All right, go with me back to
Psalm 149. Psalm 149. I ran across this verse of scripture,
one particular verse in here that just touched my heart. It just touched my heart. When
I read this, I thought, how precious is that? How precious. Verse 4. For the Lord taketh pleasure
in his people. He will beautify the meek with
salvation. Isn't that wonderful? That's
just The Lord taketh pleasure in his
people, he will beautify the meek with salvation. Knowing
that the Lord is angry with the wicked every day, having been taught that, having
been told that, we know that, we're convinced of that. And
we know what we are, don't we, by nature? Knowing that our Lord
cannot clear the guilty and knowing what we are by nature, which is guilty, wicked, guilty. Knowing that he hates all workers
of iniquity, that means sinners, and knowing what we are by nature. How precious is it to hear that
the Lord takes pleasure in his people. He takes pleasure in
his people. There are nine verses in this
chapter. Eight of them tell us what. They tell us something. One of them, verse four, tells
us why. It's all because the Lord taketh
pleasure in his people. He will beautify the meek with
salvation. The title of this message is
Joy in Him and Joy in Each Other. That's what we have. Joy in Him and joy in each other. This is not just David's psalm.
This is not just Israel's psalm. This is our psalm. This is my
story. This is my song. And if we belong
to Christ, this is what our heart cries. This is what the heart
of a child of God cries. Verse one says, Praise ye the
Lord. If you have a margin in your
Bible, you'll see that means hallelujah. I love that word. I hope we say that in glory.
I hope that's one of our words. Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord. We all know that that's a work
of the Lord, don't we? That's the work of God. If any
man has a heart that cries, praise the Lord. That is a work of God. This old flesh cries, praise
me. That's what we deal with all
our days. Praise me. All our days, we fight
that, don't we? Praise me. But when God steps
in, when God lays hold, when Christ, the new man, takes up
residency, He creates a new cry and he brings with him a new
song. Verse 1 says, Praise ye the Lord,
sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing a brand new song. How does
the new song go? It goes like this. Not unto us,
O Lord. Not unto us. Did you ever sing
that song before God stepped in and laid hold of you? Did
you ever sing that song, truly? Not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory for thy mercy and for thy true sake. Did you ever
sing that song? That's the old song. That's the
song of the old man. Go with me over to Revelation
5. Revelation 5 verse 1 says, I
saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book
written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy
to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man
in heaven Nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open
the book, neither to look at it. And I wept much." I started
crying and crying and crying. "'Because no man was found worthy
to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And
one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not. The Lion of the
tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book,
and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain. having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God
sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and
20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them
harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers
of saints. 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. 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. And
every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto
him, that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and
ever. And the four beasts said, Amen.
And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him
that liveth forever and ever. That's a great song. That is
a great song. Before the old man sang, I am
worthy. Isn't that religion? Isn't that
religion? I am worthy. Are you worthy?
Yes, I am. That's the old song. Now the
new song is thou art worthy for thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood. It's the only song that the redeemed
sing. And it is true. The Lord has
truly put a new song in our mouth. We have a brand new song. We
have a brand new speech. He's made all things brand new.
Back in our text in Psalm 149, verse 1 says, praise ye the Lord,
sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise, sing his praise
in the congregation of saints. Spurgeon said, a congregation
of saints is heaven on earth. And he's right. He is right. There is a time for everything.
There is a time for us to get in our closet and be alone with
our God. There truly is a time for that.
But the gathering of God's saints together for the sole purpose,
we're here for one reason only. You know, this is not a club.
This is not a club. We're here for one reason only.
