Turn to Psalm 146 with me. I hope you were able to read it. Psalm 146. Let's pray together first. Our Lord and our God, in the name of Your blessed Son, Jesus Christ our Savior, Your well-beloved Son, we come to You tonight praying, asking, that you would bless us, that you would enable us to praise you, not only with our lips and song, but from our hearts, grateful hearts. Let us, Lord, worship you tonight. You're so worthy of praise, honor, and glory. the Lord of glory, the Son of glory. Thank you, Lord, for bringing us here. Thank you for this time that you've given us, as our brothers already said. We thank you for this place. Thank you for putting your gospel here and ask that you would keep us cleaving to thee, to thyself, still believing. Let us all die in the faith. And those who do not yet know you, Lord, we ask that you would reveal yourself to them for your honor and glory for their salvation. Bless your people that gather in Christ's name everywhere tonight. In Christ's name. Amen.

Psalm 146. I told you that we were going to look at Genesis 32, the story of the Lord wrestling with Jacob. I fully intended to do that and I began to read it. And I thought of Psalm 146, verse 5, happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. And I came over and read that and I couldn't leave. So we stayed there and that's where we're going to stay tonight.

Psalm 146. The last five Psalms, 46, 7, 8, 9, and 150, all begin and end with praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord. Life on this earth began that way and it's going to end that way. Isn't it? Before man, the angels praised and honored and glorified Him as He made the stars and the heavens and the earth. And then Adam and Eve glorified Him, praised Him. And when it's all said and done, we're all going to sing. It's all going to be for the praise of the glory of His great sin. It begins and ends with praise.

Verse 1 begins, Praise ye the Lord, or hallelujah, all should. Praise ye, you. David says, we don't know who wrote this, and that's fitting it. We don't know who wrote the last five psalms. That's fitting it. Whoever wrote it says, praise the Lord, O my son. You praise the Lord. I need to praise the Lord. We all need to praise Him. Praise Him means give Him all the glory and honor. All the thanksgiving for what do we have we have not received from our gracious, merciful, and good Lord. All should. All the saints do. God's people do.

Look at verse right across the page. It's amazing how these two Psalms go together. Verse 10. In the previous psalm, all thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, thy saints shall bless thee. All do, all the saints do. Praise ye the Lord. I'll praise the Lord. Verse 2, the writer says, while I live will I praise the Lord. All of God's people who've been quickened, made alive, The dead don't praise Him. Those dead and trespassed in sin don't praise Him. But those who've been quickened, who've been given spiritual life, they praise Him. They're made willing in the day of His power. And so this writer says, while I live will I praise the Lord. He says this twice. He says it in Over Psalm 103, I believe it is. He says, I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. I will sing praises while I have any being.

You know, this is a command to sing. It's all through the Psalms, isn't it? Sing. Sing unto the Lord. It's a command. It's not only fitting and becoming that we should Sing praises unto the Lord. Psalm 92, it's a good thing to give thanks. Sing praises unto the Lord. But it's good for us, isn't it? It really does do us good. Makes our hearts glad and makes us think about so much we have to be thankful for.

Whenever you're down, you need to start singing. If you're happy, sing. If you're sad, sing. Sing unto the Lord. I will sing. Sing, O sing. of my Redeemer and His wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross He suffered from the curse to set me free. I will sing." Do you sing of your Redeemer? His wondrous love. It's a constant command from the Psalms.

I want to say David. He might have written it. But whoever. He says, I will sing by God's grace while I have my being. I will sing unto him. Sing. Do you not? Do you not? Do you find yourself? You know, this thing of praise is not a formal affair. The mere religious, they flatter him with their lips when their heart is far from them. Scripture says it. But do you not find yourself during the day? And this is praise and this is prayer. That your heart goes up to Him in praise and thanksgiving when you consider all His, you look at His creation, you think of all His goodness to you and all He's done for you. Do you not throughout the day at times just thank you, Lord. You're so good. You're so merciful. You're so good. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. That's praise, isn't it? That's praise. So that's what we should do. And that's what God's people do.

