Psalm 145. Now this is the last psalm with David's
name on it. And I think that's interesting.
He might have written those last five psalms No one knows, but
this is the last one that his signature is on. And I think
that makes this very interesting. David, the man after God's own
heart, his last psalm. Psalm 145. I will. Anytime you and I say I will,
there's a little bit of maybe, maybe not. I will, well, when
he says I will, this is the Lord speaking. It's David speaking
in the Lord, I realize that. But this power of I will. I will extol thee, my God, O
King. I will bless thy name forever
and ever. Every day will I bless thee. And I will praise thy name forever
and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised. And his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy
works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak
of the glorious honor of thy majesty. and of thy wondrous
works. And men shall speak of the might
of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness. They shall
abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness and shall
sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord
is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee,
O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak
of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power, to make known
to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty
of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord upholdeth all that fall,
and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all
wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand and satisfieth
the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all
His ways, and He's holy in all His works. The Lord is nigh unto
all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in
truth. He will fulfill the desire of
them that fear Him. He also will hear their cry.
and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them
that love him, but all the wicked will he destroy. My mouth shall
speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy
name forever and ever. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would give
us the grace to praise you from our hearts in adoration of your person for
Christ's sake, just like the psalmist did here. Lord, we give
thanks for the salvation that's in your son. We ask that his
name might be exalted and that we would be enabled to see his
beauty and worship him. Lord, those that are going through
physical trial, emotional trial, sickness, we pray for your great
blessing upon them and that you bless the trial that you sent
for your glory and their good. We ask that you would enable
us to hear your gospel this morning with hearing ears. Lord, don't
let us hear from a man But let us hear from thee, the living
God, and be with all your people wherever they meet together.
And Lord, we ask that you would forgive us of our sins and give
us the grace to confess our sins for Christ's sake. In his name
we pray. Amen. David's name is on 73 Psalms. And this is the last song his
name is on. And that makes me interested. I want to know what this man
has to say in his last song. Now, he says, I will. Like I said, I think that primarily
means that this is the voice of the greater David. When I say I will do something,
I intend to do it. But Same with you. We can say I will have every
intention of doing it. But we don't know what's going
to take place. He does. And if I say I will extol the
Oh, God, I want to do it. He did it. And I did it to in
him. And I do it by his grace. But
he says I will extol the I will speak highly of the I will speak
of the in the greatest ways. Oh, my God. Oh, King. And I will bless thy name forever
and ever. Now, I love what blessing his
name looks like. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul said. And you and I can say this,
who hath blessed us. Not he will, if he hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. in Christ
Jesus. He says, I'm gonna do this forever
and ever. This is gonna be continual, nonstop. Verse two, every day will I bless
thee, and I will praise thy name forever and ever. His name is his attributes. Don't
forget that. We're praising him for who he
is, his holiness, his otherness, his righteousness, his mercy,
his sovereignty, his power. All of his attributes are represented
by his name. This is not just being able to
articulate the name. This is who he is. I will praise
his name. I love who he is. I wouldn't
change him if it were my power. I love who he is. And David said,
I'll praise thy name forever and ever. Verse three, great
is the Lord and greatly to be praised. And his greatness is
unsearchable. Now, what can I say about that?
His greatness is unsearchable. I love when Paul said, I heard
things which are not lawful for a man to utter. This is the transcendent
glory of God. David speaking under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. says his greatness is unsearchable. It's past finding out, it's past
description. Human words fall below what should
be said about the glorious God. He says in verse four, one generation
shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty
acts. Now, his works, I love to think
about his works, his works of creation. He willed the universe into existence. How glorious. All you can say
in response to that is, bow down, this is who he is. What about
his works of providence? Do you know he controls everything
that takes place? He is completely sovereign over
the free and uncoerced actions of men. We do what we want to
do. And he's completely sovereign over that. He's sovereign over
the actions of men and demons and devils. Satan is in his hand
doing his will. He is in absolute control of
everything that takes place. I don't care how painful it is.
