Ps 95:1-11, Do we take for granted our salvation?

Psalm 95:1–5 (ESV) — 1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.


• Psalm is written by David (Heb 4:7),  the Septuagint also identifies it with David. It is a praise psalm, structurally strophe
• In the first two verses, what do you see?
• It is a call to worship
• Twice, the psalmist calls for a joyful noise
• Once, it is to sing, the other it is to give thanks
• Verses 3-5 gives us the Psalmist reasoning, what do you see
• He is great and above all gods (Israel's concept of God is different from every other nation)
• Conceptually, he is above all, because … he created all
• Pagan concepts have gods of different things (land, sea, trees, mountains, fertility, sun, moon, etc.,)
• To a certain degree, this concept is transferred into the Roman Catholic idea of saints and praying to saints for certain things
• He is God of the mountains and under the mountains
• He is God of the seas and the land
• CONCLUSION: He is the creator of all things
• The first reason that God "gives up man" is related to this concept of idols and creation
• Romans 1:18–25 (ESV) — 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. // 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
• This is why man so desires to eliminate God as creator. But there are tremendous issues with random genetic changes. Majority of genetic changes are not beneficial. Most serious change can only occur with many genetic changes that cannot occur in partial sequences. The mathematical probabilities of even a single cell forming requires far more time than exists in the universe
• APPLICATION: God is our creator and deserves the glory and honor of that recognition


Psalm 95:6–7c (ESV) — 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.


• Is everyone in the world, God's people? Is everyone a child of God?
• No.
• Everyone is God's creation
• Israel can claim to be God's people
• The Church can claim to be God's people
• A believer in Jesus is adopted into the family of God and is his child
• The world lost the opportunity when it rebelled against God in Eden
• So, we have another reason to worship, and that is …?
• We are God's (people and children)
• Specifically, what is the motif used by the psalmist?
• A shepherd (Jesus uses the same picture)
• John 10:1–18 (ESV) —  1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. // 7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
• APPLICATION: We have a unique relationship to the God of the universe -- we are his! That should cause great thankfulness. We did not deserve. We have no right even as his creation


Psalm 95:7–11 (ESV) — 7d Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”


• So our God is unique, our creator, our shepherd, our owner, and our Father -- but still we doubt God as we will see in this passage …
• What is Meribah and Massah?
• Massah is the typical name (Deut 6:16, and refers to the place where Israel put God to the test (Massah meaning test). Massah appears to be the first place (Ex 17:7)
• Meribah appears to be the waters where the second event occurs (Num 20:13,24). Meribah meaning quarrelling
• Exodus 17:7 (ESV) — 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
• Note that he uses both terms here but they are also separate -- see concordance search
• The secondary phrase gives insight into the issue
• The issue is not the power of God to do anything. It could be, "is God aware?" but more likely "does God care?"
• How does this apply to us?
• Hebrews 3:12–15 (ESV) — 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, // “Today, if you hear his voice, // do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
• The point is that you can fall away from the living God
• You can be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin
• You can rebel even as a believer
• Consequence: You do not lose your salvation. You could lose your life (as the Israelites did). You could lose the rest that comes in Christ (through spiritual maturity) in this life (as the Israelites did)
• Hebrews 4:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
• The readers could miss out (even though the letter is clearly written to believers)
• The readers are united in faith, but you can lose out on the benefits in this life and in the age to come through disobedience
• Hebrews 4:8–13 (ESV) — 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. // 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
• There are two rests. The rest that Joshua gave to those who walked by faith
• There is also a future rest where we are rewarded for our faith
• APPLICATION: We can lose the "rest" or "blessing of God" by falling away and failing to reach spiritual maturity