Truly good to be here. See you
again. It's always good to worship where
the gospel is appreciated and loved. I guess that's the only
place you can worship. You can't worship anywhere else. And I'm
sure glad to, humbled, I want to say humbled to be here. Turn
to Psalm 100. Psalm 100. This is called a psalm of praise. And that's what we want to do
this evening, is to praise our God for what he's done for us. And he says here, he says, make.
And to do that, you have to be actively engaged. If you're going
to make something, you have to be actively engaged. And this
make is not with the hands, it's the heart. It's the heart engaged
in worshiping God. David said in Psalm 103, Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his
holy name. Our whole being is engaged in
the worship of God, or he's not worshiped at all. The whole man
is involved in the worship of God. Now, he says, Make a joyful
noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. God made the heavens and the
earth, and everything he made, he called it good. He said it's
good. Everything that God does is good. Whether I understand it or not,
it's good. If God does it, it's good. He made the way through
Christ for us to return unto him and stand in his presence
accepted. He did that. He did that. Now let us make a joyful noise
unto him. And this noise is to be heard,
he says, in all lands. Not just in a little place over
in the Middle East, but all lands. All lands are to be included
in this. Make a joyful noise unto him. Far-reaching. Far-reaching is the grace of
God. It rests you, doesn't it? And
me. Far-reaching is the grace of
God. Serve the Lord, listen, with
gladness. And come before His presence with singing. Here is
our attitude in serving the Lord. Gladness. Gladness. Are you glad to be here? Are
you glad? I am. There was a time when I
was a young man, I was not glad to be here. I was not glad to
be in the service. I wanted to be doing something
else. And one day I heard the gospel. My pastor, Henry Mayhem,
preached the gospel, and ever since, I've been glad to be here.
Glad to be here. Are you glad where God is using
you? That's the only way to serve Him, is in gladness. The only
way. God has placed us where we are.
He's given us what we have, and we are to serve Him. Serve Him
in gladness from the heart. Serve Him. Of all people on the
earth, We ought to be the most glad because of what God has
done for us in his son. To be glad, be glad. And then he says, know ye that
the Lord, he is God. Know this first, that the Lord
Jehovah, he is God. He's the creator of heaven and
earth. He's the owner of it all. He's the sovereign. It is he
that hath made us. I didn't make myself a believer.
He did. He made me a believer. We are
His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. He hath made us and not
we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. If you don't know that He is
God first, if you don't know that, there cannot be any real
singing with gladness. There cannot be any worship.
If you don't know that the Lord, the Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ
is God. And if you don't know that, you
can't serve him with gladness. You won't do it. No, you won't
do it. It'll be all show. It'll be like
a cloud with no rain. But here is where real faith
begins, is knowledge of God. Know ye that the Lord he is God. Knowledge of his person. Knowledge
of his holiness. Knowledge of his power. Knowledge
of his grace. Knowledge of his redemption for
us in Christ. The Lord said this in John 17.
This is eternal life. You want to know what it is?
Here it is. That they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Know ye
that the Lord he is God. Here is the first sign of intelligent
life. To know God. To know God. To know God in Christ. You cannot
worship someone you do not know. You cannot do it. To know God. Our Lord said to that woman at
the well in John 4. We worship that we do know. You
worship, you don't know what you're doing. But he said, we
know. We know. He knew. He knew. When
he worshipped God, he knew God and he worshipped him as God.
And it's singing his praises. Singing his praises is as much
a part of worship as praying and preaching. It's worship. It's a part of worship. What
Mike's going to come up here and sing, that's part of worship.
Part of the worship service. And then he says in verse four,
enter into his gates with thanksgiving. What a blessing. What a blessing
to be able to walk into this building tonight with a truly
thankful heart. To be truly thankful. Enter into
his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him and bless his name. What a glorious sound. Enter in. Enter in. Some will hear, depart from me.
I never knew you. Some are going to hear that.
But there will be a multitude of sinners, saved by the grace
of God in Christ, that's going to hear this. Enter into the
kingdom prepared for you by my Father from the beginning, before
the earth was made. Already prepared for you. And
he's going to say, enter in. Enter in. It's already prepared. And enter his courts with praise.
There's nothing to be mournful about in his courts. Enter into
his courts with praise. And be thankful unto him. This
is a word that really caught my attention. Be thankful unto
him. We have so much to be thankful
for. All men are not thankful. The
ungodly are not thankful. A thankless man, a thankless
man is a graceless man. A thankless man is a graceless
man. The believer is the only person
who is truly thankful. Those whom God has saved and
brought to faith in Christ, they are the only ones who are truly
grateful and thankful. We thank God. Let me give you
some of the things we thank God for. We thank God for daily mercies. There have been more mercies
bestowed upon us today than we could even imagine. Mercies we
don't even realize has been bestowed upon us. We're all here safely.
