Psalm 147, Brother John Sheasley pointed
out that the last five psalms begin with, Praise ye the Lord. And the word to praise is hallelujah. That's the Hebrew word, praise
the Lord. Praise Jehovah, hallelujah. It
begins, all of them begin and end And end with praise the Lord. Praise means to boast. It means
to show forth, declare His glory. Remember Paul said, God forbid
that I should boast, save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. Boasting excluded. Pride I base,
the song goes. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Praise means to show forth His
glory and to boast and brag on our Lord. He's worthy. Praise ye. He's talking to you,
talking to me. Praise ye the Lord. All of us
have reason, great reason to praise the Lord. Every human
being should Because he takes care of every person and thing,
every beast. We just read that. All should.
God's people do. This people, he said in Isaiah
43, have I formed for myself. They shall show forth, that they
might show forth my races. Isaiah 43 says. Praise, you know, praise ye the
Lord. This psalm begins and ends that way, like life itself, like
new life, eternal life, begins and ends that way. There was
a time we didn't know the Lord, we didn't praise the Lord, we
didn't give Him a thought. Then with new life, when you're born
again, you start praising the Lord. And you're born again,
you're saved to the praise. Oh, by grace are you saved, through
faith, and not of yourself. It's a gift of God, for He has
worked with you. to the praise of the glory of
His grace. So it begins, we start praising
Him, and boy, when it ends, we're really going to praise Him then.
We're really going to praise Him. In Zechariah, it speaks
of Zerubbabel laying that headstone on top of the dog with shouts
of grace unto it. We're going to really praise
Him like we ought to one of these days. So this life and this psalm
begin and ends, never ends, with praise of the Lord. He says in
verse 1, it's praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises
unto our God. It's pleasant, praise is comely.
It's good, good to praise our God because our God is good in
It's a good thing, Psalm 92 says, to sing praises and to worship
our Lord. This is a good thing that we
do. This is a good work. It's not merit, but this is what
the Lord has saved us to do. And with such sacrifices of praise,
he's well pleased. He's pleased when God's people
get together to praise him. He's worthy. Praise is good.
It's good to sing. Isn't it good to sing these hymns
of praise that God is good, God is worthy, and it's good for
us? I try to practice what I tell you. to sing unto yourselves
in songs and hymns and spiritual songs. I try to practice that,
especially when I'm feeling bad and I'm feeling sinful. The Lord
has a way of it, and the Spirit of God helps you by singing.
It's pleasant. Praise is comely. It's pleasant. You know, murmuring, complaining,
that's about all we hear today. Murmuring, complaining, cursing
and bitterness. That leaves you bitter, doesn't
it? It fills you full of bitterness
to hear all this cursing and murmuring and complaining of
everybody. Well, praise is pleasant. Isn't it pleasant to come in
here after hearing all that stuff out in the world and to come
in here where God's people are praising His name, not cussing
His name? It's just a pleasant place to be in. Comely. It's fitting. Very fitting. Because our God is worthy. Now the psalmist begins to tell
us why. He gives many reasons why we
should be praising our God. And I want you to notice with
me how that each thing that he says God does, or is, is continual. It's always in the present tense.
You notice that way? The Lord gathereth, healeth,
numbereth, lifteth up. The Lord covereth, the Lord giveth,
the Lord delighteth. It's ongoing. Our God doesn't
change. His mercy endures forever in
His goodness, and He keeps giving and giving and giving and healing
and lifting up. Because we need it, don't we?
