Scope of my transgressions. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
100. This is a fitting psalm after that. The name of the message is Praise
Him, Praise Him. Praise Him, Praise Him. Psalm 100, verses
1 to 5. Psalm Praise. headed to psalm praise. Make
a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord
with gladness. Come before his presence with
singing. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that made
us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep
of his pasture. Enter into the gates with thanksgiving
and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless
His name. The Lord is good. Isn't He good? The Lord is good. Look at this,
beloved. His mercy is everlasting and
His truth endureth to all generations. All generations. We'll look at
this Psalm verse by verse, beloved. And this is a Psalm of praise
before us. And we who are God's people,
we have a lot to praise God for. We have a lot to praise our great
God for, beloved. And a lot to be thankful for.
And where does praise spring from? A thankful, redeemed soul. It springs from a from a thankful
heart. And as I said, we have so much
as believers to be to be thankful for. And it's all in Christ. It's all in Christ. The song
before us is a short song, but it is a sweet song. It's a sweet
song. And note, there's not a single
single mournful note in the composition of the song. There's not a single
mournful note. It's full of praise. It's full
of praise. It's full of thanksgiving from
beginning to end for God and for what He's done. And all the
earth is called upon to join in blessing and thanking Him.
And that's all His people, no matter where they are. No matter
where they are. And this psalm is divided by
the first four verses in which we who are believers are exhorted
to do certain deeds. And in verse 5, we see the reason
for performing these deeds. So let's look at the first four
verses in the exhortation here before us. We are exhorted to
certain deeds. Look at verse 1. Make a joyful
noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord. This is a natural response of
all persons in every land who have by Jehovah been liberated
from the bondage of their sins and are born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. This is as natural for the believer
as breathing, making a joyful noise unto the Lord. When we
start to ponder the great things that God has done for us in the
quietness of our own time or even with our spouse, with our
loved one, we start to ponder the things that God has done
for us You make a joyful noise unto
the Lord. Oh, my. The great things that God has
done for his people. Believers in Christ make a joyful
noise. Unto the Lord and praise, because in Christ we have been
delivered from the power of sin. We're not delivered from the
presence, but we are delivered from the power, aren't we? It
doesn't have the grip that it once had upon us. Believers in Christ make a joyful
noise unto the Lord and praise because they've been delivered
from the penalty of their sins We saw that today, right? There
is therefore now no condemnation no judgment for those in Christ
Jesus. That'll make you sing that'll
make your heart sing and Believers in Christ make a joyful noise
unto the Lord and praise because they've been pardoned pardoned
For all their sins by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
all All of them are painful. That'll make a believer cry out
in praise unto the Lord, make a joyful noise unto the Lord.
When we ponder these things, the believer's been saved from
all our sins. All the sins and iniquities,
God will remember no more for the believer. Because Christ is the song we
pay. We say Jesus Christ, what paid it all. It's all pay for. Even our future
sins. Now, we've got to qualify that,
right? We don't doesn't give us a license
to go crazy, but all our sins are forgiven. Even the ones that
we don't even know we commit. Omission and commission. Spurgeon said, we commit sins
we don't even know. And they're all forgiven. All
covered under precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. As
I mentioned this morning, when God sees that blood, right? Who's our Passover lamb? The
Lord Jesus Christ. Whose blood is upon our souls?
It's the blood of Christ. When God sees that blood, Here,
Passover, you why? Because all his judgments already
being poured out in Christ for his people. That'll make your
heart sing. I hope make your heart sing.
We can know. Someone asked me the other day, how do you know
that you have eternal life? I said, because eternal life
is not dependent upon me. It's in Christ. It's in him. It's all because of what he's
done. And they looked at me like, what? And I said, it's all in
him. I have no dependence upon myself
at all, but I am wholly dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ and
him alone. Now that's so foreign to religious
people. They don't understand that. Well,
and there was a time when I didn't understand that either. But now
that's another thing to make you grateful. Be thankful God's
revealed that to you. that He's revealed to you Christ
and that it's not about what we do, it's about what He has
done. And we will live a holy life. We will. We desire to walk
with God. We will. We desire that. But
thank God that my salvation is not dependent upon me. And I
know you as believers, you who are here and who trust in Christ
and rest in Christ. It gives us a grateful heart
and a thankful heart. And it's not hard to make a joyful
noise unto the Lord for him doing all that for us. What a Savior,
what a God we have. My, in Christ the believer has
been forgiven for all their sins. And we make a joyful noise unto
the Lord and praise because in Christ the believer has been
redeemed. The believer has been justified.
