Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Psalms, chapter 100. Psalm 100. This Psalm, no doubt, is written
to God's people. It's written to believers. Those that by the grace of God
know Him. It's entitled, A Psalm of Praise. If you have a marginal reading
there, my Bible has got a little definition of that word, praise,
and it's Thanksgiving. A psalm of thanks, appreciation, confession, adoration. The Spirit of God gives in this
psalm, got five verses, and gives us some exhortations
of thanksgiving, praise. He says in the first verse, Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord, all ye lands. Make a triumphant sound in your
heart, all ye lands. All that the Lord has called
unto Himself and given a heart for Him. If you have a heart
this morning, to thank Him. Thank Him. Psalm 95-1 says, O
come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to
the rock Salvation. There's a reason that we make
a joyful noise unto the Lord, because He's our strength. He's
the rock. He's our refuge. He's a refuge
from ourselves, from the world, from sin. This is the way that the Lord
is to be praised in our heart. I know that I'll see, folks,
some man will stand up and he'll say, let's just praise the Lord. I've said before, people assume
the position. Head goes back 15 degrees, eyes
closed, hands up. Sway back and forth. I'm talking about in your heart.
A believer praises the Lord in the midst of whatever, whatever
lot the Lord has laid upon them. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord, all ye lands, Jew, Gentile, bond-free, man, woman, Every
kindred, every nation, every tribe, every tongue, you that
want to, if you want to, you've got a heart to, praise the Lord. Who is to praise the Lord? Well, all those that He's given
a heart to praise Him. Let me tell you a reason. that
we have to praise the Lord. The Scripture declares that He
chose to show mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ because
He loved His people. He chose because He loved. 2 Thessalonians 2.13, but we
are bound to give thanks unto God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord. Before I finish that verse, let
me ask you this. If any man has a heart to love
God, It loves His Word. Loves His Gospel. Loves His mercy. Loves Him. Who loved first? Us or God? Well, the Scripture
says, Fr. Freddie was just in that chapter,
1 John 4. This is what the Scripture says. 1 John 4, verse 10 says, Herein
is love. Not that we loved God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the appeasement,
the appeasement. He sent His Son, because He loved
us, to be the appeasement for our sins. Verse 19, same chapter,
we love Him because He first loved us. before any man, any woman is
ever going to love God, I can tell you this, God is going to
have to love them first. If Almighty God has not set His affection
upon a man or a woman, they are not going to love Him. They won't. Christ didn't come into this
world in order that the Father might
love His people. He didn't come into this world
to make them lovable. He came into this world because
God sent him. Now let me show you something.
Turn to John 3.14-16. John 3.14-16. Now this is a message
to believers. This is a message to God's people. A message of Reason why we praise the Lord,
bless the Lord. Oh my soul. John 3.14. Here's the remedy. Here's the remedy for God's people. Here's the remedy for redemption. John 3.14. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. There is a remedy for the redemption
of our sins. Something is going to have to
happen. And because God loved His people,
the Lord Jesus Christ had to be lifted up. You know that story. Back in the Old Testament, all
those fiery serpents were biting the people. The Lord told Moses, you take
a piece of brass and form it into an image of what was biting
the people. Make a brazen serpent. Make a
snake. And you lift up that brazen serpent. It was a pole and it had a brass
snake on it. A brass snake? That's right. It had a brass snake on it. And the Scripture says, Whosoever
looked at it, whosoever looked was healed by just looking at
the snake, by just looking at the snake. But when you see the
spiritual significance of this, man by nature is blind. And if
God gives a man spiritually eyes to see, And he looks at Christ
being made sin, being made what was biting us, what bit us. Here
is the remedy. The remedy. As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. Now listen to this. Here is the
result. Here is the result of redemption.
Verse 15, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. The remedy is Christ being made
sin. The result is that he that believeth. But here's the reason. Here's
the reason for it. Verse 16, for God so loved the
world. that He gave His only begotten
Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. Does that mean He loved every
single person without exception? No. Absolutely not. When it says the world, I've
told you this before, God loved the arrangement, the order. God loved the order of man. order of man not be obliterated
in absolute justice and judgment. Almighty God, who loved this
order, chose to show mercy to Son. He chose to show mercy and
sent His Son that all that He had everlastingly loved should
not perish. I wrote a little article in the
paper yesterday. My point was this. People think
just because they preach something out of the Bible, use some words
out of the Bible, that they're preaching the gospel. The gospel
is concerning Christ. The glory of God Almighty in
the redemption of God's people in and by His Son. God Almighty is going to have
His people. We are bound to give thanks unto
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning, 2 Thessalonians 2.13, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. Isn't that marvelous? God hath
from the beginning chosen you. Have we reason to praise the
Lord because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation? Through sanctification of the
Spirit, through being set apart, that's what sanctification means.
Same word, saint. Saint. Through sanctification
set apart by the Spirit of God. And how do we know those that
are sanctified by God's Spirit? He calls them out of darkness.