We're here to sing the praises of the one that we owe everything
to. We're just here to praise His name. Christ Jesus, our Lord,
the one we belong to, that gathering, this gathering right here, this
gathering is heaven on earth. This is heaven on earth. I'm
so thankful the Lord would gather me. Aren't you? Aren't you so
glad the Lord would gather you into the congregation of His
saints? Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing. We just heard that John
saw. This is not His opinion, John
said, I saw. God said, write the things you've
seen. He said, I saw the throne and
around it stood 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. We sing a song in here that says,
oh, for a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemer's praise. Wouldn't you love to be in a
congregation of a thousand saints? I mean real saints, God's sheep
who are really from the heart praising God, singing the praises
of God at the top of their lungs. Wouldn't you love to be in that? We were in Rocky Mount for the
conference this year and Saturday morning we sang Marching
to Zion. We sang that song, Marching to
Zion. And I don't believe this can be recreated. It just wouldn't
be the same. Nobody knew it was coming and
it was just one of those moments. At the end of the song, the last
chorus, we're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. Marching
upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. On the last chorus,
Brother Paul was leading the singing and he told Sherry Anderson,
don't play the piano. So she stopped playing. And it
was only voices. And that place was packed. That
auditorium was packed with the conference. And as soon as the
piano stopped, and everybody realized the piano stopped, it
made everybody sing louder. And I felt like I was walking
up Mount Zion. I felt like I was walking through
the gates of heaven, singing the song of the redeemed. And
verse 4 tells us that the Lord took pleasure in it. And I did too. I did too. The beautiful congregation of
God, it's heaven on earth. It really is heaven on earth.
When God's Spirit descends into the midst of His people, if He
truly gathers two or three, and God is with us, wherever God
is, is heaven. Do you know that? Heaven doesn't
have anything to do with streets and mansions. Heaven is a person. And if He comes into His people,
it's heaven on earth. It is heaven on earth. Well,
back here in Psalm 149, verse 2 says, Let Israel rejoice in
Him that made Him. Let the children of Zion be joyful
in their King. Spurgeon said, this verse And I love this, he
said this verse issues a permit to our joy. We can do whatever
we want now, we have a permit. We got a permit. He said this
verse issues a permit to our joy. Don't hold one child of
God back from rejoicing in the one who made him. Let the children
of Zion be joyful in their kings. That song, Marching to Zion,
has one of the verses that says, Let those refuse to sing who
never knew our God. You know, people say, I don't
want to sing. Well, if God reveals himself to you, and if God reveals
you to yourself, and then if God reveals Christ to you, you'll
start singing. You will start singing. Let those
refuse to sing who never knew our God, but children of the
heavenly King may speak their joys abroad. You just let them
tell everybody. Let them tell everybody. Let
them sing every song. Let them shout every praise. I love that little chorus. Everybody
ought to know. Everybody ought to know. He's
the fairest of 10,000. Bright and morning star, lily
of the valley. Verse 3 says, let them praise
His name in the dance. Let them sing praises unto Him
with the timbrel and harp. I don't know where men and women
in religion got the idea that you can't have music in worship.
I mean, it's pretty clear, isn't it? It is pretty clear. They got the idea somewhere that
dancing is a sin. When the Lord delivered Israel
out of Egypt, right after he brought them through
the Red Sea, that Red Sea, the walls, I forget how high we saw
that the walls of the Red Sea were. They delivered them through
the Red Sea, and as soon as all of them were on the other side,
safe to land. You know how afraid they were? Afraid of their enemy,
afraid of the river they were going through. Afraid of everything. And as soon as they got to the
other side, and here comes the enemy, in the Red Sea, following
their path, they stop, they turn around, and all of a sudden he
goes, And it says Moses' sister Miriam when she saw that she
was so happy she grabbed timbrels and started dancing, crying,
saying unto the Lord for he has done glorious things. The horse
and his rider hath he cast into the sea. He's delivered us. They
all thought, we're going to die. We're going to die. And then
God parted the sea, and they went in, and here comes Egypt.
