Introduction:
I Give Thanks with My Whole Heart… (Psalm 138)
-
Because God has Proven His Reliability to Me IN THE PAST (Psalm 138:1–3)
-
Because God is at Work in My Life RIGHT NOW (Psalm 138:6–7)
1 Corinthians 10:13 – No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
-
Because God Will Not Give Up on Me IN THE FUTURE (Psalm 138:4–5; 8)
Philippians 2:9-11 – Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2 Samuel 7:16 – And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
Philippians 1:6 – And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Jude 24 – Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy…
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
Small Group Discussion
Read Psalm 138
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
If we know it’s so bad for us, why do we complain so much? What do you complain about the most?
How has the Lord proven Himself reliable to you in the past? Take some time to thank the Lord for what He has done.
How is the Lord at work in your life right now? Praise Him for what He is doing.
How will the Lord fulfill His purposes for you in the future? Give Him thanks for what He will do for you.
Breakout
Pray for one another.
-
I hope you're all doing well this morning.
I've had better days.
I took me forever to fall asleep last night.
I'm just so tired.
My neighbors were just blasting fireworks
in all hours of the night.
Isn't it been like three weeks since the 4th of July?
I just don't get it.
And then when I fell asleep, I couldn't stay asleep.
I have a bed that's too small.
I have a room that gets way too hot.
I have a pillow that isn't comfortable at all.
And I just set the alarm really early this morning.
So I had to wake up and look presentable for all of you.
And I stubbed my toe really hard and it still hurts.
Oh, and I forgot to iron all my clothes.
So I had to do it all this morning.
So I was way later than I wanted to be.
And so I was driving here.
I got stuck behind the slowest drivers in the entire world.
That just drives me insane.
It's like, don't you want to get where you want to go
in this century?
You may not have things that you want to do,
but there's things that I need to do.
So move it.
Oh, and I also have the worst headaches.
So these lights aren't helping me at all.
OK, time out.
Is anyone tired of listening to my complaining yet?
There is a resounding yes from the congregation.
It is so annoying when someone constantly complains
and grumbles about everything.
This person's constant whining sounds like nails
screeching across a chalkboard.
But quick question, if that's how other people's complaining
sounds to you, how do you think your complaining
sounds to them?
Not much different.
Let's up the ante even more.
How do you think your constant complaining sounds to God?
Do you think He appreciates it?
No, He does not.
I know that complaining is bad for me and offends God.
And I am very sure that most of you
know that complaining is bad for you and offends God.
So why do we keep doing it?
What is going on within us?
Well, this is the third week in our latest series called
Heart Problems.
What to do when you don't want God?
Over the past two Sundays, we've identified two different heart
problems and their surgical solutions according to God's
word.
We began by evaluating our hearts to see how serious of a heart
surgery we truly need.
And last week, we discovered the heart problem of hidden sin.
And the surgical solution to that problem
is confession from the heart.
And this morning, we will unpack a third heart problem
and its surgical solution from Psalm 138.
Psalm 138.
Your heart problem this morning could
be that you have a serious infection of negativity
and complaining.
You struggle to truly appreciate all that God has given to you
because you are so fixated on everything
that God has not given to you.
In your mind, you deserve better.
You deserve more.
You deserve what you want.
Does that describe you right now?
How do you fix this heart problem?
The surgical solution to a negative and discontent heart
is passionate praise and true thanksgiving.
You must actually give thanks from your heart.
So before we look into the solution any further,
let's go to the Lord and ask for his help.
Please pray for me, and I will pray for you.
Father, we come to you with one of our greatest struggles,
with something that I am very sure that every single person
in this room struggles with.
Lord, minister to us in the way that only you can.
Challenge us, convict us, but also comfort us and build us up.
We thank you in advance for what you will do.
We ask all this in the beautiful, wonderful, powerful name
of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
If you are able, please stand in reverence
for the reading of God's Word as we read Psalm 138.
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart.
Before the gods, I sing your praise.
I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love
and your faithfulness.
For you have exalted above all things your name and your word.
On the day I called, you answered me.
My strength of soul, you increased
all the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of your mouth.
And they shall sing of the ways the Lord for great
is the glory of the Lord.
For though the Lord is high, He regards the lowly,
but the haughty He knows from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.
Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.
You may be seated.
As you study this Psalm, you can't
help but notice that David's Thanksgiving is divided up
into three different sections--
the past, the present, and the future.
In this Psalm, David slides back and forth
on the timeline of history to find reasons to praise the Lord
and give Him thanks for His actions and His attributes.
