Psalm 147. The title of the message this morning is,
The Precept of Praise. The Precept of Praise. Here in Psalm 147, the psalmist
begins this psalm with this phrase,
this exhortation, this precept. He says, Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Then he tells why we should praise. For it is good to sing praises
unto our God. For it is pleasant, and praise
is comely." Now, here in this verse, he sets forth for us the
whole purpose of this psalm, to praise the Lord. This, we know, is not by nature. We know this is not
man's nature to praise his God, though it should be. It's not. This psalm, this phrase, Praise
ye the Lord, is really one word. Hallelujah. Hallelujah is the
word. It is to give honor. Praise is
to give honor, to give glory to the Lord. which he is worthy
to receive of all his creatures. Yet we know because of sin, because
man by nature is lost and depraved, he will not praise God. And listen, he cannot praise
God. He cannot do it. Man does not
and will not yield to the Law of God, nor will he come to Christ,
by which we praise God. But for us, and that's who I'm
speaking to this morning as believers, to us who are born again of the
Spirit of God, who have been given a new heart, we may praise
our God. we are able to offer both gifts
and sacrifices unto God which are thanksgiving and praise. These are the sacrifices that
we offer to God. And listen, this is not just
something we offer begrudgingly, but rather this
is something we long to offer unto our God. This is something
we long to do, is to rejoice and sing His praises for His
great love wherewith He loved us. Sing praises over His sovereign
election by which He chose us. He ordained that we be saved
by Jesus Christ. And we desire to sing praises
this morning concerning the accomplished work of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which He did accomplish at Calvary. And now we believe on Him. We are made partakers of the
divine nature. by which we confess that all
praise and glory and power and dominion belong unto God. In the sacred persons of His
Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise the Lord. We praise the Lord. Now this morning, do you long
to praise Him? to praise the God of heaven,
the Creator and Sustainer of all things, for His grace and
power by which He has saved our souls. It is the longing of every
believer to praise God. Now, it's the longing of man
to praise himself. It is the longing of our nature
to hear about ourself. Now, you want to bore a lost
man to death, Preach Christ, only Christ, always Christ, and
nothing of himself but sin and ruin and damnation, and he will
leave. It's not his longing to set God
above all things, to view God as he truly is, sovereign in
everything. The psalmist here proclaims to
us that we should do this. We should do so. Why? Look at this, he says it's good.
You want to know what's good? Praise the Lord. Well, I just
want to do what's good. Praise the Lord. That's good. That's good. Every believer's soul longs to
do this always. To praise his Lord and Savior.
But I tell you this, we confess this, that we are hindered. From
praising Him the way we long to praise Him, we are hindered.
We are often turned aside from praising God, and instead of
praising Him, we offer complaints. We offer complaints. Israel did this often in the
Old Testament. God delivered them from the bondage
of Egypt. He brought them out by the blood
of the Lamb. He brought them through the Red
Sea and crushed Pharaoh and his armies. Before their very eyes,
He did this. They themselves walked through
the Red Sea to the other side, and what did they do? They sang
praises unto God for killing their enemies, destroying them
that wanted to destroy Israel, and yet it wasn't just a few
days later they were murmuring about water. They were complaining
because they didn't have water to drink. They murmured at the slightest
hindrance, the slightest inconvenience, Does this touch the nerve of
your heart as it does mine? We often, instead of praising,
we murmur. But since when have we found
delight and pleasure and joy and goodness in murmuring? Have
you ever found it to be so? Have you ever found pleasure
in murmuring? Complaining? No, but here's a precept for
you. Praise is good. Instead of murmuring,
praise. Instead of complaining, praise. It is good for the mind, for
the heart to sing of the glorious God and Savior. How often have
we been in the darkest gloom, in the very teeth of our enemies,
in the snare of temptation, and yet at a moment a song come to
our heart, a moment of praise come to our mind, and just immediately
we are transformed out of that darkness and gloom into the very
presence of our Savior where there is joy and peace There's a reason for singing.
