Turn with me now to Psalm 116. Psalm 116. We are going to end
our study of this psalm with the last four words of the
psalm. The last four words say, praise
ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. That is the
title of this message and that's our goal. That's our title and
our goal. We're just gonna praise the Lord.
I hope this will be Simple and relaxing and enjoyable. That's every now and then I have
to bring a message for myself and that's my kind of message.
Simple, relaxing, enjoyable. Everything that has been said
in this psalm in regard to us, it's all in light of Christ. All of it is in lie of Christ.
It's all because of him. It's all because of him. We can
read this Psalm as though he is saying it. And let's do that,
all right? Let's read this and let's listen
to it in his voice. Let's listen to him saying this.
Verse one, he says, I love the Lord, because he hath heard my
voice and my supplications. I love the Lord. He can say that. I love the Lord because he hath
heard my voice and my supplications. We can hear our Lord saying that
from his resurrection. From the grave, we can hear him
saying that from his deliverance from the tomb. I love the Lord
because he heard my voice and my supplications. Look with me
at Psalm 16. Psalm. 16, this is our Lord speaking. Verse
eight, he said, I have set the Lord always before
me because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore,
my heart is glad. Think about this. He said, therefore,
my heart is glad And my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall
rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. You know where he was when he
was saying this? He was saying, my heart is glad,
my glory is rejoicing. My flesh is resting in hope because
thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer
thine holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. I will see life again. In thy
presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand, there are
pleasures forevermore. That was our Lord's cry to the
Father from the grave. He said, I trust and believe
that you will not leave me here. And the father didn't. He didn't
leave him there. Look at Psalm 40. Again, this is the voice of our
Lord. Psalm 40, verse 7, then said
I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it's written of me.
The whole book is written about me. I delight to do thy will. O my God, yea, thy law is within
my heart. All of your law is within my
heart. And it was, this is our Lord
speaking here in this Psalm and he describes the horror of the
cross here, his suffering and the sin of his people. Look at
verse 12. He said, innumerable evils have
compassed me about evils that could never be counted, never
be numbered. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me. Our
iniquities became his own. He made them to be his own. so
that I'm not able to look up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord,
to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me. We can hear his cry from the
cross. We can hear his cry from the
grave. And in verse one right here,
he said, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto
me and heard my cry. and brought me up also out of
an horrible pit." You know, Job said, deliver him from going
down into the pit. I found a ransom. I found somebody
who would go down into that pit in his place. Verse two, our
Lord said, he brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of
the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established
my goings, and he hath put a new song in my mouth. Even praise
unto our God, many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust
in the Lord. That's the voice of our Savior
declaring victory over our death. And that's exactly what we hear
in Psalm 116. Go with me back over to. Psalm
116. Verse one, he said, I love the
Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because
he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon
him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed
me. Thank God. The pains of hell
got hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. He said, I'm the man that had
seen affliction. Then called I upon the name of
the Lord. Oh Lord, I beseech thee deliver
my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yay. Our God is merciful. That's what we see in the cross. Grace, righteousness, mercy. Verse six, the Lord preserveth
the simple. I was brought low. He humbled
himself, he made himself of no reputation. He humbled himself
all the way down to the, to the obedience of the death of the
cross. The Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low and
he helped me. It's amazing to listen to the
voice of the Lord Jesus Christ in the scriptures. If men and women ever heard the
voice of Christ in these words, they would hear the gospel. They
would see the point of every word in this book. It is so amazing
to hear the voice of Christ in the scriptures. We enter in so
much more, you know, We understand that he died for us, we understand
that he suffered for us, but we enter in so much more. We have such a greater sense
of what he had to endure to deliver us when we hear his voice in
these words. Verse seven, he said, return
unto thy rest. Oh, my soul for the Lord hath
dealt bountifully with thee. It is finished. It is accomplished. The work is done. Father, I finished
the work. That's it. Return to rest. We
can now rest from our works because he rested from his work. Verse eight, for thou has delivered
my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living. Only our Lord Jesus Christ can
say that with absolute assurity. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living. I believed, therefore have I
spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are
liars. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation. Thank God he took the cup of
salvation. I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Oh Lord,
truly, I am thy servant. How true that is. Truly, in Isaiah
42, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father said,
behold my servant. Behold my servant, behold my
son, my workman, my accomplisher. He will do it and he won't fail. He shall not fail. Verse 16,
oh Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son
of thine handmaid, a body hast thou prepared me. Thou hast loosed
my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. I
will pay my vows unto the Lord, now in the presence of all his
people, in the courts of the Lord's house, In the midst of
thee, O Jerusalem, praise ye the Lord. Because Christ said
all that, we can say all that. Because he said all of that,
we can say all of that. Because he brought praise to
the Lord, we can cry praise to the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. All of God's people can say that
to their own hearts and their own souls. Praise ye the Lord. So you praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. That word praise
means shine the light on. Magnify. Boast. Be boastful of. Glory in this
is my favorite. It means celebrate. The Lord,
what it means. So celebrate the Lord. You put the spotlight on Jesus
Christ and celebrate him, celebrate him for everything that he is,
everything that he's done. I went through a concordance
and I looked up the phrase, praise ye the Lord. And I looked up
the different variations of that phrase, praise ye the Lord. And you cannot imagine how many
times the praise of the Lord is mentioned in the scripture.
