psalm chapter one hundred and
thirty five we'll be looking at several verses
in this psalm this evening and the title the message is
the title of the psalm it is the first line of the psalm praise
ye the lord praise ye The Lord. Praise ye the name
of the Lord. Praise Him, O you servants of
the Lord. You that stand in the house of
the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise the
Lord. For He is good. Sing praises
unto His name, for it is pleasant. Pleasant praise ye the Lord now
this psalm is most rightly called the hallelujah psalm The hallelujah
psalm and we know hallelujah is simply praise the Lord praise
Jehovah Because from start to finish, the psalmist exhorts
God's people to praise Him. Look at verse 1. Praise ye the
Lord. And if you go to the last verse,
at the very end of verse 21, he says it again. Praise ye the
Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Now the word
praise, the word praise, so we're not confused as to what praise
is. We should know what the word
praise is, but most people have different concepts of what praise
is. The root for this word is to
make something or someone clear. To make something or someone
clear. It is as to shine a light on
something, to expose or to magnify, to celebrate or to boast of someone
based off of their attributes that is made known. That is made
known. Even so, as servants of God,
as servants of the Lord. You and me who believe in Christ,
we are the ones called on here to praise the Lord. Isn't that
who he says? You servants of the Lord. End of verse 1. You
that stand in the house of the Lord in the courts of the house
of our God. These are the ones. You and I
are the ones here called on to praise the Lord, to magnify the
Lord, to celebrate His attributes, His holiness, His justice, His
righteousness, whatever scripture we take. We magnify that attribute,
we look at that thing, the work that God has done, and by declaring
it, by making it plainly known, what we are doing is praising
the Lord. We're praising Him. This is what
it is to praise the Lord. It is to make something of the
Lord known. And it is only the servants of
God that are exhorted and encouraged and commanded to praise Him. You know why this is? Because
we are the only ones who know Him. You can't magnify someone you
don't know. Only those who know the Lord
can praise the Lord. Though everyone should praise
the Lord, only those who know Him can praise Him. And we should praise Him. Like
I said, all men should praise the Lord. But only those who
know Him by the grace of God are qualified to praise Him,
to make known His attributes, His glories. All men should worship God, praise
God. But they should worship God.
If a man is to worship and praise God, how should he know anything
at all about God except by the Word of God? This is the only
way God is praised and magnified, is by what God declares of Himself
in His Word. Now, all men should know, and
men should not speculate to praise a god of their own imagination. I'm not going to show you attributes
of God and my opinion about His attributes. I want you to know
His attributes as He displays them in Scripture. As He reveals
them to us in our heart by the Holy Spirit. This is praise. Yet we know all men by nature
will not and cannot praise God even because they do not know
God. Now how can you make clear someone you don't know? How can
you magnify the Lord unless you know Him? You can't. You can't. And so ruined is man by nature
that he cannot know God except God reveal Himself. Except God reveal Himself. go
to of first corinthians first corinthians chapter one i'm not
gonna try to uh... linger here very long because
i've got some things that i really want us to see about praise But
I want you to see this point and let this sink in, that only
those who know the Lord can praise Him. Now I know this, that even
the works of men, evil works of men, they praise the Lord.
The Scripture says that the wrath of man shall praise Him. And
the remainder of wrath he shall restrain." We know that they
do praise Him, but they don't know what they're doing. They
have no clue that they're doing the work of God. They think they're
actually defeating God, going against Him. But look what Paul
says about this. He says in 1 Corinthians 2. Look at verse 6. The Apostle
says, "'Howbeit we speak wisdom, among them that are perfect. He's talking about salvation.
The wisdom is the gospel of Christ, the wisdom of God. We speak the
wisdom of God among who? Those that are made perfect,
those who are believers. Yet not the wisdom of this world,
nor the princes of this world that come to nothing. But we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which
God ordained before the world unto our glory. Which none of
the princes of the world knew, for had they known it, they would
have not crucified the Lord of glory. But as is written, I hath
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit. You see the difference? Man by
nature, the princes of this world, cannot enter into the hidden
wisdom and mystery of God. But how is it that you have entered
in? How is it that you can praise
the God of glory? Because you know Him, because
the Spirit of God has revealed these things to us. Wisdom of the gospel. I preach
this gospel to anyone who desires to hear. Anybody that can hear
this gospel, I preach it to every one of you tonight. Preach it
to all men. That God is only known by the
revelation of Jesus Christ, His Son. I preach to you that He
came into the world to save sinners. To reveal the mystery of God's
grace and salvation. The mystery. Mystery. And what is this mystery? You
listen. Here it is. You want to know
the gospel? The question of the gospel? It's this. How can God
be just and justify the ungodly? There's the mystery. That's a
mystery. Man cannot by reason, worldly
reason, figure that out. He's always, when you say salvation
is by grace, you say, yeah, but you've got to add this. No, you
don't get it. It's a mystery to you. How God
can be just and still justify the ungodly. How God can save
by grace without the works of the law is a mystery to men. And they'll never know it unless
God reveal it. In that 14th verse it says, "...the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, because
he is spiritually discerned." But you, you who believe, God
in grace has freely given to us by His Holy Spirit the knowledge
of God, the wisdom of God, the mystery of God. which no natural man can know
by learning, by reason, religious exercise, to them, it's foolishness. Even because they're spiritually
judged and condemned and dead in sin. But to us who have been
saved by the grace of God, to us, God has revealed Himself
and His salvation by the blood and righteousness of Christ alone.
To us. Let it be known to us. Let then
our hearts who know Him, you who know Him, tonight let your
heart be stirred up to this privilege and honor. Praise Him! Praise
Him whom you know. Praise Him who has saved you
by the work of His Son. Praise Him who allowed you to
understand the mystery of the gospel of Christ. Praise Him
and magnify His glorious name. Exalt him. Praise the Lord. Praise his attributes, his character. That's what it means by praise
the name of the Lord. He is talking about his character,
his attributes, his holiness, his justice, his omnipotence. All of these attributes can be
magnified and praised. Believer in Christ, we are not
called the light of the world for no reason. We are the light
of the world. You got that? You are. You are. How then do we light? We praise God. We praise Him
by declaring plainly our God. Our God. through the preaching
of the gospel of Christ. Tonight, we are praising God.
Tonight. You who know Him, we are praising
Him. We are going to magnify His attributes. We are going to lift up. We are
going to celebrate. We are going to boast in and
make plain His character and His work. And His work. This is done by the preaching,
and the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us that are saved it is the power of God. For it is
written, I will destroy the wise and bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of the world? Hath not God made
foolish the wisdom of the world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God. by the foolishness of preaching. The foolishness of praising God
through the preaching of His Word to save them that believe. Our Lord tells us the purpose
of His ministers. The purpose of His ministers
is to call the lost to comfort the saved and to encourage
the saints. This is what we do. And how do
we do it? By praising the Lord. By lifting
up our God and His Son, we encourage you who believe. By lifting up
Christ, we encourage the sinner to come to Christ. This is what
ministers do. You remember he said, Comfort
ye, comfort ye, my people, saith the Lord. Speak comfortably to
Jerusalem cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished her iniquity
is pardoned for the Lord hath received double And let the Lord's
hand double for all her sins Paul says this he gave apostles
some prophets some evangelists pastors and teachers for what
the perfecting of the Saints For the work of the ministry
for the edify of the body of Christ. How do we do this praising
the Lord? That's how praise ye the Lord
Tonight it is my harsh desire to stir you up to praise To stir
you up to praising God and I'm not going to do it by my own
Outline, I'm just going to go right ahead through this psalm
and the psalmist himself gives us a perfect outline as to what? Is to move us to praise what? Aspects of our God are worthy
of praise. Well, let's go and see look at
this in verse 3 and Praise ye the Lord, number one, for the
Lord is what? Good. This is the first thing
he magnifies about God. God's goodness. God's goodness. God is good, not just because
of what he does, but God is good, essentially good. God is essentially
good, therefore because he is essentially good, all he does
is what? Good. Good. Everything God does
is good. There's nothing that God does
that is not good. He is infinitely good. He is
eternally good. And because all He is and does
is perfect, lacking nothing, failing in nothing, can you not
say that all He is and does is good? I mean, why then would
we say we're not good? Why does the Scripture tell us
that there is none good, no, not one? Why? Because we fail
at everything we attempt. We have no power or ability to
do anything we desire to do. Man can do nothing outside of
the power and mercy of God. We are not good. We are sinners
by nature, sinners by choice, and yet God is nothing like that. Nothing. He is good. Now consider
His goodness in creation. Isn't that good? Creation's good.