Why do we sing when we come into here? And we do that every time
before we preach the gospel, we sing. Why? It's good. It's good to set your mind on
things above and not on things of the earth. That's what singing
does. It lifts the heart. Singing is good. There's nothing
wrong with singing His praise. In a moment, the Word of God
of the Holy Spirit reminds us of Jesus, our Savior, and a hymn
bursts forth from our souls and lifts our hearts to escape all
snares and temptations, which singing praise, He says,
is comely." in our text it says for praise
is what? Comely. It's becoming of you
who are believers in Christ to praise Him. That's just becoming. Often times when I'm in despair
and in the depths of my very sin in the darkest of depressions
and yet I hear the sweetest voice of someone else singing. Some
believer lifting up Christ in song and my heart is cheered. I began to see the light coming
through the darkness. of His blood and righteousness,
someone singing a melody of praise of His blood and righteousness,
and my heart begins to be kindled." Now, this is just not an Old
Testament precept, but the Apostle Paul used this in two different
places, he tells us, concerning singing and praising. He says
in Ephesians 5, 19, speaking to yourselves. in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody in your heart." In Colossians 3, 16, he said,
"...let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the
Lord." How many times you mouth the words of a hymn and there's
no heart? Oh no, singing requires much
more than a beautiful voice. It requires a heart. A true heart of worship. I've heard some beautiful singers
that have no love for Christ whatsoever. They sing and oh,
they're so beautiful and you can tell there's no love for
Christ in them, in their life, in their demeanor, in their conduct. Yet they've got a beautiful voice. You know what makes my heart
happy is that my voice is beautiful to Christ. That He loves to hear
us say His praises. Why? Because it's beautiful.
Praise is beautiful. Beautiful. And so then let us obey this
precept. Obey this precept. Even now let
us sing and praise the Lord in our hearts." Now then, the psalmist
not only tells us that to praise the Lord, to give us this precept,
he also gives us the very song of praise that we should sing.
I like that. You don't have to make this up.
I've written some hymns, and I'll tell you what, my hat's
off to anybody writing hymns. That is a very special gift. If God gives you a hymn to be
able to write a message in such a short refrain, that's a beautiful
thing. And so I love it when the hymn
is already written. And this hymn is already written
for you. So you don't have to guess what to sing and praise.
God has a whole hymn book right here for you to sing praises
unto Him. And the first thing is He gives
us to sing about. Look at that in verse 2. The
Lord doth build up Jerusalem. The Lord doth rebuild, in another
translation, Jerusalem. And because of sin, now in the
literal sense here, because of sin, the nation of Judah, Jerusalem
was utterly destroyed, the city was burned, the temple was destroyed. And they were held captive in
Babylon for seventy years until the appointed time where God
sent Cyrus to deliver them and to restore the temple to rebuild
the temple now there's no doubt is talking about that literally
that god did rebuild jerusalem we hold even so it is with god's
elect you know whatever israel did physically carnally we have
a spiritual a spiritual truth revealed to us As God's elect,
as God's Israel, we by Adam were all ruined by the sin of our
father, All worship of God was destroyed. All communion with
God as that temple was burned down, so was the worship destroyed
between God and His people. There was no high priest. There
was nobody to enter in before the presence of God with an offering. And so it is with us by nature
when Adam sinned. So all of our communion with
God was destroyed and ruined. And listen, just as nobody for
those 70 years could rebuild Jerusalem, no matter how hard
they tried, no matter what they did, they could not free themselves
from Babylon, they could not restore Jerusalem, even so, we
by nature could not rebuild or reconcile ourselves to God. We could not offer an offering
good enough to be accepted of God. And so none of us by nature
are free from sin or spiritual death or the justice of God.
But here's a song for you. Not you rebuild, but the Lord
rebuild. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem. The Lord doth build His church
upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. It was by man that sin came.