And I want you to follow David's lead this morning.
I want you to be on the lookout for reasons
to give thanks with your whole heart for what God has
done in your past, what He is doing in your present,
and what He will do in the future.
So I give thanks to my whole heart, firstly,
because God has proven His reliability to me in the past.
I give thanks with my whole heart,
because God has proven His reliability to me in the past.
So David starts this Psalm by declaring
his complete and total devotion to the Lord.
Let's read verses 1 through 2 again.
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart,
before the gods I sing your praise,
I bow down towards your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love
and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.
This isn't the prayer of a man who is dispassionate and disconnected.
This isn't the prayer of a man going through the motions.
David is overflowing with gratitude for God's faithfulness,
His love, and His power.
David is saying, "The false gods of the other nations
are worthless idols.
They get nothing from me while God gets everything from me.
They get my ridicule.
God gets my praise.
Their words are worthless and accomplish nothing
while God's word never fails me.
Their names do not matter while God's name is infinite."
David doesn't offer God some of his heart or even most of his heart.
He offers God his whole heart.
This is what God wants and deserves from David.
This is also what God wants and deserves from you.
God isn't worthy of your leftovers.
He is worthy of your best.
God doesn't want you just to thank Him when you remember.
He doesn't want you to treat Him like the teenage cashier at the ice cream shop,
who you begrudgingly tip with the slowest amount possible
when the iPad screen is flipped around.
"Ah, fine. I guess I'll do it if I have to."
Is that kind of attitude honoring to God?
Not on any level, but that is often how we approach giving Him the credit
that He deserves.
Instead of stopping what we're doing to give Him a heartfelt thank you,
we throw a quick three-second prayer up to Him
that is devoid of any emotion and energy.
Instead of immediately praising Him,
we immediately move on to the next thing and the next big concern.
This half-heartedness drains you of your joy.
This half-heartedness gives you spiritual amnesia.
You forget what God has done for you in the past,
so you trust in yourself moving forward.
In verse 3, David gets very specific with his thanksgiving
and remembers how God has come through for him in the past.
"On the day I called, you answered,
'My strength of soul,' you increased.
I am well aware that some of you are telophonophobics.
You hate talking on the phone.
When someone calls, you panic.
When you know you have to call someone else,
you secretly hope that they won't pick up.
But even you telophonophobics in the room
have had to make calls that you needed someone to answer.
Maybe you had an urgent question that required an immediate answer.
Maybe it was a serious issue at work that you need to solve right now.
Maybe it was even a matter of life or death.
Every single person in this room has a call of this kind in their past.
Put yourself into that tense mindset.
Try to remember how you felt.
Let me ask you, when you called, did that person answer?
Did they come through for you?
Other people cannot always come through for you
no matter how reliable they might seem.
Friends and family members cannot always answer when you call.
But that is not true of God.
He always picks up.
He always answers.
God doesn't screen your prayer to say to himself,
"Ah, this guy again.
I don't have time to deal with him right now."
That has never happened.
God doesn't send you to voicemail.
God is always ready and willing to answer you when you call.
But God's help may not come in the form that you expected or hoped for.
At some point, every single one of us in this room
have had this exact thought or said this exact thing.
God didn't answer my prayer.
Is that true?
Well, it really depends on what you mean by answer.
If by answer you mean that God says yes,
then God didn't answer your prayer.
But that definition captures our experience of the situation
more than the reality of the situation.
It captures our feelings more than the facts.
That definition misses the big picture of what God is up to behind the scenes.
God answering your prayers doesn't mean that He always answers with a yes.
But it does mean that God always responds.
And sometimes that response is no or wait.
And you never want that answer, do you?
I never want that answer either.
Again, every single one of us in this room can think of a time
when we called to God and He answered with a no.
You prayed for healing and healing didn't come.
You asked for that big promotion
and it went to someone far less deserving.
You asked for the Lord to use your witnessing, your positive example
to make an impact on your prodigal child, but there is no positive reception.
You call to the Lord and ask for that baby that you've always wanted,
but that room is still empty.
That no can be so confusing and devastating.
What reason could God possibly have to say no to that request?
I don't know.
I don't want to patronize you or minimize your pain.
I don't want to give you a hallmark card answer and tell you that do not be sad and upset.
Listen, it's okay to be sad and upset.
Seasons of sorrow are unavoidable.
I've gone through these times in the past and I will again.
You've gone through these times of sorrow and you may be experiencing it right now.