How do you know He called them out of darkness? They believe
God. There is a sign. There is a sign. Faith. They believe the gospel. They
believe the gospel of God's free grace. through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. The truth. Christ said, I am
the truth. I am the way. I am the truth.
I am the life. So we have reason to bless the Lord back in Psalm
100. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord. He redeemed us. He redeemed us. Ephesians 1 verse
4-6 says, according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestinated. You know the word predestination,
do you know how many times it's found in the Bible? Four times. Four times. Probably one of the most hated
words in all of Scripture. Or you can add that with election.
Election and predestination. And you know the amazing thing
about it is these blessed words is the setting forth of a sinner's
only hope. Only hope. of salvation, only
hope. As He has chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love, having predestinated. Do you know the
difference in election and predestination? Predestination has to do with
how God is going to get a center to himself. How he's going to
do it. Election has to do with who's
going to be there. That's the difference. Election
has to do with who he chose. Predestination is how he's going
to get there. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, not in ourselves, Not in our works, not in our
ability, our merit. In whom, that is, in the Beloved,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace. Redemption. Brother Walter Groover, a missionary
down in Mexico, Forty-five years, something like that. I told of
an incident one time of a little boy. Obviously, the man that
was telling this story was one of the members in one of the
churches down there in Mexico. And this man was telling Walter
that he'd made his son a kite. Made him a kite, and got him,
got his sticks, you know, got some paper, got some glue, made
a kite. And got that kite all fixed up, got
hooked it on some string and everything, and gave it to his
son. His son was so proud, went out
there in the yard there, Got that kite going up and I mean,
he said, wind was just blowing and just, I mean, that kite was
getting it. And all of a sudden, string broke.
String broke. Y'all ever flown a kite and string
breaks? And I mean, that kite is gone. He said about a week or so later,
he said they were just out in the village, came across a little
old store. True story. Came across a little
store. And there in that little store
was that little fellow's kite. And that little boy walked up,
where's Dad? And said, that's my kite. That's my kite. And the dad came up and told
the proprietor, he said, that's my son's kite right there. And
the proprietor said, well, if he wants it back, it's going
to cost him two pesos. Two pesos. And that dad bought
that kite. Gave that guy two pesos for that
kite. And he said to Walter, he said,
you know what, that kite was my son's. by creation, by gift,
and by purchase. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children, we have redemption through His
blood. God's people were given to the
Lord Jesus Christ as the gift from His Father, chosen In Him,
He made us and gave us to Christ. We fell in Adam. Fell in Adam. We rebelled against God. And
the Lord Jesus Christ brought us back. Paid the debt. He called you and kept you. in love and power. We have reason
to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. 2 Timothy 1.9 says this,
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. I've said
this before. You've heard this. I'm not saying
anything you haven't heard before. But look at the order of that.
Who has saved us and called us. Saved us and called us with a
holy, with a sacred, with a pure calling. Not according to our
works. You ever notice how when the
gospel is set forth, our works are continually put down. Christ
is continually exalted. Man is continually abased, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace
which was given us in Christ before the world began. I love
the sound of eternal purpose, eternal grace, eternal mercy. You have a heart Praise the Lord. Praise Him. Here was the second exhortation,
and these last ones will be much shorter. Back in Psalm 100, here
was the second. The first exhortation was, make
a joyful noise unto the Lord. The second one is verse 2, serve
the Lord with gladness. Serve. The word served there
is as a bond slave. And you know what a bond slave
was. It was one that was a slave to somebody else and his time
of duty or service was done. But because he loved his master,
he said, I don't want to go. I like it here. My master's been
good to me. He treated me fairly. And I don't
want to go. And he would take him and he'd
bore a hole in his earlobe. a bond slave. If you saw somebody with a hole
in their ear, that is a bond slave. There is one that has
given himself willfully, joyfully to his Master. Serve the Lord
with gladness, with rejoicing, freely. Come before His presence
with singing, singing in your heart. Let me read Ephesians.
I'll read this to you. Ephesians 5.19. Singing. What kind of singing? Here it
is. Ephesians 5.19. Speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord. Singing and making rejoicing. in your heart. Thankful, thankful
for mercy, grace, compassion. We come together today in worship,
prayer. Come with a heart that wants
to be here, that wants to hear. Obediently. God's people made
willing in the day of His power. Lord, help me. You're looking
at one of the most struggling men that you'll ever meet, wanting to pray. I want to. And oh, how I struggle. I want, I want to have that heart
of service. I want to do that. I don't want to do it out of
drudgery. I don't want to come today just thinking, well, it's
Sunday, okay. Let me get this over with. Coming
together, being able to fellowship with you, bless the Lord, praise
the Lord. Colossians 3, verse 23 says,
Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, not as unto men,
not unto men, knowing of the Lord. You shall receive the reward
of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Jesus. To have a heart
for Him, to serve Him. Here's the attitude of a servant. My master's first, and everything
else is second fiddle. Nothing takes a priority over
Him. Nothing takes a priority over My Lord's Honor, it's a
privilege and a joy to have a heart for Him because if He didn't
give me that heart, I wouldn't have it. I can tell you that. I guarantee you, I know just
enough about myself to tell you I know this. I wouldn't have it. I suffer in this frail, and all
the while there is a heart that wants to serve Him with gladness,
with respect, to come before His presence with singing, to
be able to remember Him like we did last Wednesday night at
the Lord's Supper. I think about the Lord's Supper.
