Going back to this Psalm 135. I titled this Psalm, Praising the
Lord Jesus Christ in His Greatness. It is written in Psalm 33.1, Praise is comely for the upright. It is becoming, that's what it
means, it is becoming of those who have been washed in the blood
of the Lamb to always be praising Him for saving their souls. Think what it is that God has
saved you. He saved your soul. I often now
I think it just comes with growing older in Christ. I often think
of things above now far more than I ever did in my life. That
the Lord has saved my soul and I'll dwell with Him forever and
ever. That's something to praise Him
about. You know, praise is the pinnacle of worship. When our
hearts are engaged in giving unto God the glory and the honor
that's due unto His name. That's the pinnacle of praise
is when we attribute everything to Him. Everything we have, everything
we are. Paul said, I am what I am by
the grace of God. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Now in verse one, we are told to praise the Lord three
times and several times throughout this This Psalm, anytime something
is mentioned that many times, it's of great importance, utmost
importance. It's for us to praise Him. What we are doing now is of great
importance. Praising God in spirit and in
truth. It doesn't get any better than
this. It doesn't get any better than this. And you'll notice
here this is directed to the SERVANTS of the Lord. This is not directed to everyone.
Everyone ought to. Every person on this earth, every
thing that hath BREATH ought to praise the Lord. But this
is directed toward His SERVANTS because no one else CAN or WILL
praise Him. You have to KNOW Him to praise
Him. You know, praise is not just
saying a bunch of, well, praise the Lord. That's not praise.
PRAISE IS WHEN YOUR HEART STANDS IN AWE AND ADORATION OF THE LORD
GOD ALMIGHTY FOR WHO HE IS, NOT JUST FOR WHAT HE'S DONE FOR US,
BUT FOR WHO HE IS IN HIS PERSON. THERE'S NONE LIKE HIM. WE'LL
SEE THIS AS WE GO ALONG. AND THEN HE SPECIALLY SPEAKS
HERE TO THE SERVANTS OF THE LORD. HE SAID, YE THAT STAND IN THE
HOUSE OF THE LORD, IN THE COURTS OF OUR GOD, THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN
CHOSEN TO STAND IN GOD'S HOUSE, YOU KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN
TO BE HERE TONIGHT, AND OFFER PRAISE TO GOD. HOW MANY, THERE'S
A FEW MILLION PEOPLE THAT LIVE AROUND HERE, BUT LOOK AT THIS
SMALL CONGREGATION, GOD'S CHOSEN YOU TO SHOW FORTH HIS PRAISE. THAT'S WHY HE'S CHOSEN YOU, TO
SHOW FORTH HIS PRAISE. It says in Isaiah 43, 21, This
people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. God formed me for Himself. God
didn't make me for me, He made me for His praise and His glory. And you and I who believe will
spend eternity to the praise and glory of God's grace. We'll
be trophies. We are trophies of His grace.
That's something to praise God about. And notice how personal
this is. Our God, not a God, our God. THIS GOD WHO IS WORTHY OF ALL
PRAISE IS OUR GOD. HE'S NOT SOME IDOL ON A SHELF.
HE RULES HEAVEN AND EARTH. HE'S OUR GOD. AND THIS IS OUR
PRIVILEGE AND OUR DUTY TO PRAISE HIM. In Psalm 48.14, FOR THIS
GOD, if you go back and read Psalm 48, you'll understand what
that's saying, but it says this, For this God is our God forever
and ever. He's our God forever and ever.