Even so, by man, Jesus Christ's righteousness was restored to all His people. So let us
sing of the great condescension. Is there not something to sing
about? That the Lord of glory Himself, for you, ruined, captive
to sin. that the Lord God Himself condescended
to be made flesh, to be made man, and dwell among us. Seeing
then of His perfect obedience, of His sinless life, of His perfect
faith in God, by which He obtained the righteousness of God for
all of us who believe, for the righteousness of God which was
manifest, which was told of us of the prophets is now manifest
even the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. So do you need a song? Do you need a song to sing? Well
then look now and see He who is the sinless Son of
God now betrayed rejected of men and crucified, not for himself, but for his people. For the sins
of his people, he suffered the full measure of man's hatred
and God's justice. And so Paul calls all those sinners,
all us sinners, to the cross in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The Apostle talks about this
reconciliation, this rebuilding of Jerusalem, this restoring
of worship. He said, to wit, that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you,
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, for He hath made Him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him." What a song, reconciliation.
Be ye reconciled to God. For God made Him, who thought
no sin, did no sin, to be sin, made sin for us, that we might
be made the righteousness of God. I think of that hymn that
John Newton wrote, I saw one hanging on a tree in agony and
blood. He fixed his loving eyes on me
as near his cross I stood. My conscience felt and owned
his death, and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins his blood
had spilt, and helped to nail him there. A second look he gave, which said,
I freely all forgive. This blood is for your ransom
paid. I died that you might live. Oh, can it be upon a tree my
Savior died for me my soul is thrilled my heart
is filled to think he died for me behold then and sing of Jesus
whose blood and righteousness then restores us to God. Restores us to God. The Lord
doth rebuild Jerusalem. How? By the blood and the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Here's a second thing to sing
about. He says, He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. We know this by the Holy Scripture
that Christ is the foundation of His Church, the foundation
of Jerusalem, His people. In Isaiah 28, it says, "...the
Lord hath laid a foundation." A stone, a sure stone, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone, which is Christ. Jesus said of
himself, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. So what is the foundation
of our soul? It is Christ. It is Christ alone. God has laid
that foundation and no other foundation is there but Christ.
And it is upon this foundation we are built. His church is built. Because of sin, we have been
separated from God. We were far from righteousness
and could not draw near unto God. Just as Israel could not
approach God without a temple and a high priest, neither could
we ever come to God of our own works. But God says this, this
is a hope, this is a comfort to the church, isn't it? will
gather." Now who does the gathering? The same one who does the building. I will gather. Who? Outcasts. Outcasts. This reminds me of
the lepers. You remember the lepers were
the ones outcast. Who does God gather? Sinners.
That's who God gathers. He gathers sinners. Have you seen? You are an outcast. Well, good. That's the one God
gathers. There's hope for outcasts. There's
hope for lepers. There's hope for sinners. Why? Because God only gathers sinners.
He said, they that are whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick I came not to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance. One man wrote this, I was lost
and undone without God or His Son till He reached His hand
down for me. Is that not a song? Is that not
a song to sing? That we were gathered by the
hand of God? I will gather you. He will gather
you to Himself. He must, in order to gather you,
He must first show you your condition. Is that not right? People don't
like to hear about sin. Listen, if you don't know what
you are, you'll never come. And if you know what you are,
then you have hope. He only gathers outcasts. Listen
to what he says, "...he healeth," what? "...the broken in heart,
and binds up their wounds." Well, I'm not wounded. He's not talking
to you then, is He? I'm not an outcast. He's not
gathering you. Who does He gather? The outcasts
and those broken-hearted over their sin. There's a lot of people
confess to be sinners but sure not broken hearted about it. They don't see sin as a big deal. But the scriptures are clear
that we were full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. Yet now we have been gathered
And what do the gathered do? They sing praise because we were
gathered. Because He drew us in. It was
His power that created in us a new heart, a new nature, that
was holy and without sin. It was His power that sent His
Word and His Gospel of Christ into our souls, and it was by
His power we believed. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, of thy
power. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
You can hear the sound thereof, but you can't tell whether it's
coming and whether it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit of God. As many as received Him, to them
gave He the right to become the sons of God, which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God." We were gathered. We were gathered by power. But
is that how you felt it when you were gathered? Did you feel
like you were being dragged? That's what it means. He said,
no man can come unto me except my Father which hath sent me.
