The God Who Is and the God Who Acts Text: Psalm 145:17-20
Introduction: A Universe of Personal Consequences
We live in an age that is desperate to have a sentimental, fuzzy, and ultimately impersonal god. The modern mind wants a god who is a cosmic principle, a vague force, or a benevolent sentimentality in the sky. They want a god who makes no demands, draws no lines, and has no opinions about how we conduct our lives. In short, they want a god who is not there. But the God of Scripture, the God who actually exists, is not like that at all. He is intensely personal, He is fiercely holy, and He is actively involved in every detail of His creation. This is a great comfort to those who love Him and a terrifying reality for those who do not.
Psalm 145 is a magnificent acrostic psalm of praise, a structured celebration of the character and works of God. David is going through the Hebrew alphabet, piling up attributes and actions of Yahweh, showing us that the entire created order, from A to Z, is designed to declare the glory of God. The verses before us today are a dense, potent summary of God's covenant dealings with mankind. They show us a God who is not a detached observer but an active participant. His character determines His actions, and His actions reveal His character.
These four verses are a miniature systematic theology. They deal with God's character (righteous and holy), His relationship to His creatures (He is near), the conditions of that relationship (call on Him in truth), the results of that relationship (He fulfills desires and saves), and the ultimate, binary end of all humanity (He keeps the righteous and destroys the wicked). There is no room here for a squishy, postmodern deity who refuses to take sides. The God of David, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, draws a sharp, clean line through the middle of humanity. Where you stand in relation to that line is the most important fact about you.
The Text
Yahweh is righteous in all His ways And holy in all His works.
Yahweh is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will work out the desire of those who fear Him; He will hear their cry for help and He will save them.
Yahweh keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
(Psalm 145:17-20 LSB)
The Foundation of Divine Action (v. 17)
We begin with the bedrock of God's character, which governs everything He does.
"Yahweh is righteous in all His ways And holy in all His works." (Psalm 145:17)
Notice the two parallel statements. His "ways" are His paths, His decrees, His established patterns of dealing with the world. His "works" are His actions, His interventions in history. In both, He is utterly consistent with His character. The terms "righteous" and "holy" are closely related but distinct. Righteousness (tsaddiq) refers to God's perfect conformity to His own law. It is His justice, His rightness. He always does what is right. This is not an external standard He must meet; the standard is His own nature. This is the foundation of all cosmic justice.
Holiness (chasid) speaks of His separateness, His utter "otherness." It means He is set apart from all sin, all impurity, all that is common. But in the Psalms, this word for holy often carries the sense of covenant loyalty or steadfast love. God is holy in that He is utterly unique, and He is holy in that He is utterly faithful to His covenant promises. His actions are not only just, they are also fiercely loyal to those with whom He is in covenant.
This verse tells us that there is no caprice in God. He is not random. He doesn't have good days and bad days. Everything He does, from parting the Red Sea to allowing a sparrow to fall, is a perfect expression of His righteous and holy nature. For the believer, this is a profound comfort. It means His promises are sure, His judgments are true, and His plan is perfect. For the unbeliever, this is a terrifying thought. It means that the Judge of all the earth will absolutely do right, and no sin will be overlooked.
The Condition of Divine Nearness (v. 18)
From the foundation of God's character, David moves to the nature of our access to Him.
"Yahweh is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth." (Psalm 145:18 LSB)
God is omnipresent, of course. He is near to all things in His sustaining power. But this verse is speaking of a different kind of nearness: a relational, covenantal, attentive nearness. He draws near to hear, to answer, to save. But there is a crucial condition attached. The promise is not to everyone who mouths a few religious words. It is not to all who go through the motions of prayer. The promise is to "all who call upon Him in truth."
What does it mean to call on Him "in truth"? It means, first, to call upon the true God as He has revealed Himself, not some idol of our own imagination. You cannot pray to a god of your own invention and expect the God of the Bible to answer. Second, it means to call upon Him with a true heart. It means sincerity. It means abandoning all hypocrisy and pretense. It means our prayers must be aligned with reality, the reality of who God is and the reality of who we are. A man who calls for mercy while intending to continue in his rebellion is not calling in truth. A man who asks for blessing while his heart is full of bitterness is not calling in truth. To call on God in truth is to come to Him on His terms, acknowledging His righteousness and our sinfulness, seeking His will and not just our own comfort.