I truly don't know the exact reason that God said no to that request when you called to Him.
But He does.
God never says no for no reason.
Everything He does is purposeful.
God never wastes your pain.
Everything you go through has meaning.
As I meditated upon these truths over the past week, I couldn't help but think of the hymn,
"God moves in a mysterious way," which says this,
"judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace.
Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.
God's purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour.
The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower."
Why God said no back then may never make sense in this life.
But it will in eternity.
And those times when God said no often drown out and obscure the times that He said yes.
So I want you to stop focusing on the no's for a minute.
I want you to start thinking about the times when you called to God and He answered you
with a yes.
Consider that.
Were you able to think of some clear examples when God said yes and proved His reliability
to you in the past?
Maybe you experienced a season of dark, deep depression.
You called out to God and He answered you with a yes by sending you a friend who loved
you, who encouraged you, who prayed for you, who listened to you.
Maybe you called out to God when you had no idea how to handle a specific situation and
He gave you a yes by providing you wisdom from His Word.
Maybe you experienced a broken relationship and you called out to God and He answered
with a yes by bringing restoration and putting all the pieces back together again.
Or how about the most important yes of all?
You realized you were a sinner.
You called out to God asking for forgiveness and salvation and God answered with a yes
by giving it to you.
I could keep going for days, weeks, months and years because there is no end to what
God has done for you.
Friends, God has been so good to you in the past.
Do you recognize that?
Do you believe that?
There have been so many times when you recognized His goodness and you praised Him for it.
But there have been many more times when you didn't recognize His goodness or praise Him.
And thankfully God's goodness wasn't taken away from you when you didn't recognize it.
God still gives good gifts to His children even when His children don't say thank you.
But in those moments when you didn't acknowledge what God had done and say thank you to Him,
the strength of your soul was diminished and depleted.
Your strength of soul was like a balloon and ungratefulness was the needle that popped
that balloon and left it deflated on the floor.
That may be how you feel this morning.
You're just deflated.
You're just kind of there.
You're down and out.
Could it be that you have a heart problem because you were ungrateful for what God has
done for you?
No matter how hard your life has been, God's fingerprints of kindness are all over your
story.
You simply need the eyes of faith to see these evidences of grace or you'll miss them completely.
Like David, give thanks with your whole heart because God has proven His reliability to
you in the past.
Give thanks with your whole heart for what God has done for you and your strength of
soul will be increased.
I give thanks with my whole heart because God is at work in my life right now.
Because God is at work in my life right now.
I'm going to break some preaching rules here for a minute.
Who wants to break the rules with me?
All right, some of you, most of your rulekeepers besides Darlet and Jay, I guess we'll go with
it.
So, we're going to skip past verses 4 through 5 for now.
We're not going to skip them entirely.
We'll come back to them.
We're going to move on to verses 6 through 7.
Don't worry this will all make sense very soon.
We spent some time focusing on what God has done for David.
Now let's focus on what God is doing for David in verses 6 through 7.
For though the Lord is high, He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies and your right hand delivers
me.
We don't know the backstory of the Psalm or what kind of trouble David is experiencing.
All we know is he needs his life to be preserved.
He has enemies that the Lord needs to stretch out his hands against.
David needs deliverance.
Your problems seem like the biggest deal in the entire world, don't they?
When you're going through trouble, you often feel like you're the only one in the entire
world who is experiencing what you're experiencing.
Is that actually the case?
Not at all.
Literally every person in the world has something going on right now.
Everyone has a problem.
Everyone has trouble.
And David is well aware where his life, where his troubles, where his problems rank on the
order of importance.
Compared to God, he is nothing and nobody.
David acknowledges that he is lowly.
But he actually rejoices in that truth because even though the Lord is high, He regards the
lowly, but the haughty, the proud, the arrogant He knows from afar.
If you exalt yourself to the position of the movie star of your life, you will not be in
a position to receive God's help.
You will dismiss what he has to offer.
But if you rightly acknowledge that God is the star, you will receive help from Him.
God is big, but He still loves little people.
God is great, but He still blesses the unremarkable.
God is supremely important, but He still serves the unimportant.
You may be painfully aware that you are unimportant, unremarkable, and little.
But that is a good thing.
That means the Lord has regard for you.
God cares for you.
He pays attention to you.
God's helping hand is offered to you at all times.
You can either push away this helping hand in pride or you can grab ahold of it in humility.
I need God's help right now.
You need God's help right now.
You are in the midst of some kind of trouble.
