Psalm 95 - Rest Restored

Chad Werkhoven
2 hours ago
4 min read

The LORD restores those who've fallen away.

Psalm 95

¹Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;

let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

²Let us come before him with thanksgiving

and extol him with music and song.

³For the LORD is the great God,

the great King above all gods.

⁴In his hand are the depths of the earth,

and the mountain peaks belong to him.

⁵The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶Come, let us bow down in worship,

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

⁷for he is our God

and we are the people of his pasture,

the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,

⁸“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,

as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,

⁹where your fathers tested me;

they tried me, though they had seen what I did.

¹⁰For forty years I was angry with that generation;

I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,

and they have not known my ways.’

¹¹So I declared on oath in my anger,

‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Point 2 - Limited Atonement

Point 3 - Total Depravity

Point 4 - Irresistible Grace

Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints

Article 4: The Danger of True Believers’ Falling into Serious Sins

The power of God strengthening and preserving true believers in grace is more than a match for the flesh.
Yet those converted are not always so activated and motivated by God
1. that in certain specific actions they - by their own fault - depart from the leading of grace,
  1. and are led astray by the desires of the flesh,
  2. and give in to them.
2. For this reason they must constantly watch and pray that they may not be led into temptations.
When they fail to do this, not only can they be carried away by
1. the flesh,
2. the world,
3. and Satan
  1. into sins,
  2. even serious and outrageous ones,
4. They sometimes are carried away by God’s just permission!
Witness the sad cases, described in Scripture, of David, Peter, and other saints falling into sins.

Summary

This is the second time this year that we've come to Psalm 95. When we read it near the beginning of the year, our focus was on the first half of the Psalm, which tells of the greatness of the LORD and the fact that He is the great King above all gods. This is what we mean when we speak of God's transcendence (His sovereign rule over all things). But we also noticed how Psalm 95 demonstrates God's immanence (His nearness and presence in our daily lives). The LORD is not just some far off deity, He is our God.

But after beginning with one of the most joyful calls to worship in the entire Psalter, Psalm 95 seems to come to a screeching halt in v8, sort of like when the bad guy comes into the saloon in an old Western movie. The LORD reminds His people - us! - to not repeat the ugly mistake of hardening our hearts the way the Israelites did during the exodus.

It's hard to follow the narrative being referenced in Psalm 95, because place names like Meribah and Massah are so foreign to us. But maybe the first of the two seems a bit more familiar, since we just read about the ugly incident that took place there when the Israelite's continual grumbling caused Moses to once again lose his temper and strike the rock rather than speak to it as the LORD had commanded.

It was because the Israelites tested and tried the LORD, though they had seen what He did. The LORD noticed their complete lack of alignment with Him; their hearts went astray and they have not known my ways. So, the LORD continues, I declared an oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'

Dig Deeper

This week we've read through the famous failures of some of the Bible's biggest heroes - men like Abram, Moses, King David and Peter. They, by their own fault - departed from the leading of grace, and were led astray by the desires of the flesh, and gave in to them.

But we also know these sad stories were not the final chapter for any of them. With each one we saw that God's grace was stronger than they were, and that the power of God strengthening and preserving true believers in grace is more than a match for the flesh.

For nearly one thousand years, Psalm 95 ended with that horrible curse God placed on that rebellious generation of Israelites, prohibiting them from entering His rest. But those words no longer mark the end of this psalm, for it was finished by the author of New Testament book of Hebrews. In the fourth chapter, after analyzing God's warning and curse in Psalm 95, the author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and aware of Christ's victory concludes:

^{Heb. 4:9}There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. ¹¹Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the Rock of our salvation
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God will prepare you for worship on the Lord's Day, where we will come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: