I'll ask you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Psalms, chapter 145. Psalm 145. David was a man that learned
by experience. not only something of himself
and his utter depravity, but also by experience, the immeasurable
mercy and grace and compassion of almighty God towards sinners
like himself. The Lord compassionately, lovingly
taught this man whom the scriptures said was a man after God's own
heart. And the Lord taught him such that David knew something
of the pain of sinning against the God of his hope. He knew
something about that. Man by nature doesn't know that,
doesn't know the pain sinning against the Lord. But also David
was taught by experience the joy of forgiveness in Christ. Whenever David fell, as we all
do, and he took Bathsheba, later he was made to feel that pain. He penned Psalm 51. and he just
bore his heart. But then he expressed the joy
of God's salvation. Beloved, when God Almighty is
pleased to teach a man or a woman, then they're taught. I heard Brother Henry Mahan say
one time about being taught. He said soldiers are not made
at West Point, but rather they're made on the field of battle.
And likewise, God's people are taught. They're taught as they
hear the word of God, but as they daily fight the good fight
of faith, as they're led by the Spirit of God. Now, those that
have been mercifully delivered in regenerating grace from the
bondage of sin, they've been made to know something of what
the Lord has sovereignly done for them. They know by experience,
they're taught that the Lord will never leave them or never
forsake them. You look back, you that know
it, look back. and think, has God ever forsaken me? What have
we ever been through? And we've been through some tough
times. I know that, I know you have. There's some of you that's
been through some tough trials. I've been through a very, very
few. I don't know a whole lot about it, but I know a few. And
I know something about trials. Now, these trials have been graciously
sent by the Lord to teach us of our need of something. And
that something is what I want to talk about in this message
and Lord willing in the next one. I want to talk about this
thing of praising the Lord. Praising the Lord. Charles Spurgeon
wrote this line on praising the Lord. He said, if a man or a
woman is never taught in this life to praise the Lord, they'll
never see God in heaven. I thought, that's a pretty emphatic
statement, but that's right. That is true. To praise the Lord. I'd like to consider, what is
it? What is this blessed privilege
to praise the Lord? I've heard that word for years.
I've heard it, I know what the word, I'd spell it. What is it? To praise the Lord. Well, I looked up the words,
it means to boast, to be clear, to celebrate, to come, to commend,
to rejoice, to glory in. If I were some the word praise
up, in our understanding. Here's what I'd say. Thankfully
brag. I'm gonna brag on God. That's
what it is, brag on the Lord. I wanna boast in Him. I wanna
brag. Turn with me to Hebrews 13, 15.
I said it's to thankfully brag
on God. To brag on the Lord with a heart
of thanksgiving. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 15
says this. By Him, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God continued. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to His name. Now in Psalm 145, this first
message, I want to just look at the first two verses. And
then Lord willing, the next one, I'm gonna look at verses three
to seven. Psalm 145. David said, I will
extol thee my God, O King, and I will bless thy name forever
and ever. Now, David here as a type of
Christ, and I'm gonna just say one thing right now. The more
I looked into this blessed chapter, the more I realized how insufficient
I am. Number one, to even speak on
it. Number two, to be able to enter into it. And number three,
to be able to just praise as I would. Praise is
an attitude of the heart. David said, I will extol thee. He cried with
a willing heart of commitment, trusting the Lord. I will exalt,
I will raise high, I will extol the one that's worthy to be Lift
it up, because who he is. David said, I will extol thee.
Now listen to this. My God, he's God. He's God. But oh, the thankfulness
that I can say he's my God. My God, the triune God. David said, my God, O King, You're
the king of kings. I'm reminded more and more every
day of getting closer to leaving this world. I'm not so naive
as to think I'm gonna live, I know I'm not. You know, for a while
there, we think we got along. I realize, I look around, I see,
I know. I've been to funerals, I've preached
funerals, and I realize this, I'm gonna die. But oh, the blessing
to know that the God in heaven who rules in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, that he's my God.
He who is king is my king. You're my God and you're my King.
David said, I will extol thee, my God and my King. I will bless
thy name forever and ever. I'm going to bless your honor.
I'm going to bless your character, your position, your authority
forever and ever. Two different words. That first forever that David
penned, it does mean, it means evermore, perpetual, always,
unending future. I will bless your name. I'm going to bless who you are,
who you've revealed yourself to be, your name, your character.
I'm going to bless you. I'm going to extol you. I'm going to praise you. forever. That first word, it
does mean what I just said, unending future. But it comes from a root
word which means to conceal, to hide, or to be hidden. Now when I first looked up that
word, that root word, I just thought, I'm gonna praise the
Lord in whom I'm hidden. And that's true, there's no doubt
about that. But that's not what it means.
It's that word to conceal, to be hidden. What it is, it's a
word that means that, David, I'm gonna praise you to the vanishing
point. When I was in art school, we
had to, you know, learn perspective and stuff like that. We'd do
that vanishing point thing. You know, you start at a point,
get these two lines, and everything that's coming to you has to fit
the perspective to be right. That vanishing point, it goes
to just a point. where you just can't, you don't
know where it's going. You gotta keep going to find
out where the point was, and every time you get closer to
the point, the point's farther away. It's just, it's time out
of mind. Let me say it like that. I'm
gonna praise you for time out of mind. I can't even compute the time,
eternity. That second word there, he said,
I'm gonna praise you for time out of mine. And that second
word means without end. Continuous existence. Something that we can't even
enter into that. How long, David, will God's people
extol God, the King? Bless His name. Time out of mind. Vanishing point. There is no number. There is
no end. 1 Thessalonians, turn with me. 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians 4.16. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout. The voice of the archangel with
the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we
ever be with the Lord. Vanishing point. tenuous, unending. 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, same thing, forever and ever. Now, behold here a marvelous
truth that has been penned by David, but expressed to David by the Spirit
of God. David was directed of the Lord
to state an emphatic truth, a truth that's definite, a truth
that's clear. Now here's what the Spirit of
God moved David, and David was a man just like us. He was a
frail creature of dust. He had doubts, he had fears. David, there's no difference
in any of us. You think, well, those guys back
then, I don't know, they just kind of walked six inches above
the ground or something. I don't know how they did it,
but no, they didn't. They were men just like us. They
struggled. But the Spirit of God moved David
to say this, every day will I bless thee and I will praise thy name
forever and ever. Now let me ask you this, this
thing of entering into a spirit of praise, a spirit of perfect
thankfulness, perfect thankfulness. When I say praise, I'm not talking
about just, you know, kind of hit and miss. I'm talking about
praising the Lord. Every day will I bless thee and
I will praise thy name forever and ever. I thought, oh my. A truth that has no deviation
to it. Every day for God's people is
a day that has its own conditions, its own circumstances. We never know what a day's gonna
bring. We never know what God's gonna order. But we do know this,
whatever He's pleased to order, whatever He's pleased to bring
about, We do know, we do admit this. We know that it was brought
about for His glory, and we know that it was brought about for
our good. Now we know that, we say that. We know that He works all things
after the counsel of His own will, and we know that His counsel's
gonna stand. But in the midst of these troubles,
in the midst of these trials, in the day we find ourselves
constantly stumbling and faltering and doubting and fearing and
forgetting, forgetting. Do we still find that we're blessing
his name and praising his name? Scripture says we do. How, Lord, how can these things
be so? Lord, I know they're so, I know
they're so. But how? When we fall, let me ask you,
when we fall, when we stumble, and we do, has he not promised that he's
gonna lift us up? You'll fall. We'll be lifted up. When we find
ourselves struggling and forgetful to praise the Lord as we ought,
here's a question. When we find ourselves, when
we do, not if we do, when we do, does His long-suffering mercy
and compassion toward us not bring praise unto Himself? by Him keeping us to the end. Are we not therefore praising
Him and putting no confidence in our flesh? Now, David said,
every day I'm going to bless you. Every day I will praise
thy name forever and ever. The Lord's people behold every
day the mercy of Almighty God. And the Lord's people every day
