Turn to the last Psalm, Psalm
150. Psalm 150. Get that on. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of
his power. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent
greatness. Praise him with the sound of
the trumpet. Praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise
Him with the timbrel and dance. Praise Him with stringed instruments
and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals. Praise Him upon the high-sounding
cymbals. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that by your grace. This is what we would do even
now. Praise. The Lord. Lord, we're so grateful that
you've given us the desire to praise you. And Lord, would you, by your
grace, make this our aim? To praise you for who you are.
To praise you for your excellent greatness. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are, how we thank you for your word, how we thank you for
your son and his sacrifice, how we thank you for his righteousness
as our righteousness, how we thank you for the forgiveness
of sins. Now, Lord, meet with us for Christ's sake. Those that
are sick of our number, we pray for your Healing hand upon them
according to your will. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now this could be called the
doxology of the psalms. Everything somebody said was
leading to this psalm. All other 149 psalms were leading
to this particular psalm, this psalm of praise. And like the
previous psalm, there are no requests in this psalm. That's what I think is so beautiful.
No requests. Now, I love the way the psalms express the thoughts of our hearts
better than anything else. When I read the psalms, It explains
what I'm thinking and feeling better than I can express it,
and I'm very thankful for that. But how glorious this psalm is
that there's not one request made, only praise to the Lord
for who he is. And let me make this statement. It is a crime of wickedness for
a man or woman to not praise the Lord because of who he is. Oh, that God would give us grace
to enter in to what the psalmist is saying. He says in verse one,
praise ye the Lord. He's calling upon us to praise
the Lord with him. Praise ye the Lord. And wouldn't it be a blessing
if tonight when I go to bed, the last thought on my mind would
be praising the Lord. And wouldn't it be great if when
I wake up in the morning, the first thought in my heart is
to praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. You know, I think it's interesting
how in church buildings they'll call the auditorium the sanctuary. You ever heard that? That's a
blasphemous use of that word. Sanctuary, that is the word usually
translated holy or holiness or hallowed. I love the way the
Lord teaches us to pray. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed, holy, other, separate is thy name. Now I remember reading,
wanting to preach on the Lord's Prayer, and I remember reading
the commentary, and the man said, that means let your name be glorified. And I thought, that doesn't say
it right with me. Let your name be glorified? As if it's not? No, hallowed be thy name, other
be thy name. His holiness, I love the, In
the song of Moses, who is likened to thee, glorious in holiness. That's the word. That's the word. Same word that is sanctuary. Who is likened to thee, glorious
in holiness. Fearful in praises, doing wonders. Hallowed be thy name. I love the King Commandments. I don't have any reason to fear
them because I've kept them in Christ. There's no condemnation, but
they're so glorious and I love the first commandment. No other
God before him. Nothing comes before him. I love
the second commandment against idolatry. Any likeness anybody
makes to him is bringing him down to a human level. That's
why idolatry is so evil to make some kind of likeness or or even
a religious image or relic. It's bringing him down to our
level. He's other. There's no one like him in this
universe. He said, there's none like me. Glorious in holiness. I love the third commandment.
His name is so holy that to take his name in vain is a sin worthy
of hell. That's how glorious he is. I
hope we say with fear, hallowed. And I'm talking about a godly
fear. I'm talking about the fear that's the beginning of wisdom
when we take his name. Praise God in his sanctuary,
his holy place. Praise him in the firmament of
his power, the expanse of his power. This speaks of his omnipotence. Now, what would God be if he
were not omnipotent? is necessary to his being. What would his sovereignty be
without omnipotence? You see, he's got the power to
make sure whatever it is he wills comes to pass. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? No, there's nothing beyond his
ability. He has no limitations. Now, he's
not gonna act contrary to who he is. That's why he can't lie. It's impossible for him to lie.
He can't sin. He can't be anything but who
he is, and who he is is seen in his omnipotence, his power. I love to think of his power
in the creation of the universe. How big this universe is, and
he simply willed it all into existence. Without having anything
to work with, he just willed it, there it is, that's God.
His power is seen in His providence in the fact that He controls
everything, every event. He's in complete control over
the thoughts. You're thinking what you want
to think right now. And what we do, we want to do. We aren't forced to do anything. We're not compelled to do anything.
We do what we want to do. We think what we want to think.
And I could say, we think what we don't want to think, too.
Oh, I don't want to think that. I realize all that. But God is
in complete control of every thought that passes through our
mind. He's completely sovereign over
the free and uncoerced actions of men. Isn't that glorious? Power, what would his other attributes
be without the firmament of his power, the expanse of his power?