You know, it seems like such a simple, and it is, it is a
simple ordinance. It's a simple ordinance. You've
just got a little old bitty piece of bread and all it is is flour
and water. That's all that is. It's flour
and water. And a little old bitty cup of
wine. And we eat that little piece of bread and we drink that
little A cup of wine. But it's who said to do it. And
it's why he said to do it. He said, this do in remembrance
of me. Like that knife I told you about.
I looked at it this morning. That knife old Scott gave me.
I'm going to give you this knife so you can remember me after
I'm gone. I don't look at that knife and
I think of Him. Just a knife. But it was from Him. Just a piece
of bread. Just a little cup of wine. But
it's who said it. Remembering our precious Savior. Believing Him. Trusting Him.
Honoring Him. Serve the Lord with gladness. Here's the third exhortation.
Verse 3, Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that has
made us, and not we ourselves, we are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. Know ye, recognize, recognize. That's what that word means.
Recognize that the Lord, He is God. And He has made us. Oh, He made this body. I know
that. He is the Creator. But I tell
you this, by His grace He made a new man, born from above. He has made us. And not only has He made each
individual person in regenerating grace, He made this body right here. He was pleased, sixty-something
years ago, to put a group of people together. And a miracle
of God's grace is that we're still sitting here. Know ye, recognize ye, that the
Lord, He is God. We didn't just come together.
This assembly didn't just come together one day and say, you
know what, I think we'll just raise up a grace church. We'll just get us a pastor and
we're going to have to find a faithful one for us to be able to maintain
it. We all think we ought to, oh
no, oh no. God called a pastor. God called a pastor. and gave
that pastor a heart to be just exactly where he was. And God
raised up a people. Know ye that the Lord, He is
God. And it is He that hath made us
and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. We know that. We know that. But we want to know it. That's
what Paul meant when he said in Philippians 3.10, that I may
know Him. Don't you know Paul knew Him?
You that know Him. You that have been called out
of darkness, spiritual darkness. You've been given a heart to
know something about yourself. You know something about God's
grace and mercy. You know that the Lord, He's
God. You know that. And you want to
know it more. I need to know it more. Lord,
teach me. Oh, the joy of having a heart
that desires to know Him. Fourthly, here is the fourth
exhortation, verse 4. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving
and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him. and bless
his name. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. What? Into this assembly? I mean, we're here today. I mean,
we're careful not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
We come together. Is this it? No. It's not just building, though
it is a joy and a privilege to be here. But that place of His
gates, enter into His gates and into His courts, where is that? Let me just read the Scripture
to you. Let the Scripture speak for itself. Hebrews 10, 19, 20,
having therefore, brethren, boldness or liberty to enter into the
holiest, into the very presence of God. Where is that? I don't know. But I can tell
you this, wherever that is, into the holiest. into the very presence
of God when we call upon Him, Father, for Christ's sake, on His merit, according to His
mercy, Father, wherever He is, He that hears in secret and rewards
His people openly, causing them to manifest the indescribable
mercy of His grace to them, having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way which He hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, His flesh. How is it that I am able to call
upon the Father, and to call Him Father with liberty, with boldness, in mercy, to have
confidence, confidence, confidence. I've told you this story before,
but I remember One time I was at a place and I was standing
and there was a large group of people, large group of people,
and I was talking to them and trying to, you know, just be
cordial and talk. And I saw people moving. They
were moving. It was coming toward me. You
know, all these people standing patiently and I was talking.
Is that a funeral? And these people were moving.
About that time, it just kind of opened up right here. And
here walks Amber, my little granddaughter, you know, just uninhibited, just
no problem whatsoever. Her papa was up at the front
and she was going, you know, liberty, just pure liberty. Not
one second of a thought that I wouldn't accept her, you know,
picked her up, held her. It's my granddaughter. Having
therefore, brethren, boldness and liberty to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh. Boldness. Freedom. And why is this? Here's the last
reason. But the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, and
His truth endureth to all generations. Here is the answer for the blessings
bestowed. You might be asked, Has the Lord
made us this way? Why? Did the Lord show mercy
to me? Why would God show mercy to one
such as I? Why? Was it because I was deserving? You don't know me very well.
Is it because that he looked down in time and saw that I would
choose him, therefore he chose me? Is it because I've been so faithful,
just? No. Because he chose to do so. He chose to, according to the
good pleasure of his will. My friend, if Almighty God gives
you a heart to praise and to bless and to thank Him for His
mercy, and all the while you're doing it, let me tell you what
you're going to be thinking. Oh, if I had a heart to do this
as I ought. I want to. Lord, I believe you. Help thou mine unbelief.