Draw him, the word does mean drag. It does mean draw, pull. But yet that's not how our experience
was, was it? No, He drew us with the cords
of love. That's how He drew us. He drew
us not by fear, but by love. We were afraid. When we were
exposed, isn't that right? We were afraid of hell. We didn't
want to die in our sins. But yet that wasn't what drew
us, was it? It was His love. It was His grace. It was His blood. It was His
righteousness that drew us to Him. That's how He gathers us,
by His great love. And so when we are praising and
singing all those who are in israel who have been gathered
we should sing in praise this that all of israel shall be gathered i've said this before i i keep
saying it because i i i know it to be true there's that song
we sing uh... that uh... a desire for all the
churches of god to be full Lord, that thy churches would be full." I want you to know they are. They're full. Everyone that God will save,
He will bring. And they will be full. The church
is full. Is Christ's body missing any
parts? No. Not one. And listen, not
one of God's people will be missing. Not one. You remember that man by the
pool of Bethesda? I believe there we can see power
and love. Can you? Can you not see power
and love? That man that lay there for those many years who was
unable to get himself to the pool. And here comes the Lord
and He asks him a question. Do you want to be healed? What
a question! What a question! Let me ask it
to you. Do you want to be healed of your sin? Do you want to be
healed of your sin? Does your sin break your heart?
Are the wounds of your sin so putrid to the smell of your nostrils? Do you desire to be bound up
and healed? And this man says, yes. But I have no power. Good. Good. That's the best place to
be. If a man could be anywhere powerless
and helpless before the feet of Jesus Christ is the best place
to be. Because he has all the power.
He has all the power to save. And what does he say to such
a man? Rise up. Take up thy bed. and walk. Even so does he with the outcast
sinner bind the broken heart, heal the wounds, heal the wounds
by power and by love. Sing praises unto God, then,
because of His power and His love. His power to gather and
His love to heal the brokenhearted. Now in verses 4 through 6, let's
read these. He telleth the number of stars,
He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and
of great power His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifteth
up the meek and casteth the wicked down to the ground. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving,
sing praise upon the harp unto our God. Now, He who numbered
the stars and calls Him by name, is this not a great display of
His knowledge? Has any man ever numbered the
stars? No. I remember reading somewhere
they were trying to name some stars. They said X, 3, 8, 5,
7, 6, 3. They just had to put numbers. They can't come up with
enough names. How infinite is His wisdom and knowledge that
He can name them all. Name them all. Great knowledge.
Infinite power. See the greatness of our God.
in that He not only numbered them, but named His stars. But
this is much more than just the stars of heaven. Look it. You
are His stars. He has numbered and named all
of His elect. Such wisdom, such knowledge is
beyond our understanding. For He who has infinite wisdom
and knowledge knows how to save all. His people. Great is our Lord and great in
power His understanding. Could any man understand this
question? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? Could anyone answer that question?
None in a billion years could answer that question. Only God
answered it. And He answered it through His
Son, Jesus Christ, our Substitute, our Redeemer. Therefore, all you elect, praise
Him for His wisdom, for His knowledge, that He should know how to save
us by Jesus Christ, to make us accepted in the Beloved. And now, in power and wisdom,
He gathers us all, and He quickens us all, and we all believe on
Christ alone. Well, who then are these elect
stars? See this in verse 6. He says, "...the Lord lifteth
up..." What? The meek. the lowly, the beggar. Isn't that what it says? He lifteth
the beggar from the dunghill. How much lower can a man be than
to live in a dunghill? Yet that's how we were. This
is where he found us. He heals the brokenhearted, those
who have no power, those who have no ability I know men boast and say, well,
I've got power. I've got a will. I can do what
I want to. Not gathering you. He's not gathering
you. He gathers who? The meek. The
lowly. And so we would sing with the
hymn writer, I was sinking deep in sin, Far from the peaceful
shore, Very deeply stained within, Seeking to rise no more. But the master of the sea Heard
my despairing cry, And from the waters lifted me, Now safe am
I. Love lifted me, not merit, Not
works. Not law. Love. Love lifted me. And I want you to know this.
Love carries me. I made thee. Psalm 146, I believe
it's verse 4. I made thee. I will carry thee. How far? How far will He carry
you? How long will He bear with you? I am glad that God is just not
suffering with us, but He is long suffering with us. He said, I will carry you from the womb to the tomb to glory. Now, do you have something to
sing about? Do you? Look at this, in verse 8, "...who
covereth the heavens with the cloud, who prepareth the rain."
