THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

CXXXV. Praising God For His Sovereign Help

(Psalm 135:1-21)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 reveals that God the Holy Spirit restrains the advance of evil in the world until He is taken out of the way with the rapture of the Church. Evidence of this ministry abounds today:

(1) We have often noted that 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 calls us responsibly to work to meet our own livelihood needs and to have a good testimony before the world. Evidence that this directive is needed for a strong society is seen in a rising awareness in secular realms of the inability of the federal government to address the livelihood needs of people instead of having people take this responsibility on themselves. “David Hebert, a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, asserts that the federal government ‘is involved in far too many things and lacks a sensible budget process. The inevitable result is a government that simultaneously overspends and underdelivers’” (“A sensible approach to radical debt,” Republican-American, August 17, 2025, p. A12).

The same problem is publicly known in state government: A Republican-American editorial noted that Connecticut “spends more dollars per public-school student than almost any other place on Earth” but its “teachers are forced to buy their own classroom supplies.” (“Classrooms should get back to basics,” Ibid., August 22, 2025, p. A6) “(T)he numbers indicated the problem is one of budget allocations, not the number of dollars spent,” Ibid.

(2) We have often taught that in Genesis 8:22, God promised that as long as the earth exists, its climate would provide a habitable environment for man. Evidence supporting the validity of this promise in spite of warnings by climate change alarmists to the contrary comes from a “new report from” even “the Department of Energy” that “yes, the climate is changing . . . but, no, it’s not necessarily the impending catastrophe we’ve been warned about . . . The report . . . found no convincing evidence that U. S. hurricanes, tornadoes, floods or droughts have become more frequent or intense in recent decades . . . The . . . report’s authors also find that the planet’s warming is unlikely to cause as much economic damage as is commonly claimed . . . that drastic policies meant to reduce warming could do more economic harm than good, and that even the most heavy-handed climate policy can’t make much of a difference . . . (T)he study is already having an impact, with the Environmental Protection Agency citing it in a proposal to reconsider the federal government’s 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare” (Veronique de Rugy, “New climate report deserves to be debated, not silenced,” Ibid., August 15, 2025, p. A6).

(3) We have long taught that Marxism with its violation of the Exodus 20:17 and Exodus 20:15 prohibitions against covetousness and stealing respectively is destructively evil, and evidence is being acknowledged by secular realms that supports this view. “(B)efore the rise of the welfare state, people immigrating to the United States generally left places with greater security for an America without security but with grand opportunity, which meant that new immigrants had to learn English, learn a trade, and embrace the Anglo-American cultural and legal traditions of the country in order to succeed. With the rise of an enormous and durable social safety net (in government welfare that takes from the “haves” to give to the “have nots”), the math suddenly changed: People could immigrate to the United States without assimilating in any serious way” and be a drain on government welfare to the rising taxes of its established citizens! (Ben Shapiro, “Why would we want bad people here?” (Ibid., August 22, 2025, p. A6)

It is also evident in the homeless problem: “Harvard researchers found in a long-term study . . . that after just five years, a majority of people provided free housing were back on the streets – or dead. The researchers concluded: ‘Long-term outcomes for this permanent supportive housing program for chronically unsheltered individuals showed low housing retention and poor survival.’” (“Executive order will help the homeless,” Ibid., August 11, 2025, p. A6)

Need: So we ask, “How should we respond to evidence that God is restricting the development of evil today?”

I. Psalm 135 opens in verses 1-3 and closes in verses 19-21 with calls to praise the Lord.

II. In verses 4-7 with verses 15-18, the psalmist offered two major reasons for these calls to praise the Lord:

A. First, he called Israel to praise the Lord for His choice of Israel to be His treasured possession, Psalm 135:4.

B. Second, the psalmist called Israel to praise the Lord because God’s choice of Israel as His treasured possession was supported by His infinite sovereignty over all creation as the Creator God of the universe, Psalm 135:5-7:

1. Israel’s Lord was greater than all the false gods of the pagan world (Psalm 135:5), and this truth is clarified in Psalm 135:15-18 (as follows):

a. The false pagan idols of the Gentile nations are but silver and gold made by the hands of mere men, v. 15.

b. Such idols have mouths, but they cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see, ears, but they cannot hear, nor is there even any breath in their mouths, Psalm 135:16-17.

c. Thus, those who make such idols and those who trust in them will be spiritually destitute like them, v. 18.