He couldn't be independent if he wasn't all powerful. But because
he's all powerful, he's independent. And this is what I love about
his independence. That means he's not dependent upon me to
do something before he can act. Isn't that great? That means he doesn't have to
wait for you to do something. He gives it to you and causes
you to do it. Faith. He didn't have to wait on your
faith. He gives you faith and responds to the faith he's given
you. This is how glorious he is in his power. What would his
threats be without his power? Empty. What would his promises
be without his power? Empty. Praise him in the expanse
of his power. I love the scripture, power belongeth
unto the Lord. When men talk about, you know,
he has power, she has power. No, they don't, they don't have
any power. Any power a man has is just where the Lord's put
him, and no man has any power. God has all power. Power belongeth
unto the Lord. It's his, he's got a monopoly
on it. You and I don't have any power. You know, I think somebody
says, somebody's a control freak, I think. You can't control anything. I mean, we have no control over
anything. He has all power. And this one
who has all power is good. He's always good. He's the only
one who can bring good out of evil. And he always brings good
out of evil. Everything that happens, he brings
good out of it. This is who he is. Is there any
wonder why we're praising him? Praise the Lord in the firmament
of his power, the expanse of his power. Verse two, praise
him for his mighty acts. The acts of God. We praise him for his act of
creation. I've already mentioned that. And we praise him for all
of his mighty acts and providence. Isn't it glorious that he controls
everything? That there's nothing that goes on in humanity that
he is not the first cause of. There's nothing that goes on.
There's not a piece of dust flying through the air that he had an
absolute control of. His providence is so glorious. We praise him for his mighty
acts of salvation. I think of the decree of salvation,
isn't that glorious? Where he decreed every aspect
of salvation before time began and it became history before
it took place because he decreed it. That's how supreme and glorious
his purpose in salvation. I love the scripture of the Lamb
having been slain from the foundation of the world. I've got a lot
of favorite scriptures, but none more than that. The whole Bible
is understood in light of the lamb having been slain from the
foundation of the world, raised from the foundation of the world,
salvation completed before time began. One of the favorite statements
I've ever heard, I heard Greg Elmquist make this statement,
I'd never heard it before and I loved it. When we get to heaven,
we'll find out we've always been there. Do I understand that? Of course not. Do I believe it
altogether? I've always had personality before
God. He's always loved me. He's always
known me. Accepted in the beloved, isn't it glorious? I mean, all
you can when you think of who the Lord is, there's no other
response but to just bow down. He's praising for his mighty
acts, think of the mighty act of justification, how he takes
an ungodly sinner. an ungodly, sinful man, and makes
him absolutely just, perfect, someone that stands before him
as one who has never sinned. Now, talking about mysterious,
talking about glorious, how God can take me, as sinful as I am,
and I don't, I haven't even scratched the surface in my own consciousness
about how sinful I really am. I don't get it, I don't understand
it, but I understand a little bit about it. And I know that
somehow God who can do all things took my sin and gave it to his
son and he became guilty of the commission of that sin. And he
took the very righteousness and perfection of his son and gave
it to me so that I stand before God without guilt. Talk about
glorious. What about the fact that he's
preserved me? We're talking about his mighty acts. Praise him for
his mighty acts. The fact that I have persevered
up to this point is nothing less than the power, the omnipotence
of God keeping me. Scripture says we're kept by
the power of God through faith to salvation. Think of the mighty
act of God becoming a man. Can anybody understand that?
How great is the mystery of godliness? God was manifest in the flesh.
The God-man, fully man, just as if he were not God. Fully
God, just as if he were not man. What mighty acts that he became
flesh. Think of the mighty act of him
putting away sin. Think of the mighty act of him
glorifying his people. We could just go on and on with
all the mighty acts of God and salvation. And we praise him
for that. I love what David said in Psalm
115, not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. And we are fully aware, every
believer, we're fully aware that our salvation is of the Lord.
that he did it all and all we can do is give thanks and praise
him for what he's done. We realize that he made us to
differ and we give thanks, we praise his holy name. Don't you love the way all the
Psalms are pointed to this Psalm of pure praise? Let's go on reading. were to praise him for his mighty
acts, were to praise him according to his excellent greatness. There's none like him. And he made himself known to
me. his excellent greatness. And this is speaking of every
one of his attributes, his knowledge. Isn't it glorious to think that
he knows everything? There is nothing that he does not know.
He's never informed. He never learns anything. He
is omniscient, all wise. I love to think of his immutability.
This is his excellent greatness. He can't change. If he did change,
it would be either improving or going downhill, and neither
one of those things can be because of his excellent greatness. Whatever attribute you can think
of with regard to God, which they're all revealed in the cross,
the cross is the manifestation of his excellent greatness. To see the glory of God in the
cross of Jesus Christ, what a blessing of grace that is. This is how
we praise him according to his excellent greatness. I love who the Lord is. I praise
him for his word. Aren't you thankful he's given
us the Bible? If we didn't have the Bible, it'd be up to my thoughts
or your thoughts, and that's no good. But thank God for his
word where he's made known his character, his attributes, his
salvation. Now this is how we praise him.
