The High God Who Regards the Lowly

[0:00] Psalm 138 of David Psalm 139 of David A caveat before I use this illustration

[1:12] This is not A political endorsement Of any kind I actually don't know Who I'm going to vote for Probably Kanye West Just kidding Yesterday Was the Democratic National Convention And there was one thing That came out That was fitting And this is all politically staged And calculated And I'm fairly cynical About politics So don't take this at all As an endorsement Of this person's character But Joe Biden Was first nominated By a woman named Jacqueline Brittany Did you guys hear this?

[2:04] Hear about this? So Jacqueline Brittany Was a previously little known security guard At the New York Times headquarters So she's like an elevator guard Basically She waits at the lobby And when someone comes Takes them to the elevator Escorts them to the floor And then comes back down And goes back to the lobby And she kind of became A viral sensation Last December When she Basically Joe Biden came in And Joe Biden was like Her favorite candidate Or whatever This was when All the Democratic candidates Primary candidates Were trying to win The New York Times endorsement And so he was there To do an interview With the New York Times And then she just Blurted out Oh I love you And he was like Really nice to her And offered to Take a selfie with her After getting off the elevator And whatnot And so she Became This viral sensation And she Was called upon To become the first person To nominate Joe Biden At the Democratic convention Yesterday And what she said

[3:05] Was obviously scripted But it was still meaningful In the sense that She said this I take powerful people Up on my elevator All the time When they get off They go to their Important meetings But in the short time I spent with Joe Biden I could tell He really saw me That he actually cared That my life Meant something to him And I knew Even when he went Into that important meeting He'd take my story In there with him That's because Joe Biden has room In his heart For more than just himself So This kind of tribute Is meaningful Because it's an example Of someone In an exalted position Right A position of power You know Coming to me To meet someone In a lowly position Right Like an elevator Security guard And And And in a much More meaningful sense And in a In a In a far More real sense We have been witnesses Of that kind of Magnanimity And condescension In the best sense Of that word Right And that's in God

[4:06] Who had nothing To gain from us Whatsoever Right Joe Biden Had something to gain From her Right Camera was rolling When he was in the elevator Right And he Obviously It makes him look really good When he does something like that Right And But God Had nothing To gain From Attending to us Nothing He was already He was already king He was not vying For the affection Of the people To get their votes Or approval Right He He had nothing To gain from us And yet He stooped down To save us To make a covenant With us To To rescue us From our sins To deliver us And so That's really What this psalm Is about God's condescension And the main point Is that we should Give thanks To the high God Who regarded us As in our lowliest state And so There's really Three movements In this psalm The first is David speaks of God's exaltation Before the gods In verses 1 to 3 And then he speaks Of God's exaltation Before the kings In verses 4 to 6 And then finally

[5:07] He speaks of God's condescension To the lowly In verses 7 to 8 And so First we see God's exaltation Before the gods In verses 1 to 3 Verse 1 says I give you thanks O Lord With my whole heart Before the gods I sing your praise So the gods Is not a reference To other deities The Bible clearly Teaches that The Lord our God The Lord is one Right?

[5:29] Deuteronomy 6 And that the idols It also teaches That the idols That people worship Are no gods at all Right? Jeremiah chapter 16 20 says Can man make For himself gods Such are not gods Right?

[5:42] But the Bible Does call Lesser angelic beings Gods In various places With quotations Maybe In English So to speak So it's You see that In Psalm 58 Verse 1 Do you indeed Decree what is right You gods?

[5:58] Do you judge The children of men Albrightly? In Psalm 82 Verse 1 God has taken His place In the divine council In the midst of the gods He holds judgment So these are the kind of Angelic beings Who That the Bible sees As ruling At God's appointment Over the various nations Throughout the world So this is kind of That's kind of The biblical Cosmology And And And And these are the kind of Beings that are in view When David says this And And of all of these So called gods In the presence of Before all of these Rulers of the nations David says He has eyes For only one God And that is the Lord He says And he says to him I give you thanks With my whole heart Because He worships only one God So he can give him His whole heart An undivided heart And his worship Is exclusive And he confidently declares Before these So called gods I sing your praise O Lord So he Accepts no rival claim Of deity And David continues

[6:59] His worship in verse 2 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 So two verbs Are used to describe David's worship Right So first is Bow down He says I bow down That's the same word That is sometimes Translated as Worship I worship And to worship Means In Hebrew To bow down And so it really Conveys What Worship At his heart Means To worship Doesn't mean To co-opt God For our purposes To worship Doesn't mean To say things About God That makes us Feel good About ourselves To worship At his heart Is to bow down To submit To surrender To lower Ourselves In our Take our proper Place Before the God Who is exalted And the second Verb that is used Is give thanks Second he said I give thanks Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is Emphasized So frequently