It's all good. It's all for his glory. It's
all for our good. Now, what about his works of salvation? The great
work of putting away sin, the Christ's great work of glorifying
his father, all of his works, creation, providence, salvation,
they praise him, don't they? They give him all the glory.
And we love it that way. One generation shall praise thy
works to another. Now, isn't it a blessing that
one generation is allowed to praise his name to the next generation?
One after another. It's been happening for centuries.
May the Lord cause it to happen with our children. Verse five. I will speak of the glorious
honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works. His mighty acts,
his wondrous works, they're the same thing. And men shall speak
of the might of thy terrible glorious acts. And I will declare
thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the
memory of thy great goodness. And all shall sing of thy righteousness. Now this is how the gospel ought
to be preached. just like this, and I hope we're
all singing of his righteousness right now, because we realize
that his righteousness really is our righteousness, our standing
before God. And isn't there abundant goodness
to utter? Verse eight, the Lord, he names four things. The Lord is gracious, full of
compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. What a description of his character,
the God we worship. He's gracious. And because he is gracious, he
says, I will be gracious. That's his promise. He's gracious. I have heard people say he must
be just, he may be gracious. No, he must be gracious because
that's who he is. That's his character. He delights
in bestowing his grace. He's gracious and that's his favor, grace,
his unmerited favor. It's unmerited in the sense that
we don't merit it. but it's greatly merited in the sense that Christ
merits it. And in Christ, we have his merited favor. You see,
people talk about unmerited favor and unconditional love. Well,
if it's unmerited in that sense, he can decide to quit giving
it to you, can't he? If that's all it is, but it's highly merited
in Christ. In Christ, I actually deserve
all of his favor. I am beautiful to him in Christ. And that's glorious. He's gracious. And the next thing it says is
he is full of compassion. That's why he says I will be
compassionate to whom I will be compassionate because this
is who he is. He's full of compassion. He's not the way a hellfire brimstone
preacher presents him as just furious and wanting to knock. No, he's full of compassion. He's slow to anger, slow to anger,
and of great mercy, kindness. He says in verse nine, the Lord
is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works.
Now somebody's thinking, What about all the terrible things
that happen? And there are a lot of them. There are people who
suffer such things that we don't even like to think about it.
The abuse people have suffered, the cruelty people have suffered,
children who have had such a hard time because of the situation
that they've been put in. Are you saying the Lord's good
to all? When all these bad things happen,
how can you say that? Because I trust his character.
I don't know how else to answer that. He's good all the time. And he brings good out of evil. He's the only one who can do
that. But I think of what Joseph said to his brethren, you meant
it for evil. Your motive was wicked. You wanted to be destroyed. You meant it for evil. And look
at all the horrible things that Joseph experienced, being thrown
in prison, being falsely accused, the suffering that he had to
go through. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. Now that's true with regard to
everything. I don't understand it all, don't
claim to, don't need to. God knows what he's doing and
everything he does is good because he is good. And his goodness
and his mercy is over all of his works because of his character. Verse 10. He keeps talking about
the works of the Lord, the mighty acts. All of our works shall praise
thee, O Lord, and all thy saints shall bless thee. And once again, his works of
creation. Don't you praise him for that? He did it. I despise
when people make their theories of creation. I believe what the
Bible says about creation. God did it. His works of providence,
they're all perfect. They're all glorious. It's all
a part of Romans 8, 28. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. All things. Oh, his work of salvation. Don't you praise him for that?
He's made the way. What power is involved in his
salvation where he's made it to where every believer, everybody
that Christ died for, stands before God right now without
guilt. Perfect in Christ Jesus. You wanna talk about his works
of salvation? How glorious. The fact that he's
made a way to actually put away our sin, make it not to be. to
where I never committed a sin, and I stand before God perfectly
righteous. Oh, the glorious works of creation,
providence, and salvation. All his works shall praise him. And thy saint shall bless thee.
