Turn to Psalm 33. The title of this message is a call to rejoice,
to worship, and to praise the Lord. I thought about titling it, Exuberant
Worship. So often through the Psalms,
we are told to worship, we are told to praise the Lord, we are
told to sing. The Apostle Paul in his epistles
often says to rejoice in the Lord. As I was sitting there
and I was listening to you sing, and as I was listening, I was
thinking, you have come in here from a world that's so wearisome,
isn't it? So wearisome, it's so tiring
to deal with such a sinful world and to have to be involved in
it and work in it. And when we come here and we
open the Scriptures, we are told to rejoice. We, of all people,
On this earth, we are the ones who are to have an exuberance
about them. Our God is God. And our God has
saved us. And our God is watching over
us. We'll see this here as we go along. He's watching over.
His eye, He says His eye is upon the righteous. And He delivers
us from death. He delivers, he says, our soul
from death. He looks after us, watches over
us, takes care of us, puts a hedge about us, and He's the one who
puts a song in our heart. We have something to sing about.
A call to rejoice. A reason to worship. And to praise
God. He's not left us alone. Called
us by His grace. Revealed His Son in us. You know how many people have
perished? That God has passed by. I'll
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy and whom I will out harden. That's what He said. It's His
royal prerogative. And yet here we are and we have
an interest. We have an interest in the Gospel. We have an interest
in Jesus Christ. That's of God. We ought to be
so happy to be here. I know that. And I know this
sinful flesh. I know what it is. And I know
what it is out there. But we ought to be so happy to
be here. That the Lord has given us a little oasis in this desert
land. Let's look at this psalm. When God created the heavens
and the earth, He created them on purpose and with a purpose. The fall of Adam did not mess
up God's purpose. He never lost control. of His
creation. God has never lost control. The earth is the Lord's, the
fullness thereof, and they who dwell therein. It's all still
His. And all things are going just as God purposed in Christ
before the world began. Everything right now, from one
end of this globe to the other, is going as God has purposed
it to go, to bring about His eternal purpose, which He purposed
in Christ before He created the world. And I know we cannot comprehend
the eternal counsel of God, but we can believe what He has revealed
to us in His Word. We can believe Him. We can take
Him at His Word. Especially the things He's revealed
about Himself. and how He can be a just God
and a Savior. And you and I are so privileged
and so blessed to believe the Gospel. Faith and repentance,
it tells us in the Scriptures, is the gift of God. It's the
gift of God. Now in verses 1-3, we have the
call to rejoice and praise in song our Lord. I think 13 times the name Lord
is mentioned in this psalm. The self-existing one, Jehovah. Jehovah. And we know who that
is. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a call to the righteous
to give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name, to express
their worship and praise in song, as we have done so this evening
already. And only the righteous will do
this. The unrighteous will not do it, and they cannot do it.
They don't have a heart to do it. But the righteous, That's
everyone who believes the gospel here. You are the righteous. You are the upright in heart.
You are. And you and I are called upon
to sing praises to Him and to rejoice. To rejoice in all that
He is and in all that He has done for us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I do not have to meet God in
wrath. You know, we looked here a week
or two ago, of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the
agony, the agony that He was going through in the Garden,
being made sin and getting ready to deal with the wrath of God
over that. I don't have to deal with that,
and you don't have to deal with it. And, whoa, we should rejoice
in that. Especially when we remember that
we were enemies in our minds by wicked works. We were born
enemies of God. Born enemies. Someone said to
Henry one time, they'd love God all their life. He said, well,
that's just too long. That's just too long. That's not possible. Because we were all born in sin
and shaped in iniquity. We did not love God until the
love of God was shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Not until that happened did we love God. He first loved us. We did not first love Him. His love to us and His love shed
abroad in us happened first. And then our love to Him is in
response to that love. It's in response to it. And we
are to rejoice because true worship is happiness. True worship has
in it happiness. Glad to rejoice in Him. Glad
to worship Him. And we are told to use the harp,
he says here, to use the harp, the psaltery, and the instruments
of ten strings. First of all, use the gifts that
God's given you. God's given, and we looked at
this last Sunday in Bible class, God has given many gifts to His
church. And He's given some the gifts
of music and talent, and they'll be used. And then there's nothing
wrong with using instruments as long as they do not take the
place of worship. If they are used in such a way
that it accompanies worship and doesn't take it over. It's not
a concert. We're not having a concert. But He tells them here to use
the harp and the psaltery and the instrument of ten strings.