2. However, in contrast to Gentile pagan gods that were gods of local geographical places, Israel’s Creator God of the entire universe did whatever pleased Him in heaven, on earth and in the seas, Psalm 135:6.

3. He made clouds to rise from the ends of the earth, He sent lightning with rain and He brought out the wind from His storehouses to fulfill His will as the sovereign God of the universe, Psalm 135:7.

III. The psalmist then recalled the Lord’s sovereign works to bless Israel in her history, Psalm 135:8-12:

A. God had slain the firstborn of Israel’s Egyptian slave masters and their animals in the Exodus, Psalm 135:8.

B. He had sent His other signs and miraculous wonders upon the Egyptians, Pharaoh and his servants, Psa. 135:9.

C. The Lord had struck down many nations and killed mighty kings in Israel’s conquest of Canaan – Sihon, king of the Amorites and Og, king of Bashan in the Transjordan and all the kings of Canaan, Psalm 135:10-11.

D. God then gave the land of Canaan to Israel as an inheritance, Psalm 135:12.

IV. Thus, the psalmist asserted that God’s glorious reputation endures forever, for all generations, v. 13.

V. Based on God’s past deliverances of His people Israel, the psalmist asserted that the Lord would vindicate His people from false charges by their foes and have compassion on all His servants, v. 14.

Lesson: Israel’s people were to praise the Lord, for He in His goodness and grace has a sterling track record of blessing His people, and He is infinitely sovereign to do so over all who trouble Israel.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) May we praise the Lord for His great track record of displaying His goodness and grace to bless us regardless of evil foes we face as He restrains the development of evil in our era that we might continue to perform the ministries that God has assigned us, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message and/or provide additional guidance . . .)

(1) Another illustration of the Holy Spirit’s restraining work against the development of evil comes from Anthony Watts’ article, “Making Summer Feel ‘Real’ Worse” in the August 18, 2025, New York Post, p. 31. He countered catastrophic global warming activists in a piece that happens to support God’s Genesis 8:22 promise to keep the earth habitable for man as long as the earth exists. Mr. Watts wrote, “Every summer, sweltering Americans . . . fall for a meteorological scam as we seek information about the day’s oppressive heat. That’s because the ‘feels like’ or ‘heat index’ measurement blaring from our radios or posted on our weather apps isn’t a measurement at all . . . It combines actual air temperature and relative humidity into an approximate ‘apparent’ temperature – shifting as humidity goes higher or lower. The (National Weather Service) heat-index equation attempts to predict the heat that humans perceive, assuming shaded, low-wind conditions and a generic adult body type – ignoring sunlight, wind, individual physiology, hydration, age, weight, health status and multiple other variables . . .

“Weathercasters do us a great disservice by inflating the heat index’s importance and morphing it into a headline-grabbing marketing tool . . . Worse yet, reporters at . . . The Washington Post and Climate Central often seek to link high heat-index values to ‘climate change.’ But . . . (c)limate change isn’t driving heat-index estimates – city environments are . . . (U)rban areas are especially prone to the Urban Heat Island effect, a phenomenon causing cities to be 1 to 7 degrees hotter in the daytime and 2 to 5 degrees warmer at night than surrounding rural zones, due to pavement, buildings, reduced vegetation and anthropogenic (human caused) heat . . . The EPA emphasizes that thermal differences in urban areas amplify heat risk far beyond background climate trends . . .”

(2) A final illustration of the Holy Spirit’s restraining work against the progress of evil is a growing awareness in secular realms that serious criminals cannot be reformed, what supports the Bible’s claim that man needs Christ’s supernatural conversion from sin (Romans 3:20-28). The editorial, “Connecticut fails future victims” (op. cit., Republican-American, September 3, 2025, p. A6) claimed, “Much of the debate over criminal justice and incarceration focuses on the difference between punitive justice and restorative justice . . . a system designed to exact vengeance against criminals and a system designed to help them re-enter society . . . Study after study shows most crime is committed by a small number of repeat offenders, and there’s little, if any, indication that reform is possible in most cases . . . If a justice system refuses to incapacitate the worst criminals among us, it serves no real purpose.”

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. May we praise God for His record of restraining the growth of evil as He predicted in Scripture and stay focused on fulfilling God’s calling for us on the earth before He takes us to heaven in the Rapture.