Message

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He Remains Faithful Forever

Psalm 146:1-10

Key Verse: 146:6 “He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—he remains faithful forever.”

Happy Thanksgiving again! We celebrate the second Thanksgiving Sunday. But we must celebrate Thanksgiving ever Sunday because to Christians every day is a thanks-giving day. Today’s passage teaches us why we must give thanks to God every day and in all circumstances. Psalm 146 through 150 starts with the words, “Hallelujah” “Praise the Lord!” and finishes with “Praise the Lord!”

Look at verses 1-2. “Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, my soul. I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” The psalmist teaches us how long we must praise the LORD. He said we must praise the LORD all our lives as long as we live. When we were born, we cried. We cried because of Adam’s sin. But when we die, we must praise the LORD because we are born again because of the Lord Jesus. Since we live new life in Jesus, we praise him until we leave the last breath in this world. When we praise the LORD, our life changes from curse to blessing and from death to life, from darkness to light, from failure to success. Amen!

Verses 3-4 teach us why we must not trust this world. Look at verses 3-4. “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” Here the word, ‘princes’ is the metaphor of glory and success of this world. People trust money and envy celebs and stars who appear in movies and media. But all people are like grass and their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall. (Is 40:7-8) They cannot become rich forever. They cannot become popular forever, either because they all die. When their spirit departs, they all return to the ground like you and me.

Then, in whom must we trust and put our hope? We must trust and put our hope in God. Look at verse 5. “Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God.” I believe that in this world US currency is the only one which has a description with “In God we trust”. So, God has blessed this nation abundantly. Psalm 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.” Psalm 144:15 also repeats that blessed is the people whose God is the LORD. We must praise the LORD because he became our God. Amen!

Verses 6-10 shows us why is blessed those whose God is the LORD and why we must trust in God on all occasions. First, the LORD God is our Maker. In a word, God is the Creator and the owner of our lives. Look at verse 6a. “He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.” God is the Maker of the whole universe. Especially he made each of us. He knows each of us more than anyone else because he made us. Who knows best about a watch in this world? He is the watchmaker who designed it and assembled the watch. In the same way God knows us best, so we must trust in Him and praise Him. Second, the LORD remains faithful forever. Look at verse 6b. “he remains faithful forever.” There is a hymn ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness! Faithfulness means ‘not change, but steadfast.’ We cannot trust this world, because it is not faithful. We cannot trust people because they are not faithful, either. Only God is faithful. He remains faithful forever. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.” This means that Jesus remains faithful forever. His love and faithfulness endure forever. Amen! When we look back on the year 2023, we realize how unfaithful we are to the Lord. But we are so thankful to God when we remember how faithful he has been to us despite our unfaithfulness. Our unfaithfulness does not nullify God’s faithfulness. Amen!

Here is the third reason why we must praise the LORD. This is because He cares. The LORD cares for his people. Look at verses 7-9. “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.” Prophet Isaiah prophesied the role of the coming Messiah in Isaiah 61:1-2. In these verses Isaiah said that the Messiah would proclaim good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, release from darkness for the prisoners, proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and comfort all who mourn. Jesus fulfilled all these prophecies. Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom of God. He gave freedom to the demon-possessed men by driving out demons. He fed five thousand people, healed lepers, and opened the eyes of the born blind. He raised the son of a poor widow from the dead and wiped tears from the eyes of a Canaanite woman who suffered from bleeding for 12 years, and so forth.

Jesus does the same for us today as he did 2,000 years ago. Jesus remains faithful forever. I believe that all of you have received Jesus’ grace of caring, healing, feeding, teaching, encouraging, at least once in the year of 2023. Remember what Jesus has done for you and your family as the Savior and Shepherd. He has cared for you and me. He cared for our family and this church. We didn’t care for him and for others, but he cared for us. Amen!

This is the last reason why we must praise Him. Look at verse 10. “The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.” The LORD reigns forever for all generations. This means that the LORD God will bless our children as he blesses us. God’s blessing is not limited to my generation, but from my children to children after them, for all generations. Success and fortune in this world do not guarantee our children’s security and safety. But God’s blessing reach to them and even to their children. God remains faithful forever. Amen!

Today we learn why we must praise the LORD all our lives and give thanks to him on all occasions. He is our Maker and the author of our blessing. He knows us even before we are in our mother’s womb. He cares for us forever because he is the faithful God. His faithfulness lasts forever. Amen!

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• Psalm146-message-2023 -3rd draft.docx

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