And listen, here's the, listen to this. He will be our guide
unto death. He will guide us all the way
home. He's our guide. He's our shepherd. Our God is
our shepherd. And then we praise the Lord in
His character. You see, it said, praise ye the
Lord. Then it said, praise ye the name
of the Lord. And it says, for he is good there
in verse three, praise the Lord for the Lord is good. I wish I could, I wish I had
the ability to put in words, the goodness of God. It's the
character of God. If you want to describe the Lord,
He's holy, He's holy, and He's good, and He's great. But He
says here, He's good. You know, as this represents
our Lord, it says of Christ in the Gospels that He went about
doing good. He did nothing but good. Everything
He did was good. Everything He did was good. But
now praise starts with the character of our Lord. That's where it
starts. We praise Him in His attributes. He's good in the widest sense
of the word. You know, good does not even
exist apart from Him. It doesn't even exist. Like truth,
truth doesn't exist apart from Christ. He's the embodiment of
truth. He's the embodiment of good. Everything he does is good. And
this is why he makes everything work together for our good. The
Lord is good and he makes everything work together for our good. Everything. Says in Psalm 73, truly God is
good to Israel. He's Israel. He's good to us,
isn't He? The Lord's been good to us today. He's been good to
us. The fact that we are here, the fact we have a desire to
be here, the ability to be here is evidence that the Lord is
good. I'll tell you this, the Lord
is good. And we'll see this down here when he says that he killed
the firstborn of Egypt. He says that he smote great nations,
slew mighty kings. Was he good then? Was God good? Listen, God is good when he's
killing as well as when he's saving. The things we see going on in
the world, there's a lot of things we see we can't comprehend. We
can't comprehend them at all. We can't understand these things,
but I do know this, God is good. It's no reflection of the character
of God. It's the reflection of the sinfulness
of men, is what it is. The Lord is good. And it's pleasant, listen, it's pleasant,
that word means delightful and sweet. It's delightful and sweet
to sing praises unto His name. What we are doing tonight is
delightful and sweet to Him. To hear His children, His servants
standing in His house, SINGING PRAISES UNTO HIM, TAKING HIS
WORD AND PREACHING HIM, AND GIVING TO HIM THE GLORY THAT DOES HIS
NAME, THAT'S PLEASANT AND SWEET TO HIM, AND IT'S PLEASANT AND
SWEET TO US ALSO. THIS IS A PLEASANT THING. IT'S
PLEASANT TO DO THIS. It is pleasant to sing praises
unto His name, His character, to vocalize His attributes in
our songs, our messages, in our everyday talk, to vocalize the
attributes of our God. And we praise Him for His electing
love. There's a whole lot of people
out there who claim that they're saved and they hate the doctrine
of election. They claim to be Christians, they claim to believe
on Christ, and they despise the God of election. When you speak
to them about the electing grace of God, they hate it. And yet
they claim that God has saved them. No, He hasn't. No, He hasn't. You can't love Him and hate His
teachings. You can't do that. We praise Him for choosing us.
I thank God, I thank God all the time, I do. I thank Him all
the time for choosing me, not leaving me alone. I know people
that are close to me that He's left alone. And He's not left
me alone, He's given me an interest in Christ. Election to the believer is a
doctrine of praise and thanksgiving. In verse 4, Therefore the Lord
has chosen Jacob unto Himself. And Israel for his peculiar treasure. The Lord said to his disciples,
you didn't choose me. I chose you. I chose you. You know, it says here, the Lord
chose Jacob. The Lord has chosen Jacob unto
himself. The Lord chose Jacob as an individual
and Israel as a nation. And God has chosen everyone whom
he saves. He chose them individually. I
MEAN HE THOUGHT UPON ME INDIVIDUALLY. HE THOUGHT UPON YOU INDIVIDUALLY.
YOU WERE ON HIS MIND AND HIS HEART. And then he chose us as a church
to be a holy nation. That's what it says in 1 Peter
2. But ye are a chosen generation. A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION,
A PURCHASED PEOPLE, THAT YOU SHOULD SHOW FORTH THE PRAISES
OF HIM WHO HATH CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS
LIGHT. THIS IS WHAT WE ARE FOR, TO PRAISE
HIM. WE ARE TO THE PRAISE OF OUR LORD. What I know is this, I know THAT
HIS POWER, HIS POWER IS GREAT AND THERE'S NONE LIKE HIM. THE
LORD IS GREAT. HE'S GREAT. IT SAYS IN VERSE
5, LOOK HERE, FOR I KNOW, THAT WORD I IS EMPHATIC, I KNOW. THIS IS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. CAN YOU SAY THIS? CAN YOU SAY
THIS? I MEAN WITH CONVICTION, WITH
HEART, WITH PASSION. Can you say, I know that the
Lord is great. I know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is great. And that our Lord, our sovereign
is above all gods, little G. This is a personal experience.
It's not something you were taught in a Bible class. It's something
you've experienced. You've experienced the greatness
of Christ. I know. Who else said that? Did anybody come to mind that
said that? 2 Timothy 1.12 For the which cause Paul writes,
For the which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I
am not ashamed. I KNOW! I know from personal
experience. I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED!
