Turn with me back to Psalm 100. Psalm 100, this is going to be
a companion message to the message that I brought two Wednesday
nights ago from Proverbs 3 titled, Trust
in the Lord. I don't know if you remember
that message, but we looked at all of our Lord's works being
chiefly for the purpose of His glory, everything that He does. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge
Him. He'll direct your path. All of His works being chiefly
for the purpose of His glory and our good and the furtherance
of the gospel, the furtherance of the message of the gospel. And in realizing that, it made
me thankful I don't know about you, but that makes me thankful.
So thankful. I want to bring what I would
call a Wednesday night message on Sunday morning. I just want to be thankful. I
want to declare and promote thankfulness. Thankfulness. We have so much
to be thankful for. Let's read this Psalm again,
and then we'll break it down verse by verse. Psalm 100, verse
one says, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with
singing. Know ye 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. The heading under the title there
of Psalm 100 says this is a psalm of praise and that's the first
thing that I want to point out that this is all unto the Lord. Everything we just read, all
of it is Praise unto the Lord. Verse one says, make a joyful
noise unto the Lord. Unto the Lord, not unto us, oh
Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, we give all the glory,
all the praise, all the thanksgiving, all of it. I've told you before
that a long time ago, I was invited to a All singing worship service. That's how it was pitched to
me. And there was no, nope, not going
to be any preaching. And I'll just tell you, it's
not worship if there's no preaching. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching. Is singing a part of our worship?
Sure it is. Prayer is vital in our worship,
all the components. But anyway, a big, big, large
group of people had the intention of gathering together for this
singing worship service. And for the record, I did not
go. The person who invited me said
this, it's just, it's going to be fresh, it's going to be new,
it's going to be good. She said, there's not going to
be anything like how great thou art. It's going to be songs like
here we come to worship thee. Now, do you hear a difference
in that? There's not going to be anything
like how great thou art. Amen, that could be the only
truth that was spoken in regard to that. Instead, it's going to be, here
we come. Not unto us, O Lord. You know, that's Psalm 115. Not unto us, O Lord. I quote
that all the time. And we take that for granted
and we say, yeah, that's right, not unto us. Oh, I wish men and
women could enter into that and understand that and know what
that means. This is not unto us, Lord. Well, I need to go to church
so I can feel better about myself. I need to go to church so I can
get rid of my guilty conscience. I need to go to church so I can
go to heaven. I need to go to church for all
of these me reasons. Well, it's not about me. It's
about him, not unto us. It's not unto us. It's unto you.
All the glory goes to you and the praise and the focus and
the worship. It's all you. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord. Those two words, joyful noise,
they mean the shout of victory. Make the shout of victory unto
the Lord. Those two words mean split the
ears, break the eardrum. That's what it means. With the
shout of triumph and applause. Don't you love that? We do that
in our heart, don't we? We don't bring attention to it
because it's not unto us. I'm not here to put on a show,
and you're not here to put on a show and draw attention to
yourself. But in the heart, oh, we do that. We love that. If
it's unto Him, my heart is applauding. I'm clapping at the top of my
hands. Turn over to Psalm 47. Psalm 47 verse 1. Oh, clap your
hands, all ye people. Shout unto God with the voice
of triumph. For the Lord Most High is terrible. He is a great king over all the
earth. He shall subdue the people under
us and the nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance
for us. Don't you love that verse? That
means he is the elector. He is the chooser. Before the foundation of this
world, he chose our inheritance for us. Verse four, the excellency
of Jacob, whom he loved. That's who he chose to save,
the sinner. God has gone up with a shout. I can't wait to hear
that shout, a shout of glory. God has gone up with a shout,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises,
sing praises unto our King. Sing praises for God is the King
of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen. That means this almighty king
who chooses and elects and does what he wants, he's sovereign. He reigns. Verse 8, God reigns
over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of
His holiness. The princes of the people are
gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham. For the
shields of the earth belong unto God. He is greatly exalted. That's what joyful noise means
in our text. That's the definition of it right
there. clap, shout, sing unto the Lord our God, for he is greatly
exalted. For everything that he is, everything
he's done, for sinners like you and me. Go back to Psalm 100. Verse one says, make a joyful
noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. My center margin says, all the
earth. All the earth. One day soon,
when time is no more, and the only heaven and earth that exists
is the new heaven and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. No more sin. Only righteousness. In that day, every square inch
of land will make a joyful noise unto that Lord. In that day, there will be one
nation under God, indivisible. with liberty and justice for
all. I'm a little bit excited. And we're going to shout, and
we're going to sing, and we're going to rejoice in Christ our
Savior. All the land will, all the land,
the whole land, the whole earth. Turn with me to Revelation 5. Revelation 5 verse 9 says, And
they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation. and hast made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth with him.