They are to accompany worship. And to sing unto Him a new song. Play skillfully. That is, know
what you're doing. Play skillfully. God's given
you the gift. Play skillfully. Play skillfully with a loud voice.
Show enthusiasm. You know, we can't ever seem
to get it right, do we? We're either dead quiet, emphasis
being on dead, or loud and proud, and emphasis being on proud.
We can't ever seem to get it right in the middle. He's saying
here, Show enthusiasm in worship, that you're glad to be here,
you're glad to worship God, that it's a willingness, it's a willingness
on your part, on my part, to worship God, because of what
He's done for us in Christ. There should be an enthusiasm
in worship. That doesn't mean jumping over
tables, but the heart can be enthusiastic. This is what he's
talking about. He's talking about the heart
being truly engaged in worship. And then when he says here to
sing a new song, sing unto him a new song. Every time we sing
hymns of praise, and I guess because I was looking at this,
I studied in this, and this is the advantage I have sitting
in the study and studying these things. But I was thinking as
we were singing, and I was looking at the words more tonight than
usual because of this. What he says here, sing a new
song. And here's what I think he's saying. Not only a new song
that you haven't sung before, a song of praise, because, you
know, David wrote these hymns and he wrote them, you know,
he'd write one, then he'd write another and it'd be new. But
listen, when we sing these songs, we need to sing them as if they
were new and fresh for the first time. I was paying attention
to the words tonight more than usual as I was singing and looking
and there's some good words there. And just to sing it fresh and
singing it to mean it. To mean it. We need to really put forth an
effort to sing songs of praise from the heart to the Lord. Brethren,
I'll tell you what, worship is an effort. There is an effort
we put forth. Preparing the heart. I know what it is to come home
from work and hurry up and change and come here. I know that. But there is a preparation of
the heart in worship. We need to learn to turn off
the television. We need to learn to turn off the radio, turn off
those things that distract us from worship, and to actually
think upon the Lord, to actually think of what we are about to
do. We are about to gather as God's family and truly worship
God, along with those who are worshiping
Him now in glory perfectly. We have the privilege to gather
here on Thursday night and do it for just a little while. Now, I'm going to give some reasons
here to rejoice and sing praise to the Lord. First of all, verse
4-9, he says, For the word of the Lord is right, it's straight,
it's morally right, there's nothing wrong in it. God's government
of the world is by His word and it's right. It's right. There's no contradiction
between His Word and His nature. In other words, He does not say
one thing and do another. That's why it says His Word is
right. You know, there's no book written
like this book. There is no book that we can
say without any doubt whatsoever that it's right. But this book
is right. Without the Word of God, we wouldn't
know right. That hit me today when I was
reading this over. We wouldn't know right, would
we? Everybody would be coming up with their own right. That's
what we see a lot of now in this country anyway. If it feels good,
do it. As long as you're not hurting
somebody, then it's my right to do it if I want to. No, it
isn't. But I do know this. Without God's
Word, we wouldn't know right. We wouldn't know it. Where would
we get truth? God said every man's a liar,
didn't He? Where would we get truth? We get it from the Word
of God. It says in Psalm 119.105, Thy
Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. If you and I would saturate ourselves
in the Word of God, we would know which way to go. I believe
we would. I believe we would know generally
which direction we ought to go in decisions we make. I think
if we would saturate ourselves in the Word of God, we would
know. We would know. Because His Word is a lamp unto
my feet and a light unto my path. It's written also in Psalm 119,
"...Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, by taking
heed thereunto according to thy word." And then he says here in verse
4, all of God's works are done in truth. They are done in righteousness
and judgment. All of God's works We cannot understand the workings
of God. I mean, we can't comprehend that.
But I do know this, all that God does, all the works of God
are done in truth, righteousness, and judgment,
equity. That's what they're done in. And then verse 5 speaks of God's
character. Here's another reason that we
rejoice and sing praises to Him is because of who He is. No child
of God would change one thing about God. Not one thing would
you change. Verse 5 speaks of God's character. He loves righteousness and judgment
or justice. That's what He loves. He loves
righteousness and judgment. And I know this, we are what
we love, aren't we? We are what we love. God loves
righteousness and judgment. And then he says here that the
earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Can you and I not
say that? I know the world doesn't see
that. I know the world does not see
that. But you and I see that. We see that this whole world
is full of the goodness of the mercy of the Lord. It reigns
on the just and the unjust, doesn't it? Does not the earth yield
her increase for the just and the unjust? Do not the unjust,
those who hate God, eat every day? Their tables are full. You can look at all who believe
not, yet they are taken care of. The sun shines on them. just like it does God's children.