You cannot imagine. I started writing down scriptures
that named reasons why we should praise the Lord. And it was so
many. It's a good thing that we have.
All of eternity to praise him because we're going to need it.
We're going to need it. The reasons for praising our
Lord are endless. They are truly endless. Praising the Lord is all through
this word all through it. Look at Psalm 111. Psalm 111 verse one, it says,
praise ye the Lord. I'll praise the Lord with my
whole heart. Look at Psalm 112. Praise ye
the Lord. Look at Psalm 113. Praise ye the Lord. Look at the
end of Psalm 113. Praise ye the Lord. Look at the end of Psalm 115. Praise the Lord. Look at the end of Psalm 116.
Praise ye the Lord. Look at Psalm 117. Oh, praise the Lord. All ye nations, praise Him. All you people, look at the very
end of Psalm 117. Praise ye the Lord. You know what Psalm 117 is about?
Praising the Lord. It keeps going and going and
going. You just keep turning pages and
keep turning pages. Praise ye the Lord. Why? The scripture says, for
His righteousness sake. I was talking to a dear brother
today and we were talking about the Lord's righteousness and
how that right there is the truth that sets men and women free.
False religion is all about men and women trying to earn their
own righteousness. That'll get your attention. False religion is all about men
and women trying to earn their own righteousness. And then when
the truth comes, the confusion is, how do I work in my righteousness
with his righteousness? And then when clarity comes and
we become settled on these things, our righteousness goes out the
window. And all you're left with is his righteousness. And it's
so freeing because I don't have to be anything.
He is for me everything I need to be before God. I wish I want
to be just like Him and one day soon I'm going to be just like
Him. But thank God, in spite of what I see right here, this
means nothing. Christ has put this away. And
He has robed us in His own righteousness. He's provided all of His people
with a righteousness, a covering of purity. That's what will set
people free. Praise the Lord. You know, I
don't like hearing people say, I praise the Lord. Oh, so get
a hold of that and then praise the Lord. Praise the Lord for
it. Praise ye the Lord. Why? The
scripture says, because of his power. Because it's for his power, because
of his strength, his power, because of his sacrifice. Praise the
Lord. Why? Because of his sacrifice. Because of his help. Because of his deliverance. Because
of his mercy. Mercy and his own blood forgiveness
through his own blood that he gave. We were a great offense
to him. We were a great offense to him.
He was greatly offended. But he made a great payment for
us on our behalf to himself. He made a great payment to himself. For us. To appease himself. and to make intercession to himself. Reconciliation between us and
himself. He did all that by himself. Praise
the Lord. Praise him for the fact that
his mercy is great. You ever read verses like that?
His mercy is great. Praise Him for the fact that
His truth endures to all generations. I see these little babies sitting
here. You know what I believe in my heart? His truth is going
to endure to them. Praise Him for the fact that
He hath not left off His kindness to His people. He has not said,
that's it, no more. You're all the same, and I'm
done with you. No, His mercy and His truth,
it continues generation to generation to generation. Praise ye the Lord. Why? The
scripture says, for He is good. He is kind. He is tender. He is
pitiful. He is compassionate. Praise ye the Lord. Why? Listen
to this. Because he stands at the right
hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul. That's Psalm 109 verse 31. We know he stands at the right
hand of God Almighty. He stands at the right hand of
the poor. to save him from those that condemn
his soul. I love that illustration Brother
Darwin Pruitt gave us about when he was a kid and he stole something
and he had to go apologize to the little girl that he stole
from and that little girl's dad started giving it to him. And
Darwin's dad let that other man give it to him for a minute and
then he put his hand in front of Darwin and pulled him behind
him and said, okay, that's enough. Well, that's what our Lord does
for us. Not my Louis. You want me, you're
going to let them go. Praise the Lord. Why? It's because he is high above
all nations. His glory is above the heavens. He humbles himself to behold
the things that are in heaven and in earth. He raises the poor
out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the dunghill that
he may set him with princess. That's a good reason, isn't it? He is great. He is greatly to
be praised. His greatness is unsearchable.