will confess, this is the day that the Lord's made. We're gonna
rejoice, we're gonna be glad in it. But is there any a day,
is there any day, ever been a day that God has failed to do that
which he said he's gonna do? Now what I'm saying, David's
saying, every day will I bless thee, I will praise thy name
forever and ever. And my question is this, how? When I fail to see that spirit
in myself and that attitude in myself and the doubt in myself
and the days that I feel I've just, how? How? Beloved, if we're honest, We'll
all admit our total inability to be able to bless and praise
his name as we ought. I'm going to just go ahead and
confess it for you. I'm talking about when I say
that word praise right there, I'm talking about from a heart
of absolute, total thankfulness. to be able to brag on God with
a heart of thankfulness every day, all day, unending. Is there anybody in here that
would be so foolish to say, that's been me? That's me. God's people, what they're gonna
say, Lord, help me. Lord, I'm in trouble. I am in
trouble. I'm telling you what God demands,
praise. God supplies. God supplies. Now, the Spirit moved David,
and I'm gonna show you this, but Lord willing, He moved him
to say that which was so. Every day will I bless thee,
I will praise thy name forever and ever. Has there ever been
one creature born in Adam that would ever say that I've been
faithful? No better than that. It's the Lord that worketh in
us to will and do of his good pleasure. and he brings praise
to himself. And therefore, we are the ones
praising him, but it's the Lord bringing praise to himself. Now,
I'm gonna show you this. Ephesians 1. Now, here's a chapter
that we've looked at so many times, but I saw something this
morning that just... Ephesians 1, verses 3 to 6. Now, David said, I will praise the
Lord. I will praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord. How? How are we praising the Lord?
Ephesians 1, 3-6. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will. Now you look at verse six. To
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved. Now I got a question. How much
of what we just read was from your efforts or my efforts? How
much of that was from us? None. The love of God has been
manifested, displayed, marvelously shown in His people. by his electing, predestinating,
and adopting grace in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he would be pleased
to set his affection upon such unworthy creatures as we are,
to take us, his elect, into his family from before the foundation
of the world, and provide for us a redeemer a Savior, a priest
accepted of God, Almighty God that did everything for us and has shown mercy to us. What praise is rendered unto
the Lord? Not by us, not because of us,
but God Almighty doing for us that we could not do for ourselves.
And in that, what praise is given unto him? Look at Ephesians 1 verses 11
to 14. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise
of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted
after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also after that you believed you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise, that is, the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession. Under the praise of his glory. Bear, I don't know how to praise
him. But he knows how to cause us to be to the praise. Of the
glory of his grace. David said back in 145. Every
day. Every day will I bless thee. Not by what I've done, not by
what I've done, all but by what he's done for me. I will praise
thy name forever and ever, not because of what I've done, but
the praise of the glory of his grace. I don't know how to praise
the Lord as I would. I want to, I want to, I want
to be thankful. I've said this so many times.
I go get a checkup. I got to go every year and get
a checkup. And every year I go get a checkup. If that doctor
has been pleased and by the grace of God, he's told me. Coming up 15 years. You look,
you look fine. You look good. What do I say,
Glen Jean, every time? I don't know how to be thankful.
I don't know how to be thankful. David said, I'm gonna praise
the Lord every day. I don't know how to praise him.
I want to. But he knows how to have praise
rendered unto himself by showing mercy to us. Praise the Lord. Thank you. Lord, one day, maybe
I can thank you like I want to. One day, maybe I can praise you
like I want to. But I fall so short right now.
Brethren, we do fall. We do fail. But rest assured,
God's people are bringing praise, rendering praise unto the Lord
by being the recipients of his mercy and his grace. Every day that a rescued vessel
of his mercy walks upon this earth by faith until that eternal
day, that vanishing point, it'll never be reached. That day when
he comes to receive his own unto himself, we're gonna praise him
every day forever. and forever, and we're gonna
say, Lord, not unto us, not unto us, big glory, but unto your
name, big glory, now and forevermore, amen. All right, let's take a
break.