We thank God …
1.For the provisions of the past. 138:1-3
• Experience leads to praise. 138:1-2
• Put everything into it!
• Make your praise about Him.
2 Samuel 7:18-22
Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?
And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord GOD. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord GOD!
And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord GOD!
Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it.
Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
• Be bold in confession and profession
Psalm 9:1
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
Psalm 5:7
But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.
Derek Kidner
“There is a fine blend of boldness and humility from the outset: boldness to confess the Lord before the gods, humility to bow down before Him.”
Chuck Swindoll
“Praise is the deepest expression of a soul in love with God.”
• Inward blessing greater than outward circumstance. 138:3
2. In anticipation of the future. 138:4-8
• The big picture outcome. 138:4-6
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.
• The intermediate personal outcomes. 138:7-8
The “normal” Christian life … (2 Corinthians 4:7-10, 12 )
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Herbert Lockyer
“Our hope of final perseverance is the final perseverance of the God we love and serve. Because his mercy endureth forever, his work in and for us will continue until we are perfected when we see him in all his perfection.”
1 Corinthians 11: 23-24
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.