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about
the throne, and the beast, and the elders, and the number of
them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands,
saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing. How long is that going to continue?
When will that end? It doesn't say that it will. Doesn't that sound wonderful?
Look at Revelation 7 verse 9. Revelation 7 verse 9, after this
I beheld in lo a great multitude which no man could number. We
got some smart men on this earth. There have been some smart men
throughout the ages. There's no way they could number
the people there. After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude,
which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried
with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and
fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God saying,
amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be under our
God forever and ever, amen. And one of the elders answered
saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes
and whence came they? And I said unto him, sir, thou
knowest. And He said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night
in His temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more. Neither shall the sun light on
them nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains
of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
That's a reason to be thankful, isn't it? One day real soon, all nations,
all lands gathered together in Christ, every soul who is gathered
together in the Lord Jesus Christ will worship and praise and make
a joyful noise to Him and Him alone. Go back to Psalm 100. Verse 1 says, Make a joyful noise
unto the Lord, all ye lands, Serve the Lord with gladness. That means be a willing bond
slave. You know, it's amazing to me
that our Lord sent two major hurricanes to this country back
to back. For the rest of the world, for
Florida right now, Hurricane Helene is out of sight, out of
mind. It's almost like that one is forgotten about and overshadowed. But it's not forgotten about
here, is it? That's currently the second most
destructive hurricane to ever hit this country. And I hear the stories and I
see these selfless acts of service from men and women who have traveled
from near and far places. Have you read any of the accounts
of people who have traveled from far places? Coming here to men and women,
their families, their property, their animals, it has touched
my heart in a way I can't describe to you. Honestly, it is so, so
touching to me. People naturally and normally
are so selfish and they're so haughty and they're so proud
and they're so hateful and all our Lord had to do was just send
a moment of desperation and it made everybody giving. and kind
and humble and loving. Isn't that so? I've seen images, I've seen stories
of men and women in the thick of the flood, in the thick of
the mud, giving themselves, putting their lives on the line to help
and to rescue. Willingly serving. Serving with gladness. serving
with gladness and it has touched my heart and it's reminded me
of the greatest servant that ever walked this earth. Jesus Christ, the Son of God. You talk about a man who came
from a far place. to selflessly, graciously, kindly,
humbly, lovingly put his own life on the line to deliver men
and women. To rescue men and women from
the flood of their own sin, just being swept away by the flood
of their own sin and the flood of God's wrath on their own sin. But this man didn't just reach
his hand out. This man entered the flood for
them. This man suffered the flood in
their place for them. I was talking to a brother and
he said this flood was so horrible. And he said it ought to be a
reminder to us that the day of God's judgment is coming when
it's going to, as a thief in the night, boom, it's coming
when men and women are going to cry out for the rocks and
the hills to fall on them. The devastation is just so bad.