There's nothing wrong with creation. Matter of fact, what did God
say every time He created something? He said, behold, it was good. Created the trees, the sun, the
moon, the stars every time. He said, good, good, good. Why? Because it was good. Nothing
wrong. Perfect. Good. And when God made
the highest of his creatures, what did he say about that? He
said, behold, it was very good. It was not just good. It was
very good. He made man. He said, now that is the pinnacle
of my creation, man. Man. He made him upright. He made him intelligent. Consider
even now, after the fall, after the fall, look at this body and
you can not tell how wonderfully made this body is. Our hands
are capable of doing wonderful things to do our work in this
world. God made hands perfect. so that
they're not like chimpanzees that clumsy hands and things. No, we have a mind, an intellect,
a reason. God made man, is that not good? And when we study this, we can
say with David, I praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Think, consider the creation
of the world. Would you like to live on the
moon? I mean, people talk about that, and they say, oh, I just
love to live on the moon. That is the dumbest thing I've ever
heard in my life. Nobody wants to live on the moon.
It's barren. It's cold. It's dead. There's no planet out there I
want to live on but this one. And you know what? God didn't
have to make things beautiful, did he? We could have existed
without all these beautiful things. And yet, think of the flowers.
Why would we need the flowers? Why do they have to be so beautiful?
Because God made them and they're good. It's good when you get
a bunch of flowers and women give flowers. They smile because
they're beautiful. They make you feel good because
they're good. Nothing wrong with them. Creation
is good. God gave us ears so we can hear
music, enjoy it. God gave us eyelids so the sand
doesn't get in our eyes and blow it. What kind of horrible existence
would it be without eyelids? Think of the intricacies. God
made these and we say, good, it's good. It's a manifestation
of God's goodness. So we can think about creation,
but what is the greatest display of God's goodness? These aren't
the greatest. These are just trinkets, small
things. What's the greatest display of
God's goodness? I'll tell you. It is His mercy
and grace towards sinners. Well, don't take my word for
it. Go ahead and go back to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus chapter 33.
In verse 18, Here Moses, after receiving the
law of God, being the servant of God, one of the greatest servants
of God there ever was, was Moses. Moses desired something of God
and he said this in verse 18, I beg you, show me thy glory. He wanted to see God without
any filters. He wanted to see God as God is. He wanted to see God in the essence
of his glory, in the strength of his glory. He wanted to see
God. And look at the answer. And God said, I will. I will
make all my goodness pass before thee. You see that? What did
he see? What did Moses want? He wants
to see his glory. What did God show him? His goodness. Do you not see this? That if
God gave Moses what he wanted, Moses would have died. But God said, I'm going to show
you something. I'm going to show you my goodness. I'll make my goodness pass before
thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee
and here it is and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious
and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy and he said
thou canst not see my face For there shall no man see me
and live." See, God's goodness and glory are in union together. And God willing to proclaim it,
willingly to display it. He says, here is my goodness.
You want to see my goodness? Here it is. Here's the pinnacle
of my glory. The pinnacle of my goodness is
this. I will, I will, be gracious I
will show mercy to whom I will behold the goodness of God then
is best displayed in God's sovereign free mercy towards sinners now how'd they get that how'd
I come to that conclusion well who needs mercy Sinners. You see, if you're not
a sinner, you don't need mercy. Who needs grace? Those who cannot
merit the favor of God on their own. They're the ones who need
grace. So then the pinnacle of God's
goodness is this, I am going to be gracious and merciful to
sinners. I'm going to be gracious to those
who cannot by any means merit my grace. Is that not the pinnacle of goodness? Scarcely for a righteous man
would one die. Perventure for a good man, some
might dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. You see, God gave His goodness
and mercy not only to sinners, but to rebels, haters of God. God, willing to show the glory
of His grace, gave it to those of us who are least deserving
of it. Man was created perfect and upright
in the best environment and yet man defied God. Our father defied God. He said, I will not have this
man to rule over me. I will eat this fruit. And as
a result, all of us perished in him. All of us died in him
and became just as vile and wicked as our father. born sinners. And because God is God and good,
He must punish sin. Isn't that right? He must punish
sin. "...In the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt..." What? "...surely die." Surely die. Is this not good that God punishes
evil? We all know it is. The flesh
doesn't like it, but that's just good. We know that's good. Therefore, when God passed by
Moses, you remember that when he actually did it, he said this,
he added this into that statement, he said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. I will by no means clear the
guilty. So how can God then be merciful
to sinners? guilty sinners and Yet at the
same time by no means clearly guilty How can you do that? Behold then the goodness of God
Praise the goodness of God as it is only seen in the work and
person of Jesus Christ this is the only place you're going to
find it the only place you're going to find mercy and Justice
meeting together in perfect harmony is in Jesus Christ. This is the pinnacle of God's
goodness. For in Christ alone, these two
attributes meet together and are fully satisfied. Mercy is
only satisfied in Christ and justice is only satisfied in
Christ Those two meet together and they're happily they're perfect
together nowhere else in the world could those two meet and
be happy and content Our Lord said to Moses Look at
this in verse 21 of that passage in Exodus and he said and the
Lord said behold There's a place by me and thou shalt stand upon
a rock and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by that
I will put thee in the cleft of the rock and cover thee with
my hand while I pass by and I will take away mine hand and thou
shalt see my back parts but my face shalt thou not see Believer
in Christ, praise God for His goodness that is in Jesus Christ
who is the rock, the fortress, and the refuge of a sinner by
which we may endure and see and praise the glory of God. Only
in Him are we accepted of God. Only in Him can we see those
things. It is upon Christ that God built
His church. He said, there's a rock by me.
