line problem was unbelief.
Vs. 10 – God was grieved with this generation because erred in their hearts and did not know God’s ways.
Should they have believed? Yes! They saw so many miracles.
Should they have known God’s Ways? Yes! Moses was teaching them.
Vs. 11 – Because of their unbelief these people never entered the rest of the Promised Land.
The Psalmist is telling us not to be like these people!
When it comes to worshipping God, don’t be stubborn.
Don’t be hard hearted.
Worship God by believing what he says and doing it!
Repent of those things that keep us from entering Spiritual rest!
Hebrews 3:18-19 – And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? [19] So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
True worship involves resting in God.
In what ways do you show your unbelief as you try to Worship?
Do you worry?
Do you allow your mind to wander?
Do you make something or someone else in your life more important than God? That’s worshipping idols!
Do you do things that the Word of God tells you not to do?
How do we fix this problem? Ezekiel 14:6 – Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Turn away from anything that is keeping from true worship.
Matthew 6:24 – No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Trying to worship God and trying to hold on to your own selfish ways is like a man trying to keep two wives. Besides being illegal and against God’s will, it just doesn’t work! One will be loved more than the other and neither will be happy!
God wants you to worship Him!
He wants you to come!
COME JOYFULLY – Vs. 1
COME THANKFULLY – Vs. 2
COME KNOWLEDGABLY – Vss. 3-5
COME REVERENTLY – Vss. 6-7
COME REPENTANTLY – Vss. 8-11