I KNOW HIM! You know, you look at the first
John. When you go through, if you read
through the epistle of 1 John, it's, I know, I know, I know,
that you may know that you have eternal life. I said that, I
said that to Vicki, I think it was yesterday. I said, I want
to know that. I said, John said that. I said,
John wrote that you may know that you have eternal life. I
said, I want to know it. I want to know it. I want to
come up to the day when I have to, when it's time for me to
die, I want to, I want with full confidence to say, I know I have
eternal life. Through the Lord Jesus Christ,
He's given me His Word and I trust Him. I trust Him. Nevertheless,
I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed unto
him against that day." There is no virtue in doubt. There's
no virtue in doubt. It's to believe God. That's where
God is glorified. God is glorified when we believe
Him, not when we doubt Him. There's no glory in doubting.
There's no honor in doubting that is. then we praise Him in the greatness
of His sovereign reign. In verse 6, Whatsoever the LORD
pleased, that did He in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and
all deep places. Here s His sovereign reign and whatsoever He pleased. Now listen, you bought a house
not because it pleased You might have bought one that you wanted
to buy, but it's either you're going to live in a house or live
in a barn. It wasn't really pleasing. It was necessity. You grow a garden out of necessity. You go to the grocery store out
of necessity. You go to work and you buy clothes
because you have to have clothes. You've got to dress up out of
necessity. God has done nothing out of necessity. He said, if
I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. I own the cattle on a thousand
hills. He did not create the world out
of necessity. Everything God does, He does
out of pleasure. And you know what it pleased
God to do? Make you His people. It pleased God in all His infinite
glory to make me and you who believe, to make us His people. And the Lord said, it's your
father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's yours. It's yours. The kingdom's yours. Then we praise him in his acts
in creation. I am so thankful that the Lord
runs everything. Listen now, this is powerful,
and this is the way the Old Testament saints, prophets, they always,
always spoke of God as Creator of Heaven and Earth. When you
read through, you notice how they always attribute because
whoever created all this is God. He's God. He causes the vapors
to ascend from the ends of the earth. I never thought of this
before, but you know the clouds that come over, the rain that
we are going to probably have here in a day or two? Who knows?
They probably came from Europe. He sends it up from Africa. You
know these storms that come over from Africa? The vapor comes
up over there, and in time, the wind that comes out of the treasure
carries it across the world. Who knows? We may be getting
rain out of the Thames. Really. Our minds are so stinking
little, it's just pathetic. Our thoughts of God are too human.
That's the problem. That's the problem. I read today, I started to bring
it out here, I kind of wish I had, but somebody calculated how much
vapor goes up a day and how much it goes up in a year. And how
much it goes up in 2,000 years, it would have drained the oceans
dry. I mean, there wouldn't be, but yet they all stay the same,
don't they? Did you see vapor going up today?
He's speaking here of the invisible work of God going on continuously
that we are not even aware of. Vapors going up constantly every
day, right up to heaven. And then it comes back down in
rain and goes back up in vapor. And we don't see that. We don't
even think about it. God does. He's taking care of
us. He causes the vapors to ascend
from the ends of the earth, and they come over, they go over
the earth, and he maketh lightnings for the rain." Lightning? Who
invented electricity? God. Who's attributed to it? Isaac Watts? Is that one of those
attributed to it? Who is it? Who? Ben Franklin? Well, he didn't. God did. Electricity, lightning. I mean,
what power. And he sends it forth. Then when
you see it lightning and you hear thunder, what do you know
is coming? Rain. God's telling you it's
coming. God's telling you it's about
to rain. Somehow he makes that work together. Somehow God makes
that work together. And then He bringeth the wind
out of His treasuries. He speaks of the wind like gold
taken out of the treasures. The scripture says He hath His
way in the whirlwind and in the storm. We have no idea of the
treasuries of the wind. We have no idea. God said to
Job, Have you entered the treasuries of the snow? Do you know what
the snow does to the earth, Job? I do. God said, I do. Oh, He brings the wind. Here's
what I'm saying. Let me read it how I wrote it.
It says here, He causeth, He maketh, He bringeth. In other
words, all things are of God. In weather, as well as in providence,
in everything, all things are of God. The power of God is happening
all around us And we don't even pay attention to it, even though
we can't see it. God is at work. We have no control
over any of these things, but he has everything at his disposal
and he's making them work together. Listen, it's not the laws of
nature at work. A law is useless until someone
enforces it, right? What's a law unless somebody
enforces it? God is the one at work. God is
the law. God is the power. God is the
one who's making it rain. It's God's rain. When you see
it raining and you hear the wind blowing, that's God at work.
That's our God. It's not just nature happening.
That's God at work. It's God taking care of His creation.