Why do we praise Him? Why do we praise Him? Because of who He is. Because of what He's done. Because of what He does and shall do. Look at the previous psalm. As said, these go together so well. Verse 1, I'll extol Thee, my God. That means praise with exceeding gladness. O King, I will bless Thy Name forever and ever, every day, all day will I praise Thee. I will praise Thy Name forever and ever. Why? Because great is the Lord, and greatly to be prayed. And His greatness is unsearchable. Verse 5, I will speak of the glorious honor of Thy majesty, of Thy wondrous works. Verse 8, listen, this is what the Lord is. The Lord is gracious. and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His work. All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord, and Thy saints shall bless Thee." Verse 17. The Lord is righteous in all His way and holy in all His Word. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him. He also will hear their cry and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love Him. So he says in verse 21, my mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord. Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Why do we praise the Lord? There are a thousand more reasons. He just gave us seven. Look at verse three in our text. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no help. Put not your trust in earthly rulers. Oh my, in my lifetime there have been very few seemingly honest men ruling in our nation in government position. Can you think of any? Don't put your trust in earthly rulers or the son of man, that means any son of Adam. Adam was the greatest man, human being other than our Lord, to ever live. He fell, didn't he? Where does that leave his sons? Fallen failures, every one of them. Put not your trust in the sons of Adam. They're all fallen and they're all failure. There is no help. No help. The only way that any man can help you is by giving you a word in season from our Lord. Because He alone is our help. Vain is the help of man. That's what, John, you read tonight.

Put not your trust. Now, we've thought about this before. You've got to have a little trust in this person or that person, or else you'd be suspicious of and you'd live in a cave. But what he's saying here is don't put your faith, don't put your hope, Don't put your confidence. Don't put all of your salvation. Don't depend upon any human being. Because they can't help themselves. Where does our help come from? David wrote this, I know, Psalm 121. I'll lift up my eyes unto the hills from which cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord. Our Lord is our helper. Vain is the help of man. So we put all our trust, all our hope, and it says this often, put not your trust in man, but put your trust in the Lord. All your hope, all your faith, all your confidence, all your independence, all your salvation for you and yours in the Lord. There's no one who's ever trusted in the Lord that's been cast out or disappointed. People are going to disappoint you. I don't care who it is. Don't put your trust in man, especially this man. I mean, yourself. Don't put your trust in yourself. Are you not your own biggest disappointment? So man is going to disappoint you no matter who he is. Our Lord never disappoints His people. You can trust Him. Put your trust in Him.

Why not put your trust in man? Because vain is his help. Verse 4, here's what man is. He's a finite creature of the dust. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, and that very day his thoughts perish. Don't put your trust in man whose breath is in the hands of God. Put your trust in God who has your breath in His hands. And man is a creature of the dust. He comes from the dust and that's where he's going back to. What a frail, finite, vain creature. Don't put your trust in a creature of the dust. Put your trust in the Eternal Lord. Eternal Sovereign Lord over all. It says in verse 4, I like this, In the very day that he returns to the earth, his thoughts shall perish. Scripture says about man, his thoughts are vain, his purposes, his plans, his thoughts, his desires. God is not in all his thoughts. The ways of man that he thinks are right are all wrong. And so the day that he dies, all of his thoughts of so-called science and progress and intellect and wisdom and, you know, of eternity and salvation and all his vain thoughts of what he thinks about God, he's going to perish. All his plans, all his purposes, everything is going to perish. Every human being is going to know someday, as he's been known, that God is indeed God. That Christ is reigning in ruin. And every mouth is going to confess that he is Lord. So their thoughts about whatever they're thinking about, they're going to be forced to acknowledge someday. In that day, God reigns. Salvation is to know that now.

So, verse 5, happy. I entitle this message, praise ye the Lord and be happy. If you do truly praise or have put all your trust in the Lord, you need to be happy. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Because happy is he that hath the God of Jacob. for his health. We've looked at this many times. One time we went all through the life of Jacob based on that verse. What a blessing it is to have the God of Jacob for your health. Happy is those who have the God of Jacob for their health. The God of Jacob is the God of sovereign love, purpose, unchanging, covenant-keeping Lord. Jacob didn't know God, but God knew Jacob. Look at Isaiah 43. This is one of my favorites. Let me slow down a little bit. I told you I wasn't going to give you time to get complacent.

Chapter 43, verse 1, Now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by name, thou art mine. Verse 3, I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for thee. I made the world to bring you into it, to save you from it. Isn't that something? You're precious in my sight. Fear not.