The earth is full of His goodness. God takes care of His creation.
He's the one taking care of it. God is the reason that this earth
still produces. He's the reason. God is the reason
that the seasons do not fail. We have the winter, in the spring,
in the summer, in the fall. Why? Because God has ordained
it so. He's ordained it so. Oh, the earth is full of the
goodness of the Lord. And God is to be praised not
only for His goodness, but also for His greatness. Our God is God. In verses 6 and 7, we see the
power of God's Word as well as the effect of God's Word. Especially if we consider that
the Word of God is Jesus Christ. He is the living Word of God. It says that all things are made
by Him and for Him, and without Him, and not anything made that
was made. And in Genesis, when God speaks,
let there be light, that's the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. And when He spoke in creation,
everything came into being. Not one thing failed that He
spoke. One of the things that stands out in the Old Testament
is that the Old Testament prophets always spoke of God first as
the Creator. Always spoke of Him as the Creator.
Often they spoke of Him as the Creator. And not one thing failed
when He spoke it into existence. Not one thing failed to come
into existence, did it? When He spoke, there it stood. There it is. Let us never get over creation. I know this. I know because of
our sinfulness, we take things for granted. You get used to
something and after a while it just becomes, I hate to use the
word mundane, but it becomes like mundane. You just don't
really see it no more. Let us never get over creation. Our God created it. Who else
can say that? Who else can say, this is my
Father's world? Who else can say that? I can say this with all honesty.
My Father owns this land I stand on. Now some unbelievers are
going to say, no, I own it. No, you don't. My Father owns
it. And your Father owns it. And look here at His power in
verse 7. He gathereth the waters of the
sea together as a heap. Brethren, that's power. He's given us here the power
of our God. If you remember in Genesis where
the water covered the whole earth and God by His Word gathered
them into one place and He called them sea. And then in another
place when God made the Red Sea stand up as a heap and let the
children of Israel walk across on dry ground. And not to mention the water
God has bottled up in the bowels of this earth. Look there in
verse 7. He gathers the waters of the
sea together as in heap. He layeth up the depth in storehouses. You know how much water just
runs through this earth? I thought today, and it just
never really dawned on me until, and I got to thinking about,
when I read this, I thought about my car. And it's got the radiator. You know how the water flows
through it and flows back through that motor and cools the motor
and comes back through the radiator? That's how God cools this earth.
The water runs all through this earth. You can go to the desert
and you may have to dig down pretty deep, but you can dig
down deep enough, you're going to hit water. And God has not only made the
seas, but He's made the depths of the sea, and He's made all
these channels of water go through this earth. You know, people complain, we
complain, of it raining too much. But you know, this thought struck
me today about complaining about it raining too much. God knows the water table. He
knows how much rain to send to replenish the water table that
runs through this earth. And while you and I are complaining
it's raining too much, God is replenishing the water table. And that's the very thing that
keeps this earth cool from melting. Now, because the Lord created
all that is, in verse 8, "...let all the earth fear the Lord,
Jew and Gentile." You see, he's not only speaking to believers
right here in verse 8, he's saying, let all the earth fear the Lord. He made all this, God created
all this, God sustains all this, and everyone that walks on this
earth ought to show fear and reverence of God. Let all the earth fear the Lord.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. Not just Israel, but the whole
earth. All owe their existence to the
Lord. And everyone should praise Him for who He is and what He
gives them every day. Everyone should praise Him. A psalmist throws all prejudice
aside and says, all are to praise the Lord from one end of this
earth to the other end. The Lord is to be praised. The
honor that's due His name is to be given to Him by everyone.