His glory, honor, and majesty are wondrous. His acts are terrible. He is gracious, full of compassion,
and slow to anger. Does that make anybody here happy?
You ever get so upset with yourself because you know you just keep
tempting the Lord and tempting the Lord and you just want to
say to yourself, stop! What's wrong with you? Shut up! Does it not make you want to
say, oh, how thankful I am to hear? He's slow to anger. He's so slow to anger. He upholds
all who fall. This is as low as his child can
go, the palm of his hand. They may fall, but that's it.
He upholds all who fall. He raises up all who are bowed
down. He is righteous in all his ways
and holy in all his works. He is nigh unto all them that
call upon him. We have so many reasons to praise
the Lord. Now, we could have turned to
all of those places and looked at all of those reasons and we
could have kept turning and turning and turning, but I found one
scripture that I felt was very sufficient for us to turn to
for this message. I thought if we just get a hold
of this, we'll be praising the Lord forever. We're gonna end
on this note. Turn to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, praise ye the
Lord is English. That is the English language.
That's a translation from Hebrew, which is what the Old Testament
was originally written in. And in Hebrew, praise ye the
Lord is hallelujah. English is praise ye the Lord.
Hebrew is hallelujah. In Greek, which is what the New
Testament was written in, it is alleluia. So every time we
see Alleluia right here, it means, praise ye the Lord. Revelation
19 verse one says, and after these things, I heard a great
voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia. Do you ever envision that in
your mind? He said, I heard all of heaven, a great number that
no man can number, all in perfect union, crying, praise ye the
Lord. Why? Why was all of heaven crying
that? It's because verse one goes on
to say, salvation and glory And honor and power belong unto the
Lord our God. That's the reason why. Salvation,
glory, honor, power, it's all unto the Lord our God. Who is
the Lord our God? Jesus Christ is his name. Praise,
magnify, boast of, glory in, celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 2 says, four, because true
and righteous are his judgments. All of his judgments have been
made in truth and righteousness. He judged his people righteously. He judged them lawfully. He was
just in justifying his people. And he was just in condemning
the world. He was just in condemning all
the lies and unrighteousness of the false religion of this
world. Verse two says, for true and righteous are his judgments,
for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the
earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his
servants at her hand. He did away with all the lies
that caused his people to sin. Verse three, and again, they
said, Hallelujah. Praise you, the Lord. And her
smoke rose up forever and ever. Her smoke, that's the prayer
and the praise of his people. It rose up forever. We are never
going to stop crying. Praise you, the Lord. Never. Verse four, and the four and
20 elders and the four beasts fell down and worshiped God that
sat on the throne saying, amen, hallelujah. Everything was crying. Everything and everyone in redeemed
glory was crying, praise ye the Lord. Verse five, and a voice
came out of the throne saying, praise our God, all ye his servants
and ye that fear him, both small and great, And I heard, as it
were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, praise ye the
Lord, for, because, here it is, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Praise him for his sovereignty,
his salvation, his glory, his honor, his power, his judgment,
his sovereignty. Verse seven, let us be glad and
rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb
is come and his wife has made herself ready. Praise ye the
Lord for his love, his love for his bride. Praise ye the Lord
because he chose to love an unlovely bride like us. But he loved us, he gave himself
to us, he gave himself for us, he entered into a covenant concerning
us, a covenant of eternal union, a covenant of oneness, a covenant
of marriage, that's what it is, a covenant of love, eternal love.
Verse seven, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him
for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife hath made
herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said unto me,
right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, these are the true sayings
of God. And to that, do you know what we say? Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Praise Him
for everything. Praise Him. Praise Him. Tell
of His excellent greatness. That's all we're doing when we're
praising Him. When we shine the spotlight on Him, we're just
telling of His excellent greatness forever in joyful song. Amen. All praise be to Him. Amen.