Let's read these first two verses again. Praise ye the Lord. And you know, I know my praise
can only be accepted through Christ. I'm well aware of that. My praise apart from Christ is
ugly. It's sinful, it's selfish, it's,
there's just all kinds. I wouldn't dare, I would not
dare want to offer my praise apart from the Lord Jesus Christ
presenting it to the Father. But oh, in Christ I can confidently
say praise the Lord and know it's heard and accepted for Christ's
sake and I sure am glad. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God
in his sanctuary, in his holiness, in his separateness, in his otherness.
Praise him in the firmament, the expanse of his power, his
omnipotence. Praise him for his mighty acts,
both in creation, providence, and salvation. Praise him according
to his excellent greatness. Now he names nine different instruments. Praise him with the sound of
the trumpet. You know there's going to be music in heaven. Isn't that a glorious thought?
The sound of praise. Praise him with the sound of
the trumpet. Praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise
him with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with strings and instruments
and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals.
Praise him upon the high sounding symbols. Now, nine instruments
are used and there's been debate over what dance means. We've
dealt with this in the last couple of weeks. Some people said that's
a flute. Well, I don't think so. I mean, I looked the word up,
it means dance. And if you don't have any rhythm, that's okay.
In your heart, you can dance in joy before the Lord. Because
David, I love that scripture where David danced with all of
his might before the Lord. And it was at the acceptance
of the covenant. He was so happy because of the
ark of the covenant and he would dance with all of his might.
You remember Michael got mad at him. His wife said, aren't
you making a fool of yourself? He said, I'll make myself more
vile to her. You know, I mean, he was, it's
actually rejoicing in who the Lord is. Now, if I started doing
it, everybody would think, what's your problem? Well, I think the
same thing you do. But I love the thought of this,
of dancing. If you can do it by yourself,
go for it. I don't have the rhythm to do
anything like that, but I'm sure doing it with my heart. I've used this illustration before.
If you ever saw Charlie Brown with the Snoopy dancing the top
of the doghouse. I remember the last time I said
that, Brian DeFore sent me a picture, you know, the way it looked.
You're just happy. And this is not put on. I sure
hope it's not. I hope it's me rejoicing in the
Lord. Praise ye the Lord. And look what he says in verse
six. Let everything that hath breath
Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord. Now, fish have
breath in the sense that they breathe in whatever it is they
do that we don't do. They have some kind of breath.
The fish of the sea are called upon to praise the Lord. The
birds, the insects, the animals, everything that hath breath.
People, angels, I don't know if they breathe, I guess they
don't, if they're spirits, but everything that hath breath,
praise the Lord. Everybody and everything ought
to praise the Lord. Sun, moon, and stars, everything is called
upon to praise the Lord, but I think what this is talking
about is everything that hath the breath of life. where God has breathed the breath
of his life in you. You have a nature that is fit
to praise the Lord. A natural man is unable to praise
the Lord and that's his crime. That's his crime. He sees no
beauty in the Lord. He sees no glory in the Lord. He has no love for the Lord.
As a matter of fact, the scripture says the natural man hates the
Lord. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. Now, is it any wonder God sends men
to hell? I'm not saying that harshly. I love when Paul said,
if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema,
maranatha. Let him be damned upon the return
of the Lord. That wasn't because of a lack
of love to men. That's because of his love to
Christ. If any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, he ought
to be damned is what he's saying. Now, I realize we won't love
him unless he gives us that love. I realize that. But we see how
altogether lovely he is. Let everyone that hath the breath
of life, Adam was created out of dirt. God breathed life in
him. When God gives a new man, makes
a new man and breathes the breath of life in him, the life of God
in his soul, it is his nature to love God as he is and praise
the Lord for who he is. Now, the highest thing, the near
you can do, is to praise the Lord. It's the greatest, most
blessed thing you and I can do. It's right now in my heart. I
mean, I can say praise the Lord. As a matter of fact, you've heard
religious people use the word and it's irritated you. Hallelujah. They don't even know who he is.
And they have the wrong, I don't need this. You know what I'm
saying. But in my heart, to respond to the Lord and say, praise you
for who you are. Not even asking for anything
at this time. And like I said, I've never,
that's, I don't think I've ever prayed without asking for something.
That's my kind of goal. I'd like to enter into this.
I don't think, I don't know if it's possible. I'm always needing
something. We're a needy people. There's
never a time when we're not poor and needy. But wouldn't it be
something to just forget completely about yourself, get yourself
out of the picture, and praise the Lord for who He is. Praise ye the Lord. Amen.