The believer has been sanctified. And it's all in Christ and Him
alone. And as a result of all these spiritual blessings which
are only found in Christ and Him alone, the saints of God
shout in joy and make a joyful noise unto Him. Look at verse
2. Serve the Lord with gladness. come before His presence with
singing. Now I could repeat all the same points, right, that
I did for us to cause us to serve the Lord with gladness. We are to serve the Lord with
gladness, and again, that will come naturally when we think
upon all the things that we looked at in verse one. We're desired
to serve Him. We are to serve with the one,
think of this too. Who's the one we're to serve
with gladness? Christ, Jehovah, God. He's the
one we serve in gladness. We don't serve ourselves. The
reason we're here and the reason we serve and the reason we gather
together is to hear about our Savior. To hear about our Savior. And we come together And we give
offerings, and they're used to promote who? Christ. Christ. That's what this whole
work here is about. It's not about us. Someone asked
me one time when I was in Oregon, Wayne, what would happen if the
Lord took you home? And I said, well, if he wanted
the work to continue, he'd just raise up another preacher. And
they looked at me like, well, it's not dependent upon me. It's
not dependent. This work is Christ's work. This work is his. Right. It's his church. It's
his church. It's his work. And we just seek
to glorify him and magnify him here. And we are so thankful.
And why do we serve the Lord with gladness? Because all the
things he's done for us, because Jehovah is the only one who is
good, the only one who is holy. And he has saved our souls. And he's beloved. He's greatly
to be praised. He's greatly to be exalted. He
therefore is worthy, He's worthy to be served with gladness. He's
worthy. What a great God, and we're to
come before His presence with singing. Again, making a joyful
noise unto Him. That song just springs from our
hearts, doesn't it? You ever notice how you feel
when you're singing a song and it just grips your soul? Just
grips your soul. My, it's wonderful. And you're
just singing with praise and thanksgiving from your heart
to the one who has redeemed you, the one who has purchased you.
My. And think of this. When we get
to heaven, we'll be singing without sin. It'll be marvelous. We'll be holding the very one
we're singing about. Face to face, beloved. Oh, my. What a great God we have. Serve
the Lord with gladness, come before his presence with singing.
And none can come before his presence except to those who
are righteous and holy as he. Look, it says come before his
presence. The only way we can come into his presence is to
be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. So only believers
come into the presence of God. Only believers. Because in our natural state,
our natural birth, that would bar us from His presence, wouldn't
it? It would bar us from His presence. But praise be to God,
the believer is clothed, not in his own righteousness, but
clothed in the perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ, having
been imputed to us Because there's nothing we can do. We looked
at that this morning. We can't pay for one sin, let
alone billions that we commit. But beloved, praise God, all
our sins are forgiven, and we are clothed in the perfect, spotless
righteousness of Christ, which He wove out while He lived upon
this earth for us. He's perfect, spotless, and He's
weaving a coat of righteousness by His obedience to God's law.
That's what several old commentators say. And I love that. He's the
one rotting it out. for us, perfect, spotless Lamb
of God. And so we're able to come into
the presence of God, all based upon Christ and Him alone. All
based upon Him. He has made us fit for heaven.
He has made us fit for His presence. By imputing to us, God the Father
has imputed to us the righteousness of Christ. So we stand before
his presence, clothed in the perfect, spotless righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Hebrews 4 16 says this
for the believer. Let us therefore come boldly
into the throne of grace. Well, how can we come boldly
before the throne of grace? Because we're clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. And why do we go to the throne
of grace? That we may obtain mercy. We are mercy beggars,
aren't we? We need mercy. and find grace
to help in time of need. Where do we find grace to help
in time of need? At the throne of grace, beloved.