This is why the gospel is essential for true prayer. We can only approach the holy God "in truth" when we are clothed in the truth, who is Jesus Christ. He is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). To pray in truth is to pray in Jesus' name, which means to pray in union with His person and in accordance with His finished work. Any other kind of prayer is just noise.
The Fruit of True Religion (v. 19)
When we call on God in truth, what happens? Verse 19 gives us the glorious results.
"He will work out the desire of those who fear Him; He will hear their cry for help and He will save them." (Psalm 145:19 LSB)
This is one of the most staggering promises in all of Scripture. God will "work out the desire" of those who fear Him. The condition here shifts from "calling in truth" to "fearing Him," but they are two sides of the same coin. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; it is the proper posture of the creature before the Creator. It is a trembling awe, a profound reverence that leads to obedience.
And here is the secret: when you truly fear God, your desires begin to change. The Holy Spirit begins a work of renovation in your heart, so that you begin to desire what God desires. This is what it means to delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). It doesn't mean God becomes a cosmic vending machine for our whims. It means He baptizes our desires, conforming them to His will. And when our desires are aligned with His will, our prayers become unstoppable. We are asking for the very things He already wants to give.
And so, He hears their cry. This is not just auditory awareness; it means He hears with an intent to act. And the action is salvation. "He will save them." This is salvation in its fullest sense. He saves them from their enemies, from their troubles, from their sins, and ultimately, from death and judgment. The cry of the fearful is the prayer He loves to answer.
The Great Covenantal Divide (v. 20)
The psalm concludes this section with a stark and absolute summary of God's dealings with humanity. There is no middle ground.
"Yahweh keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy." (Psalm 145:20 LSB)
Here we see the two great classes of humanity. Those who love God, and the wicked. To love God is the fulfillment of the great commandment. It is the fruit of being born again, the result of fearing Him and calling on Him in truth. And the promise to them is that Yahweh "keeps" them. The word means to guard, to protect, to preserve. This is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints in embryonic form. God doesn't just save us; He keeps us saved. He guards His people like a shepherd guards his flock. Nothing can snatch them from His hand (John 10:28).
But the other side of the coin is equally true and just as certain. "But all the wicked He will destroy." The wicked are those who do not love God, who do not fear Him, who do not call on Him in truth. Their end is not annihilation or rehabilitation; it is destruction. This is the active judgment of a righteous and holy God against sin. A God who did not judge wickedness would not be a good God. A love that is indifferent to evil is not love at all. God's love for His people and His holiness demand that He judge those who are in rebellion against Him. His love and His wrath flow from the same holy character. To try and have a God of love without a God of wrath is to create a monstrous idol.
Conclusion: The God Who Is Near in Christ
These verses present us with a choice. There is a God who is righteous and holy, who is near to those who approach Him correctly, and who divides all mankind into two camps with two eternal destinies. You cannot be neutral before such a God. You are either one who loves Him or one of the wicked. You are either kept or you are destroyed.
The good news of the gospel is that the chasm between a holy God and sinful man has been bridged. Jesus Christ, the righteous One, took the destruction that the wicked deserved. On the cross, the wrath of God against sin was poured out. Because of this, God can be both "just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).
Therefore, to call upon God "in truth" is to call upon the name of Jesus. To "fear Him" is to bow the knee to King Jesus. To "love Him" is to have your heart captured by the beauty of what Jesus has done. When we come to God through Christ, we find that He is indeed near. He hears our cry. He begins to transform our desires. He saves us, and He pledges to keep us, to guard us, to preserve us, all the way into His eternal kingdom. But for those who refuse this way, who insist on their own righteousness and reject the King, there remains only the terrifying certainty of the final clause: the God who is righteous in all His ways will destroy the wicked.