We're in constant need. And he keeps doing this. It's
all in the present tense. All right, look at verse 2. He
begins to tell us, The Lord doth build up Jerusalem. Gather together
the outcasts of Israel. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem. Over in Ephesians 2. Let me read this to you. Ephesians
chapter 2, John, well, Patrick's read it. It says this in verse
19 through 22. It says, Ephesians 2, my old
Bible's sticking together. There we go. It says, you were
strangers and foreigners, but now you're fellow citizens of
the saints, the household of God, and you're built upon the
foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself,
were built on Christ the cheap cornerstone in whom all the building
fitly framed together groweth up unto a holy temple in the
Lord. And you're built together for
the inhabitation of God through the Spirit. He builds up Jerusalem,
his church, on Christ the solid rock. He builds us up. When Paul was leaving the Ephesians
in Acts chapter 20, and he would never see them again, and they
were all weeping about it, and he's going to be beheaded. But
he said, Brethren, I commend you to God and the word of His
grace which is able to build you up. Build you up. Everything in this life just
tears us down. This breaks us down, brings us
down, casts us down. Well, the Lord builds us up. We get all tore up from the floor
up and come in here and He builds us up again. And I want to build
you up and I want us all to build each other up on this most holy
faith. Encourage one another. No murmuring in our streets.
No complaining in our streets, okay? We're going to build each
other up. We're going to encourage one
another so much more. as we see their approach. It
gathered together the outcasts. That's what we are. We're just
a bunch of outcasts. That's who the Lord chose. You
see your calling, don't you, brethren? Not many wise men of
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. We're the rejects. We're the refuse. That's garbage. Refuse. I love this story. You remember the story of Jacob?
When he and Laban were dividing up the sheep, and Laban wanted
all the pretty white ones without spot or blemish, and Jacob said,
I'll tell you what, he said, you give me the ring-streaked,
speckled, spotted, and brown, and I'll make something of them.
He said, it'll be my righteousness. Give me the worst, and I'll make
them the best. That's what our Lord said. He
takes the outcasts. He takes them in. Into his fold. And he presents them faultless.
Ring straight, speckle spotted and brown. He healeth the broken
in heart. Our dad used to say, the only
good heart's a broken heart. A broken and a contrite heart,
O Lord, thou wilt not despise. The Lord has to break our heart
over sin. This proud heart has to break
it. And it's a good thing. It's a good thing to have a broken
heart. And whoever the Lord breaks their heart, He will bind it
up and He will heal it. Bindeth up their wounds. Bindeth
up their wounds. I thought of this story. There
was a man who fell among thieves, stripped, wounded, in a ditch. And a certain Samaritan came
by as he journeyed. And he saw him, he had compassion
on him. And he went to him, where he was, bound up his wounds. poured in oil and wine, set him
on his own beasts, brought him to an end, took care of him,
and when he left, he told the man, take care of him. Whatever
you spend, I'll come again and repay you for it. That is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He bindeth up their wounds. He's
the good Samaritan. And he's the one that by his
wounds we are healed, by his stripes. Verse 4, this may seem
out of place, but it's not. He telleth the number of the
stars. He calleth them all by their names. How does he say
this? How does he talk about the stars?
Well, over and over again, if you'll read, he kept telling
Abraham, I'll make your seed as the stars of the sky. And
he said that many times. Like the sands of the sea. Can
you count? the sands of the sea. Could you
possibly put a handful of sand, just a handful, and count the
grains? When our Lord said that's His
seed, Christ is the seed and His people will be as the stars
of the sky and the sands of the sea. Now why does He say that?
I believe He's telling us, I think there's room for one more if
you want. Because we all think, not me, No, we all say it can't
be me. It's got to be somebody else.
Hold on now. Of all those people, would you
name one of them that's without sin? The Lord looked down upon children
of men and said, see if there are any. He said, no, they're
all together. This is a faithful saying, He said. He called the
stars by name and His sheep by name. What's their name? They all bear the same name.
Well, I'll give it to you. It's a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Is that you? What's your name?
