Turn with me if you would back
to Psalm 150. Psalm 150. Let's read these six
verses again. Praise ye the Lord, Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in the firmament of
His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts. Praise Him according to His excellent
greatness. Praise Him with the sound of
the trumpet. Praise Him with the psaltery
and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and
dance. Praise Him with stringed instruments
and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals. Praise Him upon the high-sounding
cymbals. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. That just says it all, doesn't
it? That says it all. Our brother,
a moment ago in my study, read a portion of scripture which
talked about the apostles continually in the temple, praising and blessing
the Lord. And that's what God's people
do. They praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him. That's what we're here to do.
Praise Him. We are here for Him. We're here for Him, aren't we?
We are here for Him. I pray that as time goes on,
the longer that He would have us to be here on this earth,
I pray He will more so and more so teach us that. I pray He will
ingrain that into us. We are here for Him. Praise Him. Praise Him. Hope of earth, joy of heaven. He is the joy of heaven. Right
now, He is the joy of heaven. All of heaven is praising Him. Praise Him, praise Him. Tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him. It's all about Him. Our privilege in life is knowing
that it's all about Him. I'm going to repeat that. Our
privilege in life, we're a privileged people. And our privilege in
life is knowing that it's all about Him. That's our privilege. Our portion, the scripture mentions
our portion. Our portion is praising Him. What do we get? What do we get
as His people? We get to praise Him. Truly praise
Him. It's our great joy just to say
His name. Just to say His name. Just to
think on Him. That's our privilege. That's
our portion. That's our joy. Just to hear
His name. That's our joy. He is our peace
and He's our happiness and He's our rest. And what all that means
is He's our praise. He is our praise. Praise the
Lord Jesus Christ. We're here for Him. He came here. He came here for us. Not for Himself. Why did Christ
come? Not for himself. He came here
for us. Everything that he did here was
for us, and because of that, we're here for him. Praise him.
Praise him. That's what a loving union is. When two people are in a union,
their hearts are for each other. When two people are in a loving
union with one another, Their hearts are for each other. There's a union between a husband
and a wife. There's a union between a parent
and a child. There's a union between a sibling
and a sibling. There's a union between a friend
and a friend. And each one of those unions
describes the union that the Lord's people have with Christ.
Every single one of those describe the union that we have with him,
husband and wife. I heard from a man this week
who told me that he lost his wife. He'd recently lost his
wife. And I said, I can't imagine. I'm so sorry. I can't imagine
losing that union. We all will have to go through
that. It's not that some have and some
haven't, some will and some won't. We all are going to have to go
through that. Unless we're the one that's taken. This husband and wife union,
well that's a picture of Christ and His bride. A parent to a
child. A parent to a child union. Christ said, if you've seen me,
you've seen the Father. The holy, kind, compassionate,
tender, full of pity, heavenly Father of His children. Doesn't
it bring you so much peace and so much joy knowing that that's
what kind of Father He is? We have some terrible fathers
on this earth. None of us are the Father we
wish we were. But the High and Holy Heavenly Father, He's kind,
He's tender, full of compassion, full of pity, nothing but pity
towards His people. I've mentioned to you before,
but mentioned this in previous comments, but when you pray,
I know that your mind does flip-flop between the Father and the Son.
And do you know why that is? It's because you cannot separate
the two. You cannot separate them. They
are two, but only in the person of one. Only in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, our union is husband
and wife, it's father and child, It's sibling in sibling. Romans 8 says, we are joint heirs
with Christ. We're joint heirs with Christ.