Who is the rock? It's Christ. Always Christ in
the Old Testament. Paul manifests this. Remember
that rock that followed them in the wilderness that he got
that water from? Paul said, that rock is Christ. And I tell you,
this rock is Christ, upon which, that is by God, that he puts
Moses to stand on, is Christ. Jesus said of himself, upon this
rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Christ is the rock, the foundation
of the church of God, upon which we may be able to stand before
God. God in goodness chose Christ
to be the Savior of His church. God first trusted in Christ with
the salvation of His elect. And God in grace put us in Christ,
that cleft of the rock. He put us there and covered us
with His hand. Why? So that we may be able to
stand before God. that we could see His goodness,
His mercy, and His grace. Seeing we could not ever stand
before God on the foundation of our own merits, God sending
His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. Why? So that you might understand
His goodness. He were sinners by nature and
could not come to God would not come to God But God in goodness
overruled God in goodness overruled and
put you in Christ I'm so glad he didn't wait for
me to make that decision He did it for me in an eternal covenant
of grace. That's goodness. That's goodness. The goodness of God. And see,
Jesus, being our representative man, was made to endure the wrath
of God for our sins. You see this. God put Moses in
the cleft and He put His hand over Moses. What endured the
glory of God? What endured That glory that
no man could see. It was the hand of God. It was
the rock that endured it. It was like Noah in the ark.
Noah's in the ark. He didn't escape the flood. He
didn't escape the judgment of God. He was in the midst of judgment,
but... The ark endured the waves. The ark endured the judgment
of God. Therefore, Noah was safe. And so it is with all of us who
are in Christ. Worship and praise God for His
goodness. He put us in Christ, and Christ
endured the wrath of God for our sins. Christ endured and
suffered what we deserve. And because He endured such things,
God removes His hand and says, look what you have. He gives us an inheritance because
of Christ. Because of Him, we're able to
stand before God righteous. God hath made Him to be wisdom,
righteous, and sanctification, and redemption. It is the goodness of God, then,
that leadeth men to repentance. Isn't that right? Isn't this
message that led you to repentance? The message of goodness. The
goodness of God. for guilty sinners. Now, have you been redeemed by
the blood of Christ? Have you been given mercy and
grace? Has God saved you by His grace? If so, then praise Him for His
goodness. Praise Him for it. Make it plainly
known to others how it is God saved you. How did God save you? By His goodness. What's His goodness? His mercy
and His grace. Where's that found? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. That's what it
is to praise the goodness of God. Now look at this second
thing here. Praise the Lord for His election.
Isn't that what the psalmist does next? He says this in verse
4, for praise him, praise the Lord, for the Lord hath chosen
Jacob unto himself and Israel, his peculiar people. To all who
know the Lord, we know this. He's made his goodness known
to us, his salvation by Jesus Christ. We know that our salvation
then is not by chance. But rather the salvation that
is by the goodness of God is on purpose. Praise God for His
eternal purpose. Eternal purpose. The election,
what the scriptures call the election of grace, or is called
the purpose according to election. Election is pictured to us in
the Old Testament by God's sovereign choice of that nation, Israel.
which is a type of the church. Thus, we are exhorted to praise
God for his election of Jacob. He said that in our text in verse
4. He says, Praise the Lord, for
he hath elected, he hath chosen Jacob unto himself. But Jacob
we know is a type of the church, a type. Go to Romans chapter
9, you can see this clearly. Romans chapter 9, Paul praying for the salvation
of the Jews after realizing that God had given them the law and
the commandments and the prophets, yet not all of them had been
saved. And so Paul says this in verse
6, he says, not as though the word of God had taken none effect.