What a mercy. What a mercy. Bless the Lord
who daily loads us with benefits. The scripture says daily he loads
us with benefits. We thank him for what health
he's given us. Whatever health I have, he's
given. It's of him. We thank him for our family,
especially our church family. Family of God, the brothers and
sisters we have in Christ, the love that we have to one another.
You and I are going to spend eternity together. We'll spend
eternity together. We thank him for our employment.
You know, I don't, I honestly, I don't worry about the economy.
It's all in my Lord's hands. David said, I have been young
and now I'm old. I've never seen the righteous
forsaken nor his seed begging bread. Never. We thank Him for
keeping us daily from the evil one. Oh, keep us from the evil
one. And we thank Him for whom all
blessings flow. The scripture says every good
gift and every perfect gift comes from above. He gives it to us. It's all of Him. All of Him.
We thank Him for all our spiritual blessings. I'm sure glad He chose me in
Christ. I'm sure glad he did. I'd have never chose him. He
wasn't what I was looking for. I'm glad he called me by his
grace. Revealed his son in me. That's his work. That's his work. We thank him for loving us while
we were yet sinners. While we were ungodly. Scripture
says Christ died for us. Oh, we thank him for that. We
thank him for his pardoning grace. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. Does not impute that man's sins
to him. Thank him for keeping us from
falling. I'd fall a thousand times a day
if he didn't keep me. A thousand. Oh, it'd be more
than that. I'd fall one time and never get
back up. Thank him for it. But most of all, the pinnacle
of it, We thank Him for His Son, Jesus Christ. Thank Him for this unspeakable
gift of His Son. And we thank Christ. We thank
our Lord, who loved us and gave Himself for us. Let me give you
a few things here, then I'll close. Consider this. He gave
Himself to be bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. God became
a man. God became flesh. That's amazing. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He gave himself to be a servant
in my place. He served God as I ought to serve
God. He served God as God ought to
be served. He gave himself to be my wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He gave himself.
He gave his back to the smiters and his cheek to those who plucked
off the beard. His visage was marred that mine might be made
whole. He gave his life that I might
live. You see, the corn of wheat must die that many might live.
He gave himself to poverty that I might be made rich. He had
no place to lay his head that I may lay my head down in peace
at night and sleep. He gave himself to God's justice
that I might be justified. He did that. He gave himself the torment that
I might enjoy peace with God. He gave himself willingly that
I might be made willing in the day of his power. He gave himself the shame that
I might be lifted up to glory and behold his glory that he
had with the Father before the world was. He gave himself that I might
be presented spotless spotless, blameless before His
presence. He gave everything that He is
that I may inherit everything that He has. All things are yours
in Christ. All things. He gave Himself,
and I thank God for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. He gave Himself for us 100%. And then it says in verse four,
and bless his name. Give all honor unto him. That's
what we're here to do. Tom's going to preach and I'll
be preaching tomorrow. Our purpose, our purpose is to give unto him
all the honor and the glory that do unto his name. It's his business
to do the saving. If he's pleased to save, we rejoice. My business right now is to give
unto him all the honor and glory, to lift up his name. And then in closing, verse five,
for the Lord is good. He's all that is good. He's good. And his mercy is everlasting. And his truth endures to all
generations. His mercy is everlasting. It's
new every morning. I assure you, I leave none of
it unused. We leave none of it unused. I
thank God for His everlasting mercy. Everlasting. And His truth endureth. It endures all false preaching.
It endures all that man has tried to do to it through history.
It has endured all that Satan has tried to do to it through
history. And it's endured even our bad
preaching. It endureth. It endureth. Oh, my soul. His
truth endureth. What's true today? And this gives
me comfort. This right here gives me comfort.
What's true today will be true tomorrow. What's true right now will be
true tomorrow. Truth never changes. You always
have to remember how you tell a lie, but you never have to
remember how you tell the truth because it never changes. It
stays the same. It's always the same. God's truth
endureth. God is always the same. Christ
is always the same. How God saves sinners is always
the same, and that will never change. Now, make a joyful noise. This weekend, make a joyful noise
unto the Lord. All ye land, you Gentiles, us,
and serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with
singing, and know this. Know 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. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him, and bless
his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and
his truth endureth to all generations. Amen. Let's take about a five-minute
break, and then we'll come back to our singing. Brother Mike
and Brother Tom Harding will preach for us. You'll hear the
piano played in just a minute. All right? About five minutes.