Brethren with Christ. It says, God, the father made
him to be the firstborn among many brethren. He's our elder
brother. He's our older brother. You know,
an elder brother. will stick up for you. I am one
and I have before. An elder brother will stick up
for you. An elder brother will watch over you and will take
care of you. But not only is Christ our elder
brother, Proverbs 18, 24 says, He is a friend that sticks closer
than a brother. He's a true friend. He's a true
friend. No friend like this friend. In
John 15, he said, you are my friends. I always heard of the
scripture where he said, Abraham is my friend. And when I heard
that, I thought, well, I can understand Abraham. Not me so
much, but I can see Abraham. But then I saw in John 15 where
he said, you are my friends. All of my people. He said, I'm
laying down my life for my friends. So he died for his chosen people
are his friends. So we can see that in every possible
way that any union could be formed in every one of them. Our Lord
has created that union between Himself and His people. As we go through this life, I
pray that He will reveal that more so to us, and I pray He
will reveal that to our children. I want us to truly enter into
the fact that We are united to Him. We're united with Him. And I want our children to enter
into the fact that we are united to Him. We're united to Him. He is our life. He is our all. In the same way that my life,
when you think of earthly speaking, my life that I live here on this
earth is unto them. Hannah and the girls, my life
is unto them. My possessions are unto them. My love is unto them. I have a particular love. I have
a particular union. My focus, my all, humanly speaking,
is unto them. In that same way, because His
life was unto us, And His all was unto us. Our
life is unto Him. Our love is unto Him. Our praise
is unto Him. It's for Him. Now, we can't do
anything for Him. That's important for us to realize.
We can't do anything for Him. He doesn't need anything from
us. Nothing. He's in need of nothing. Our union is beyond any shadow
of a doubt a one-way union. It's a one-way union. He did
all the marrying. He did all the fathering. He did all the joint airing. He did all the befriending. He
did all the loving. He did all the giving. He did
all the living. He did all the dying. He did all the paying. He did
all the redeeming. He started the union. He upholds
the union. He has secured the union. But because of Him, we're in
a union. We're in a union with Him. And in that union, as His
all is for us, thank God, by grace, for His sake, our all
is for Him. It's all unto Him. Praise ye
the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. That second
word there in verse one, if you want to, you can take the Y out
and put the letter W there. Praise we, the Lord, us. Put the letter M there. Me, I
want me to praise the Lord. I want us to praise the Lord.
I want you to praise the Lord, but I want me to praise the Lord. I want to praise Him. Look with
me at Psalm 103. Psalm 103 verse 1 says, Bless
the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless
His holy name. Oh my soul, all that is within
me, bless His holy name. Look at verse 20. It says, Bless
the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word. Bless
ye the Lord, all ye His hosts, ye ministers of His that do His
pleasure. Bless the Lord all His works
in all places of His dominion." And along with everything else,
David said, May my soul not forget to join Him. Bless the Lord,
O my soul. O may my soul and my all, my
praise, my praise, may it be unto Him. May God make all of
it to be unto Him. His all was unto us. May our all be unto Him. Look with me back at Psalm 150. Verse 1 says, Praise ye the Lord. I love what the word praise means.
It means shine the light on. You holding the light? Shine
it on the Lord. Shine the light on the Lord. It means boast of. Boast of the Lord. That's what
we do. That's what our worship is. That's what our preaching
is. We boast of the Lord. We're boasting of Him, shining
the light on Him. The word praise means celebrate. Don't you love to celebrate?
I love celebrating. That's what praise means. Celebrate
the Lord. Heaven is a celebration. It means give glory to. Give
glory to the Lord. Give glory to Jehovah. The God
of all heaven and earth. The true and living God. The true and living God. My God. The God of me. The God
who is God. Not the God who needs me to animate
Him. Not the God who needs me to make
decisions for Him. The true and living God. Praise ye the Lord. Verse one goes on to say, praise
God in his sanctuary. We call our building where we
meet and especially this particular room where we hold our worship
service here. We call this the sanctuary, the
place that's set apart for worship, holy worship. Every assembly
of God's saints, wherever He's raised up a ministry and provided
a place for God's saints to meet, they all have one. They all have
a sanctuary. This is the one that God has
provided for us and we're very thankful for it. But I love how
this does not say, praise God in your sanctuary. It doesn't say, praise ye the
Lord, praise God in your sanctuary. It doesn't say, praise God in
the sanctuary. It says, praise God in His sanctuary. Praise God in His sanctuary. This is His sanctuary. This room,
This building here at 905 Yatkin, this is His sanctuary? No. It's
not this room. It's His people. That's where He is worshipped.