At the throne of grace. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Oh, what a great God we have,
beloved. And the only reason we can come in boldness with
singing is because of the righteousness of Christ. And you contrast this
with unbelievers who will be sent from His presence at the
final judgment songless with weeping and gnashing of teeth
and here we are we enter into glory singing and worshiping
and praise in our great God and King and we know to be absent
the minute a believer dies the second a believer dies he's present
with the Lord he's present with the Lord we're in his presence
and the only reason that you and I who believe can be in his
presence is the righteousness of Christ. Oh, my. Let those refuse that those refuse
to sing that never knew our God, but children of the heavenly
king may speak their joys abroad. We proclaim the joy of our salvation,
the joy of our salvation, and who is our salvation centered
in Christ and him alone. He's the object of our worship
in our praise look at verse 3 It says no ye that the Lord he is
God it is he that hath made us He is the creator of all things
Visible and invisible the scripture plainly proclaims this and as
I said this morning. This is not up for debate It's
not God's Word is not up for debate No, not at all Brother
Travis and I were talking about that after service. And he said,
boy, folks just like to argue, don't they? And they like to
debate. But God's word is not up for debate. We just proclaim
it. And it's there's no debating about it. If someone wants to
debate, you just keep giving them scripture. Just keep giving
them scripture. Don't even debate. Just give
them the word of God. The guys ask me questions all the time
across the road. My day off, I go over there and sit there,
ask me questions and I just give them scripture. I can give you
my opinion. In my opinion, what does the
Word of God say? That's where the power is. What
does the Word of God say? Know ye that the Lord, He is
God. It is He that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are
His people and the sheep of His pasture. Know that the Lord,
He is God. For a man to know himself as
good, but for a man to know that the Lord is God is far, far better. And God must reveal himself to
us or we never know him. But look at that, know that the
Lord, he is God. How do we know that the Lord
is God? How do we know and others in
this world have no idea? Just remember where we were.
I didn't have a clue who God was. I had a God of my imagination
spun up in my head, but it wasn't a God of the Bible. And when
he reveals himself, the believer knows that he's God. Knows it. They're taught by the Holy Spirit
of God. Who Christ is, who Jehovah is.
And Christ must reveal himself. I've used this illustration many
times, but I think it's one of the most fitting illustrations.
Christ must reveal himself as Joseph revealed himself to his
brethren. I like to use that illustration because it's very
plain. And they had no clue who He was. And then He revealed
Himself. And that's what God does to His
sheep, beloved. That's what God does to His sheep.
He reveals Himself. And then there's weeping. There's
weeping. And there's joy. Oh my, beloved. To know who and what God is,
He's absolutely sovereign. He's a King, and what He has
done has blessed consequences. His believers in Christ acknowledge
Jesus Christ to be God as well as man. He's fully God, and He's
fully man. Not a mere man, but the great
God and Savior. The One who the universe, the
heavens cannot contain. Becomes a man. Now that's a mystery
for us, isn't it? But it's truth. It's truth. And he declared who he was. He declared that he was God.
And he's God incarnate in the flesh. The one who has eternal life.
Emmanuel is his name. God with us. God with us. God manifest in the flesh. And the next part of the verse
we see the psalmist here declares that the Lord, our God, is our
creator, father, and shepherd. Look, know ye that the Lord,
he is God. It is he that hath made us and
not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep
of his pasture. He's the creator, father, and
shepherd. And he alone is the creator.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. He alone, think of this too. He alone is the creator of the
universe and of all that we see and things that we don't see,
but he's also the creator of the new birth. It's his doing. It's his doing. Because scripture
declares in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, therefore if any man be in
Christ, he's what? A new creature. Who made him
that way? God, amen, brother. It was only
God. Only God could make us to differ. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. I was talking to a brother the
other day, and I said, isn't it amazing? And I'm not sure
if it's with you too, but I look back at my life, and it's like
a whole different person. I'm a new creature in Christ.
I look back and I have all those memories of the things that I've
done, but Donny Bell and I talked a long time years ago about that,
how you look back and it's like it was someone else, but it was
us. Now I'm a new creature in Christ.
Now we love Christ. We love the gospel. We love his
people. We don't want to be nowhere else.
How do you explain that? Because the believer becomes
a new creation, we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. He's
wrought in us something that we could never wrought in ourselves.
This is why I will hammer till the day I die that regeneration
always precedes faith and repentance because it's a work of God, beloved.
Now religion tells you you believe and then you regenerate. That's
a lie from the pit of hell. It's not true. You must be born
again. And as a result of being born
again, regenerated, what happens? We believe. We trust Christ. Then we make a joyful noise unto
the Lord. Then we, this book's alive. There's
things I never knew that was in there. It's incredible. Because before, when I read scripture,
before the Lord saved me, it was just paper and ink. I remember
that, I remember reading it, and there was nothing there,
and then the Lord saved me. This book, this book is alive. It's a whole new book. And you
know that he keeps revealing stuff, things to me, and I know
he does to you. I've talked to many of you. You'll
be reading and go, Norm Wells likes to say, I think the ink's
still dry. He just reveals Himself more
and more to the believer. And we just marvel in His grace. We marvel in His mercy. And it's
wonderful. But it's God alone who is the
creator of the new creation. We're born again, as I said,
by the Holy Spirit. A new creature in Christ Jesus
our Lord. And the child of God does not
boast of being a self-made man, do we? Maybe we did before. Before the Lord saved me. All
I did was think about myself. Now, we still struggle with self,
don't we? We still do. Let's be honest. We still do.
