If you want to follow along this
morning in your Bible, you can turn to Psalm 145. Psalm 145,
which is penned by King David. David, God calls him a man after
his own heart. In other words, David loved what
God loved. David thought as God thought. David agreed with God on everything
God said and did. Like Amos 3, verse 3 says, can
two walk together except they be agreed? So David walked with
God, and David was a man after God's own heart. So David's words
here in this psalm are the words of God. And David is going to
tell us of God. He's going to tell us who God
is. He's going to tell us what the
true worship of God is. Now, there's much said today
of God, about God. And much goes by the name of
worship and praise today. But never mind what this man
or that man says. what Rev. So-and-so says, and
never mind what I say. Let's listen to God's Word which
tells us about God and what true worship is all about. David begins
in Psalm 145, verse 1, by saying, I will extol thee, my God, O
King, I will extol thee." Extol is an old-fashioned word which
means to lift up high or give the highest place or preeminence
to. There is no praise for any man
or the works of man in this psalm. But God gets all the mention,
all the glory, and all the praise, and that is true worship. extolling,
honoring, praising, declaring God, His person, His works, His
will, His worth, His power, with no mention of man. David says,
I will extol Thee, my God, or that is, my Creator, my Sustainer. my provider, my protector, my
God. O King, He is my King, my sovereign
ruler, my judge under whose authority I am. I am answerable to Him,
David said. I am at His sovereign disposal. Why, no true King, no true sovereign
has ever been subject to His subjects. No true king has ever
been dependent on the will of his servants. No, no. David says,
thou art my king. I'm under your authority, under
your sovereign power, at your sovereign disposal, not vice
versa. David says, I will bless thy
name forever and ever. I will bless thy name. Though
most in our generation, though most today blaspheme that holy
name, the name of God is on everyone's lips, it seems, down to the smallest
children, using that name which is above every name as a mere
byword or catchphrase. Though the name of God is blasphemed,
in our day, though most take his name in vain, the irreligious
and the religious, the irreligious cursing with his name and the
irreverent religious using that name familiarly or carelessly. David says, I will bless thy
name. He said in another place, I will
fear thy name. I fear using it flippantly, or
familiarly, or carelessly, or irreverently, or using it in
a common way as I would any mere mortal man's name. Why, David
says, I fear speaking that name except in fear, in praise, in
honor, in glory. Like Isaiah in chapter 12, verse
4, who said, I will make mention that his name is to be exalted,
that his name is far too high and too honorable and too glorious
and too great to put on a t-shirt, to put on a bumper sticker, to
put on bathroom walls. Why David, why Isaiah, why any
true worshipper wouldn't dream of putting the name of their
earthly father or mother where it could be desecrated, much
less the name of their great God. David says, I will bless thy
name. Isaiah said, I'll make mention
that his name is exalted. Verse 2, David goes on to say,
Every day will I bless thee, not me, but thee," David said. I will bless thee, not man, but
God. I will bless thee. I will thank
thee. I will acknowledge thee. I will
worship thee, because all that I am, all that I have, all that
I know, all that I receive is from thee, from my God. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above, John said, who was a true worshipper
himself. And as another true worshipper
named Paul said, by the grace of God I am what I am. That is, by the undeserved favor
and merit of God I am what I am. absolutely 100% the gift of God. Not an offer, but the bestowal
of everything that I am is by the grace of God. And again,
David says in verse 2, ìI will praise thy name forever and ever.î
Well, verse 3, David writes, ìGreat is the and greatly to
be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable." He's great,
greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. How
great is the Lord, or how big or glorious or mighty? How great? Well, he says, unsearchable. He's unsearchable. Why, God Himself
said this in Isaiah chapter 40 and chapter 46. He said, To whom
will you liken me? To what will you compare me? God said. The great and glorious
and infinitely wondrous and high and lofty Lord, God, Creator
and Holy One of the universe. To what will you liken me? God
said. And what he's saying is, there's
nothing which you can compare God to. Yet, ignorant modern
religious man compares God to things like a bottle of Coca-Cola,
a Hallmark card, or a Visa card, saying cute little but blasphemous
things like, don't leave home without him. Folk, you can't breathe without
God, let alone leave home without Him. To whom will you liken me, God
says. To what will you compare me?
There's nothing, nor is He to be compared with anything. True
worshipers say with David, with Paul, with Isaiah, all true worshipers
say, He's too great to be compared. He's incomparable. David says,
great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. How much praise
belongs to God? David says, greatly to be praised. How much praise should you give
to God? How much honor? How much glory?
How much credit? How much due? What is God due? What glory? What praise? Well, who gets the glory and
salvation? I mean all of salvation. Who
gets it? Does God share it with a man?
Has God done all He can do and then the man does the rest? Who
gets the glory for salvation? David says God does. All of it. Whose will decides salvation? Who's got the free will? Whose
will will be done? God's or man's? Why, God's will
will be done. Whose works determine salvation?
Who gets all the glory? Who gets all the praise in salvation? Who is the determining factor
in salvation? Man or the Lord Jesus Christ? Why, Christ gets all the glory,
all the praise. Whose decision is it? Who decides
to save who? God's decision. Whose faithfulness
is it? Who keeps who? God's faithfulness. Whose holiness is it? Man's or
God's? It's God's. Yes, God in Christ
is greatly to be praised, so much so He gets it all. David
says His greatness is unsearchable. Unsearchable. Another writer
said, his ways are past finding out. Can thou by searching find
out God unto perfection as written in the book of Job? No. No. If like David, if like King David,
the man after God's own heart, if we come to know the living
and true God, we will find out. that he is past finding out. What we will learn is how little
we have learned of God. What we will come to know is
how little we truly know of Him. Unlike this ridiculous religious
generation that has God all figured out, they have God like a man. That's why they have him figured
out. The old preacher Charles Spurgeon
one time said, I don't want a God I can figure out. I don't want
a God I can have completely figured out. That means he's like a man.
And I don't need a God who's finite and like a man. Well, David goes on to say in
verse 4, it's true worship. The true worshipper of God says
in verse 4, ìOne generation shall praise thy works to another,
and shall declare thy mighty acts. Yes, one generation to
another shall praise Godís works.î Not talking about an evil and
adulterous generation, or rather the whole religious world that
we live in. No, no, no. Everyone doesnít
praise his works. They're praising one another.
They're praising man's will and man's works and man's decision
and man's this and that. But no, this is, as Psalm 14
verse 5 says, this is the generation of the righteous. Yes, one generation,
or that is God's chosen people, God's elect, the regenerated,
which have been regenerated by God's Spirit. And God has his
people in every generation, a people out of, not all people, but a
people out of every tribe, kindred, and nation, and tongue, and generation.
And this is how you know them. They praise his works, his mighty
acts. They praise his. Let me just
go on to read verses 5 through 7. David says, I will speak of
the glorious honor of thy majesty. of thy wondrous works. And men,
or that is, God's men, shall speak of the might of thy terrible
acts. I will declare thy greatness.
They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness,
and shall sing of thy righteousness." And as he said in Psalm 71, thy
righteousness alone. You see, my hearer, true worshipers
those who truly know and worship the true God and the Christ He
has sent. They worship, they praise, they
honor, they glorify the name, the works, the will, the word,
the greatness of God and of Christ. with no mention of man, no mention
of man's supposed free will, man's supposed good works, man's
supposed choice, man's supposed goodness, but with David they
say, I will extol thee, my God, O King, I will bless thy name
forever and ever. May it be so with you who hear
this this morning. Amen.