Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19971228.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Ninety-Five - God's CURRENT Call For OUR INDIVIDUAL Faith For Blessing
(Psalm 95:1-11)
  1. Introduction
    1. We often think of God's blessing and judgment in broad, general terms as it relates to "somebody else": however, Christ's messages to the seven churches of Revelation 2-3, addressed to the churches, says that "he that overcometh" will be blessed, cf. Rev. 2:7b, 11b, 1 7b, 26; 3:5, 12 and 21. That means ME!
    2. Emphasizing this theme, Psalm 95:1-11 calls out to individual people in corporate Israel to make a choice not to fail as did their forefathers, and Hebrews repeates the same order by way of our application now:
  2. God's CURRENT Call For OUR INDIVIDUAL Faith For Blessing, Psalm 95:1-11.
    1. The psalmist urged his listeners to sing and shout to Jahweh, the Rock Cliff Fortress of their salvation, v. 1.
    2. He urged them to thank the Lord with music as God is great above all gods, v. 2-3.
    3. The reasons God is a great God above all gods is described as follows, Ps. 95:4-5, 6-7a:
      1. The first reason Israel owes God worship is that He is the Sovereign Creator of all around Israel, v. 4-5:
        1. God holds the extreme opposites of the depths of the earth and the heights of the mountains in His hand, Ps. 95:4, indicating that all the earth from the lowest to the highest is in His control.
        2. God owns the sea as He is its Creator, and He owns the dry land as its Creator as well, v. 5.
        3. Thus, all the false gods that arise out of the sea or land or mountains or valleys (typical of the Baal pantheon) are inferior to Him, the Creator of all that is in these entities of His creation.
      2. Thus, the second reason Israel owes God worship is that Israel's existence in the midst of pagan neighbors is secured by her Creator's Sovereignty since He is also her caring Shepherd, Ps. 95:6-7a.
    4. In view of Israel's complete dependence upon her God for welfare, the Psalmist makes a plea: as individuals, rise above resisting His promptings for obedience as did the forefathers and avoid their certain loss of blessing and gain secure spiritual rest:
      1. In contrast to the failure of the forefathers to trust God's provision of water at Meribah and Massah (cf. Exodus 17:7), and that in spite of His past track record to supply for them as He had already given them manna and quail in the desert (Ex. 16:1-16), the psalmist reports of God's call to his contemporary generation ("today") to trust God's provision under trials, 95:7-9.
      2. He continued to report that God declared under oath that that former generation, who had faithlessly put God to the test, was judged not to enter the Canaan land rest from their wanderings, 95:10-11. The impl ication was that God would equally judge or bless the psalmist's contemporaries accordingly.
      3. Now we know from Scripture that the judgment and blessing on that ancient generation were applied individually as follows:
        1. When God passed negative judgment on that ancient generation in the wilderness, He called for the deaths of individuals who had failed to trust Him, Num. 14:22-23.
        2. However, the individuals who trusted the Lord, who had given a report of faith in the matter of spying out the land would be blessed to survive and enter the land of rest, Num. 13:27-33; 14:24 with Josh. 14:6-13. These men were Caleb and Joshua.
    5. By way of application, as the psalmist called for individuals in his generation to obey and trust God so as to enjoy His blessing and not His loss of blessing, thereby making application from a former generation, the writer of Hebrews 3:7-4:1 makes the identical plea for believers in the Church era. Thus, today, the believer has a choice of faithlessly disobeying God and having a loss of blessing, or of trusting God in His great sovereignty and enjoying His blessing and rest of provisions !
Lesson: There is the opportunity in EVERY GENERATION of God's people for INDIVIDUALS either to miss God's blessing by self-help, unbelief, or by respecting God so as to trust and obey Him.

Application: TODAY, at THIS Sunday School class meeting, if God is speaking to US on an issue, God wants our trust and obedience NOW or ELSE there will be His loss of rich blessing n OUR individual lives! He wants us to rely upon Him for shortages or threatening obstacles of happiness we may face (food or water in the wilderness, etc.) en route to obeying Him. If we DON'T, there will be sure, sharp discipline! He MEANS it, and He means it for US -- RIGHT NOW!