But but now we we desire to serve the Lord when we never did before.
We desire to praise the Lord when we never did before. It's
incredible. And it's a work of God, beloved.
It's a work of God. The child of God knows it's by
God's grace and mercy that he's saved. And this causes him to
praise God for his mercy towards him in Christ Jesus alone. Look at our text again, continues
in verse three. We are his people. Let this warm
your hearts, beloved. This is spoken to the sheep of
God. We are his people. We are His people through sovereign
election. God chose us by His own mercy and grace. He didn't look down through time
and see who would choose Him. He chose us lost in our sins
and in wretchedness. We were lost, beloved, but He
chose us. He's the one who's made us to
differ. He chose his people. The ones I've spoken of, we are
his people. He chose them in Christ for salvation before the
foundation of the world. That's mercy. Do you see why
the saint cries out in praise? Oh my goodness. God did that. We know by nature
we never would have chose him. and yet he chose his people in
Christ. Oh, that'll cause your heart
to sing. It'll cause your heart to sing. And he chose them in
Christ before the foundation of the world. Turn, if you would,
to 2 Thessalonians 2.13, and I'll read Ephesians 1.4, which
we all are very familiar with. 2 Thessalonians 2.13, and I'll
read Ephesians 1.4. It says, according as he had
chosen us, and in the Greek, that's select, Select chosen
us in Christ or in him, which is Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy sinners. Sinners are
made holy and without blame. Think of that. That ties in right
with there's therefore no, no condemnation to those in Christ
is no blame, no, no judgment. And it's God who's made us to
differ, beloved. But look at second Thessalonians
two or 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you. Brethren, beloved of the Lord,
now just park there for a minute. Beloved of the Lord. God's people
are beloved of the Lord. How long have we been beloved
of the Lord? From eternity, from eternity, from eternity. Because God has from the beginning,
eternity, chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. And who is the truth? Christ. Christ Jesus our Lord. Think of this too, when our scripture
says in verse 3 of Psalm 100, we are his people. So we are
his people by choice, by election, but we are his people through
Christ's redemption, beloved. Through his redemption. He purchased
his people with his own precious blood. We looked at that this
morning. He purchased his people. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things, the silver and gold from
your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ. It's just not normal
blood, it's precious. It's the God-man's blood. It's
precious blood, beloved. Precious blood of Christ is of
a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but manifest in these
last times for you. And think of this too, believers
in Christ are his people by regeneration, through regeneration. He's the
one who's quickened us from spiritual death. He's the one. God's people are made willing
by the Holy Spirit of God. And think of this, turn if you
would to Galatians chapter four. Believers in Christ are his people
by adoption, by adoption. We're sons and heirs. Look at
this in Galatians chapter four, verses one to seven. Now I say that the heir, as long
as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be
Lord of all. Before one of God's sheep are saved, you can't tell
them apart from the lost. You cannot be from the goats. But they're his sheep. They're
his sheep from eternity. They're his people. But he is
under tutors and governors until, look at this, until the time
appointed of the Father. There was a time appointed for
every one of us who are believers that we would hear the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what gives us hope
as we preach and proclaim the word of God from here, Christ
crucified, that we pray that if it's the Lord's will, that
here use the preaching at his appointed time, at his appointed
time, to save one of his sheep, to save one of his sheep. But as under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the Father, even so, we, when we
were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
We come into this world dead in trespasses and sins. No hope. But when the fullness of time
was come, Jesus Christ entered into this world at the exact
time that he was supposed to. God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law, he was fully man and yet fully
God. Why did he come? To redeem them
that were under the law, that's us. We come into this world dead
in trespasses and sins. Why? That we might receive the
adoption And because ye are sons. Why? Why? We know the Holy Spirit
makes us willing, right? And we know that our praise and
our cry to God springs from a regenerated heart. But why does that occur?
Why does the Holy Spirit regenerate His people? Because God has sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Who made you to differ? Isn't
this wonderful? This is pure mercy and pure grace. Undeserving sinners, who God
chose before the foundation of the world, are regenerated by
the Holy Spirit of God and adopted by our great God and Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God. How? Through Christ. Again, there
it is. Always bring it back to Christ.
Through Christ. It destroys works-based religion
through Christ and Him alone. Look at our verse three again.
Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made
us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. Believers in Christ rejoice to
say, the Lord is my shepherd. We rejoice to say that. He is
my shepherd. I shall not want. It's Him who
leads me. in the path of righteousness.
It's Him alone. And He is the believer's shepherd.
And remember always, the shepherd has a responsibility to care
for the sheep, beloved, and he does. He does. There's no shepherd like our
shepherd, beloved. He's the great shepherd, and
he feeds and cares for us each and every day. And he never stops
watching over us. And then when he takes us home
to glory, we see him face to face in his presence. It's marvelous. It's wonderful. Look at verse four, enter into
his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him and bless his name. All beloved, we are
to enter enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his
courts with praise. If God has made you fit. Through
the merits of Christ to enter his gates and his courts. We
do so with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, don't we? Oh, Lord, what you've
done for me. Do you see how this psalm, it's
not mournful, it's just full of praise. It's just full of
praise. Oh, what God has done for us.
By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continually. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to His name, Hebrews 13, 15. Praise God for His free
mercy. and grace towards us in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Oh my, and it'll make you thankful. When you ponder this, it'll make
you thankful. Scripture says, enter into his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless
his name. Know what it says, be thankful
unto Him. Beloved, He alone is the fountain of all our blessings. He alone is worthy of all our
praise and He alone is worthy of all our thankfulness. It all
goes to Him and Him alone. All our thankfulness is to be
directed to Christ and Him alone. And here is distinguishing characteristic
between Him who proclaims salvation by sovereign grace and He who
proclaims salvation by their own supposed free will. Those who believe in the grace
of God proclaim salvation is of the Lord in its entirety.
It's all His doing. And this springs from the belief
that salvation is of the Lord and that all our thanksgiving
and all our praise for what Christ has done to us is to be directed
to Him, to be directed to Him alone. He is the object of our
worship and He is the object of our praise. Those who proclaim that they
are saved by their free will have deluded themselves into
believing that God did His part and they did theirs. Therefore,
they boast to others that they choose God. Or that they found God, that
God was lost, I guess, I don't know. Come on, you know. And what do they do in the process?
They rob God of all the glory. They robbed him of all the glory. The child of God proclaims salvation
is of the Lord. It's all he's doing. Praise his
mighty name. Praise his name. Oh, and it fills
our heart with joy and he receives all our thanksgiving and he receives
all our praise, doesn't he? All of it. Again it says, enter
into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him and bless his name. Oh, bless his name,
beloved. We bless him by praising and
thanking him. We ascribe all honor, blessing,
and glory to Christ in him alone. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
34. Psalm 34, we're looking at verse 1. And in Psalm 96, put
your finger in Psalm 96. Psalm 103 says this bless the
Lord. Oh my soul and forget not all
his benefits beloved Don't forget all the benefits you have in
Christ all that he's given you in Christ. Oh, what a great God
we have Psalm 34 verse 1 I will bless the Lord at all times his
praise shall continually be in my mouth. Oh My then they look
at Psalm 96 verses 2 to 4. Oh Beloved sing unto the Lord
Sing unto Him. Sing unto Him in praise. Sing
unto Him in thanksgiving. Give Him all the glory. Give
Him all the honor. Sing unto Him, it says. Sing
unto the Lord. Bless His name. Show forth His
salvation. Whose salvation? His salvation.
He's done it all. He did everything for me. I couldn't
do anything. But praise His mighty name. He
saved my soul. He did it all. He did it all.
Is it so with you? Oh, it fills us with thanksgiving,
beloved. It fills us with thanksgiving.
Sing unto the Lord, bless his name, show forth his salvation
from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen.
Tell them the great things that God had done for you, beloved.
Tell them the great things. His wonders among all the people.
Wonders of wonders, he saved my soul. He saved my soul. What a great God. Declare his glory. Declare his
glory among the heathen. His wonders among all the people.
For the Lord is what? He's great. He's great. He's so great that I can't even
explain how great He is. He's great. And He's greatly
to be praised. And He is to be feared above
all gods because He is the one true God. The one true God. And that's who my Redeemer is. That's the one who saved our
souls, beloved. He's worthy of all our praise. All our praise. Bless the Lord, O my soul, Oh Lord, my God, thou art very
great. Thou art clothed with honor and
majesty. Psalm 104, verse one. Let us
bless the Lord, beloved, for the mercy which he has shown
us in Christ Jesus. His grace, which we've received
in Christ Jesus alone. Now let's look at verse five.