Verse 5, I am with thee. I am with you. Verse 7, everyone's called by my name. That's the sons of Jacob. I have created Him for my glory. I have formed Him. Yea, I have made Him. Verse 11, Even I am the Lord. There is no God, no Savior beside me. I have declared, I have saved, I have showed. Verse 13, Before the day was, I am He, as none can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who shall let it? I am your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

Happy. Most people hate the God of Jacob. They hate the God of Jacob. God of sovereign electing love. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Who loves the God of Jacob? The sons of Jacob. Knowing that if He had not chosen us, we would have never chosen Him. Knowing that He is unchanging in His purpose and in His love and His decrees concerning Jacob. He said, I am the Lord, I change not. You sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Covenant keeping God. He made this there in Genesis 32 when he came to Jacob and wrestled him down to the ground and changed his name and changed his walk. And before that, he made a covenant with him. And after that, he kept confirming that covenant to him over and over. And that's what the preacher of the gospel does. Keeps confirming this covenant with his people. And he doesn't change his mind. He remembers His covenant. He'll never forget His covenant. Never. Oh, be happy if you have the God of Jacob for your help, whose hope is in the Lord His God.

Verse 6. Which, or who, made heaven and the earth? See, all that therein is which keepeth truth forever. The Lord our Creator. Now, who is the Lord? Who made the heavens and the earth? God, yes. Christ, yes. The Word was made flesh. Without Him was not anything made. It was made. The Lord Jesus Christ is God our Creator.

The world hates Him. The sons of Jacob love Him. He's God our Creator. He's God our Savior. Our covenant keeping God. Christ is the covenant of God. The head of the everlasting covenant. He made a covenant and David said, this is all my salvation. All my salvation. Mine too. I'm happy. I'm happy that God of Jacob is my help. The creator, the ruler, the sovereign controller and keeper of all flesh. Didn't Christ say all flesh? All power over all flesh.

Verse 6. He's the one that keepeth truth forever. Genesis 32. Go back there now. He keepeth truth. He keepeth the Gospel before your eyes, before your ears. He keepeth Christ before your eyes and ears, who is the truth.

Look at Genesis 32. Jacob praying to his God, Our Lord and our God, verse 9, you have it. Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the Lord which said unto me, Return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies. Don't you pray that all the time? I know I do. I am not worthy, the least of all thy mercies." And look at this, "...and of all the truth which thou hast shown unto thy servant." telling Jacob, reminding Jacob of the gospel, of the truth, of His covenant, ordered in all things and sure.

And He keeps reminding us, as our Lord said, He'll keep declaring His name, His purpose, His work to His people. He declared it, and He will continue to do so to His people. Oh, we ought to be happy. Happy.

Now look at verse 7 in our text. Psalm 146. The Lord is he which, and he says several things the Lord continually does for his people. And notice each of these ends with an ETH. That's continual, present tense. It continues to do that.

The Lord is he which executeth judgment. Judgment for the oppressed. Let me read this to you from Psalm 103. This is so good, which is one of my favorite Psalms. Psalm 103, verse 6. The Lord executed righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide. He will not keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sin, nor rewarded us according to our iniquity. He hath not dealt with us in strict justice, has He? But He dealt with Christ.

This is the judgment of God that He executes for those who are oppressed by sin. They're under the law, under the curse. Christ endured the judgment that was due to God's people. And He convinces all of His people of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. And Christ is the reason for all of that. So, He executeth and continues to do this, shows us His justice, how God can be just and justifier of the ungodly, of His people through Christ and Him crucified. Those who pray.

Verse 7, which giveth food to the hungry. This is much more than physical food, isn't it? Doesn't Matthew 5, verse 6 say, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after what? Righteousness. Righteousness. Oh, he giveth food to the hungry. He said, open your mouth wide and I'll fill it. All you got to do is come hungry and I'll fill it. With what? Christ said, my body is meat. My blood is drink into you. The gospel of Christ. Blessed are they that are hungry, he giveth food to the hungry, and giveth, and giveth, and keepeth feeding. Dear gospel.

Verse seven. The Lord looseth the prisoners. Looseth the prisoners. Those who were held captive by the God of this world. Walking according to the course of this world. He had delivered us. How? The Deliverer. Who came to set the captives free. Who said, if you seek these, if you seek Me, let these go. And took Him captive. And put Him in prison. And let us go. And killed Him on the cross. While we go free. Like Barabbas. The Lord looseth the prisoner. And it keeps loosening us, doesn't it? It often gets bound. It keeps loosening us by the gospel.

Verse 8, the Lord opened up the eyes of the blind. Who could be speaking of more than our Lord Jesus Christ? How many blind people did He give eyes to? Everyone in here that knows Him. Millions. The blind have their sight restored. Blind to God, blind to themselves, blind to the truth. He opens the eyes of the blind. Verse 8, the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down. I do want you to turn to that story. It's found in Luke 13. I love it so much. I love this thought. Those that are bowed down. Those that are physically bowed down. And we all, if we get old enough or infirm enough, we will, won't we? Luke 13, look at verse 11. Behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, And he saw her first. And he called her. To who? To himself. And said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she's made straight. How was she made straight? Verse 13. She glorified God. Oh my. We are bowed down with sin and with care on this world and with infirmities and affliction. And we get old enough, as I said, we will physically, literally be bowed down where we cannot straighten up. Oh, someday. We're going to be upright forever. The Lord alone does that. Those that are bowed down.