We're doing it right now. We're thanking him for who he
is. There are so many difficult things that are on the horizon
for so many different people. and yet every saint can bless
him. Whatever he does is right. He's
done all things well. Verse 11, they shall speak of
the glory of thy kingdom. This is not some human kingdom.
And talk of thy power. Now, I love the way the Lord
said my kingdom is not of this world. This is not a political
kingdom. This is not a human kingdom.
We're talking about the kingdom of heaven. the kingdom of God,
they shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy
power. And I love to think of his power,
his power to put away sin, his power to make me righteous, his
power to create the universe, his power to control everything. I love his power. Thy kingdom,
verse 13, Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth
throughout all generations. I'd like you to turn to Daniel
chapter four. Daniel's right after the book
of Ezekiel. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. One of the things I love about
this chapter is Nebuchadnezzar speaking. a heathen king that
God saved. Remember when the children of
Israel were taken into Babylon? Nebuchadnezzar was king. He didn't
know God. He came to know God. And we read
the story of it here in Daniel chapter four, verse one. Nebuchadnezzar, the king. unto
all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth.
Now, that is how much power this man had. He could speak to everybody. And here's his statement. Peace be multiplied unto you.
I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high
God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs, and
how mighty are his wonders. His kingdom, and this is what
David said, is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is
from generation to generation. Now one wonders whether he read
this psalm because he's saying the same thing David did. But you know the story of him
having the dream, Daniel interpreting the dream, and him finding out
God's going to turn him into a beast. and he went seven years
thinking he was a beast. His fingernails looked like bird
claws, his hair was matted, living, though he went from the most
powerful man in the world to the most debased man in the world. You see, the scripture says he
knoweth how to abase them that walk in pride. How he abased
Nebuchadnezzar. but for good purposes. Now, look
at the end of this chapter. Here's what Nebuchadnezzar learned.
Verse 33. The same hour was the thing fulfilled
upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and did eat
grass as an oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven
till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails
like bird claws. That's from living outside thinking
you're an animal for seven years. At the end of the days, when God determined this would
be over, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and mine
understanding returned unto me. Now that's when your understanding
will return when you look up into heaven and you see God's
controlling everything, including what had just taken place. He
said, my eyes returned to me when I looked up into heaven
and know this is of the Lord. And I blessed the most high and
I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And here's what all that means.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth. Now, I love thinking about
this. His will's being done up in heaven. His will's being done
right here, right now. He's in absolute sovereign control
of everything. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? Give an account for yourself.
At the same time, my reason returned unto me, and for the glory of
my kingdom, my honor and brightness returned to me, my counselors,
my Lord sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and
excellent majesty was added unto me, now I'm in Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works
are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride,
he's able to abase. And this is what David is celebrating
in Psalm 145, the kingdom, thy kingdom, verse 13, is an everlasting
kingdom, and thy dominion throughout all generations. Now we are given
some kind of look at the nature of his kingdom. Verse 14, the
Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that
be bowed down. Now I would like you to turn
to Proverbs chapter 24. The Lord upholdeth all that fall. Verse 16, Proverbs 24. For a just man, you know what
that is? a justified man. This describes
every believer, a just man. Now here's God's promise toward
this just man. Proverbs 24, verse 16, for a
just man falleth seven times. Does that mean not eight, only
seven? Seven is the number of perfection. Here's what that means. A just
man falls all the time. All the time. I was watching our TV program
this morning and I said, none of us have kept the law perfectly.
I thought, why did I say that? We have kept it at all, not imperfectly. Broken every commandment all
the time. I thought, I wish I hadn't have said that. Well, I said
it. I wish I hadn't, but I did. But
I love this description of every justified man. He falls nonstop
because he always has a sinful nature that's always falling. But look what it says. For just
man falleth seven times, and riseth up again." He falls. seven times, but he upholds me
through the fall. And when I'm bowed down mourning
over my falledness, he raises me up because I was raised in
Christ. That's my hope. I was raised
in Christ. I might fall all the time, but
I'm lifted up all the time. And while I mourn over my falledness,
he picks me up. Now look back in our text. The Lord upholdeth all that fall,
and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. Bowed down over their fallateness.