Jacob, what's your name? Sinner. And Christ came for you. You're numbered. He's got you
numbered. And He was numbered with the
transgressors, wasn't He? and his sheep. That's their name,
sinner. Great is our Lord, verse 5. Great is our Lord and of great
power. His understanding is infinite. Great. Our Lord's great in love,
great in mercy, great in grace. He's great in His person, great
in His work. What a great salvation He's done
for great sinners. Oh, wondrous and great redemption
through Christ our Lord, His understanding. Our God is beyond
comprehension. Beyond comprehension, our understanding,
His understanding of everything, everything He does, everything
He knows, everything He controls is just unfathomable, isn't it? It's infinite. Do you ever stop
and think about how God could take care of... I walked out
back to get out in the sunshine a little bit today, around lunchtime. And I sat there on the bench,
soaking up some sun. I looked down, there was a little
red spider of some kind. Strange little thing. Just crawling
around. And he stopped right there and
looked at me, and I looked at him. We just looked at each other.
I thought, that's an amazing little creature. Our God ordained
everything about that little speck of an insect. Its path,
the days, his days are numbered with the Lord. Everything about
it. He takes care of that little... Now that's incomprehensible and
unbelievable to the world. The world can't, doesn't believe
what they can't comprehend. I do. You do, don't you? We've said it before. I don't
want a God that I can understand. That makes Him like me. He's
no better than me. That's the God of this generation. He's a God like us, and He's
just hoping everything turns out all right. That's not our God. Everything
is going to turn out alright, because He's turning it out.
He's working it out. Everything's in His hands. Aren't
you glad? I'm so glad. Our understanding
of His is just so finite. His understanding of all things
is infinite. Verse 6, The Lord lifteth up
the meek. The Lord lifted up the meek,
but the wicked, He cast it down to the ground. The meek. You know, the Lord, the proud,
He's able to abase. And this is why James said, humble
yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He might exalt you
in due time. Humble yourself. Oh, my God will
if we don't. It says here in Isaiah 2, oh,
that the whole world could hear this. But they're not. We are. Enter into the rock, hide thee
in the dust, for fear of the Lord, for the glory of his majesty.
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled. The haughtiness of
man shall be bowed down. And the Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts
is upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone
that is lifted up he shall be brought low. Oh, that's serious,
isn't it? God's people. He humbles them. He shows them their sin. He shows
them who God is, holy, holy, holy. And they say like Isaiah,
woe is me, I'm undone, a man of unclean lips. And He shows
them the sacrifice, Christ, who has made sin for them. So, the
Lord makes His people meek and keeps us that way. It's a good
thing. It's a good thing, because he's going to cast the wicked
down to the ground. The wicked are those that forget God. Psalm
50 says, you either forget God or cast them out of His presence.
Verse 7, sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing unto the Lord. Sing with thanksgiving. Sing,
sing, sing. Scripture says that over and
over again. Sing, sing, sing. Psalm 95. Don't you love these
songs that say, Sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise
to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence
with thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise unto Him
with song, for the Lord is a great God. A great king above all gods. Oh come let us worship and bow
down. Let us kneel before the Lord
our maker. He is our God and we're the people
of his pasture. Sing. Sing unto the Lord. Thanksgiving. God's people. We are the only truly thankful
people on earth, but I'm ashamed that we're not more thankful.
Aren't you? As said, murmuring and complaining
should never come out of our lips. Let it never be named once,
as becometh saints. Sing praise upon a harp. I wish
I had my guitar right now. Strum something. Thank you, Robin,
Janann. Sing unto the Lord, who covereth.
Now look at this. He covers the heaven with clouds.
This is good. Covers the heaven with clouds,
prepareth rain for the earth. Clouds are a good thing. Clouds
are a good thing. Where's the gas can here? But there's a hymn in here. Can
I write it down? Clouds. Yeah. Listen to this.
I love this. William Cooper, Capper, was a
man that went through severe trials and depression and all. He said, no, God moves in a mysterious
way. his wonders to perform. He plants
his footstep in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable
minds of never-failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will. You fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break. with blessings on your
head. There are no dark clouds over
God's people. Oh, no. They say every cloud
has a silver lining. Well, for God's people, it does.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense. Trust Him for His grace.
Behind the frowning providence, He hides a smiling face. His
purposes will ripen fast. They unfold every hour. The bud
may have a bitter taste, but all sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter. He's
going to make it plain. Isn't that good? So clouds are
good. Clouds are for shade, aren't
they? Clouds are the promise of rain.