[8:00] And consistently Throughout scripture But I think It's something That doesn't Get that much Attention In terms of What we talk About But we are As we know To give thanks In all circumstances Right in 1 Thessalonians 5 And because only Thanksgiving Properly recognizes How good And gracious God has been To us It's the only Posture That's appropriate For God's people Considering how good And gracious God has been Toward us And so that's The two verbs That David uses For worship And then he gives The two reasons Why he worships Verse 2 again For your steadfast love And your faithfulness That's the first reason And then for You have exalted Above all things Your name And your word So two reasons So steadfast love And faithfulness Really summarize God's gracious character And God's name And word Summarize his Glorious position That God is Unreservedly Committed to his people In love and faithfulness And so he deserves

[9:02] The worship of his people But not only that God has exalted Above all things Lifted high Above all things His name Which stands for His person His identity And his word Which refers to His speech His revelation Of himself The scriptures As well as all That God has said And promised And so these two things God is exalted Above all things Meaning Nothing and no one Can rival the glory And authority Of God's name And God's word And because God Is who he is David now testifies In verse 3 On the day I called You answered me My strength of soul You increased It's a great expression I don't know how many Times you guys Have felt That Not just Physical Depletion But Feeling like You've been sapped Of your soul Strength Right Being sapped Of Maybe your very Life's vitality Right Sometimes you feel Like that And those are times

[10:03] We need to call out To the Lord And he increases The strength Of our souls And so because Of who God is And what he has done David exalts God Before the gods And then in verses 4 to 6 He speaks of God's Exaltation before the kings He said in verse 4 All the kings of the earth Shall give you thanks O Lord So because God Is supreme Over all He is praised Before all the gods The angelic beings But not only that Because God is sovereign Over all He is to be praised Not only by David Who is the king of Israel But also by all the kings Of earth The kings of all the nations For they have heard The words of your mouth And they shall sing Of the ways Of the Lord So these are the reasons For the praise For great is the glory Of the Lord So the words of God's mouth And the glory of the Lord Are the reasons For praising him And they correspond To the name and word Of God Mentioned it Again in verse 2 And then in verse 6 He adds one more reason Why the kings of the earth Should give thanks to God

[11:04] For though the Lord Is high He regards the lowly But the haughty He knows from afar And this is what We were talking about Is that God Who should have No regard For people like us Chose us And has a relationship With us Makes promises to us And delivers us From our enemies And David And David has Personally experienced this And so he says In verse 7 Do 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 And And then verse 8 The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me Your steadfast love O Lord Endures forever Do not forsake The work Of your hand And this psalm The deliverance That is in view here Of David Is fulfilled ultimately

[12:07] In the deliverance That God sends To his son Jesus And because Jesus Is God's ultimate expression Of his condescension That God Who The God of the universe Somehow Becomes incarnate In a baby Right He's born in a manger In a stable And he lives A life Of Lives among Sinful men And And he dies And die Death of a sinner A criminal A slave And And he does this Not because He is lowly Rather He is the most Exalted Above them all He's the most Exalted His name Is exalted Right And yet He He dies Because he wants To save us To deliver us To lift us up From the mire Of sin And so in dying For our sins On the cross And being raised From the dead He rescues us And so the Lord He fulfills His promise His purpose For us His steadfast love Endures Forever

[13:07] That's why in Luke 1 73 to 75 Zechariah uses These expressions Of being delivered From the hand Of the enemy To speak of Jesus This is that God grants That we Being delivered From the hand Of our enemies Might serve him Without fear In holiness And righteousness Before him All our days This happens Through Jesus And something To remember I think As we As we live Is just how God condescends To us in Jesus Because here It says that The Lord is high He regards the lowly And in Jesus God becomes lowly Right And I'm reminded Of what Jesus Said in Matthew 11 29 Right When he says Come to me All you Who are heavy laden Right He says I am For I am Gentle And lowly In heart And you'll Find rest For your souls He It's He He describes Himself In his heart His very heart

[14:08] As gentle And lowly Lowly Meaning You know You I don't know Walk into a Walk into a room You know Walking to a Networking hall And you People are always Kind of Measuring themselves Against other people And then there's There's a hierarchy In people's minds Okay Those are the Important people These are the people You want to talk to Maybe even when you Come to church There's a hierarchy Oh these are the Important people These are the people You want to talk to Right But If And the people Who are In power People who are High and exalted Are less accessible To us Right But Jesus Who is The most exalted He was not like that He was He is accessible To us He is gentle And lowly He makes himself Available to us He condescends To us That's what God Has been doing Throughout the entire Redemptive history Recorded in scripture And Jesus is the Ultimate The culmination Of that And so I might just Hope that we

[15:09] Live with that reality Understanding of our Savior And know his Feel and sense His graciousness And goodness And don't forget That he will Fulfill all of his Promises He is the Author and perfecter Of our faith All the things That we might be Discouraged by All the sins Besetting sins In our own lives All the struggles That we face In this life We can pray Along with David Verse 8 Do not forsake The work of your hand We are God's Handiwork We are the work Of his hand He is not going To forsake us He will continue That work He has begun Thank you