Look, because all the Jews are not saved, that doesn't make
God's word of none effect. Why, Paul? Because they are not
all Israel, which are of Israel. Neither because are they the
seed of Abraham, that they are children." That does away with
all that foolishness about the Jews, doesn't it? Being God's
special, peculiar people as far as salvation goes. They were
a type. They were a picture. They had
privileges that no other nation had, yes. But that didn't make
them saved. You see, only those who are saved
are who? Israel. Well, who are they? He uses the children of Isaac,
and as an example, he says, for the children not yet being born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand not of works, but of him
that calleth. He saith unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
in this what he just said about his goodness, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. In this religious generation
there are so few that praise God for his election. So few. This is because many are deceived
to believe salvation is a product of man's will and not the product
of God's will. But all who appraise the Lord,
all who know Him in the goodness of His grace, we know this, that
salvation is of the Lord. That by nature we could not and
would not ever have chosen God. Yet His salvation was never based
on our merits, our work, or our will, but according to His own
sovereign purpose and free grace. Just as God loved Jacob before
he was born, having done no good or evil, so God has loved His
church and purposed our salvation from eternity. Is that not worthy
of praise? It is worthy of praise. It is
worthy of praise. So in the Word of God, we are
told in many places, the cause of such grace is not rooted in
us, but rather in God Himself. You know, in Deuteronomy told
those people, He said, look, I chose you not because you were
the best, not because you were the most. I chose you, listen
to this reason, because I would. Now why are you saved? Why are you saved and not your
family? Why are you saved and millions
lost? Why do you praise the election
of God? Because you know Him. You know
this is how sinners are saved. By the grace of God. Let us then praise God. For there
was no good in us, no power in us, no desire in us for God. Jesus tells us plainly, no man
can come unto me. Except what? Except the Father
which has sent me. Draw him. Draw him. Behold the goodness of God, who
in free grace loved us, in free grace chose us to be his peculiar
treasure. the lord said his love upon you not because of you but because he would paul said this be thou therefore
not ashamed of the testimony of the lord are you ashamed of
that i'm not ashamed I'm not ashamed to praise the Lord for
his election. Why? David does it here. Praise it
in our text. Praise him for he hath chosen
Jacob and Israel to be his peculiar treasure. I'm not ashamed of
that. Be not ashamed of the Lord, testimony of the Lord, nor me
as prisoner. Be thou partakers in affliction
of the gospel according to the power of God. Listen, who hath
saved us and called us, which is first. Which is first, saving
or calling? Saved us and called us. Now why would he do such a thing? Not according to our works. So
let's just mark that one out. but according to his own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ." That's where? In Christ. When? Before the foundation of the
world. That's when it was given us.
In Christ. Praise him for his election.
He saved us. Called us according to his own
purpose and we're not ashamed to proclaim it. I love this hymn
We sing it often my lord I did not choose you for that could
never be my heart would still refuse you had you not chosen
me You took the sin that stained me You cleansed me and made me
free of old You have ordained me that I should live to thee Praise God for His election.
And thirdly, look at this. Go back to your text. Praise
God for His sovereign providence. Look at this in verse 4. Praise
Him, for I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased
that did he in heaven and earth the seas and in all deep places
we praise the sovereign providence of God God in infinite goodness
is displayed by salvation in Christ Which is manifest to us
in his sovereign election, but it's also revealed in this truth
that God does everything according to his own purpose. What is our God doing? What is
our God doing? Seems confusing, doesn't it?
You look around and everything seems chaotic. The world is in
turmoil. Wars come, men die, troubles,
sickness, grief, pain, sorrow, affliction, everywhere around
us. But let me assure you that everything
is in perfect order. Everything is moving exactly
as God determined. The wheels of providence are
moving straight forward. They turn not to the right hand
nor to the left. Why? Because the Lord, the Lord
whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven and earth
and the seas and all deep places. What is God doing? He's doing
exactly what He wants to do. In everything, in all things,
God is doing His will. Everything. Our Lord said this,
I am God and there is none else, there is none like Me, declaring
the end from the beginning. From ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I
will do what all My pleasure. That's God. That's worthy of
praise, isn't it? He's worthy of praise. He does
whatsoever He pleases. And He gave us an example in
that same passage. He said, I'm going to send a
ravenous bird from the east. I'm going to take a man who hates
me, I'm going to take a man who hates my people, and I'm going
to make him deliver my people. Just to show you who's in charge
here. God's in charge of all things.
