Psalm 144:12-15 Preached Backwards (Part 1)

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Psalm 144:12-15 Preached Backwards (Part 1) I. Psalm 144:12-14 describes a blessed life. 1. Psalm 144:15 gives the reason for the blessed life. 2. Therefore, I will preach through these verses backwards. II. Psa 144:15 - Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD. 1. The people whose God is the LORD are fortunate, favored, prosperous, satisfied, and have a feeling of great pleasure and contentment. A. Happy adj. – 1. Coming or happening by chance; fortuitous; chance. 2. a. Having good ‘hap’ or fortune; lucky, fortunate; favoured by lot, position, or other external circumstance. b. Blessed, beatified. 3. Characterized by or involving good fortune; fortunate, lucky; prosperous; favourable, propitious. (Now used only in certain collations, in which there is association with senses 4 or 5.) 4. Having a feeling of great pleasure or content of mind, arising from satisfaction with one's circumstances or condition; also in weakened sense: Glad, pleased. B. A nation whose God is the LORD is blessed (Psa 33:12). C. Nations that forget God will be turned into hell (Psa 9:17). D. Blessed adj. - 1. Consecrated, hallowed, holy; consecrated by a religious rite or ceremony. 2. That is the object of adoring reverence, adorable, worthy to be blessed by men. 3. a. Enjoying supreme felicity; happy, fortunate. 4. a. Bringing, or accompanied by, blessing or happiness; pleasurable, joyful, blissful. 2. They are blessed because their God is the LORD Jehovah. A. “Jehovah” is translated “LORD” in the KJV in nearly every case with the exception of a few places (Exo 6:3). i. Jehovah is the most high over all the earth (Psa 83:18). ii. Jehovah is our salvation (Isa 12:2; Deut 33:29). iii. Jehovah is everlasting strength and can be trusted (Isa 26:4). B. Jehovah is the one true eternal God (Deut 6:4; Exo 3:13-15). C. The gods of the nations are idols, but Jehovah (the LORD) is the Creator of all (Psa 96:5). 3. A people who can from the heart say “the LORD our God” are blessed in the following ways: A. The LORD gave them His word which makes a people a great nation (Deut 4:5-8). B. The LORD can be trusted to protect their nation (Psa 20:7). C. The LORD will destroy their enemies (Psa 94:23). D. The LORD will forgive them and yet punish them to correct them (Psa 99:8). E. The LORD their God is exalted and unlike any other (Psa 113:4-6). F. The LORD their God will have mercy on them (Psa 123:1-3; Dan 9:9). G. The LORD is their salvation (Jer 3:23). H. The LORD is righteous in all His works (Dan 9:14). I. Salvation, glory, honor, and power belong to the LORD their God (Rev 19:1). 4. The people whose God is the LORD are blessed because they are chosen by God (Eph 1:3- 4; Psa 65:4). III. Psa 144:14 - That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets. 1. When a people’s God is the LORD, He blesses them to be productive: That our oxen may be strong to labour. A. In an agrarian society at a time when animals were their machinery, stout oxen that were strong to labor were the means of productivity. i. Much increase is by the strength of the ox (Pro 14:4; Deut 25:4; 1Ki 19:19). ii. When God’s people hearken diligently to Him and keep His commandments, He will bless their efforts in the field (Deut 28:1-3). B. To put this in today’s context, if our God is the LORD, He will bless us to be able to work productively and accomplish much. 2. When a people’s God is the LORD, He blesses them to be safe and secure: that there be no breaking in. A. One of the fundamental requirements for happiness and flourishing is to be safe in one’s own house and community. B. Where there is burglary and theft, or even the threat of it, there is little peace. C. God’s people can (and should) arm themselves to defend and protect their property (Mat 24:43; Luk 11:21). D. But a people whose God is the LORD will not even have to worry about doing so because God will protect them from being targeted by thieves and criminals. E. God did so for Israel when they left their homes thrice per year to go to Jerusalem to worship (Exo 34:23-24). F. He can do it for us today also.