You see clouds, you think, rain's coming. Right. Clouds are the
dust of His feet. When we see the clouds, we ought
to think, He's stirring. He's getting up. He cometh with
clouds. Clouds are a good thing. I heard
Brother Bruce preach on that down in Crossville. Clouds. Clouds are good. He covered the
heaven with clouds. who prepareth rain for the earth."
You see, clouds are a promise of rain. Our Lord is the rain. He shall come down like rain
on the mown grass, our Lord. The clouds are dust of His feet.
Oh, He giveth rain, rain, water of life. When you're young, you know,
you complain about rain. You don't ever want it to rain,
do you? The older you get, the more you
want it to rain. You sit on the porch, watch it
rain, and thank God for it. This world is so unthankful,
so ungrateful, so unworthy. It's the water of life. We can't live without water.
We can't go three days without water. Three days. Where does
it come from? Where does water come from? I
hope you read all through the Psalms. It talks about God, the
rain. It says, Bless the Lord, O my
soul. Bless, O Lord, my God. Thou art
very great, clothed with honor and majesty. You cover yourself
with light as a garment. You lay the beams of your chambers
in the waters. He goes on to say, you cover
the earth with the deep, with the water, and the water goes
and sends a spring among the valleys and runs among the hills
and gives drinks to every beast of the field. Wild ashes quench
their thirst, and the trees of the heavens and fowls sing among
the branches and waters the hills. Water. Blessed water. Thank the Lord for water. That's
why Christ calls Himself the water of life. Oh my, how thankful
we are for Christ, the water of life. So it says, He prepareth rain
for the earth. He maketh grass to grow upon
the mountain. Isn't that grass? There's no
carpet made by man that comes close. Doesn't even come close. What about this grass? This is
best grass of all. He chose you, made you one of
his sheep, and caused you to lie down in this green pasture. There was a time you didn't give
a thought for God's Word. Didn't believe it was God's Word.
Didn't need it. Didn't care for it. But God. chose you and gave
you a love for these green pastures and caused you to lie down beside
the still water and restored your soul. Oh, thank the Lord
for the grass that groweth on the mountains, Mount Zion. He
giveth to the beasts, verse 9, his food, the young ravens which
cry. The Lord tells us over and over
again how that he takes care of these seemingly insignificant
creatures, doesn't he? Huh? Didn't our Lord say in His
Sermon on the Mount? Let me read it to you. He said,
He said, Consider the lilies, the grass of the field. They don't sow, but the Lord
takes care of them. He said, The fowls that are in
the air, they sow not, they don't reap, they don't gather in the
barn, but your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much
better than that? So he says, if you give good gifts to your
children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give good
things to you? I love Psalm 34, I think it's
verse 10, it says, the young lions may lack. You know, they're
strong, robust, and they can go out and get their food. They're
pretty, pretty, you know, able. We're totally dependent on our
Lord for every meal. He said the young lions may lack,
but they that trust the Lord shall never want any good thing,
ever. He's taken full responsibility
for us. Our Lord Jesus Christ has taken
full responsibility. He's the good shepherd. The Lord
is our shepherd. We shall not want but anything. Anything. Do you hear me? I didn't
say that. He did. So He gives, He gives,
He gives even to the beasts and the young ravens that cry. How
much more of those that cry unto Him, His people? He delighteth
not in the strength of the horse. Verse 10, He taketh no pleasure
in the legs of a man. Those are the two things that
men take great glory and pleasure in. Those two things, when you
consider, those are probably the two greatest of God's creation. A horse and a man. You ever thought
about that? The horse has served man from
the beginning of time. Man could not have survived without
the horse. Could not. And the Lord made
that creature, put the fear of man in him, put that strength
in him to do all that he can do. Men rode on him into battle
and gave the horse that fearlessness into the faces. Amazing, isn't
it? Who did that? They got good trainers. Oh, it's our good God. Okay? And men take great pleasure and
take great pride in their horses. Well, that's a vain thing. They
take glory in the Lord who made it. Not in the creature. Don't
worship the creature. Worship the Creator. And man.