Maybe you're being attacked.
Someone at work is gunning for you.
A family member or friend is making life miserable for you.
Your integrity is being called into question.
You may have a target on your back, but God preserves your life.
You may have enemies who are seeking to destroy you, but God stretches out His hand against
the wrath of your enemies.
His right hand delivers you.
Fair warning.
God may not deliver you from experiencing that hardship, but He delivers you from giving
up as you experience that hardship.
His right hand delivers you from anger, bitterness, resentment, isolation.
You may be enduring the most intense season of temptation you've ever encountered.
You feel like you can't say no one more time that any day now you're going to break.
You can stand strong because God preserves you.
He stretches, will stretch His hand against that temptation.
If you believe that He can, His right hand delivers you from giving in.
Listen to this promise from 1 Corinthians 10.13.
No temptation is overtaking you that is not common to man.
God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the
temptation He will provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
Something that God has taught me recently is that He most often delivers you through
trust and His promises.
There is nothing more powerful and dependable than a promise from God.
If you're experiencing intense temptation, grab ahold of this promise and don't let go
so you will experience deliverance and find the way of escape.
Maybe you need delivered from the ultimate enemies of Satan, sin, and death.
You are under the power of the evil one in this evil world.
You are a slave to sin.
You are bound for eternal death.
You are like that toddler running towards the road and there will be a horrible fate
unless that child is grasped by a loving father.
Ask this father to preserve you and give you eternal life.
Ask him to stretch out His hand against the wrath of your enemies.
Ask for His right hand to grab ahold of you and deliver you from the fate that you deserve.
A truck of hell is barreling down.
But God will rescue you if you ask Him to.
No matter what trouble you are walking through, God is at work in your life right now.
You can't say, "Yeah, God sure was at work back in the day, but He hasn't done anything
for me lately."
No, God is preserving your life even when you don't know it.
He is stretching out His hand against enemies that you don't even know you have.
God is delivering you all the time.
God isn't like the lifeguards at the pool or the beach who clock in and clock out.
For many hours of the day, their floatation devices are hung up and those chairs are empty.
But God is always on duty.
He keeps you from drowning.
He keeps your head above water.
God is always on His heavenly throne.
In the Psalm 121, 1-4, "I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come
from?
My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved.
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."
God is not asleep on the job.
God is not taking a break.
He is not packing up His office.
God is helping you.
God is fighting for you.
Give thanks with your whole heart because God is at work in your life right now.
I give thanks with my whole heart, finally, because God will not give up on me in the
future.
Because God will not give up on me in the future.
Let's rewind back to verses 4 through 5, but this rewind is actually a fast forward as
David gives thanks for what God will do.
"All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words
of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord for great is the glory of
the Lord."
In 2025, this scene seems very unlikely, doesn't it?
I mean, how many presidents, politicians, dictators, and governments truly fear God
and worship Him?
Not many.
God is openly mocked and dishonored.
His people are belittled.
People are even put into prison and martyred for their faith.
So many world leaders do not recognize the one who put them into power in the first place.
But despite this hostility, the message of the gospel is still advancing and spreading
among the nations.
People of different backgrounds, positions, and levels of influence are hearing the words
of God's mouth, being saved, giving thanks, and praising Him.
In one day, all leaders of the earth will retire from their positions and vacate their
offices as one rightful ruler reigns supreme.
And who is this rightful ruler?
Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
And Paul speaks to this future in Philippians 2, 9 through 11.
"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name as above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."
One day there will be no more elections, no more protests, no more corruption, no more
political news channels, no more war, no more threat of nuclear attack.
There will be only praise and thanksgiving.
The glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
And this future isn't maybe a might be or let's hope so.
No, this future is set in stone.
It is certain fact.
You can resist it all you want, but it will come to pass.
While the immediate future of this world is uncertain, God's ultimate future is not in
question.
In verse 8, "Folks is on David's future and the purpose that God has for David's life,
his throne, and his house.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.
Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands."
The same God who will cause kings and leaders to bow down before him will fulfill David's
purpose as well.
Actually, it is through fulfilling David's purpose that God will fulfill this ultimate
future for his people and his creation.
Help me with a quick reminder.
From whose family line does King Jesus come?
From King David's line.
Listen to the promise that the Lord made to David in 2 Samuel 7.16, "And your house and
your kingdom shall be made sure forever, before me your throne shall be established forever."
This purpose has been fulfilled and will further be fulfilled in Christ.
This promise has been kept and will be further kept in Christ.