We're given reasons for performing these deeds. Look at this. For the Lord is good. Oh, how
good is the Lord to us. Oh, how good the Lord is to we
believe. His mercy is everlasting. Oh,
let that sink into our souls. Everlasting, beloved. It is truth
endured to all generations. The same truth we're proclaiming
now is the same truth that was proclaimed by the apostles and
by Paul and by Peter. The same truth that was proclaimed
by faithful men all through the generations following right up
till now. The same truth. Salvation is
of the Lord. It's His doing. It's all Him. And look what our text says.
For the Lord is good. Therefore, all his deeds are
good. All of them. All of them. Whether in creation,
whether in providence, whether in salvation, they're all good.
They're all good, beloved. The Lord is good in providence,
in the way of grace towards his people. Christ is the good shepherd
who cares for his people, cares for his sheep. Think of this.
He is the Samaritan. He's the Samaritan who pours
the oil and wine of His love and His grace and His precious
blood into our wounds made by sin. He's our Samaritan. He's the Good Samaritan. That's
Christ. The Good Samaritan is Christ. And while our Lord and King was
here on earth, He went about doing good to both the bodies
and souls of men. Therefore, the Lord should be
praised. He should be worshiped by his people. Again, look at
our text, verse five, for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting
and his truth endure it to all generations. Beloved, once God
is merciful, he's always merciful. He doesn't change, does he? And
he's merciful to his people in the scripture declares that he's
merciful. His mercy is everlasting. It
doesn't change towards his people. It's. Now, wonderful makes us
sing, you know, scripture declares. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because his compassions fail not because
his mercy towards us is everlasting, it shall never fail. That's why
God declares that I remember your sins no more. Mercy. everlasting mercy, mercy. His mercy is everlasting, like
his grace. Unchangeable, the same yesterday,
today and forever. And think of the vast mercy of
God in Christ Jesus, our Lord, towards his people. Think of
it. You cannot plumb the depths of it. You cannot. That's why we say the most vile
a sinner becomes to Christ. If God draws them and turns them
to Christ, right? They're born again by the Holy
Spirit. The most vilest of sinners will be made white as snow. White
as snow. Oh, we cannot plumb the depths
of the mercy of God in Christ. Why, one may ask, why? Because
the Lord is good and the Lord is gracious and the Lord delighteth
in mercy towards his people in Christ Jesus our Lord. He will have compassion on whom
here of compassion and mercy on whom he chooses. And the believer
says, praise God, he chose me. He chose me. And it doesn't make
us proud. No, it lays us low. It lays us
low. Scripture continues, for the
Lord is good and his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endured
to all generations, his truth endures to all generations. He
will never, ever break his covenant with his people. Never. Nor will he ever fail
to fulfill every promise made to them. because we are His people
in Christ Jesus our Lord. God's elect are His covenant
people. I ask you this, with what we've
looked at tonight, are these not reasons enough to praise
and thank our great God and King? Come all ye people, all ye nations,
both high and low, rich and poor, Sing forth the praises of Jehovah,
the Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier, all His people from all the nations. And that's what we will do in
glory, beloved. When we're gathered all together,
when it's all finished, and we're all gathered together, we will
sing forth praises to Jehovah, to Christ, the Creator, the Redeemer,
and the Sanctifier of our souls. And we will come into his presence
when we enter glory. We will come into his presence,
we who believe will come into his presence with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving, and we will
enter into his courts with praise, with praise, beloved. Why? For
he indeed is gracious. He indeed is gracious. And he
indeed is full of mercy. Christ, think of this. Our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is full of mercy. Full of mercy, full
of compassion. This sinner knows that. And I
know every one of you who have been saved know the same thing.
He is so merciful to us. So merciful, so full of grace. May we come before him. with
praise, with praise. May we cry out to God to give us grace
to worship Him here while we're upon this earth in the beauty
of His holiness and to sing the song of salvation which is in
and through and by the Lord Jesus Christ in Him alone. Salvations
of the Lord. Praise His mighty name. Gracious
Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for the time that we've been
able to spend in your word and looking at this wonderful psalm
of praise and thanksgiving, Lord Jesus, we have so much to be
thankful for, so much to be thankful for. You are so good to us, Lord
Jesus. Let us ponder this this week.
Let us think on these precious truths, meditate upon them this
week. Oh, Lord Jesus, you came to save sinners and the believer
says, I'm chief, I'm chief. And oh, what mercy you've had
upon us. May this message spur us to praise
and thanksgiving to Thee, in Jesus' name, Amen.