That's where He is praised. In the heart of His people who
have been set apart unto Him. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God
in His sanctuary. This is wonderful. Scroll with
me through a few scriptures here. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16. It says, Know ye not that you
are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you? What a thought. The hope of glory, Christ in
you. Christ in you, that's the hope
of glory. That when God looks on us, He sees Christ in us. Know ye not that you are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Look
at 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19. It says what? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have
of God, and you are not your own, for you are bought with
a price? Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's." Everything that we
are in body and spirit belongs to God. It all belongs to him. You know why it all belongs to
him? He bought it. That blesses my heart. He bought
it. Can't you see Gomer there on
the auction block just hoping somebody will buy her? He bought it. Where did he buy it? on the cross
of Calvary. What did it cost Him? His own blood. His own blood. Look with me at 2 Corinthians
6. 2nd Corinthians 6 verse 16, it
says, in what agreement hath the temple of God with idols,
for you are the temple of the living God, as God hath said,
I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God
and they shall be my people. We live and move in him. And He has said that He dwells
and walks in us. Us in Him, Him in us. Our life
in Him, His life in us. Ephesians 2 verse 19. Go to one
more with me. Ephesians 2 verse 19. It says, Now therefore you are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are
builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." He
said, you were built up for the purpose of being a habitation
of God through the Spirit. Don't turn, but 1 Peter 2 verse
5 says, You also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, the household
of God. That's our union with Him. Him
in us, us in Him. Go with me back to Psalm 150. Verse 1 says, Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in the firmament of
His power. The firmament is the heavens.
Praise Him in the earth. Praise Him in heaven. Praise
Him here. Praise Him there. Praise Him
now. Praise Him forevermore. What are we praising Him for?
Why are we praising Him really? What exactly are we praising
Him for? Verse 2, praise Him for His mighty acts. All of His mighty acts. Look
with me at Psalm 106. Psalm 106 verse 2 says, Who can utter the mighty acts
of the Lord? Who can show forth all His praise? How could we possibly utter,
that means speak of, All the mighty acts of the Lord. Paul
was called up to the third heaven and he said, I heard things that
are not possible for a man's mouth to utter. But once all of God's people
are called up to the third heaven, we're going to hear things and
we're going to speak of things. The mighty acts of the Lord.
Can you imagine? when all the mighty acts of the
Lord are revealed. Down here, it's impossible to speak of His
mighty acts. It's impossible. Never could
we exhaust the list. Eternity, all through eternity,
we'll never exhaust the list there. Let's just name one of
them. One great mighty act. Look right
here at Psalm 106 verse 8. He's talking about man's sin
and all of the rebellion and how he provoked God and all those
things. Psalm 106 verse 8 says, Nevertheless,
He saved them for His name's sake, that He might make His
mighty power to be known. Oh, His mighty act in saving
us. What a mighty act that was. What the law could not do. What bulls and goats could not
do. What priest after priest after
priest. Ordinance after ordinance after
ordinance. What it could not do in one sacrifice. That's glorious, that's mighty.
By one sacrifice. He purged all the sin of all
of His people, actually, literally. And in that one sacrifice, He
perfected them forever. They were imperfect, so imperfect
you can just say ruined. But in one mighty act, He purged
all their sins, He perfected them forever, He obtained eternal
redemption for them. And then He sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. What a mighty act. That was a
mighty... What men see to be His greatest
weakness. Poor pitiful Him. Oh, what a mighty act. An act that nothing and no one
else could do. No one else could have done it.