David's throne has been established and will be established forever.
And the one who sits on this throne is none other than Jesus Christ himself.
He trusts in God's future plans.
But he still cries out to the Lord and offers this prayer, "Do not forsake the work of your
hands."
This may sound like doubt, but it isn't.
This is a cry of dependence and neediness.
David is saying, "God, please keep your promises to me.
Without you, I am completely sunk.
Do not forsake the work of your hands."
This has become my new favorite prayer request.
I've lost count of how many times I've prayed it over the past week, and you should pray
it as well.
God, keep your promise.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.
David's personal future is set in stone.
It is a certain fact.
The same is true for you if you're a follower of Christ.
God will fulfill His purpose for you.
He will keep every single promise that He has made to you in His Word.
His steadfast love for you will endure forever.
If you don't believe me, Paul backs up this truth in Philippians 1-6, and I am sure of
this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of
Jesus Christ.
Jude 1-24, that God will keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence
of His glory with great joy.
The steadfastness of God is so foreign to us because we give up on things all the time.
You start a brand new read that you're so excited for, but then it puts you to sleep
so that you sell it, you send it to good will, you put it back on the shelf.
You watch a movie that's boring so you turn it off.
You start a new diet or exercise routine, but you get distracted and you give up on
that.
You start a new hobby, but you get very distracted and very bored very quickly.
You start something, but you don't finish it.
God never does that.
God doesn't operate like that at all.
God will not forsake the work of His hands.
God will not give up on you someday.
God will hold on to you.
He will finish what He started in you.
It's so easy to believe these truths intellectually, but it's hard to feel in your heart.
You often feel that God's love for you is an up and down, up and down roller coaster
that's based on your performance.
If you're a good boy or a good girl, God's happy with you.
If you're a bad boy or a bad girl, God's very unhappy with you.
But God's love for you doesn't depend upon you and your performance at all.
God's love for you depends on Christ and His perfect performance on your behalf.
If God's love for me depended on my good deeds, my good works, He would have stopped
loving me a long time ago.
But because His love depends on Christ, who is perfect and obeyed in every way that I've
failed, His love for me will last forever and ever and ever.
And that is true for you if you belong to Him.
If you have trusted in Christ, God gives you the same exact message that I give to my kids
every single night before I put them to bed.
I love you when you're good.
I love you when you're bad.
I love you when you listen.
I love you when you don't listen.
I'm your dad no matter what.
Isn't the assurance of God's love a cause for celebration?
Isn't His steadfastness worthy of your thanksgiving and your praise?
Instead of stressing out about what's ahead, choose to give thanks with your whole heart
because God will not give up on you in the future.
Give thanks with your whole heart for what God will do.
I doubt that anyone in this room has a heart that is completely free from negativity and
complaining.
You and I complain about something every single day.
And many of us complain about many things most days.
Discontentment is a serious heart problem that you shouldn't take lightly.
Disatisfaction is an acid that eats away your heart, your ministry, your walk with the Lord.
The only surgical solution to that heart problem of ingratitude is gratitude.
You must give thanks.
It's not enough to just feel thankful.
You have to verbalize it.
You have to express it.
You must acknowledge and verbalize your thankfulness for the attributes and actions of God.
We've spent a lot of time talking about giving thanks.
But it would be a big failure on my part if I didn't give you the opportunity to actually
give thanks.
In a moment, you will find some people around you and you're going to praise the Lord together
with your whole hearts.
Come together to give thanks for who God is.
Think about this God we saw in Psalm 138.
He is loving.
He is steadfast.
He is faithful.
He is glorious.
He is worthy.
He is high and exalted.
He is the King of all.
He is the Preserver and Sustainer.
He is a promise keeper.
Also give thanks with your whole hearts for what God has done, what He is doing, and what
He will do.
So find some people around you and give thanks together.
Father, we come to you and we thank you so much, first and foremost, for the gift of
your Son.
We thank you that your Son came to live a perfect life because we never could.
And He endured hell on the cross so that we could experience heaven forever.
Well, there are people in this room who don't have the hope of heaven, that don't have a
true relationship with Christ, may today be the day of salvation.
So that they can give thanks to you both now and forever.
Thanks for the rest of us, Lord, help us to continually give thanks, to not give ourselves
over to discontentment and complaining, but to always recognize your goodness.
And to know that every single day is a fresh pouring out of your mercy and your grace for
us.
We thank you for what you have done.
We thank you for what you are doing, and we thank you for what you will do.
We ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen.