Psalm 115:1-8; A Psalm for the Restless Heart

Jason Sterling August 3, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me, go to
the center of your Bible and goto Psalm 115.
We're going to continue thismorning in our summer series
through various psalms, and thismorning we encounter a passage
that cuts right to the center ofthe human heart.

(00:23):
Right to the center of thehuman heart.
This psalm exposes what JohnCalvin says the idol factories
of our hearts that are actuallyworking 24-7 in every heart,
cranking out new idols to bowdown to.
This is a strong passage.

(00:45):
It will confront us thismorning with a very
uncomfortable truth, and that isthat we all are, by nature, we
are glory thieves.
We are constantly stealing theglory that belongs to God.

(01:07):
We steal it and direct ittowards ourselves.
I think you'll see what I meanas we read this passage.
This is God's word.
Follow along with me.
Psalm 115, one through eightthis morning Not to us, o Lord,
not to us.
1 through 8 this morning.

(01:29):
Not to us, o Lord, not to us,but to your name.
Give glory for the sake of yoursteadfast love and your
faithfulness.
Why should the nation say whereis their God?
Our God is in the heavens andhe does all that he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold, and he does all that he
pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths but do notspeak.

(01:49):
They have eyes but do not see.
They have ears but do not hear.
Noses but do not smell.
They have hands but do not feel.
Feet but do not feel feet butdo not walk, and they do not
make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them will becomelike them.

(02:13):
So do all who trust in them.
This is God's word.
Let me pray and let's ask forthe Spirit to help us with this
passage this morning.
Please bow with me, spirit, tohelp us with this passage this
morning.
Please bow with me.
Father.
You brought us here, everyonehere you have brought it's not

(02:37):
an accident and you have thisword on this first Sunday in
August for us, and so my prayeris simple that, as we learn
about the idols of our hearts,that it wouldn't be just
information, but we want toencounter you.
I pray that we would all have apowerful encounter with the

(02:57):
Lord Jesus, his beauty and hisglory, in a way that changes us,
so that he becomes morebeautiful and glorious than
everything else around us.
Only you can do that and I'masking you to do it In Jesus'
name, amen.

(03:20):
I recently read an article.
It was about social media andcurrently there are nearly 2,000
social media addiction lawsuitsagainst major social media
platforms.
Families are taking these bigtech companies to court and
they're claiming that theseplatforms have been deliberately

(03:44):
engineered in their algorithmsto lure teens into addictive
online patterns and behaviors,potentially causing great harm.
And the statistics and you'veprobably read these before, but
they're staggering thestatistics behind these lawsuits

(04:05):
.
Worldwide screen addiction ismeasured at 210 million people
worldwide have social mediaaddictions.
Usage worldwide on a single dayis over seven.
Get this seven billion hours.

(04:25):
The average usage for a personis two hours a day of scrolling
and engaging with golden calves.

(04:47):
Have we not Just like theancient Israelites Me I'm
including myself in this we arebowing down to these things that
promise life but deliver death.
And let me be clear technologyin itself is not the problem,

(05:12):
just like every other idol andevery other good thing.
The problem is what our heartsdo with those things.
Social media, just like careerand work and relationships and
even good character traits allgifts from God and we take those
good gifts from God.
Instead of taking it as a gift.

(05:33):
We make those things ultimateand then we create idols out of
them, trusting them to providewhat only God can provide.
And here's what we're going tosee.
They're so subtle.
Idols don't necessarily looklike glowing screens and golden

(05:53):
statues.
Sometimes they look like virtueitself.
And that's why they're sodangerous, because idols often
appear righteous, ones that makeus look good and make us look
good in the eyes of other people.
And so here's the questionwe're going to look at this

(06:14):
morning how do you break freefrom idols and find life that
your heart is really craving,life that your heart is really
craving?
How can you break free from ouridols and find the life that
our hearts are really craving?
This passage Psalm 115, showsyou the way.

(06:34):
It shows you the way to freedom.
But to understand the way andto get there, we must understand
a few things about idolatry,and we'll see it in this passage
.
One, how idols are created, thecreation of idols.
Secondly, you must see howcruel idols really are.

(06:56):
And then, lastly, you must knowthe cure.
So, the creation of idols, thecruelty of idols, the cure for
our idols.
Let's look at our first setting,the creation of idols.
Look at verse 1.
You see repetition.
Not to us, o Lord, not to us,but to your name, be glory.
Anytime you see repetition inScripture, it is very

(07:21):
significant.
You need to stop as you'rereading and you need to ponder
what is being said, because itis very intentional and very
meaningful.
It is another way here ofsaying the psalmist is this is
so important that this bearsrepeating immediately, bears

(07:53):
repeating immediately.
The psalmist knows hownaturally our human heart
gravitates towards self-glory.
Idols are created and begin notin workshops.
They begin in hearts that areseeking glory and significance.
Apart from God, every idol runson the same fuel.
Idols run on the fuel ofself-glory and pride.

(08:15):
And what does pride do inself-glory?
It places you and places me atthe center of our existence
instead of God.
Donald Miller, several years ago, wrote a book called Blue Light
Jazz and he has this reallypowerful section in the book and
he says that the most powerfuladdiction on the planet is the

(08:37):
addiction to self.
Listen to what he writes.
He says the greatest lie any ofus has to battle is that life
is a story about me.
He said my life felt like thatonce, that my life was a story
about me because I was in everyscene.
In fact, I was the only one inevery scene, and when someone

(09:02):
would walk into my scene itwould frustrate me because they
were disrupting the generaltheme of my play, namely my
comfort.
And then he makes thisbrilliant statement.
He said I discovered that mymind is like a radio that only
picks up one station.
Remember, his name is Donald,he goes by Don and he says that

(09:27):
station is K-D-O-N.
All Don, all the time.
That's us, isn't it?
Our hearts and minds tend toonly pick up one station, our
station, and we live in a story,oftentimes, that's only about

(09:49):
us, and when we won't findsignificance and our
significance in God's love forus, what we end up doing is
creating these elaborate systems, and we manufacture our glory
and significance for ourselves.
Our hearts were made to worshipGod.
They're supposed to cry, not tous, not to us.

(10:10):
O Lord, to you be glory.
But instead this is what sindoes.
Instead, our hearts tend towhisper.
No to us, to us be glory.
And it does that in a thousandsmall moments every single day.

(10:33):
We say to us.
To us, when we carefully craftthe perfect caption and perfect
photo that we can post in orderto make our life look a little
more impressive.
We whisper to us when we takecredit for our career success,

(11:00):
instead of saying that it'sreally all a gift.
Instead of saying that it'sreally all a gift your mental
capacity, your ability to makeinvestments and make connections
and have opportunities and haveincome and all of those things
we want to grasp and say look atwhat I've done and God says no,

(11:21):
everything is a gift from myhand Relationships.
Did you know that at the bottomof every broken marriage, at
the bottom of every shatteredfamily and forsaken friendship,
you know what you'll find Stolenglory.

(11:41):
Someone saying to us, to us,lord.
You see the emphasis, thedouble emphasis here?
It's a daily heart check for us.
We need to pray and cry, lord,not to us, but to your name, be

(12:02):
glory.
There is only room for oneglory receiver in the world, and
it's not me and it's not you.
It is God.
It is the God whose steadfastlove and faithfulness is so
overwhelming that he took onflesh and gave himself to us,

(12:29):
and gave himself to us.
He gave himself for gloryseekers like us.
Jesus is the ultimate not-to-usperson.
He deserved all the glory, andremember Philippians, chapter 2?
He made himself nothing, and sowhere do we need to repent this
morning Of seeking our ownglory.
What station is your hearttuned to?

(12:51):
Is it KU all you all the time?
Or is your heart tuned insaying and declaring not to us,
not to us, but to you?
God be glory forever and ever.
Listen, we are in a veryexciting time in the life of our

(13:15):
church and I cannot be moreexcited about the next season of
ministry for us in thisbuilding.
It's wonderful.
I get more excited every singleday, but there's a lot of
opportunities for us to say tous, to us, for us to say to us,

(13:39):
to us may it never be, may itnever be in this church and in
this pulpit that we ever say tous, to us, no, it's always God,
not to us, but to you, be gloryforever and ever.
May that be the resoundingthing that comes out of our
church in the years and in thedays ahead, amen.
Secondly, the cruelty of idols.

(14:01):
Idols are cruel and it shows usthis.
Look at verse 2.
Israel's being mocked by pagannations around them asking where
is your God?
I mean, we've got our gods ofgold and silver.
We can see them, we can touchthem, but you claim to be
worshiping this invisible God?
Where is he?

(14:22):
And that question reveals,really, too, how idols begin to
form.
They begin with doubt.
When God seems distant, whenour prayers go unanswered, when
we suffer, when life doesn'tturn out the way we want it to
or think it should in our lives,doubt creeps in and we start to
say things where is this Godwhen I actually need him?

(14:44):
And what it does is it drivesus to create these substitutes
that seem in the moment morereliable, more immediate, more
controllable than the invisibleGod of heaven.
Verse 3, and rather thanexplaining this away, the
psalmist affirms God's control,affirms God's sovereignty and

(15:09):
exposes the fundamentaldifference between God and our
idols, saying our God is inheaven and he does whatever he
pleases.
And then the psalmist sets upone of, I think, the most
devastating critique of idolatryin the entire Bible.
You can probably argue withthat, but this is very strong.
The psalmist here says not onlyare idols powerless and

(15:34):
ineffective, but they're alsocruel.
And one of the things we needto understand about idolatry,
modern idolatry, is they don'tlook like golden calves.
Our functional idols often aredisguised, and this is important
.
They're disguised as virtuesoftentimes, for example,

(15:56):
people-pleasing masquerades askindness.
Achievement appears asresponsibility, busyness can
look like, oh, they're justbeing productive.
Or image management candisguise itself as being a good

(16:16):
witness, and you hear that andyou think, well, what's wrong
with those things?
Those all sound good.
Well, that is exactly howthe-driven performance, and

(16:37):
let's work that out.
There is a kindness thatoverflows from God's love, and
there's a kindness thatoverflows and is driven by fear
of rejection, that overflows andis driven by fear of rejection.
There is achievement that flowsfrom being a faithful steward

(16:58):
of what God has given you, andthere is a drivenness and
achievement that comes from fearof failure or fear of being
insignificant or worthless, andthere's a thousand things we
could do.
There's being a good steward ofyour body, and then there's

(17:19):
obsessing over youth and beauty,from actual fear of aging.
You see the difference.
One flows from a full heartthat is secure and full of God's
love and wants to bless others.
The other one flows from anempty heart that is trying to
fill itself.

(17:40):
And so here's a diagnosticquestion Are you doing what
you're doing from fullness orfrom emptiness, from fear or
security?
If you're doing it and I'mdoing it from fear and emptiness

(18:01):
, there's our idol.
Look no further.
You have found it.
And then it's devastating whathe does with the idols of this
world, and very powerful.
Look at verse 4 through 7.
They have mouths but cannotspeak, and so he shows us that

(18:25):
they never can deliver on whatthey promise.
They have mouths but cannotspeak.
The busyness idol promises toprove your worth and importance,
but actually keeps you frombeing still and creates all
sorts of anxiety in your life.
It never delivers.
They have eyes, but cannot seethe image.

(18:45):
Reputation promises, respectand admiration, but it blinds
you to how God already sees you.
Ears, but cannot hearAchievement.
Idols promise significance andsecurity, but they keep you from
hearing from God.

(19:05):
You're already enough.
And that pattern is always thesame.
Idols promise to deliver, theyleave you empty and sad.
They promise to silence yourshame they actually amplify your
shame.
They promise significance, theyleave you feeling insignificant

(19:29):
and worthless.
They promise peace and security, but create more anxiety.
And look at the sobering truth.
Verse 8, maybe the strongestverse in the passage those who
make them become like them.
So do all who trust in them.
And you see there the spirituallaw of worship, don't you?

(19:51):
You see it in the Bible youbecome like what you worship.
So if you worship control, youbecome controlling.
If you worship perfection, youbecome harsh and cruel.
If you worship approval, youbecome an anxious people pleaser
.
When you trust in those thingsthat can't speak, feel walk, you

(20:16):
lose your freedom and you loseyour ability to live.
Several years ago, in a New Yorkmagazine it was actually back
early 90s Cynthia Himmel writesthis article about her early 90s
.
Cynthia Himmel writes thisarticle about her experience

(20:36):
with celebrities.
She got to be around thembefore they got famous and after
they got famous.
And she talks about when,before they were famous, they
were working hard, they werebusing tables just trying to
make it in the acting world.
And then she says this listen,I pity celebrities, I really do.
Celebrities were once perfectlypleasant human beings, but now

(20:59):
their wrath is awful.
You see, they wanted fame, theyworked, they pushed and the
morning after each was madefamous, they wanted to take an
overdose, because that giantthing they were striving for,
that thing that they thought wasgoing to make everything okay,

(21:19):
provided them with personalfulfillment.
It happened and nothing changed.
They were still themselves.
They were still themselves.
When the newness ran out, theybecame insufferable.
That is psalm 115, verse 8perfectly pleasant human beings

(21:44):
who worshiped being big time andfamous and successful.
And when they finally got it,it made them hollow and
miserable and successful.
And when they finally got it,it made them hollow and
miserable and demanding.
Idolatry is dangerous anddeceptive, not only because it
fails us externally, but forwhat it does to us internally.

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We become like them.
And so what are your idols,what are your functional idols
this morning that are actuallydriving your life?
And don't just look for theobvious things.
Look for actually the virtueand the good things that you've

(22:26):
made into idols.
And then the question is okay,so I know I have idolatry in my
heart, I bow down to these idols, so how do I break free?
That's the last point, the curefor idolatry.
Jesus, god, exposes our idolsand then he gives us the cure.
Right, idols have mouths butcannot speak, but Jesus speaks,

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doesn't he?
And what does Jesus say to you?
Come to me all who are worn outand burdened and full of shame,
and I will give rest for yoursoul, those who are enslaved by

(23:17):
busyness.
Jesus doesn't say be moreactive, demand more activity.
He invites you to rest.
He speaks the words that yoursoul is desperately wanting to
hear.
And that is your worth.
Doesn't come through endlessactivities.
It comes from who God, throughthe person of Christ, says that

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you are and you are alreadyvaluable to him.
Where idols have eyes but cannotsee, jesus sees you.
Jesus sees you all the way tothe bottom, and you know what he

(24:03):
sees, what's in here and all ofthese idols that we've talked
about, and the good news of thegospel is he doesn't run away.
He actually moves towards andhe actually pursues us.
Jesus sees past the mask, hesees past the carefully
constructed social media postand all the ways we manage our
reputation, and he says you'remine, you're my beloved child,

(24:25):
in whom I am well pleased.
Idols have ears, but can't hear.
Jesus says it is finished, thatyou're approved of that.
You're already significant Feet, but cannot walk.
Jesus walks back.

(24:46):
Idols leave you when the goinggets tough.
Jesus never leaves you orforsakes you, but walks with you
.
That doesn't mean you'll neversuffer.
That means, though, that you'llnever face it alone if you
belong to him.
You see, the gospel does addressthe root cause of our idolatry.
That creates it in the firstplace.

(25:08):
Remember it begins with doubt.
That creates it in the firstplace, remember, it begins with
doubt.
Where is God?
You know what the gospel says.
He's on a cross.
He came down when we needed himthe most and he entered into
our suffering and he lived forus and he died for our sin and

(25:31):
he gives us his perfectrighteousness.
He defeats the enemies of sinand death.
Jesus does not come to shameyou.
He came to save you from ouridolatry that we've created in
our hearts.
You see, the great thing aboutChristianity is that we have a

(25:52):
God that doesn't take our life.
That's what idols do.
They take life from you.
Jesus gives his life for you.
That's what makes Christianityso different from the idols that
we serve around us.
There's a pastor in Richmond,virginia, about 150 years ago,

(26:12):
dr Hogue, and he planted twochurches, but he lived right in
the heart of slavery.
He hated slavery, but hemarried this woman and the dowry
was he inherited seven slaves.
Immediately when he getsmarried, he released these seven
slaves immediately and setsthem free.

(26:34):
But what happens next reallybaffled him.
One of the slaves left, but theother six stayed on his
property and finally he's kindof frustrated and he's what are
you doing?
Like, go?
You're free, you can goanywhere, you can do anything

(26:56):
and no one's going to stop you.
And one of the slaves looked athim and says, well, if I can go
anywhere and I can be anywhereand do anything, then I would
like to stay right here with you.
And we hear that and we thinkwell, that's odd.
No, think about it.

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They have been treated cruellytheir entire life as property,
and now they met a man whotreated them with honor and
dignity and respect.
And so in their freedom, theywanted to be near to this man.

(27:39):
That is what the gospel holdsout to you this morning.
The gospel promises freedom, notfreedom from no masters.
That's impossible.
You're a human being, you'regoing to serve someone or
something.
Christianity comes and offersyou true freedom, a master in

(28:02):
the Lord Jesus who is so goodand so kind and loving that in
your freedom you want to be nearto him, because no one treats
you like he does.
You see, that is the key toreleasing the idols and dealing

(28:26):
with the idols that exist insideof our hearts.
It is being captured by thebeauty and the glory and the
goodness of Jesus.
You cannot just say stop lookingat idols' hearts.
You can't just wag your fingerat your heart.
That will not work.
You need something morebeautiful.
You're going to worship.

(28:47):
We need something morebeautiful, something better that
will melt our hearts andrecaption the affection of our
hearts and friends.
Jesus is so much better andkinder and more beautiful than
our idols, the idols thatwhisper try harder, you're not

(29:08):
good enough.
Be perfect, stay safe.
No, jesus comes and says come,come on, come and find rest in
me.
And so this week you're going tofeel it, when you feel that
familiar pull towards self-gloryand you start wanting to create

(29:33):
and manufacture your ownsignificance and glory.
Remember the cruelty ofidolatry at its heart and also
remember that you already have agood master who loves you
deeply.
Stay near to him.

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He's the one that your heart isreally looking for.
Let's pray, father.
Thank you for your steadfastlove, thank you for your
faithfulness.
Forgive us for the idols wecreate in our hearts that we
think will deliver.
Thank you for not giving up onus, and may we be a place that

(30:17):
always cries, not to us, not tous, oh lord, but to you be glory
.
Show us now, even as we come tothis table, that you're a good
master who is loving and kind.
In Jesus' name, amen.