They ought to. I know they don't, but they ought
to. Now verse 9, we see the effect
of His Word. We see the omnipotence of God
here in verse 9. He spake, and it was done. It was done. This is our God. He commanded, and it stood fast. In the original, I think it just
says it stood, like at attention. God's Word never returns to him
void. I tell you this, if God sends
His Word here to save a sinner, that sinner will be saved. If
God commands it, it'll happen. It'll happen. Now in verse 10
through 12, we have the second reason to praise the Lord. He says here in verse 10, the
Lord brings the counsel of the heathen to nothing. How many
dictators would like to bring this country down? All of them. All of them. Why has it not happened? Is it because we're too strong
for them? That's not it. We'll see this
in a minute. That's not it. That's not it. The Lord brings the counsel of
the heathen to nothing. The church would be wiped out
if God did not frustrate the counsel of the wicked. We couldn't
meet here if God did not frustrate the counsel of the wicked. Remember how Herod wanted to
kill our Lord when he was a child and God sent an angel to warn
them and guide them out of harm's way? He frustrated the counsel
of that old king. Isaiah 54.17, listen. No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper. This is for every child of God
here. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment
thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. But no weapon formed against
you shall prosper. You know, someone may meet, and
I experienced this in business, they meet secretly to plot and
plan your demise. And you're not there to hear
it. You don't even know what's going on. You know, this happened
to me once. And I tell you what, I looked
brilliant. I did, before the guy owned the
company, I looked brilliant. I was dumb as a box of rocks.
I didn't know what was going on. But God did. I looked like
I was calm. I had everything under control.
I didn't even know what was going on. I didn't know any of that
was going on. All that plotting and planning. But God knew. God listened. He listened to their counsel.
He listened in to their counsel. And when they was going to fire
me, they all got fired. All of them got, every one of
them got fired. Every one of them. Here I looked, I mean, I just
looked, I thought, isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? The Lord brings the counsel of
the heathen to nothing. They plot and they plan, but
God, But God is the one who decides the outcome. And then verse 11 tells us whose
counsel shall stand. Listen here. In verse 11, the
counsel of the Lord standeth forever. The thoughts of His
heart to all generations. His counsel shall stand. The
eternal counsel of the Lord shall stand. That's why I said in the
beginning of this that the Lord created all this on purpose.
He didn't create this in vain. His counsel shall stand, nothing
can hinder or change it. God has purposed to glorify His
Son, to redeem a people out of every tongue, tribe, and nation
under heaven, to create a new heaven and a new earth wherein
dwells righteousness, to populate it with a people just like His
Son Jesus Christ, and that counsel shall stand. And that counsel
took place before the world began. It took place before the world
began. And he says here, another reason
for singing praise and worshiping
Him in verse 12 is this, Blessed is the nation whose God is the
Lord, and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance. He would call me an inheritance. There is one nation that is holy
and chosen of God, and it's the redeemed of the Lord. There is
one nation under God. It's the church. Listen to 1
Peter 2 verse 9. But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that
is, purchased people, that you should show forth the praises
of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light." This is a privilege that we have to praise Him and show
forth His praises? And this is the only reason for
my existence. It's taken me a little while
to learn this. But the only reason for my existence
and your existence as believers is to show forth the praises
of Him who has called you out of darkness, out of evil, out
of the clutches of Satan into His marvelous light. What a blessing. What a blessing
to be chosen of God and to be part of His inheritance. Sometimes it seems like it's
too good to be true. Sometimes when I'm sitting there
studying, and I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, meditating
upon the Scriptures, upon the Lord, and to think, the Lord
has saved me. made me a son, and I'm going
to enjoy His presence, and I'm going to walk on a new earth
wherein dwells righteousness, and He chose me and made me one of His. That is astounding. That is amazing
grace. And the third reason, and I'll
wind this down, the third reason for praise is this, God sees
all. Verse 13 and 14, they tell us
that the Lord sees all people. You and I may be saying, what
in the world is going on right now? Well, God knows exactly
what's going on. He knows exactly what's going
on. He sees all people at the same
time. No one escapes His all-seeing
eye. No one gets away with anything. No one. God beholds all their actions,
even down to their thoughts. This speaks of His omnipresence.
The Scripture says, by Him actions are weighed. He sees. And it says this, He looks from
His throne. He said in one place, Heaven
is my throne, Earth is my footstool. He looks from His throne, which
rules over all. Even where it appears He is not,
He is. He is. No one can keep the Lord out. He has no boundaries. No one
escapes His view. No matter how dark it is, the
Lord sees it. The Lord sees it. Now what does the Lord see when
He looks upon the inhabitants of the earth? The same thing
He saw before He flooded the earth in Noah's day. that the
imagination of man's heart is evil continually. Man has not
changed. Education cannot change the heart. It can change some habits. Education
can change habits. It cannot change the nature,
the heart. It's evil, God said, and that
continually. We just figure out better ways
to do it. Better ways to hide it. And he says here, and he shows
us in verse 15, that all men are alike. He says, He fashioneth
their hearts alike. All men and women are alike.