The Lord, verse 8, loveth the righteous. He loveth the righteous. Who are the righteous? Now, how is someone righteous? Well, he said, Abraham believed God. And what did that mean? It counted on him for righteousness. And you're children of God, children of Abraham, by faith, the same way. You're made righteous by believing God. Believing the promise that Christ is your righteousness. That's it. You're made righteous. So the Lord loveth the righteous. He loves those that believe Him, that believe His Son. That's what Christ said. The Lord loves you because you believe Me and you follow Me and you trust Me. Why do we do that? Because the Lord loves you.

Verse 9. The Lord preserveth the strangers. Preserveth the strangers. Don't you love Psalm 121? Why is it so special to you now? Because our man comes and sings it to us. In that sense, see how good singing is? We've already quoted part of it. I'll lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved, moved away from the gospel. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. 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. Why? Because the Lord shall preserve. thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. He shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore. The Lord preserve it. Preserve it. Keep it. Keep it. If He doesn't, you won't be kept. But He does. It says He preserveth the strangers.

You remember the message? on 1 Peter 1, to the scattered strangers, elect, kept by the power of God. Is that you? Oh, at one time you were of this world. You were no stranger to it. You were of it. But then one day, the Gospel came and made you strange. A peculiar people, a purchased people. Made you strange. David said, I'm a stranger to my flesh, Brethren, my family and all that. And you become a stranger to yourself. The strange happenings come over you. Like the blind man. They didn't know him. The people didn't know him. He looks like him. He sounds like him. But that's not the same man. And that blind man, all he could say was, I know this much. I was once blind, but now I see. I know who did it. But strangers are those who are who worship a strange God, strange to this world, who have strange doctrine that the world hates. And the longer this world goes, the stranger the truth is going to be. The more perverted this world becomes, the more strange the truth shall be. Strangers to this world, strangers to themselves, strangers and pilgrims. The Lord preserve it. No stranger. Do you not long for another city? A place wherein dwelleth righteousness. Oh my. The Lord preserveth the stranger.

Verse 9. He relieveth the fatherless and the widow. Literally, he takes care of those who lose their mate. Those who have no father or mother. as a man, and Brother Edwin was an orphan. The Lord sure took care of you, didn't He? Brother David Edmondson and others, and orphans. But I couldn't help but think of spiritual widows and orphans. Like Ezekiel 16, the child that was cast out in the field. You know that story? And mother or father didn't want him, cast her. and cast her out. His father was an Amorite and his mother was a Hittite. Cast her out to the loathing of her person. What happened? The Lord passed by her. He said, I said, live. Put his skirt over you. That's Christ in it. And then the widow. You ladies, do you not love Isaiah 54? Your maker is your husband. If you lose your earthly mate, you'll never lose your heavenly husband. If you've never had a husband, or if you've been spurned by or cast out by one of these sorry fellows, the Lord, He says, you'll never get rid of divorcement from me. He relieveth the fatherless and the widow. And I keep telling, well, Paul one time, he said, You don't need to be married if you're married to the Lord. Paul never had a wife. He said, I'm content, I'm happy. He relieveth the fatherless and the widow. But the way of the wicked, verse 9, he turneth upside down. You know, judgment is, in Psalm Isaiah 59, judgment is so turned way backward. Man has got the cart before the horse. Man has made God into a man and man into a God. Man has God dependent on man and man having the free will to do what he will, when he will, because he will. Judgment is way backward. And I remember in Psalm 51, the Lord said, Thou thoughtest. This is what you think. He said, I'm going to turn this thing upside down. When the disciples went throughout the world preaching the gospel, it says, these men have turned the world upside down. They've turned our theology upside down. Why? Because it's backward. It needs to be right side up. It needs to be right side up. He's going to turn this perverted world, turn it on its head. The Lord, verse 10, this is how it ends. The Lord shall reign forever. Aren't you glad? Be happy. Be happy. Don't put your trust in earthly rulers. Put your trust in He who made the heavens and the earth and whose government shall never end. The Lord Jesus Christ shall reign forever and ever. Even thy God, O Zion, O church, of the living God unto all generations. So what should that make us do? Praise ye the Lord. The word is hallelujah. Everybody say it. Hallelujah. Okay, stand with me.