And they thought again, we're going to die. David, when he brought the Ark
of the Covenant back to Israel, he was so happy he couldn't help
it. The Ark of God has returned. He couldn't help it. He had to
dance. He was persecuted for that, wasn't he? He said, I don't
care. I don't care. God's people do not do things
to bring attention to themselves. Nothing. Nothing. Usually, you
don't even know they're doing it. All the dancing takes place
in the heart. It's all in the heart. But our
God says, when it's sincere, sincerely unto him, don't stifle
their joy. Not one bit. Verse 4 says, For
the Lord taketh pleasure in His people, He will beautify the
meek with salvation. He takes pleasure in His people. That is so amazing. That is so
amazing. He desires us. That is just so
amazing. All that the Father gave to Him,
right? We know that it's not the entire
world. He just said His people. His
people, His chosen, He desires to be with us. He said, I'm going
to live with you. I'm going to dwell with you for
all eternity. Our desire to be with each other,
we have a, we're here because we want to be here. Nobody was
forced to be here tonight. I want to be here." And our desire
to be with each other is just a reflection of his desire to
be with us. You know that? Our love for each
other is just a reflection of his love for us. And especially
now that we've been washed and purchased and cleansed, he said,
I'm going to dwell with you forever. But do you know that our God
commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. He's always had his affection
on us. Always. Always. He truly takes pleasure in his
people. He loves us. Now let me show
you something in Malachi 3. Go with me to Malachi chapter
3. This is fantastic. It's fantastic. Malachi chapter 3 verse 16 says, Then they that
feared the Lord, And you know and I know that
if a man fears the Lord, God gave him that fear, right? That's
not something that we naturally possess. That's the mercy of
God. It's all the gift of God that he would give a man the
fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom. Then they that feared
the Lord spake often one to another. They talked with each other.
And that's what we do. We speak often one to another. And we love it. We love it. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened. He paid attention
to it and heard it. He listened to those that fear
the Lord talking to each other. And a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought
upon his name. He was sitting there hearkening,
watching, listening to all them that fear the Lord talk often
with each other, thinking upon his name, talking about him.
Verse 17, And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that
day when I make up my jewels. I'm keeping some jewels. They're
going to be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I
make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his
own son that serveth him." That's just precious. I love that. I adore that. He takes pleasure
in his people. Look with me at Luke chapter
12. Luke chapter 12 verse 32 says,
Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. It's his good pleasure. The word
pleasure means to prefer. It means to choose rather. It's what he would rather do.
If it's give you the kingdom or don't give you the kingdom,
he'd rather give you the kingdom. That's what he would prefer.
It means happy to do it. It makes him happy. He takes
pleasure and it makes him happy to do it. Doing that for his
people makes him so happy. That's amazing. Ephesians chapter
one. You can turn or listen to this.
We know these these verses well. Ephesians 1, this is what verse
5 says. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his own will. Why would he do that? Why
would he adopt maggots? It's what he would rather do.
That's what he would prefer. Verse 9 in Ephesians 1 says,
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according
to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. That's
amazing. It's all according to his pleasure.
He takes pleasure in his people. Turn with me over to Philippians
chapter 2. If you're there in Ephesians, it's just a couple
more pages. Ephesians 2 verse 13, I mean,
I'm sorry, Philippians 2 verse 13 says, For it is God which
worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. He works in us, causing us to
want to do His pleasure. And it brings Him great pleasure
to work in us and put that will in us. all according to His pleasure. It brings Him great happiness.
Aren't we so glad? Psalm 149 again, back to our
text. Psalm 149 verse 4 says, For the
Lord taketh pleasure in His people. He will beautify the meek with
salvation. I couldn't help but think of
a man giving gifts, giving presents
to his wife. He's going to take her out, take
her out for the night. There she is putting her makeup
on. He brings in a brand new necklace, brand new earrings, adorning her with beautiful things. The Lord, this says, will beautify
He is meet people with salvation. He'll bring the gift and He'll
put on them His salvation. And His salvation is so beautiful. It is so, so beautiful. This
word calls it the beauty of holiness. Isn't that what it's called?