In Isaiah 49 verse 26, He said, I the Lord am thy Savior and
thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. That's who I am. The
Mighty One for Jacob. The Mighty One for sinners. That's
who He is. So what are we here to do? We're
here to praise Him. What are we here to praise Him
for? His mighty axe toward Jacob. Sinners like us. Back in Psalm
150, verse 1 says, Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary.
Praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His
mighty axe. Praise Him according to His excellent
greatness. That means His abundant magnificence. We're here to praise Him because
of His mighty acts and His abundant magnificence. Now, what do we
praise Him with? Praise Him. What do we praise
Him with? Whatever we can find. Whatever
we can get our hands on. Whatever our hand finds to do. Verse 3 says, Praise Him with
the sound of the trumpet. That means the horn. Praise him with the horn. I hope
everybody here has the opportunity at some point to hear Brother
Rich Bird play that trumpet. Or Brother Dan Culver play that
saxophone. Or I hope somebody else here
learns to play a horn. It's beautiful. When a believer
does it and you know his heart is for the glory of Christ and
he's not doing it to be seen of men, it's beautiful. It's
worshipful. I'm all for it. Blow your horn. Verse three says, praise him
with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with the psaltery.
That is an instrument just like a guitar. Praise Him, verse 3 goes on to
say, with the harp. That's an instrument where the
notes are set by strings and you just strike a string at a,
you know, whichever one you want to play. That's what a piano
is. All those notes are set and you strike one string at a time.
Praise the Lord on that. We've had brethren sit at, we
have people here who play, but we've had brethren come and sing
specials and praise the Lord. Verse 4 says, Praise Him with
the timbrel. That means the tambourine. Most
people, I've only seen people glorify themselves with tambourines.
I see people go into buildings with their tambourine ready to
praise themselves. But if God gives a person a heart
to praise Him alone, then praise Him with your tambourine. And
dance. That means pipe. Our Lord gave
the parable, we piped, but you didn't dance. Rejoice, be happy. David danced. Verse four says,
praise Him with the timbrel and dance. Praise Him with stringed
instruments, plural, multiple instruments, an orchestra. Can't
wait to hear the orchestra. Revelation 14, 2 says, I heard
the voice of harpers harping with their harps. A whole orchestra. Goes on to say, praise Him with
organs. That means flutes, pipes. Verse
5 says, praise Him upon the loud cymbals. Praise Him upon the
high sounding cymbals. Verse 6 says, let everything
that hath breath. That means an utterance of any
kind. any type of utterance. Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. May that include you and me.
Really. May that include us. May that
include our children. We have breath. God has given
us breath. May He give us the ability to
use it to praise Him. As long as we have breath, seriously,
I pray we're all right here in the sanctuary He's provided for
us, praising Him. Beg God to never let you stop
praising Him. Beg God to never let you walk
away from praising Him. As long as we have breath, until
our dying breath, Honestly, until our last breath, may God give
us the privilege of praising the Lord Jesus Christ, honoring
and celebrating and boasting of and shining the light on. The Lord Jesus Christ for the
great things, the mighty acts and the great things that He's
done for us. Just like David. David, it says,
these be the last words of David. He said, although it be not so
with my house, the Lord's made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, this is all my hope, all my desire.
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. We quote this
scripture so much, but I want to end the message with it. Look
at Psalm 115. Psalm 115 verse 1 says, Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give glory, for
Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? Our God is in the heavens, He
hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Their idols are silver
and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but
they smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk
not. Neither speak they through their
throat. They that make them are like unto them, so is every one
that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the LORD,
he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the
LORD, he is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the LORD,
trust in the LORD. He is their help and their shield.
The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will
bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great.
The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children.
You are blessed of the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth
hath He given to the children of men. The dead praise not the
Lord, neither any that go down into silence, but we will bless
the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord. Amen. The Lord make it so. Let's all stand together. Hmm.