It's talking about mourning over your sin. Blessed are they that
mourn. They mourn over their sin. And
this thing of mourning, when do you mourn? When somebody's
dead. When they're alive, there's some
hope. But when they're dead, there's no hope of bringing them
back. When you mourn over your sin
is when you see there's no hope of you making yourself better.
No hope. You mourn. Blessed are they that
mourn. The Lord upholds all those that
fall and Raises up all those that be bowed down verse 15 the
eyes of all wait Upon thee nothing else to do. It's not like I have
any other options if I'm brought into this place of understanding
something of my Continual falling There's nowhere else to look
but to the Lord to wait on him to wait on him to be gracious
There's nowhere else to look now The eyes of all his people
wait upon him, and thou givest them their meat in due season.
Do you know the Lord's gonna give you exactly what you need? He promises. What it is you need,
you will have. The Lord promises that. In due
season, in his time, which is the perfect time, Verse 16, thou
openest thy hand and satisfies the desire of every, don't miss
this, living thing. And that's a believer. He lives. He has spiritual life. He's a
living thing. And he has a desire. Notice it
says thou dissatisfies the desire of every living thing. Now my
desire is to be found in Christ. And my desire is to be perfectly
conformed to his image. That's my desire. If you look
in my heart, that's what I want. I want to be found in Christ
where he doesn't judge me according to my works on any level, that
I'm simply found in Christ. I don't want to be judged as
a preacher. I just want to be found in Christ.
And I want to be perfectly conformed to His image. That's my desire. That's the desire of every believer,
without exception. He satisfies that desire. And here's why. Christ satisfied
His Father. On Calvary's tree, he made full
satisfaction, and now the desire of every believer is granted. A believer's a living thing.
He's not dead in sins anymore. He's got spiritual life, and
he has this desire, consequently, because of this life, and God
promises he's going to satisfy that desire. The Lord is righteous,
verse 17, in all his ways, and holy. other in all his works. Amen. The Lord's righteous in
all his ways. We believe that. That's because
who he is. He's holy in all his works. The Lord is nigh unto
all of them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in
truth. Now, calling on him. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord should be saved. His name is his attributes. When
I'm calling upon him, it means something. I'm saying, Lord,
save me as an act of your sovereign will. Will my salvation. Lord,
save me in a way that honors your justice where all my sins
are put away. Lord, save me by your grace.
Lord, save me by your power. Save me by your independence,
how you need nothing from me that you do it all. Save me by
your immutability in a way that'll never be changed. Now that's
calling upon him in truth, isn't it? Calling upon him according
to the truth of his character. Now, there's no calling upon
him without calling upon him in truth. The Lord is nigh, very
near. The reason you're calling upon
him is because he's near to you and causing you to do it. The
Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him, to all that call upon
him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of
them that fear him. Now, that's the living thing. They fear the Lord. They fear
the Lord in this sense. They're afraid to look anywhere
but Christ alone, such as the reverence they have for his person.
This is what a living thing does. He fears the Lord. That's the
difference between an unbeliever and a believer. A believer fears
the Lord, and here again, we read where their desire will
be satisfied. He will fulfill the desire of
them that fear him. He will also hear their cry and
will save them. The Lord preserveth. Now, you
know why I'll persevere? If I persevere, it's because
the Lord preserved me. That's the only reason. The reason
I'm going to hold out to be in looking to Christ only is because
he preserves me. The Lord preserveth all them
that love him and every believer loves him. Don't you love every
attribute of the Lord? You love his sovereignty. You
love his holiness. You love his justice. You love his love. You
love his grace. You love his power. You love
his wisdom. Go on and on. We love him. We
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. The Lord preserveth
all them that love him, but all the wicked will he destroy. My mouth, this may be David's
last words, I don't know. My mouth shall speak the praise
of the Lord and let all flesh, everybody ought to do this, bless
his holy name forever and ever. Okay.