It's God taking care of His people. Creation is not a wind-up toy.
God's at work. And then we praise Him in His
judgments. He says in verses 8 through 11,
look here, WHO SMOTE, HE KILLED. He said, I kill and I make alive,
is that right? That's that God's not being preached
today, except in a few places. He IS being preached in a few
places. But they got this God who just wants you to be happy.
He wants you to be wealthy. He wants you to be healthy. They
stay away from this one. Because you can't build a crowd
with this one. He smoked the firstborn of Eve.
He killed every one of the firstborn of both man and beast. HE SENT
TOKENS AND WONDERS IN THE MIDST OF THEE, O EGYPT, UPON PHARAOH
AND UPON ALL HIS SERVANTS, HE SENT TOKENS THAT THEY STOOD AND
THEY WONDERED AT, AND THEIR GODS, LITTLE G's, COULDN'T DO ANYTHING
ABOUT IT. GOD MADE IT EVIDENT THAT THERE'S ONE GOD AND THERE'S
NOBODY ELSE CAN STAND BEFORE HIM. NOBODY CAN STAND BEFORE
GOD. PHARAOH COULDN'T DO IT. HIS LITTLE
MAGICIANS COULDN'T DO IT. And we have it on record. God
put this on record for our learning. This is our God. Who smoked great nations and
He slew mighty kings. God will kill a nation for His
elect. If He killed His Son, if He put
His Son to death on Calvary's tree, you think He won't do a
nation to bring that child out of there? But now here's the
point I want to make. Who smoked great nations and
slew mighty kings, Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og, he was
a giant. He was a king, but he was a giant.
These were the two kings that Israel met when they first went
into Canaan. They were the most powerful of all of them, and
they whipped them. God whipped them. They were no
challenge at all. No challenge. God whipped them. Our King of Bashan and all the
kingdoms of Canaan they whipped them all God whipped them all
He used he used a Joshua and and the you know Israel, but
God did it the victories of God victories always of God He's
the judge of the earth now listen I was trying to find the scriptures
and I couldn't do it. I couldn't get it to come to
my mind. But there's a scripture that says, that the Lord says,
that I didn't drive them out just so you can have the land,
but they deserved it. I'm paraphrasing. They deserved
it. They got judged for their sins. There's a purpose in everything
God does. And He didn't just drive them
out HE PUNISHED THEM! HE JUDGED THEM! THEY WERE IDOL
WORSHIPERS! THEY WORSHIPED EVERYTHING UNDER
THE SUN EXCEPT GOD! THEY WORSHIPED EVERYTHING! THEY
LIVED LIKE HEATHENS! THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE, HEATHENS! AND GOD JUDGED THEM! BUT YOU
KNOW WHAT HE DID? LET ME SEE HERE IN VERSE 12 GOD'S
JUDGEMENT ON THEM WAS GOD'S FAVOR TOWARDS ISRAEL. AND HE SAYS,
AND HE GAVE THEIR LAND FOR INHERITANCE AND INHERITANCE UNTO ISRAEL HIS
PEOPLE. YOU KNOW WHY HE DID THAT? HE
PROMISED ABRAHAM YEARS BEFORE THIS HAPPENED THAT LAND. GOD PROMISED ABRAHAM, ISAAC,
AND JACOB THAT LAND YEARS AND YEARS BEFORE THEY EVER WENT INTO
THAT PROMISED LAND. God Almighty let these heathens
go in there and they didn't realize they were just tenants, that's
all they were. They went in there and they plowed and all this
fruit and I mean it was just rich, fruitful, but it was fruitful
for God's people. He made it fruitful for His people
and He used them to do it. He used them to do it. And then
when they had filled up their iniquity, God judged them, and
He brought Israel into that promised land that He promised them. You
see how everything works together for good to His people? Everything. You look at this world right
now and you think, man, it's just unbelievable. But it's working
together for the good of His people. It has to be, because
He said so. He said so. You know the scripture says all
things are yours in Christ. All things are yours in Christ.
Whatever belongs to Christ. Whatever belongs to Him belongs
to me. Now what belongs to Him? Everything. Everything. My Father owns it
all. I could tell anybody walking down the street, they'd say,
Who's your father? Or what does your father own? I'd say my father owns everything.
Would I be lying? I wouldn't be lying, would I?
