The Holy Spirit's Psalm

I’m on sabbatical this month so my Sunday’s are much slower…I got to sleep in a little longer and then I got to sit outside and read the Psalms and take my time without thinking about the sermon I was about to preach. Yesterday, I read Psalm 95 and I want to spend the week in this psalm.

Psalm 95 doesn’t list the author, but it is one of those Psalms in which we have a Divine Commentary in the New Testament…the second half of the Psalm is quoted in Hebrews 3:7-4:10. I want to point out two things about what the writer of Hebrews said about the writer of our Psalm, first, he attributed it to the Holy Spirit, in 3:7 he said, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,” and then he quotes from the Psalm. What we have here is Spirit inspired…don’t forget that, but He gave it to us through a human writer…in Hebrews 4:7 the writer said our text was written by David, “‘Today,’ saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

This is a great reminder of what Peter said in 2 Peter 1:21, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” As we approach this Psalm, let’s remember that…these are words given to us by the Holy Spirit—they are worthy of our obedience! Let’s also remember what Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17,

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

Psalm 95 begins a series of Psalms, running through Psalm 100, where the psalmist calls upon us to worship God. John Stott said,

“True worship is the highest and noblest activity of which man, by the grace of God, is capable.”

Worship isn’t a problem for us…our problem is we tend to worship the creation instead of the Creator. David sets our God before us and calls upon us to worship Him and only Him. One commentator said this was an invitation to worship…I think Stephen Cole was right when he said this is more than just an invitation…this is an ultimatum.

I want to walk through the psalm this week, but I hope you understand how powerful it is for us to be able to say the words we read in our Bible are written by men, but they were carried on, they were inspired, they were given the words by the Holy Spirit. It isn’t like any other book…it is, as the writer of Hebrews says, “living and breathing.” Read Psalm 95 and get ready to worship with me this week.