This is the singing of provision. This is His provision for all
of His people. He says, "...who covereth the
heaven with the clouds, who prepareth the rain for the earth, who maketh
the grass to grow upon the mountains, who giveth the beast his food,
and the young ravens which cry, He delighteth not in the strength
of the horse, He taketh not pleasure in the legs of man. The Lord
taketh pleasure in them that fear Him." in those that hope
in His mercy. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise thy God, O Zion! Who covers you with righteousness
as with a garment? Who decketh thee with all the
precious jewels of holiness? Who washed you from the filth
of your sin as the rain falls from heaven and cleanses the
earth so the blood of Christ rained down from heaven and cleansed
our soul from all our sin. Why? How? Not by strength. But it says in verse 11, he didn't
do this by anything. I'm sorry, verse 10. He delighteth
not in the strength of the horse, nor taketh pleasure in the legs
of men. Why did he do this? The Lord
taketh pleasure in them that fear him. in those that hope
for His mercy. You know the Lord didn't do this
for you out of some... We do things for others for self-benefit. I know that because we have a
need of feeling good about ourselves. We do that and we help others
and there's nothing wrong with that. You should. Why did God save you? In searching your own heart,
can you find a reason? He did it because he wanted to. Free grace. Free grace. Not by works. The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that feareth Him. Not what my hands have done could
have saved my guilty soul. Not all the works my toiling
flesh hath borne could make my spirit whole. Thy work alone,
O Christ, can ease this weight of sin. Thy grace alone O God,
give me peace within. The Lord taketh pleasure. Praise
ye the Lord. And praise the Lord for the refuge. Look at that in verse 13. He
hath strengthened the bars of thy gates. He hath blessed thy
children within thee. He maketh peace in all thy borders,
and filleth thee with the finest of wheat. He sendeth forth the
commandment upon the earth, and his word returneth very swiftly. This is a song to sing. The Lord is thy refuge. The Lord
is thy refuge. Christ hath made peace by the
blood of His cross, and He fills us with the finest wheat." What
is that? Is that not His Word? His Word
is the wheat. His Word is the thing by which
we are nourished. It is His provision for us. He who is our Savior, sustains
us, keeps us in the faith. Why is it you've been kept? Because
the bars have been strengthened. Gates have been built in Jerusalem. No one can penetrate these things.
No one could get into you or separate you from His love. Why?
He made peace. Now in verse 15, through the
remainder, I want you to see this as a providential, providential
experience is here. He sendeth forth His commandment
upon the earth, it runneth swiftly. He giveth snow like wool, he
scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes, he casteth forth his ice
like morsels. Who can stand before his cold? Have you ever been cold in heart? You who have been gathered, you
who have been built, you who have been sustained by God, have
you not left your first love? Oftentimes we do. Oftentimes
we feel so cold and indifferent. How could we hear the Word of
God of such grace and love and not have any affection in our
heart? How can we sing these hymns with no heart at all? Because
the hoarfrost has come in. You've been cold and indifferent
to the things of God. Now for a lost man, he's always
been that way. But for us, it is the most painful
experience in the world. When God hides His face from
us, surely we become cold. But notice what He does this
for, verse 18, "...He sendeth out His Word, and melteth them." He causes His wind, the Spirit,
to blow, and the waters flow. He showeth His word unto Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. He warms our hearts and causes
His gospel to flow. We see Christ clearly. We see that He is all our righteousness,
our wisdom, our sanctification and redemption. you should say here's the last
reason he only does this for israel last verse he had dealt
not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgments they
have not known them praise ye the lord who his people
he's built us He saved us. He gathered us. He keeps us. He makes provisions for us through
this life. Even in the very coldness of
our heart, He's still with us. And He promises always to send
revival in our hearts, this warmth of His Word. He hadn't done this to anybody
else but to His people. Now, do you have reason to sing? You have millions of reasons
to sing, yet they are all centered in one, the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. What a precept. May God give
us grace to praise Him.