And that is so true. That is so true and our only
hope in that day, our only salvation in that day will be in the one
who served the Lord with gladness. The one who for the joy set before
him endured the cross of Calvary and finished the work of rescuing
his chosen people from the flood. Jesus Christ, the servant of
his father, the one who that saving work was laid on. The one who finished the work
and saved and so sadly. In the case of man, this can't
be said. But in the case of Christ, he
said none of them is lost. Can you imagine that? None of
them is lost. Father, I saved every single
one of them. I pulled every single one of
them out. They're all safe. That makes me thankful. That
makes me thankful. Verse one says, make a joyful
noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord,
he is God. What a good thing to know. Know
ye that the Lord, he is God. What makes him to be God? What
makes him to be our God? David gave three reasons right
here. He is our God, number one, because he's our creator. Number
two, he is our owner. And number three, he's our protector
and our provider. Verse three, know ye 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. That makes me thankful. Why are we His? It's because
He made us. Why are we His? It's because
He bought us. We all love that story that Walter Groover used to tell,
that little boy in Mexico who wanted a kite. I ought to not tell it, because
it's going to make my time go over, but I'm not paying attention
to time today. That little boy wanted a kite
so badly, and he told his dad, I want a kite. Would you buy
me a kite? And his father couldn't afford
to buy a kite, and he felt so bad for his son. So he said, I tell you what,
let's make a kite. And the little boy said, yeah,
we'll make a kite. So they got some straight lightweight
sticks and they got some twine and they made an A-frame out
of it. And got a very lightweight cloth
and wrapped it around that frame and sewed it to it. Got a ribbon
for a tail and put a string on it, threw it up in the air and
that little boy had a kite. And he was so happy. And he started
letting the string out and it went higher and higher and higher
until the string broke. And the kite blew over the trees
and it was gone. And the little boy was so devastated.
And the next day he was in the village walking down the main
street of the village and he looked over into this store and
sitting on the shelf was his kite. And he ran into the store and
up to the counter and told the man behind the counter, mister,
that's my kite. And the man said, no, son, that's
my kite. And he said, but I made that
kite with my father. And the man said, well, I found
this kite in the weeds and it's mine now. And if you want it,
it's going to cost you two pesos. So that little boy ran home and
he told his father, I found our kite. It's in the store in the
village. And the man said, if I want it,
it's going to cost me two pesos. So the father reached into his
pocket and he pulled out two pesos, gave them to his son.
His son ran back into the village, put his money on the counter,
two pesos. The man handed the little boy
the kite. Oh, and he hugged that kite. And he said, you're mine. You
are mine. He said, you're twice mine. I
made you and I bought you. And that's why we belong to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Because we're twice his. He made
us and He bought us. He bought us with a price. It's
not we that made ourselves, He made us. We were bought with
the price of His own precious blood. That's why we are His
people and the sheep of His pasture. And that makes me thankful, that
very thing, that He would do that, that He would make us and
then that He would buy us. That makes me thankful. Verse
four, I'll be quick here. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. That word thanksgiving means
confession. It means worship. It means adoration. It actually means, that word
actually means a choir of worshipers. Enter into his gates with a choir
of worshipers. Sounds good to me. Enter into
His gates in unity. Enter in harmony. Verse four
says, and into His courts with praise. That means glory. Enter into His courts with glorifying,
boasting of, lauding, magnifying. Verse four says, be thankful
unto Him and bless His name. That means kneel before Him. In all things, kneel before him. In everything, kneel before him. Job did when he said, the Lord
giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all things, he knelt before
God. The prophet Eli did when he said,
it is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. God said to Eli, I'm gonna kill
your two sons for their sin against me. It is the Lord, let him do
what seemeth him good. We bow to him, we bless him,
we honor him, we praise him when in everything we give thanks
to him. Verse four, 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. There is
none good but God. And any good that we see in this
world and in humanity, that is not coming from man. That's just
the reflection of God. That is God shining his goodness
in that place. And it's just reflecting back. Grace is of God. All grace is
the gift of God. His grace is our salvation. Verse
5 says, For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting. There is none merciful but God. Any mercy that we see in this
world and in humanity, that's not coming from man. That's the
reflection of God. Mercy is of God. All mercy is
His mercy. He provided it in Christ and
thank God he did. That makes me so thankful. And this psalm ends by saying
that Christ, who is the grace of God, the mercy of God, and
the truth of God. This glorious salvation that
is in Christ will endure forever. Verse five says, the Lord is
good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all
generations. And that makes me thankful. Oh,
give thanks unto the Lord. Amen.