They're all alike. Look over in Ephesians chapter
2. In chapter 2, listen to verse
1. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation, our life, in times
past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others there was no difference." God didn't save me because I'm
a better person than someone else. We're all alike. And He sees the heart. He who
made the heart knows the heart, and He knows every heart. He
knows it. And He tells us here that there
is no king saved by the multitude of an host. A mighty man is not
delivered by much strength or his great strength. But no king
is saved by his army. No king. No man or nation is saved by
its own might or power. All stand or fall by the will
of God. This country stands right now
and has stood for several hundred years by the will of God. By His will. It always scares me. I mean,
it just makes me cringe when I hear our politicians stand
up and say, we're the greatest nation on earth, there's none
like us, and never give God one ounce of glory in that. I'm like,
oh! God is our glory. God is our
strength. God is our safety. God's our
safety. He's our keeper. What psalm is
that? Psalm 121? Let me look. Look at Psalm 121. I don't know if that's it. I
think it is. Yeah, that's it. I like it when I'm right. I'm
not standing here embarrassed. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from
the Lord. which made heaven and earth,
see? They always speak of the Creator. He will not suffer thy
foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. He's not asleep. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The
Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this
time forth and even forevermore. He's the one who preserves our
going out and coming in. I was telling Johnny here a little
bit ago about this virus. I said, I know as much as we've
been around. I said, I know we've come in
contact with it. I know this. It's the Lord, our Keeper. He's
our keeper. I'm not saying be foolish. I'm
not saying that at all. But I'm saying that the Lord
is our keeper. That's got to be real to us.
I want that to be real to me. I want it to be real to you.
He's our keeper. There's no king saved by the
multitude of an host. And a mighty man, a strong man,
is not delivered because he's a strong man. You know, I've grown up, you
know, in school. I was in wrestling. And there
were some guys that were, I mean, they were strong. You know, they
were tough, tough. But, you know, as always, somebody
came along that was tougher. Somebody had an undefeated record,
and next thing you know, he lost a match. Somebody beat him. I saw that time after time. That's
one of the things you learn. There's always somebody stronger.
Always. Always somebody stronger, smarter,
taller, faster. Always somebody. He says in verse
17, a horse is a vain thing for safety. They used to, those war
horses now, they had a lot of confidence in them. He said that's
a vain, an animal is a vain thing to trust in for safety. Neither shall he deliver anybody's
great strength." My only comment to this is a horse is
a vain thing for safety and so are modern day weapons. God's our safety. And because
of His omnipresence, we who believe have a reason to rejoice. Now
He said He's going to bring the counsel of the wicked to naught.
No king is saved by a multitude. A horse is a vain thing to trust
in. But now look at this. In verse 18, the eye of the Lord
is upon them that fear Him. His eye is upon you as if no
one else existed. As if you were the only one on
this earth. You and you and you and you.
Only God can do that. He's our protection. Behold,
the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that
hope in His mercy. You hope in His mercy? His eye
is upon you to deliver their soul from death and to keep them
alive in famine. When there were seven years of
famine in the land of Egypt, and throughout all that land,
God had sent Joseph ahead of them just for the purpose of saving
Israel. And for seven years, there were
seven plenteous years, and they laid up all that corn. Then there
were seven years of famine, and God kept alive Israel. They all
went down to Egypt. That was the purpose of God. They was over in the land of
Goshen and they fed and ate well all those seven years, all that
time they was there. God kept them alive in famine. Our soul waited for the Lord.
He's our help and our shield. He's our protection. We'll just
wait on him. We'll wait for him. for our hearts shall rejoice
in Him." This is faith. This is faith speaking. He says
our hearts shall rejoice in Him because we've trusted in His
holy name. God is holy. He's good for His
Word. He'll keep His own. He'll do right. "'Let Thy mercy,
O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in Thee.'" Well, can
we say this? Let Thy mercy be upon me. according
as I hope in Thy mercy." According as I hope in You. May Your mercy
be upon me. Lord, enable me. Lord, enable
me to hope in You. We have every reason to sing
and praise and be joyful in the Lord. We have every reason to
be exuberant.