Oh, what a creature man is. What an amazing creature man
is. There's no other creature on
earth like him. His mind, his faculties, the
eye of a man, the hands. No creature on earth has a hand
like this. Paint, painting, play instruments,
write symphonies. Amazing, isn't it? Where did
that come from? Who made man? Don't glory in
the creature. Glory in the Creator. He delighteth
not in the strength of the horse, as it taketh no pleasure in the
legs of a man. Look at this. I love this. Verse
11. The Lord taketh pleasure. Here's who he gets great pleasure
from. Those that fear him. Those that
hope in his mercy. That was Hooker Stanley's funeral
text. I love that verse. The Lord taketh
pleasure in them that fear him. By His grace, I fear Him. There
was a time I didn't. But I do now. I really do. Don't
you? I really do. Well, that's His
treasure. You know that? The fear of the
Lord is His treasure. And He gives that to His people
whom He treasures. Fear of the Lord. And I hope
in His mercy. That's the thing I need more
than anything. You, John. Isn't that you, John? Stephen, isn't that the thing
you want and need and hope from our God more than anything else,
that he'll be merciful? Most of the time, in trying to
pray about all I can say is, Lord, have mercy on me. Or somebody
else. We don't know how we should pray.
We don't know what the Lord's will is. They say it's your will. So most of the time we say, Lord,
have mercy on so and so. Have mercy on her. Have mercy
on the child. Have mercy on the mother. Have
mercy on us. Have mercy. He taketh great pleasure. He delights to show mercy. It's
his name. Merciful. Oh, I heard a man one
time, a preacher, oh, it was so wrong. He said, Lord doesn't
take pleasure in anything that we do. That's not so. That's just not so. Over and
over. Look at verse 4, chapter 149,
Psalm 149, verse 4. The Lord taketh pleasure in his
people. And I quote it to you from Hebrews
13, it says, listen, let me read it to you, Hebrews 13. God take,
do you take pleasure in your children? In your wife? Do you? How much more? Heavenly Father. That's where
you got that. From Him. It says in Hebrews
13, it says, By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually. That is, the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to his name. And to do good and communicate,
forget not. For with such sacrifice, God
is well pleased. Well pleased. Now, without faith,
it's impossible. But every one of God's people
who believe and trust Christ, a new creature in Christ, and
God is well pleased with them. And He takes great pleasure in
them. Everything they do, every song
they sing, every time they worship, every act they do for His name,
for His cause, for His people, He takes great pleasure in that. He's infinitely above us. He
is not unrighteous to forget your labor of love, your faith
and works of love. No. God takes pleasure in His people.
Great pleasure. I love that. Those that hope
in His mercy. Praise the Lord. Verse 12. Praise
the Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise thy God, O Zion. That's
us. That's a church. Spiritual Jerusalem. Zion, city of God. He hath strengthened
the bars of thy gates. He hath blessed thy children
within thee. We live in a gated community. You know that? And nobody can come in and bother
us with what the Lord allows. We're hedged about. Walls, remember? Remember Isaiah 26? Salvation that God appointed
for walls and bulwark. Yes, gates, bars, hedged us about. He's blessed thy children within. Aren't we blessed? Aren't our
children blessed? Aren't our children blessed? My, my, my. We just don't know. The revealed things belong unto
us and our children. He's hid these things from most. He maketh peace, verse 14. He
maketh peace in thy borders. He maketh peace. Oh, thank God
for Christ our peace. Thank God He made peace by the
blood of His cross. We have peace with God. God is
not angry with us. He's not. Christ drank that cup
of God's wrath dry, and there is no wrath for God's people.
We have peace with God. We really do. He made peace for
us, and that ought to give us peace of mind and peace of heart
and peace within. Come what may, we ought to have
peace about it, because our God loves us, and He sent Christ
to die for us, and everything He does for us is for our good,
because He loves us. Peace. Let the peace of God rule. Rule in your life. And He's made
peace among us. I was watching you all come in
and hug one another and greet one another with a holy kiss.