My Father owns it all. Owns everything. And it's mine. I've inherited it through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever He has inherited, I've
inherited. Whatever it is. And then we praise Him in the
greatness of His unchanging character. Jesus Christ today, Jesus Christ
the same, yesterday, today and forever. It says in verse 13,
the name of the Lord endureth forever in thy memorial. Isn't that what we're doing right
now? Lord willing, next Thursday we're
going to have the Lord's table. This do in remembrance of me. Thy name, O LORD, endureth forever,
and thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations. The LORD's name
will outlive all ages. I don't care how violent men
become, how violent the LORD allows Satan to become against
the church, it will outlive the ages. It will outlive it. It will endure while all other
names fail. His name will endure all the
assaults of men, HIS NAME WILL ENDURE ALL THE ASSAULTS OF DEVILS,
AND I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS, HIS NAME WILL ENDURE ALL BAD PREACHING."
I mean, there's just been some bad preaching over the years.
Someone said, I don't remember who it was said this, but they
said, one of the marvels is that the gospel has endured such bad
preaching. His name will endure. He lives
to ensure it. He lives to ensure it. Who do
you know that will live to ensure that their name will live on?
Nobody. Just the Lord. He lives to ensure
that His name will endure forever. Then we praise Him in His love
towards His people. For the Lord will judge His people,
and He will repent Himself concerning His service. Now when you read,
For the Lord will judge His people, do you read love into that? Whom the Lord loveth, He is what?
Chastened. That's what it says. He's saying here that the Lord
will discipline His people. He'll discipline His people. And He'll repent Himself concerning
His servants, whom the Lord loves, He chastens. And the Lord uses
many things to discipline His people. You know, everything's
at His disposal. And when that discipline has
accomplished its purpose, He will end the discipline. and
says he will repent himself concerning his servants. He will turn and
comfort the afflicted. He'll comfort the one he has
afflicted. He's no cruel father. He's no
cruel father. My uncle was telling me, I didn't
know this, but he was telling me at mom's funeral, he said
when grandpa gave him a whipping, he said he would never let him
leave. He had to sit down there with him until it all cooled
down. I thought, that's pretty smart. He wouldn't let him leave. He wouldn't let him go off. The Lord will comfort his afflicted.
He won't let you go off mad. He'll keep you. You know, the
thing about our Lord, when He afflicts us, He controls the
affliction. He controls the outcome. We don't control when we discipline
our children. We can't really control the outcome
at all. But He does. He does. But the heathens here, listen,
the heathens do not have such a Lord, such a Father, such a
God. The idols of the heathen, that's what they are, they're
just dumb idols, are silver and gold. What do men give their
lives for in this country? It's silver and gold. I'm telling
you, people sell their souls for money. They sell it for silver
and gold. And it's the work of men's hands.
These heathens here would give silver and gold to make them
an idol. Make them a BUDDHA! A BUDDHA doll sitting up there
going to bless the place. It's just STUPID IDOLS! They have mouths but they speak
not. Eyes have they but they see not.
They have ears but they hear not. Neither is there any breath
in their mouths. They that make them are likened
to them. You know what that is? DEAD! They're dead. Now listen, here's something
important. So as everyone that trusteth in them, they are dead
also. These false preachers, these
false preachers who stand in the pulpit and claim to preach
the gospel and they preach another gospel. You know, they preach
another gospel. Many of them do. God has these preachers out there,
but Satan has many more of them out there preaching lies, usually
in the Bible. that lie on God. That congregation
that sits under their ministry is as dead, spiritually as dead
as they are. Christ told those Pharisees,
you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when you've
made one proselyte, you have made that one proselyte two-fold
the child of hell. Two-fold. You've given him a
false hope, a false refuge. false faith you give somebody
a false hope a false refuge they you can't even talk to you can't even talk to however you you that know the
lord bless his holy name bless the lord oh house of israel That's
all of God's people. All God's servants are included
here. This is not just, you know, back in the Old Testament, there
was a group that was just for singers. They were singers. They
were to sing His praises. That's what their job was. This
is for the whole house of Israel. We are to sing His praises. We
are to bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, O house of Aaron.
Bless the Lord, O house of Levi, those who were chosen to help
the priest. And you that fear the Lord, whoever
you are, throughout this world, bless the Lord. Bless Him for
who He is and bless Him for saving your soul. Blessed be the Lord
out of Zion, out of this church and every local church that preaches
the gospel and out of His church as a whole. Blessed be the Lord out of Zion,
which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord. Oh, that
God would help us do this, really, to really praise Him and thank
Him from all that's within us. Praise His holy name for saving
our soul. All right.