He does whatsoever He pleases. in heaven and earth and the seas
and all complete places. What is God doing these things
for? You listen. He has one purpose. One purpose. To save His people. To do His people only and always
good. That's what God's doing. Always. And I'll tell you this, any God
who is not in charge of all things is not God. David said, praise Him for our
God is above all things. What He does whatsoever He pleases.
That's the difference between a real God and a false God. A
false God cannot do anything without you. God does everything
in spite of you. He does everything He wants to
do for His people, and He uses whomsoever He will to do it.
That's God. In verses 15 through 18 of this
chapter, the psalmist describes who's not God. He said, these
gods, they have mouths, but they can't speak. They have ears,
but they can't hear. They have hands, and they can't touch.
They have feet, they can't go. They're not doing anything without
man's approval. That's what a false god is. False
god needs you. True God doesn't need you. He
does everything He pleases. You need Him. That's what happens. You need God. And only the God
who is sovereign in all things is worthy of praise. Now again,
what is He doing? He is doing this to save His
people. So therefore, we should praise
Him for our deliverance. We praise Him for His goodness
in salvation. We praise Him for His election
in grace. We praise Him for His divine providence doing whatsoever
He pleases. And we praise Him because He
delivered us. Look at this next thing here.
In verse 7, He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the
earth. He maketh lightning of the rain. He bringeth the wind
out of His treasuries. Who smote the firstborn of Egypt,
both man and beast, who set tokens and wonders in the midst of thee,
O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all of his servants, who smote
the great nations and slew the kings, the king of the Amorites,
Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan. What for?
gave their land for a heritage, an heritage unto Israel, his
people. What is he doing this for? He's delivering his people. He delivers his people. You remember before God promised
to Abraham, He said this, your seed is going to be captive 400
years. Then I will come and deliver
them. And so it was with Israel. They
were captive 400 years. And God came and delivered them.
How? By the Passover lamb. By the sacrifice of the lamb.
He delivered them and destroyed the firstborn, smote the firstborn
of Egypt, and delivered them out of bondage. Isn't that exactly
what He did for you? You and I were determined, purposed
to be in bondage, and God set a time of our deliverance. God
set a time of our deliverance. The promise of our deliverance
was before our deliverance. But the day had come, God decreed,
and He sent a man by His Word to declare that God had made
a sacrifice, a Passover lamb, Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit
took the blood of Christ and He sprinkled that on the doorpost
of your heart. And what do we have? When God
said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Why? Judgment's already been rendered.
God cannot demand twice payment. When God came to you in the experience
of grace, He delivered you from Satan, from sin, the bondage
of the flesh. He delivered you from your passions
and lusts, and you believed on the Son of God. That's deliverance. Are you delivered? Then we should
praise God for deliverance. Praise God. What is the praise? It is to shine a light on what
God has done. That's all it is. What have we
been doing? We've been shining a light on
all the attributes and works of God. That's praise. That's praise. See then the wrath of God that
fell on Christ will not fall on you. and behold all your enemies."
He mentions all those kings of Canaan. Where are they? They're
dead. They're conquered. Where are your sins? They're
gone. Where is your foe? He's bound. He cannot accuse you before God
ever again. He's cast out. Therefore God says, I give you
eternal life. And no one will pluck you out
of my hand. Praise God. That's something to brag about. Is he not worthy to brag? and
boast in our God. Therefore, he says in the end,
bless the Lord, O house of Israel. Bless the Lord, O house of Aaron.
Bless the Lord, O house of Levi. You that fear the Lord, bless
the Lord. Bless the Lord out of Zion, which
dwelleth in Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord. is that not
our desire every time we come to praise shine light and declare
plainly what he's done for us that's what we do that's what
it is to praise now i pray that god would give us opportunity
to praise the lord wherever we go and i don't mean just saying
it praise the lord, praise the lord, people say it and it becomes
it's just Meaningless you say it so much. You just don't know
what you're saying We know what we're saying magnify some characteristic
of God Shine a light on some characteristic or work of God.
That's praising God Not just saying it Preaching his gospel
may God give us opportunity and desire to do so Let's stand be
dismissed in prayer