Everybody just hugging and hugging. I had to tell you to sit down.
I love that. Don't you? I love that. Joe and Nancy and John and Earlene
went to Southern Baptist Place over here. Were you there as
a boy, Stephen? Okay. And they'd had a fuss and
a fight. You remember you told me that.
They'd had a fuss and a fight there and Joe came home and sat
on the bed. And with his head in his hand,
he said, there's got to be something better than this. Isn't that
what he said? Well, there is. There's peace among God's people. Peace. He's ordained peace. Oh,
my, my. I'm thankful for the love He's
given us for Him and each other. The peace we have in our borders.
Don't let anybody in that's going to disturb the peace. Don't you
do it, and don't let anybody else do it. Mark them that cause
strife and division among you, and have no fellowship with them. You hear me? That's what God
said. This peace is too precious. He
goes on to say, He fills us with the finest of wheat, bread. wheat. That song, America the
Beautiful, Amber Waves of Grain, that ought to be Jerusalem the
Beautiful, Amber Waves of Grain. All the wheat, the fat, fat things,
wine on the leaves, the bread that we eat daily, every time
we come in here, oh my, my, my, my. The world is feeding and
trying to fill themselves up on husks, aren't they? They're
eating fat things, finest of the wheat. He sends forth his
commandment, read on through verse 18. It says, He sends forth His commandment
upon earth, that His word runneth very swiftly. He gives snow like
the wool, and hoarfrost like ashes. He casts forth His ice
like morsels. Who can stand before His cold? He sends out His word and melts
them, causes His wind to blow and the waters flow. What's that
saying? It's saying our God controls
this climate. It is. It is. Everything. How
much rain, how little rain. How hot it is, how cold it is.
Don't murmur now. Don't complain. Well, it's, you
know, the glaciers are melting because of man's, you know, the
ozone or whatever, you know. No, it's God. You read over in Revelation 16,
it says, He scorched men with heat and they cursed Him and
they repented not to give Him glory. He said that twice then.
No matter what, God said they won't turn to Him that smites
them. Let mercy be shown to an unbeliever and he'll only be
worse. The whole western United States
is drying up. Isn't it? You hear anybody calling
on God? Where's water come from? I actually
heard of city dwellers. I asked them that. They said,
well, it comes from the tap. You turn on the tap. Well, where's
that come from? Well, the city, the water department.
Well, where's that come from? Well, the river out there. Where's
that come from? Sky. Look at the sky. Man's an idiot, isn't he?
Oh, man. Birds are out there in the rain
singing. Blessing their God. Yes, this climate is under the
control of our Christ, and I'm glad. Now look at what He saves
for last. The very last thing, He saves
the best for last. The most wondrous, glorious thing
of all. The thing that ought to fill
us with more praise than anything else. He showed His Word to Jacob. He hadn't done that. His judgment's
on the issue. He had not dealt that way with
the other nation. We understand. The Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding. God has made himself
known to us. How? Through his word. This whole
world has no use for this book. I can't live without it. And
you? I can't go a day without it.
I feel empty. I feel lost. I feel dirty. Don't you? It's a lamp in my
feet, a light in my path. It's the way, the truth, the
life. It's my guide. It's my food. It's my water. It's all Christ. He shows that to us. Like we've been looking at these
types of Christ in the Old Testament. It's just wonderful. Esther is
Sunday. I've just been sitting off. I
hadn't sat in a chair for two days. levitating. Seriously, it's just
wonderful, Esther. It's just wonderful, everything
you read is just amazing. Our God wrote a book for those
that fear His name, a book of remembrance for those that thought
on His name. They're His treasure, His peculiar treasure. The peculiar
people that believe this book is absolutely the Word of the
living God. He has to reveal it to him. He
has to make him known to him. Oh my, so it ends up... Praise
the Lord. Let me hear you say it. Praise
the Lord. Okay, you're dismissed.