The beauty of holiness. The righteous robe that he adorns
his bride with is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Over in
Revelation 7, that's where it says. John said, I saw before
the throne. All of the things we read about
a moment ago, his people and the angels and. And his people
were all wearing white robes with palms in their hands. And
it goes on down. He said, What are these that
are arrayed in white robes? And the man said, These are they
that have washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb and
made them white as snow in the blood of the Lamb. That's beautiful. That is absolutely beautiful. When our Lord, whenever He appeared
on the Mount of Transfiguration, with Moses and Elijah. It says,
His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller
on earth can white them. Nothing on earth can compare
to the whiteness, the purity, the spotlessness that He had
on. And that's the same robe He puts
on His people. Same beautiful robe. Verse 5 says, let the saints
be joyful in glory. Let them joy in God's glory. Let them joy in His purpose,
His sovereignty, His mercy, His glory. Let the saints be joyful in glory.
Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Now this is a wonderful
thing, God's saints singing on their beds. In 1885, a man named
C.W. Townsend wrote this. He said,
let them praise God on their beds of rest. Their beds of rest
because of what God has done for them that day. What a wonderful thing to do.
When I read that, I thought, what a wonderful thing to do.
Let them praise God on their beds of rest because of everything
He has done for them during the day." I thought, you know a wonderful
prayer to pray just before we go to sleep is, thank you Lord. Three words. Peter prayed three
words. Lord save me. We have had that
revealed to us. God has saved us. Thank you Lord.
Thank you. This man, Mr. Townsend, said,
let them praise God on their beds of rest because sleep is
a gift from God. He gives his beloved sleep. He
said, let them praise God on their beds of rest because they
have a bed to lie upon. Thank you for everything you've
provided me. And he said, let them praise
God on their beds of rest because the Lord is their keeper. They
can lay down, they can sleep knowing the Lord is my keeper.
Then Mr. Townsend said, let them praise
God on their beds of sickness. Let them praise on their beds
of rest. Let them praise on their beds
of sickness because it is God's will they should suffer. He said,
let them praise on their beds of sickness because affliction
is often a proof of God's love. He said, let them praise God
on their beds of sickness because if sanctified, praise offered
on a bed of sickness is a great testimony and blessing. It's
a great blessing. And then he said, let them praise
God on their beds of death because the sting of death is removed.
He said, let them praise because their Lord has already passed
through it. Let them praise because Christ
is with them through it all and let them praise because of what
awaits them. Their glorious hope of resurrection. Verse six says, let the high
praises of God be in their mouth and a two edged sword in their
hand. What is God's two edged sword? It's his word. It's his word sharper than any
two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit. If we desire comfort and peace. If we would love to have comfort
and peace, we need to keep his sword in our hand. We need to keep His sword in
our hand. If we desire safety, spiritual safety, we need to
keep His sword in our hand. The Apostle Paul said this right
here is safe. It's very safe. If we want to
have any kind of defense against the lies and the attacks
of religion, we need to keep God's sword in our hand, His
two-edged sword in our hand. Verse 6, let the high praises
of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand
to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon
the people. That verse is not saying God's
people execute vengeance and punishment. That's the Word of
God. That's the job of God's Word.
He said vengeance is mine, I will repay. Verse 8 says to bind their
kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of irons. That's
what our Lord is going to do to our adversary, isn't it? All
that are with Him, they're reserved in chains and fire. Verse 9 says, To execute upon
them the judgment written. This honor have all the saints.
The judgment written right here, the two-edged sword. This is
the judgment written, holding that in their hand. This honor have all the saints.
Do we realize, knowing what God's going to do to the wicked, knowing
what he's going to do to the guilty, knowing what he's going
to do to all those who create iniquity, do we realize what
an honor it is that he has given us the two-edged sword? We get
to hold his word. We get to hold to his word. We get to bow the knee What a
present. What a present. We get to bow
the knee. We get to kiss the feet of the
Son. We get to escape the wrath to
come. The end of verse 9 says, Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord. We have so much
to rejoice in. So much to rejoice in. We have
a brand new song. We all have a brand spanking
new song. We have all been brought into his congregation, and we have the comfort of knowing
that the Lord takes pleasure in his people, and he will beautify
the meek with salvation. That's wonderful. Okay, let's
stand together.